Commit to your backlog thread - 2019-2020

[JujuFish]

2021 starts here: https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/2021-backlog-thread.2589123/




Partially inspired by @DigDog 's thread here about playing through your backlog instead of buying new games, as well as @BFG10K 's thread here about games you played in 2018.

I thought it might be fun for those of us with large backlogs to make a specific plan to play our games for the year. We could report back and see how we're all progressing throughout the year. This thread is not about preventing you from playing new games (I'll probably get Sekiro and The Outer Worlds sometime this year, for example), it's just about setting a goal for your backlog.

Personally, I'm going to pick 12 games (~1 per month), but this is just for fun, so feel free to pick any number you want.

Anyway, here's my initial list (I may change games out if I find out I'm not really enjoying one), in no particular order:

Batman: Arkham Knight
Assassin's Creed: Origins
Horizon: Zero Dawn
God of War
Life is Strange
LIMBO
A Hat in Time
FEZ
Half-Life (I know, I know. I started this a few times over the years but never finished it.)
Snake Pass
Metal Gear Solid V
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

 

[you2]

Playing assassin creed odyssey - my first assassin creed. It is ok - the controls can be a bit wonky at time during combat.

 

[PlanetJosh]

Sorry but I get sidetracked by new games. Especially ones that are jaw dropping awesome like Witcher 3. But I grew tired of it when RDR2 came out and I was in heaven. But it wore out a bit when Horizon Zero Dawn for the pc showed up. But now that's on the sidelines while I take a quickie looksee into Crysis Remastered. Maybe a little longer look because of hardware ray tracing. When the new AC sequel and the sequel for Cyberpunk come out then the story will repeat itself.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Ok, played through a couple "popcorn" games. Feel like my appetite is ready for something a bit more epic.

Looking at the following games on deck, if you have any strong feels toward one of these games I'd love to hear it:

Fallout 3 - Normally dislike Bethsoft games, but I really enjoyed both Skyrim and FO:NV (Oblivion, I know, I know).

Pillars of Eternity - I really enjoyed Tyranny and I have a bit of a soft spot for older Infinity Engine games (especially PlaneScape: Torment)

Kingdoms of Amalur- Soft graphics and skinner box MMO gameplay look like they would make for a relatively relaxing game to play.

Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Turn Based, very cool setting. Played the DLC for Shadowrun returns for a bit but would want to restart on the standalone game.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Started up Pillars of Eternity and Fallout 3 GOTY (huge pain in the ass to get running now that GFWL install servers are down, so I'm committed to this one at this point).

Finding both games to be extremely fun in their own ways, with Pillars taking me way back to that feeling of wonder and fantasy the old Infinity engine games brought. Since I played and loved New Vegas and Skyrim first, I'm interested to see how Bethsoft rolls out their iteration of the Fallout world.

 

[bguile]

All of these games I have started but never finished for whatever reasons.

Witcher 2 and Witcher 3 (really just playing them to see what the fuss is all about. I watched the show on Netflix also but still not too interested in them)
Batman Arkham City, Arkham Origins and Arkham Knight. (I enjoy all these games, but never could finish any of them)
Dark Souls 3 (was playing co-op with another person for awhile, but never finished it)
Divinity Original Sin 2 (people say this is an all time great rpg, but I only managed to get past the tutorial then got overwhelmed and lost interest)
Graviteam Tactics: Mius-Front. I want to like this game, but I have to force myself to sit down and learn the controls and just haven't been able to do it.
Grand Theft Auto IV and V. About 1/2 way done with both of them. I loved GTA San Andreas, and the two newer ones are not as fun to me as that one.
Mass Effect Andromeda. (I'm almost done I think. But I hate this game now. It started out pretty good, then got old fast after the first planet. I hate the story and the stupid remnant, and I just want to side with the Kett now. I hate the Initiative. I hate all my companions and the dumb stuff they get me into. I hate turning in a few missions thinking I am making progress, only to get bombard with 10 more missions, or get completely side tracked because one of companions has an urgent request on the other side of the galaxy at a planet I have been to 4 times already). I even hate exploring the systems.

I'll try and finish these, but I'll probably just go back to playing the Dragon Age games again.

Yea I am replying to myself, just to update. I have failed in getting caught up in my backlog for various reasons. If there was ever a year to do it, it would have been 2020 so it looks like most these games will never get completed. Actually added more games that I still haven't even started.

