Things have sort of come full circle for me. When I was younger, I recall playing a copy of Super Mario Bros 3 on Game Boy Advance and never being able to complete it (in fairness I eventually got to the final world). This was the case for a lot of games for me; essentially they’d have infinite replayability.
As I got a bit older I was exposed to more games with linear single player campaigns. Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 spring to mind. At the time, I couldn’t afford to buy that many games so I’d find myself doing a mission here and there, and focusing most of my attention on the multiplayer. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to play the campaigns, but rather than I felt like I needed to savour them. Sure, I could just blast through it in the space of a weekend - but then it would feel like I’ve blown all that money on something short-lived.
This mindset stuck with me as single player games became longer and longer. GTA IV, Red Dead and Skyrim for example took me months to get through, as I’d just play the occasional mission as a treat.
But nowadays I don’t have as much spare time as I once did. And it feels like the number of games in my backlog is growing each day.
I actually replayed GTA IV and its DLCs last year, and really enjoyed the experience. But only recently did I work out why it was more enjoyable than my first playthrough all those years ago – and I think it’s because I didn’t eke out the missions. The story felt a lot more coherent because it was fresh in my mind. The characters that appeared at the start of the game no longer elicit that ‘wait who were they?’ response when they turn up in the second act. And I was able to better understand the ways in which the three stories cleverly intertwined.
Recently I got the gamepass-style subscription on Playstation (‘PS Plus Extra’) which includes a bunch of older games I’ve been meaning to get through. And the fact that there’s an artificial time limit to playing them (i.e. I don’t want to pay for this tier of subscription any longer than I need to) has helped me to avoid wasting time.
Just to be clear, I’m not advocating for speedrunning single player games and missing all the side content. On the contrary, I’ve just platinumed Ratchet and Clank: RA, but did so in half the time than it would have taken me before. Previously I might have thought ‘I’ll just do the one mission’, and this was often an excuse to get distracted by crap on my phone for the subsequent 30 minutes. I feel like I now have a reason to focus for games for a little longer instead of wasting time. And as a result, I’ve enjoyed my time with them so much more recently.
So perhaps if you’re struggling with your backlog, try to set yourself a realistic time limit for each game. And don’t treat games like a treat – if you have the time, play them now!
Yep, suddenly as an adult I have more games than I have time in which to play them. I can’t have more than one “big” game on the go at once because if I get out of the zone then I’ll forget what’s going on, lose the motivation, and have to start again!
Yeah I think having just one big game on the go is a good idea - spreading your attention too thin between games probably lessens your enjoyment of all of them!
I’m a little bad for this as I’m currently playing one game on PS5, Steam Deck and Switch each. But I stick to one game per console and it seems to work ok. I like having a variety of games to play depending on my mood - 3 seems a good limit. But when I do play each, I make sure to focus on that particular game for a while and not let myself get distracted by the others.
I just had to restart Skyrim (again), but I am determined to beat the main storyline this time. I have hundreds of hours in this game and I’ve played just about every side quest. On those rare moments I stumble into a new dungeon, I just absorb each step, soaking it all in.
I almost never complete games. There are even ones I do basically complete but I will basically put it on hold as I like open world games and I just want to do a few more things. harry potter and cyberpunk are the two recent notables. I actually restarted cyberpunk with the dlc update as the skill system totally changed so now im real far from completion. harry potter I technically finished but it has an ending and then a super ending and I have not done the final capstone ending thing.
I recently went and replayed the DLCs of AC3 and Odyssey, which I’d quit for various reasons. Particularly in the case of Odyssey, Open World Fatigue played a role: I couldn’t be arsed to explore everything anymore, but neither could I bear to leave anything open.
I decided to just go for the missions, to not worry about over optimising my choices, to not worry about cleaning out every little question mark and chest and finishing every location. I finished them, enjoyed my time and found new freedom in not having to draw out the maximum amount of game time for my money.
I think that’s a fair way to play a game like that. I like to explore as much as possible, but when there’s a ridiculous amount of side content don’t feel guilty for playing the bits that interest you most. The game was probably designed assuming most people would skip the majority of the extras.
Over all I agree, with the one major exception being playing a new Fromsoft game. It’s only so often I get to explore a new souls game blind, and that is something I take the time to savor, so long as I can avoid spoilers.
Elden ring was the first one that my girlfriend and I got to play new / blind together, and it was one of the best times I’ve ever had gaming.
