2021 Backlog Thread

JujuFish

Lifer
Feb 3, 2005
10,999
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Conquer those backlogs! Make a plan!

2021 edition





I present to you all my 2021 list:

Subnautica
Outer Wilds
The Outer Worlds
Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Ori and the Blind Forest
CrossCode
Assassin's Creed Odyssey
Super Mario Sunshine
Legend of Grimrock*
Celeste*
Indivisible*
* picked by friends

Inspired by @GodisanAtheist 's comments, I am going to treat this list a little differently in 2021. I am not going to make myself complete any game on this list. Instead, I will use it as a "try this game out" list. If I like what I'm doing, I'll probably play to completion. But I'm not going to feel compelled to complete anything, which should also make me more likely to start playing them (in previous years, I would sometimes hesitate to start a game because I felt obligated to finish them and I wasn't sure if I wanted that level of commitment).

I'm sure I'll end up playing other games than this in 2021. I know, for example, Psychonauts 2 is going straight to the top when that comes out. But my goal is to at least *try* every game on this list in 2021. I've already started Jedi Fallen Order and am having a good time with it, so we're off to a good start!
 
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GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
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Thanks @JujuFish.

2021 "12 games I must try from my backlog" list (not including 2 I started in 2020 but will finish soon).

Dead Space (Completed)
The Talos Principle (Completed)
FarCry 3: Blood Dragon (Completed)
Metal Dead (Completed)
Inside (Completed)
Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition
(Completed)
Broforce (Completed)
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Completed)
Dishonored 2 (Completed)
Pyre (Completed)
Expendabros (Completed)
Castle Crashers (Completed)

Darksiders 2 (Currently Playing)

Batman: Arkham Origins
Alan Wake
Kingdoms of Amalur: Awakening (Completed)
Shadowrun: Dragonfall (Completed)

Assassin's Creed
Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath (Completed)
Darksiders (Completed)

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus (Completed)
Hollow Knight
Ori and the Blind Forest (Completed)
The Banner Saga (Completed)


I think I have a pretty good mix of FPS/TPS/Hack n Slash/TBS etc.

I wonder if I'll have as much time to play and complete games as I did in 2020 as presumably we'll be moving past the pandemic.
 
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BFG10K

Lifer
Aug 14, 2000
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No backlog here, aside from Metro Last Light, courtesy of a GOG freebie. I'll start it in the next few days.
 

Stg-Flame

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2007
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I can't plan games since I play only what looks like fun. There's an easy 100+ games on my backlog that I'm slowly working through, but even if I know I'll enjoy the game, I have to be in the mood for that specific genre, otherwise it will just feel like work and I'll likely put it down before too long. I just started Hades and the game is amazing, but I'm not sure I was in the mood to play another Supergiant game and I feel like I'm going to burn out pretty quick. Luckily it's really easy (which is odd) so I'm moving pretty quick through it.
 

Igo69

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Apr 26, 2015
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Well hopefully CDPR fixes Cyberpunk and i'll start playing it again and maybe Dying Light 2.
 

rivethead

Platinum Member
Jan 16, 2005
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Grim Dawn (I'm on my Ultimate difficulty playthrough....so almost "done" unless I want to try hardcore mode (perma-death) and/or pick up the DLC (which I will do eventually).

Transistor (going to buy today - last day of the Steam Winter sale).

Tyranny (another run - different class/faction allegiance/ending).

Tropico 3 or 4 (tried one...couldn't get into it but I'll try again).

FTL

Dirt Showdown and/or F1 2018 (I'm sure I'll play a "racing" game at some point).

Thief Gold (I know there's a ton of modding involved to get it to run - that's why I've avoided it)

Saints Row 2 or 3 (same as Thief Gold - modding required).

Well that's my 2021 backlog "target" list as of today.
 

GodisanAtheist

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Nov 16, 2006
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Ok, completed Dead Space.

Wanted something a but more light/goofy.

Fired up Kingdoms of Amalur and Darksiders.

KOA has a nice soft WoW-ish look to it with some gorgeous scenery and environmental design on top, but sort of feels like an MMO without any of the other people with more of an ARPG bent to it.