Witcher 2 and Witcher 3 - Tried but couldn't really get into them.
Batman Arkham City, Arkham Origins and Arkham Knight. Actually got two of these done.
Divinity Original Sin 2 - Same as witcher, it just didn't interest me. Will never play it I think.
Graviteam Tactics: Mius-Front - Still working on
Grand Theft Auto IV and V - Still would like to finish these...maybe in 2021.
Mass Effect Andromeda - F this game. I pushed on farther than I did before, but I just hate it too much.
added to the list.

Far Cry 5: Started it but lost interest. It's not bad..but just didn't do much for me.
Borderlands 3: - Need to finish the DLC's and try a harder Mayhem mode
Control - Same as Far Cry 5.
Outerworlds = Haven't even started
Solasta alpha - Will probably finish when game comes out.
Pathfinder:Wrath of the Righteous alpha - Spent a large amount of time on this, really looking forward to the finished product.
Elite Dangerous - Have been playing since 2018? At this point I am just grinding out money for a carrier which I am about 1 billion or so short of. It's fun to play in VR, but I am waiting on a flight stick
Star Wars Squadrons - Same as elite ... waiting on a flight stick.

 

[pmv]

Dammit, am wrestling with the demon of temptation (maybe it would be better called the FOMO demon? or the OCD monster?) in the face of the current Steam sale. Still have a vast backlog, and get a sinking feeling every time I consider firing a game up...yet am tempted to buy still more, because, you know, soon the prices will go up to stupid money again. Namely the later Far Cry games and Assassins Creed games.

Goddam Steam and their cunning psychological tricks. I even started copying them when trying to sell stuff on Ebay myself - lower the asking price for a while, then put it back up again. Randomly raise and lower the asking price, even sometimes raising it to absurd levels - hoping that the next time I lower it, potential purchasers will panic and feel they have to leap in before it goes up again.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Dammit, am wrestling with the demon of temptation (maybe it would be better called the FOMO demon? or the OCD monster?) in the face of the current Steam sale. Still have a vast backlog, and get a sinking feeling every time I consider firing a game up...yet am tempted to buy still more, because, you know, soon the prices will go up to stupid money again. Namely the later Far Cry games and Assassins Creed games.

Goddam Steam and their cunning psychological tricks. I even started copying them when trying to sell stuff on Ebay myself - lower the asking price for a while, then put it back up again. Randomly raise and lower the asking price, even sometimes raising it to absurd levels - hoping that the next time I lower it, potential purchasers will panic and feel they have to leap in before it goes up again.

- A lot of games on my wishlist are on a "new low" sale price that crosses the buy theshold for me... But it's important to remember that we'll be getting another sale in short order here at the end of December (Winter Sale) and that you never have to wait more than a few months for something to go on sale.

Personally, I set the winter sale as the time to buy-up for the upcoming year, as I tend to already be in a spending mindset and quite a few good games are on a decent discount to pump up bottom lines for the year.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

I've fires up a couple different games at the moment to see what's pulling me in.

Halo Combat Evolved in the MCC, but the problem with the Halo games is my love for them is rooted in the absolutely incredible couch co-op aspect of them. Playing it solo is a solid kick of nostalgia, but it's hard to capture the feeling without going through it with one of the bros at my side.

Fired up Talos Principle, and I think I'm riding this one to the end. What an absolute monster chill of a game (I'm only on the 4th or 5th puzzle zone). So far it's a bunch of clever little puzzles set in ancient greco-roman ruins. I am at near total peace as I play this game, it's way more Myst than Portal.

Decided to launch Dead Space today as well, been on my list a while. We'll see how the game unfolds, reasonably fun so far, have to tweak some of the settings so the game wouldn't be framelocked at 30FPS.

Might fire up Darksiders to see if the dead space survival horror or God of war hack n slash is my jam right now as a counterweight to Talos Principle.

 

[Soulmetzger]

Would have loved to try and hit some backlog but it was nice of my gtx1080 to start dying two months ago. Hopefully the 3060 dropping soon will fix that.

Next games on my list that i've never played is either GTA V or Evil Within 2.

 

[JujuFish]

With less than 3 weeks to go, how are we all doing?

I've finished...6 games on my list. I'm working on The Walking Dead: Season Two, so I should finish with 7 done. Not great, but there's always next year.

