Well, that’s the theory anyway. It’s an idea that came up in a semi-recent (maybe several months ago now though!) conversation with Emily, to try this out again.
I’ve done it before. But… It had issues.
Well… One key one: I tended to add games more quickly than I played and removed them.
This showed up in a few different ways though:
- Adding new games to my library more quickly than I was clearing through the ones already on the list.
- Playing a game on the list, but not through to the point where I was happy to remove it.
“I’ll come back to this one again soon,” I would tell myself. Rarely was I correct. - New whims entered the picture, and leading me to play something else entirely.
Do you know what’s different this time around?
No, me neither. It would appear the answer is ‘Nothing’.
Here’s my current view of what I think I will ‘Play Soon’, sorted by when the game in question first entered my library. (Except for the FTP titles First Descendant and Once Human, and with a call out to Elden Ring that it doesn’t update that date following DLC purchase.)
16 titles. 16 big, chunky titles, with various levels of previous attention given.
Things like Cyberpunk 2077 and Red Dead Redemption II, I’ve actually put some serious hours in, in the past. But I’ve finished neither of them, and Cyberpunk has had massive patches and an expansion since I last touched it.
So far as experience given goes though, they don’t hold a candle to The Talos Principle II, where I have finished it (the main game, at least) and just haven’t gone to see the ending. … Although the reason that’s true, is because I want to do all the super sekrit special gold door puzzles from each area. I was perhaps a little less than halfway through doing those before something else dragged my attention away.
Jedi Survivor is kinda there too, I think, but when it came out (and for a long while after) there was a certain area that was very crashy on PC. It wasn’t even the first area like it actually — but was the worst I’d seen, so put it aside for patching. I’d still like to finish it though…
Oh, and I just finished Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree — so unless I do infact decide to go back for the two optional bosses I know I’ve missed, I could take that one off. Ooh, or unless I start a NG+ run… But will I? Should I, given everything else here?
Then at the other end of the experience scale; I’ve not touched Hellcard at all yet. I’d like to though!
Anywho, I don’t really have a ‘solution’ for this. I’m also not convinced it needs one. Backlogs don’t have to be battles to be won, but rather, I think, should be considered a library to peruse as whim dictates. More of a ‘To Read’ pile (which, you will probably be shocked to discover, I also don’t follow very closely and constantly add new discoveries in ahead of things I’ve been ‘wanting to read’ for years. xD)
This was posted during Blaugust 2024, the annual blogging event hosted by Belghast. Blaugust is an event aiming to welcome new blogger blood into the fold and revitalise those who’ve been at it a little longer.
The Blaugust Discord is still available to join in, year-round!