Darksiders is certainly goofy as hell, but feels like a hugely watered down DmC from a gameplay perspective. I'll keep chipping away at it to see if the game opens up more, but from the intro level I kinda feel like I already played a better version of this already.
 

Stg-Flame

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Mar 10, 2007
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Fired up Kingdoms of Amalur
That's one game I really wish I could go back and finish but holy hell that game is LONG. I think I logged 50 hours before I even made it to the river city and I still had an easy 20 sidequests lingering from past towns that I still had not finished. I played it on PS3 but I also own it on PC, so maybe I'll go back if there's some suitable mods. It was a fun game, but I just didn't have the time.
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
82,854
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I;ve played the Dragon Quest 2 Builders Demo many times. I should probably buy it.

PSA: The demo is HUGE. Theres three islands in the final game and the demo gives you pretty much full access to the first, small island. And theres a lot of stuff to do.
 

GodisanAtheist

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That's one game I really wish I could go back and finish but holy hell that game is LONG. I think I logged 50 hours before I even made it to the river city and I still had an easy 20 sidequests lingering from past towns that I still had not finished. I played it on PS3 but I also own it on PC, so maybe I'll go back if there's some suitable mods. It was a fun game, but I just didn't have the time.

- That's turning into my big issue with A LOT of these open world RPG-esq type of games. I appreciate some quality content for my money but holy hell do some of these games just string out the level-ups and upgrade carrots for the sake of a box blurb (100+ HOUR ADVENTURE!).

HLTB is saying the game is roughly 60 hours long, which means it will likely take me closer to 80 hours to complete knowing my pace. 80 hours of gaming to me basically means dedicating 3+ months of actual playtime to a single game, which I really do not feel like doing.

I think I'll keep KoA as my back-burner game that I'll slowly eat away at between playing and completing other titles. As is tradition in these types of games, its already thrown a bucketful of special made-up words just for this universe (Tuatha and Fae and Almar and all sorts of different courts and Jesus) and I'm starting to gloss over pretty quick, so I'm not too worried about keeping a handle on the story so long as the game gives me some soft fuzzy light escapism when I do get around to playing it.
 

repoman0

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Jun 17, 2010
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Shadow of the tomb raider — started for about an hour, pretty graphics and environments but isn’t drawing me in. Then again I’ve been kind of meh on the other new tomb raider games as well.

Hitman 2 — interesting so far, only have done the training. AI seems fairly smart and challenging but we’ll see. Feels a bit like work with all the challenges they want you to do.

Far Cry 5 — started a while back, who doesn’t like killing cultists. Didn’t particularly draw me in but I want to finish it.

Wolfenstein 2 — got it for like $8 recently, these are always fun

Divinity original sin 2 — TBD if this is my type of game but want to try

Complete Crash Bandicoot 4 .. long and challenging game, I’m 20 hours into it. Sold PS4 so need to finally find a PS5 to complete it.

There are a handful of PS5 games coming this year that will go to the top of the list when they come out, not aware of anything on PC.
 

rivethead

Platinum Member
Jan 16, 2005
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Darksiders is certainly goofy as hell, but feels like a hugely watered down DmC from a gameplay perspective. I'll keep chipping away at it to see if the game opens up more, but from the intro level I kinda feel like I already played a better version of this already.

Just my opinion, but Darksiders gets MUCH better as you go along and get more abilities (and start finding secrets).

That first city....I think it's more their attempt to just ease you into the action (almost a tutorial level). Once you get past that and the story starts to unfold and your "main" quest(s) are before you....it gets more interesting.

I remember with my Darksiders playthrough I actually started over after 2 or 3 hours because there was an achievement that was best earned in the first level AND because I started discovering some secrets and realized I probably had missed a few. So if achievements and completion are important to you, my suggestion would be: take your time and explore a bit before moving on. Now, I enjoy that aspect of games, but it's not for everyone.
 
