Tildes' Backlog Burner Event: Shrink your unplayed games list this April!
What is this?
First off, this is NOT an April Fool (I promise!). I know that many of us will be stuck at home for this month, I know that many of us could likely use something to pull our attention away from the news, and I know that many of us have accumulated quite the to-play list of games. As such, I'm thinking it could be fun for us to tackle those lists together and collectively clean up our clutter! Let's all burn through our backlogs!
The goal isn't necessarily to completely clear them, just to put a dent in them.
How does it work?
Your "backlog" is all those games you've been meaning to play or get around to, but never have yet! For the purposes of this event, an item can be removed from your backlog in one of three ways:
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Finished: you completed the game, or, for open-ended games, reached some level of "done" that you consider satisfactory
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Moved On: you tried it out, but it didn't hold your interest, got repetitive, wasn't for you, or had some other issue (like compatibility problems or glitches)
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Removed: you are choosing to remove this from your backlog without playing it, likely because it no longer interests you, but really for any reason at all.
Use this thread to talk about your backlogs, plan for the month, and once you start playing, inform us of any backlog downsizing and their associated categories. Give us a list of the games you removed. Tell us why you moved on from what you were just playing. Gush about how a particular item held your interest long enough to see it through. The goal of this isn't to beat every game you own; it's to explore what you already have in the way that's best, and most meaningful, for you. If you're not enjoying a game, dump it and move on!
If you're not sure what you might write, take a look at a previous backlog post to get an idea. Also if you want to keep track of statistics or anything else like that, go for it!
What's the timeline?
I will post an update thread weekly, each Wednesday, for the four weeks of April. At the end of the month, I think it would be neat to tally how many collective games we all removed from our backlogs, as well as what the best finds were from our collective digging into our libraries. I expect we'll turn up some good hidden gems, as well as interesting insights.
Each week, I'll also include some "focus" areas which can help narrow down choices for what to play. Those are just recommendations for fun, however. Play whatever you like, whenever you like, however you like! If it's in your backlog, then it's automatically a good choice!
Do I need to sign up?
You don't have to do anything to officially join or participate in the event other than post in these threads! Participate in whatever way works for you. Also, because this is ongoing, it is okay to make more than one top-level post if you're updating the thread with new information.
Focuses for Week 1:
- Games you've been meaning to play for more than a year
- Games you can mod
- "Evening-size" games
Let's burn through these backlogs!
Meta Note: I am also running this same event for ~books as well. I am not active in the other media-focused communities on Tildes, but I encourage someone(s) to pick this up and run it concurrently for ~movies, ~tv, ~anime, and/or ~music (and any other places you think it might fit). I like the idea of it being sitewide, with people participating in their media formats of choice. Any runners for those groups have my full permission to steal this wholesale, tweak it for their target group, and post it there.
My gaming backlog is embarrassingly large due to the efforts of sites like Humble Bundle which are remarkably good at separating me from my money. It's at the point that I don't really see myself as having a backlog so much as I consider my collection of games my own little library that I can dive into and explore.
So, rather than trying to zero out any sort of backlog, I've decided instead that I'm going to explore my library by "playing the alphabet" and going letter by letter, playing one game for each. I decided this because, outside of some ongoing games I'd played, I recently played AER: Memories of Old and then followed that up with Battle Chef Brigade. That those represented A and B was coincidental, but I've decided to follow the theme and start up this month with C, and keep going. This is also similar to what I've been doing with my reading habits (see the bottom) where I'm doing an "alphabet challenge" but going out of order.
Whether or not I get to the end of the alphabet by the end of the month for my games depends entirely on how much I get into each one. If I end up passing on a bunch, then I might make it to the end, but if each one pulls me in and I want to keep playing it, I might make it only halfway there. We'll see what happens.
Sounds like a plan!
Do you have some other letter planned? What's your (gaming)alphabet?
I initially started to plan out the letters in advance, but my gaming is very mood dependent, so I decided it's better to go on a letter-by-letter basis, looking through my library whenever I'm starting a new letter and seeing what strikes me at that moment.
I just finished Control, and with Animal Crossing I haven't gotten much progress done in other single player stuff in a while. I got a Short Hike when it was free on Epic, and I have a few other shorter games I need to cross off the list.
The Witcher 3 is probably my biggest, most zeitgeist-y game that I never got around to playing at the time. Maybe I'll start on that this weekend.
I just finished the dlc for control. What a great value, and there's a whole other dlc left for later!
That's good to hear. I was hesitant to buy it after I got stuck on rot13 Gung rapbhagre jvgu cbynevf va gur tvnag fcurer guvat naq nyy gur yvggyr Rgunaf sylvat nebhaq... nyzbfg guerj zl pbagebyyre n srj gvzrf
but now I'm back into it and am ready for the DLC (only $15!)
That part was pretty cool I thought. Def took me a few tries though! There's a pretty frustrating boss encounter in the dlc, but my recommendation is to use Pierce and hit the weak spot!
Yeah pierce is definitely my favorite of the service weapon modes I think... I guess other modes are just in there for personal preference, but some just don't seem as useful.
I kind of envy you a little bit, I'd love to experience Witcher from scratch again.
Hah, I've heard this a lot. I was a big fan of the first one and just never started the third (the second one was also fine but I didn't enjoy it as much).
I finished Zed over the weekend, which was slightly disappointing... I just wish the puzzles had been a bit more involved and hadn't just been fairly simple image-scramble bits. Otherwise the story/voice acting was pretty well done, and the visuals were compelling enough to keep me walking through it. Thankfully it was short (sub-2 hour).
I Don't think VR would've made a difference, as I said, the puzzles were the most disappointing/not interesting enough.