We are doing that again with the DLC now and having a great time.
I’m yet to play Elden Ring, but a friend offered to lend me the PS5 disc. So many people have told me it’s great, can’t wait to experience it.
That’s the great thing about being a patient gamer: games are usually cheaper, so I don’t feel obligated to get every ounce of value from it.
I use guides a lot if the game stops being fun. If it’s still not fun with the guide, I drop it. Most of the games I play cost $5-10, with a handful being $20-30 and a very small number being more than that (just bought
Cities: Skylines 2for <$40, which is the most I’ve spent in years on a game). So if a game ends up sucking or not being long enough, I don’t feel like I’ve been cheated, I mentally appreciate the time I spent with it and move on.What helped me was creating labels for my game library:
- done - maybe completed, maybe not, but I have no interest in revisiting
- replay - was fun and I could probably enjoy it again, but I’m done with it for now
- play next - games I’m excited to play soon
- maybe later - kind of interesting, but not right now
- probably never - I didn’t give it a solid shake, but I also don’t think it’s worth spending time on; maybe I’ll sift through if I’m bored
If I have a long break, I’ll install a handful from “maybe later” and see if I find a gem. If I’m strapped from time, I’ll pull from “play next,” which is where I’m much more likely to find something fun. If I’m feeling nostalgic, “replay” is right over there.
if you’re struggling with your backlog
IMO, stop calling it a backlog. Organize stuff by how interested you are, and play stuff when you feel excited to play. I have hundreds of games collected over years of buying way too many bundles, and there’s absolutely no way I’m playing through them all. So I organize them by interest and play when I have a spare minute.
Your labelling system is a good idea! I do have plenty of games from bundles, but I only add the ones to my library that I’m actually interested in. So everything in my backlog is something I want to play at some point. Personally I don’t feel that there is any negative connotation to the word backlog, but maybe that’s because mine is full of stuff I intend to play.
I have a spreadsheet listing the games I’ve got to play, and whilst I do usually set an ‘up next’, this can change depending on how I’m feeling at the time. So it’s rare that I play a game I don’t like or doesn’t fit my mood :)
I’ve just seen far too many people express a sense of guilt about their unplayed games and an obligation to play them all. There’s also the “completionist” group who need to get every achievement in every game they have. Both are unhealthy IMO.
But yeah, I don’t see any negatives to the term “backlog,” provided you don’t intend to actually play all of them.
I personally do it because I get “analysis paralysis” where I just freeze up and don’t play anything if the list is too long. So I keep my “play next” list pretty short (like 10-20 games), which also forces me to be a bit more critical about my intentions to play a game.
Yeah definitely, wanting to complete every game 100% is a bit much. I’ll only ever do the side content that I actually enjoy. Ratchet and Clank: RA was great for this as it was easy and fun to complete everything (hence it being the only game I’ve managed to get all the trophies for).
In terms of keeping my to-play list short, I’ve done a pretty good job of not buying any games in Steam sales recently. Because 99% of the time they’ll be on sale again in the near future - buying them now only causes paralysis like you say.
Same. I actually did pick up 5 games in this Steam Summer sale, but most are pretty short experiences that I’ll blow through on my Steam deck, and the other is
Cities: Skylines 2, because people are claiming they’ve fixed the issues. But on net, I’ve played more this year so far than I’ve bought, so I think I’m not wasting my money on my new purchases.
Thanks for the encouragement to just jump in and do stuff, gaming and otherwise.
I’ve found myself having a hard time finding dedicated time to play games (i.e. without worrying about something else “over my shoulder”) and I’ve also found myself seemingly unable to “learn” new genres of games despite my wanting to get into them (so I often end up playing genres I’m already familiar with). I suspect these are related, and I also suspect that just jumping in and doing stuff more spontaneously will probably help improve things.
It does feel so easy to get distracted nowadays with the infinite amount of content available online. If you’re pretty certain that there’s a game you’ll enjoy - yes, just give it a go rather than putting it off. If you don’t find yourself enjoying it, at least you gave it a go! On the other hand, maybe you’ll have found a new favourite genre.
Best of luck :)
I have so many games in my steam backlog at this point that I really need to get through, maybe I should try your method of setting time constraints. I usually just end up replaying the same few games over and over again, but maybe if I had a time constraint to worry about I’d get through my backlog finally
It works for me at least, and I guess it can’t hurt to try. Best of luck!