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rivethead

Platinum Member
Jan 16, 2005
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I started Transistor. One hour in and I'm...not hooked. I was hoping it would be like Bastion which hooked me immediately. But after an hour in Transistor, I have no idea what I'm doing other than I'm a lady named "Red" with a talking sword and something bad has happened. I hope it gets better in a hurry.

But a bigger problem is: I can't stop playing Grim Dawn. I'm on Ultimate difficulty and getting my butt kicked often. I'm just now discovering how poorly I built my character - not focusing on one damage type, not focusing on resistances, not focusing on armor absorption, placing way too much value on legendary items......putting the majority of my attribute points into Cunning and not Physique.

"Fixing" these things is going to require grinding for some better gear, which I probably won't mind as there are few achievements/side quests I can go after and some faction rep I can build.

But darn, I should have read more "beginner guides" before starting as I think I've made every single noob mistake you can make!

I'm not really frustrated - I love the game and I love the fact that the path forward to victory in Ultimate requires better stat management than what I've done thus far. That level of depth is amazing.

But a little better luck from the RNG gods would be appreciated....
 

Stg-Flame

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2007
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I remember with my Darksiders playthrough I actually started over after 2 or 3 hours because there was an achievement that was best earned in the first level AND because I started discovering some secrets and realized I probably had missed a few. So if achievements and completion are important to you, my suggestion would be: take your time and explore a bit before moving on. Now, I enjoy that aspect of games, but it's not for everyone.
I'm glad you said this because once I'm done with Hades, I'll be starting up the Darksider games. I've had all three on Steam for a while, but never played any and I love exploration with secrets.

I started Transistor. One hour in and I'm...not hooked. I was hoping it would be like Bastion which hooked me immediately. But after an hour in Transistor, I have no idea what I'm doing other than I'm a lady named "Red" with a talking sword and something bad has happened. I hope it gets better in a hurry.
I couldn't get into Transistor either, but I've sunk about 300 hours in Bastion. Hades might be up your ally. It has definitely earned all of the praise it has received. Fantastic game, just like Bastion.
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
82,854
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I finished the Dragon Quest 2 Demo and I dont think I'll buy the full game.
Its like Minecraft with a small world and lots of quests. The quests are mostly boring crap, and there isnt very much stuff to do outside the quests. Also the combat is boring and tedious. Not recommended unless you desperately need a sandbox game in the Dragon Quest universe and dont care that it doesn't have very much Dragon Quest lore.
 

rivethead

Platinum Member
Jan 16, 2005
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I'm glad you said this because once I'm done with Hades, I'll be starting up the Darksider games. I've had all three on Steam for a while, but never played any and I love exploration with secrets.


I couldn't get into Transistor either, but I've sunk about 300 hours in Bastion. Hades might be up your ally. It has definitely earned all of the praise it has received. Fantastic game, just like Bastion.

Regarding Darksiders, I hope I'm not over-selling it. There ARE secrets to find/items to collect, a secret boss battle, but it's not Grim Dawn level of secrets. :)

And yeah, Hades is very high on my wish list.
 

Stg-Flame

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2007
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Is it on-par with Borderlands-type secrets? I generally regard the Borderlands series as the gold-standard for being rewarded for trying to reach the highest point on the map or jumping outside the boundaries because Gearbox usually put high level chests in areas I thought weren't possible to reach.
 

rivethead

Platinum Member
Jan 16, 2005
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Is it on-par with Borderlands-type secrets? I generally regard the Borderlands series as the gold-standard for being rewarded for trying to reach the highest point on the map or jumping outside the boundaries because Gearbox usually put high level chests in areas I thought weren't possible to reach.

Similar, but not on par. Darksiders has a bunch of collectibles....artifacts, chests, etc. and they scatter them throughout the world maps. They're often tucked behind balls or down semi-hidden paths that aren't immediately obvious. That's why taking it a bit slow and looking around can pay off.

For finding and collecting this stuff, you get buffs and steam achievements.

And there is a secret boss you definitely want to find and battle. He's a character.
 

GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
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Just my opinion, but Darksiders gets MUCH better as you go along and get more abilities (and start finding secrets).