 

[you2]

I'm still slugging away at assassin creed odyssey; does it ever end ?

 

[Fenixgoon]

With less than 3 weeks to go, how are we all doing?

I've finished...6 games on my list. I'm working on The Walking Dead: Season Two, so I should finish with 7 done. Not great, but there's always next year.

games i've finished this year:

fell seal: arbiter's mark
NWN2: Storm's of Zehir
Warhammer 40k: Inquisitor Martyr/Prophecy
Middle Earth: Shadow of War
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak
Book of Demons
Darksiders 3 (again)

I feel like there are 1 or 2 other's I'm missing. Currently playing (but doubt I'll beat before 2021) Pathfinder: Kingmaker. Good game, beautiful graphics, and very challenging on "normal"

 

[GodisanAtheist]

With less than 3 weeks to go, how are we all doing?

I've finished...6 games on my list. I'm working on The Walking Dead: Season Two, so I should finish with 7 done. Not great, but there's always next year.

-I have actually been coming back to the post I made here at the start of the year and keeping track of the games on or off my list that I've completed.

I am absolutely crushing it this year at 14 games completed, and I might scratch another one or two off that list by years end.

I've really taken my list as a suggestion rather than forcing myself to only play games on the list, and that has sometimes involved firing up a few different games at the same time and seeing which one grabs my interest.

If nothing does anything for me, I just walk away from games for a couple weeks and then try something else.

It's wild to see how many startlingly good games I already own, which makes me wonder why I'm always chasing after new games in a Steam sale. FOMO is real I guess...

My 2020 list (including some leftovers from 2019), without further ado:

Fallout 3 (Completed)
Dark Souls (Won't Do)
Crysis Warhead (Completed)
Lost Planet (Completed)
The Stanley Parable (Completed)
Max Payne
Pillars of Eternity
Rage (Completed)
Tomb Raider 2013
Dead Space
Kingdoms of Amalur
Shadowrun: Dragonfall

Bioshock 2: Remastered (Completed)
Torchlight 2 (Completed)
Dawn of War 2: Chaos Rising (Completed)
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (Completed)
Doom 2016 (Completed)
Prince of Persia 2008 (Completed)
The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings EE (Completed)
Spec Ops: The Line (Completed)
Prototype (Completed)

 

[rivethead]

Darksiders II
Dark Souls III
Dragon Age II
Dead Space II

I'm also wanting to give Serious Sam 3 another go now that they mucked with it.

Finished all of them except Serious Sam 3 which I never touched. And I enjoyed each one. 2020 was a win.

 

[JujuFish]

Finished up The Walking Dead Season Two. 7/12 games done. Yes, the year's not over, but my 2021 list is speaking to me more than my remaining choices for 2020.

I've really taken my list as a suggestion rather than forcing myself to only play games on the list, and that has sometimes involved firing up a few different games at the same time and seeing which one grabs my interest.

I might do the same with my list in 2021. That said, I've already made up a list of 12, and I think I might get started soon, since I'm itching to play one of them.

 

[Stg-Flame]

I'm starting the Dungeons series on Steam and so far, it's pretty fun but it doesn't explain hardly anything. Anytime I ask a question on the discussions, I'm immediately given the same "this isn't Dungeon Keeper so stop thinking it is!!!!11!" despite not knowing anything about this Dungeon Keeper game.

Edit: Uninstalled Dungeons and am trying Dungeons 3. On the fifth mission, it just became way too tedious for me to enjoy with the limited time I have. I've read the third game is more polished and much faster-paced, so we will see if it's worth going back and finishing the original and the second game at some point.

 

[shortylickens]

Tried a couple games on my bucket list.
Didnt like them.
Went and started another session of Ghost Recon Wildlands.
I just love shooting dudes in thermal vision.

 

[Ajay]

Doing the F2P Destiny 2. Not sure if I like it yet.

 

[JujuFish]

It wasn't on my 2020 list, but I started and beat Opus Magnum over the extended weekend. So much easier than SpaceChem (another game by developer Zachtronics), which I got stuck at one point and didn't get back to. Still quite fun to play, though. Definitely recommended for puzzle fans.

 

[JujuFish]

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!

 

[GodisanAtheist]

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!

- Should make a new thread, leave everything 2020 behind...

 

[JujuFish]

- Should make a new thread, leave everything 2020 behind...

Your wish is my command. https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/2021-backlog-thread.2589123/