My first update:
Chime Sharp
Moved On after 10 minutes
It's not that there's anything inherently wrong with this game, it's just that I had no interest in playing it further than the little bit that I did. It's a bit like Tetris meets Jezzball, where you lay down tiles to create quadrilaterals to claim area on a big grid. The game is music-based, but not an outright rhythm game, and it did have some nice tracks. I can see how it's the kind of game you can get into a good flow with.
Dandara: Trials of Fear Edition
Moved On after 30 minutes
This one was actually a really impressive game. It's one I may come back to in the future to give another shot. It reminds me of Celeste in terms of its artwork and presentation and VVVVVV in its gameplay. Your main character can launch from surface to surface, sticking only to specifically identified areas of levels. It uses this main mechanic and sprawling level design to create a metroidvania with a very unique traversal method. I found that I loved the concept and execution of the game (it's very well made) but didn't love the gameplay itself. I also found it hard to mentally map the game and kept getting lost, even in the early areas.
Equilinox
Currently Playing, 60 minutes so far
This is an interesting, relaxing sandbox where you build up an ecosystem. Think SimCity but with nature instead of buildings. The game starts you out simple and has a quest system designed to act as a tutorial and also a guide, teaching you how to do different things in the game. It's very chill and relaxing, and has a wonderful soundtrack to accompany it. The game has started to get slightly more complex and I'm having a bit more difficulty getting to the next steps, but it seems like there isn't really a failstate, so even if I mess something up (as I have many times) I just have to wait for my resource generation to replenish my currency before I can give it another go. It seems like the kind of game that, once you get going, would be great to run in the background and check-in on every so often. It's kind of like a digital terrarium.
Equilinox
Ongoing, 3+ hours so far
Equilinox moved from something I was trying out to something I'm going to keep installed and come back to every so often. It's kind of like a clicker game, but in the best way possible. At it's basest level, you're slowly generating resources that you can spend to unlock new things, which help you generate new resources, which help you unlock new things, and so on. The game is richer than that though, and getting to sculpt your little ecosystem is great. It's nice and relaxing, and a perfect game to have on for audiobooks.
The Free Ones
Finished after 3.3 hours
This comes very, very close to being a "hidden gem". It's a 3D grappling hook adventure, very much in the vein of A Story About My Uncle, with some rail-riding sections that reminded me of Bioshock Infinite. When it's right, it's right. You soar and fly and it feels amazing when you nail the right movement sequence. When it's frustrating, it's frustrating. Sometimes the stuff you're supposed to grapple onto is pixel-thin, and at times the grapple's distance window feels super small. I got through some of the ending parts of the game by cheesing it and "landing" on surfaces that I wasn't supposed to.
The game held my interest enough for me to see it through, and I automatically give bonus points to any game that releases with a native Linux build.
Continuing my alphabet theme, I've decided on The Gardens Between for the letter G. I'm just now starting it up, so we'll see how it goes.
First Update: April 2019 was a pretty good bundle - I installed and played Northgard.
This is a nice little RTS game. You're a clan of vikings, and you expand outward in little hexes that can have a limited number of building in each hex. I haven't progressed very far, but I will probably continue to casually play this game. The first map is fairly easy in story mode, and the story itself is fairly good. +1 do recommend if you get it in a bundle or something.
Second Update: May 2019 had Assassin's Creed Origins. For some reason, this has never particularly interested me; I ended up gifting it to a friend. I played Wandersong instead!
Wandersong is a cute little platformer. You play as a bard; your primary weapon is your voice, and you have to pattern match patterns that you hear / see. That's your primary way to fight / interact with things. I didn't make it too far; the game is cute, but there are enough sidescrolling 2d platformers that I haven't finished that I don't anticipate playing this one much; I recently have gotten into Ink and Blasphemous, both of which I liked better than this. That said, this is really cute, and could be worth picking up if it's your type of game.
Ah, I was trying to do that, actually! Then Animal Crossing came out, lol.
But honestly, that's a great idea to do it in this format. I also have quite a few "evening-size" games for the occasion, according to howlongtobeat.com. Might do Hypnospace Outlaw. A Short Hike was also free on the Epic Store and it won lots of awards, maybe I'll check it out as well.
Yeah, I'm in the same boat but with M&B: Bannerlord. I can't stop playing it!!! :P
I've just begun playing Arx Fatalis for the first time, so it counts!
But I won't be able to clear all of my backlog by any means, it's bloody huge
Tackling my backlog is exactly how I've decided to tackle this quarantine business! I've just been picking a game and finishing at least a chapter or ~3 quests in it per session, with maybe 2-3 sessions a week.
I've just finished Doom: Eternal, it's was pretty great, although pacing towards the end of the game is somewhat off. But definitely a must-play if you're into FPS games.
I'm also half way through Control, going to finish this first and then move on to Ori and the Will of the Wisps.
Not sure what's after this, i've been meaning to do another playthrough of Hollow Knight, kind of miss that game. I also see people recommend Kentucky Route Zero, I have it in my library, so might check it out.
Just got hollow knight via the humble bundle. I know nothing about this game except people keep talking about it. Should I start with that or undertale?
Two completely different games, Undertale is unique in its genre and Hollow Knight is an exceptionally well made metroidvania (2D exploration platformer with complex combat mechanics).
I would start with Undertale, it's reasonably short, Hollow Knight will take you around 30 hours to complete.
Sounds like fun. I've been a humble monthly subscriber for a while, so maybe my plan will be to play at least one unplayed game from each bundle April 2019 - March 2020.
Finished Ori and the Will of the Wisps, it's more Ori, and if you liked that one, you'll like this one. High water mark was the first escape sequence, but it was a pretty fun game. I did play on Easy and felt pretty tanky, but all of the jumping challenges and instakills were pretty challenging. Also, fuck that sandworm.