That first city....I think it's more their attempt to just ease you into the action (almost a tutorial level). Once you get past that and the story starts to unfold and your "main" quest(s) are before you....it gets more interesting.

I remember with my Darksiders playthrough I actually started over after 2 or 3 hours because there was an achievement that was best earned in the first level AND because I started discovering some secrets and realized I probably had missed a few. So if achievements and completion are important to you, my suggestion would be: take your time and explore a bit before moving on. Now, I enjoy that aspect of games, but it's not for everyone.

- I am starting to get in the flow of DS a bit as a move further out from the "tutorial" intro portion, but the game is definitely taking its sweet sweet time revealing its mechanics and secrets. An hour + in and I'm still being introduced to items and upgrades and abilities... and I've just been more or less mashing X this whole time.

Never the less, the combat system *so far* looks like its built around evasion rather than parry/riposte (although I was just introduced to the timed block mechanic, lets see where that leads) which is decently fun although it does lead to a certain amount of fighting the camera.
 

Stg-Flame

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2007
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Finished the story on Hades in under 50 hours. Fun game but once you've finished the story, it just becomes achievement hunting and I don't really care about maxing out all my keepsakes simply to max them out. Got all the hidden aspects though, so there's that. Onto the next one I suppose.
 

JujuFish

Lifer
Feb 3, 2005
10,999
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Finished the story on Hades in under 50 hours. Fun game but once you've finished the story, it just becomes achievement hunting and I don't really care about maxing out all my keepsakes simply to max them out. Got all the hidden aspects though, so there's that. Onto the next one I suppose.
Sounds like a worthwhile investment. Now if only I liked roguelikes/lites.
 

Stg-Flame

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Mar 10, 2007
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Sounds like a worthwhile investment. Now if only I liked roguelikes/lites.
If you enjoyed Bastion, you'd love Hades. Great story, outstanding voice acting, very smooth gameplay/combat, and with the quick rooms, it doesn't get very repetitive. It has an amazing amount of replay value and it's definitely a game I'll go back to soon. The only roguelike aspect is the room rewards are randomized and the room layouts are different every time, but there is no set path that leads to the boss. After a set number of rooms, you'll reach the boss regardless of what rooms you've chosen to visit. After each encounter, you're usually given two different rooms to choose from with the rewards listed above each room. There are plenty of different room rewards from boons (Olympian god powers), health, extra customizations for your weapon, damage buffs, or resource rewards. There's also the fact that all the Olympian gods have duo boons that will merge with other god's boons to give new effects.
 

GodisanAtheist

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Nov 16, 2006
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Ok, so looking to change gears after DS, I started playing The Banner Saga.

There is a lot to like here: Turn Based Strategy (makes me weak in the knees), incredible visual style, a sort of weird "Oregon Trail" style meta game, not sure about the story yet (sounds like it's another "ancient evil scourge awakened" sort of thing) but I like the characters and the story's propensity of bouncing around between characters and plot lines.

The combat system seems a little convoluted just for the sake of being different, but it's pretty easy to grasp and work with although it's somewhat counter intuitive (keep enemies alive but weakened until the last few rounds of a fight to deliver the coup de grace).

Going to stick with this one I think...
 

Stg-Flame

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2007
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Just finished Darksiders 2. Not sure if I want to start Darksiders 3 now or move onto something else. Been wanting to run through another TES game for a while and I've never beaten Skyrim, so I'm thinking maybe a heavily-modded run through that or maybe something else.
 

rivethead

Platinum Member
Jan 16, 2005
2,635
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I think I've already given up on any hope of getting through any games that were in my backlog on 12/31/2020.

I can't stop playing Grim Dawn. I ended up buying Forgotten Gods to go along with Ashes of Malmouth. I've played through both DLCs once and I know I missed a lot of secrets. I'm going a hardcore run and I'm up to level 94 but still in Act III of the base game. So much fun!

And after that....well I just bought The Witcher III game of the year edition and that's sitting there screaming at me to be played.

It's going to be awhile before I touch my backlog (Thief Gold is probably at the top of the list).