Tildes' 2022 Backlog Burner Event: It Begins!
The event has officially started! Let's burn through these backlogs!
Use this thread to post about the games that you play!
Also, a quick note about thread etiquette: It is fine to make multiple top-level posts throughout the week if you play multiple games. It is also fine to respond to yourself with updates if you're continuing a single game and want to talk more about it as you go!
What is this?
Your "backlog" is all those games you've been meaning to play or get around to, but never have yet! This event is an attempt to get us to collectively dig into that treasure trove of experiences!
How do I participate?
Choose a game (or several) from your backlog and play it/them. Then tell us about your experiences in the discussion thread for the week! If you're not sure what you might write, take a look at a previous backlog post or our previous Backlog Burner event in 2020 to get an idea. Also if you want to keep track of statistics across the whole event or anything else like that, go for it!
Do I need to finish the games I play?
Nope! Not at all. There aren't really any requirements for the event so much as this is an incentive to get us to play games we've been avoiding starting up, for whatever reason. Play as much or as little as you like of a given game. Try out dozens for ten minutes each or dive into one for 40 hours. There's no wrong way to participate!
What's the timeline?
I will post an update thread weekly, each Tuesday, for the four weeks of February. 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.
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.
I'm not finished my first game yet, but hopefully I'll be able to make a proper post about it tomorrow or Thursday. I decided that I'm going to use a not-very-restrictive theme of "indie 2D retro side-scrollers" and try to finally finish at least a few of the ones I've had in my backlog for a long time. There are a lot of great games in that vague category, and they're often fairly short, so I'm hoping to be able to get through one or two a week. The first one I'm playing is Cyber Shadow—I started it over the weekend, and I'm probably about halfway through now.
Anyone else planning to do a theme with their game choices? How are you picking the games you want to play?
I've got a long list of stuff that would constitute an actual "backlog" -- games that I have been definitely meaning to play and will get around to at some point. Ironically, I'm putting that on hold for the month.
Instead, I'm wanting this month to be a spontaneous deep dive into my Steam library, where I surface games I didn't even realize I had. Thus, I'm using a spreadsheet to pull batches of 10 random unplayed games from my Steam library and choosing one of them -- prioritizing less well-known games or, if everything is unfamiliar, those with fewer Steam reviews.
My hope for the month is to try out some interesting stuff, maybe find a few hidden gems, and submit a ton of ProtonDB reports for games that need them.
I have this problem with videogames: I really like them, but I am also easily frustrated. This happens in part due to my ADHD, which is so severe that makes it hard to even sit and play videogames. Being very "neurodiverse" (and possibly autistic) also means that I don't get many clues that others find trivial and obvious. That is frustrating.
There are rare exceptions, but I often play the first few hours of a game and give up when it loses its novelty or I get super stuck. It would be probably a good idea to just play short games, but sometimes I can't resist an interesting proposition.
According to howlongtobeat.com, The Outer Worlds is less than 30 hours. For most gamers, that's basically nothing. To me, that is still a challenge. I'm 10 hours in, but what I complete in 10 hours is probably something most players take half the time to accomplish.
I really like the game, and the fact that I can change the difficulty at any time makes me more likely to succeed. I wrote about this game before, and I'm really enjoying it. It has everything I like in the right measure -- that doesn't happen a lot. I'm finicky and hard to please. The games that I love are few, but I really love them to death. I don't think TOW is that good, but it doesn't step on my toes, that's for sure. This Tildes event certainly helps.
It's kinda weird that I have to put some effort in order to do something most people have trouble to stop doing, but what can I say, my brain is just weird :P
I've put myself into a bit of situation with this event. I have a lot of games, and I have a lot of duplicate games. Some games I've played on GOG, some I've played on Steam, some I've played on console, some I've played in the original release, some I've played in the final release, etc.
For this month, I will focus on playing games I have no time in on Steam (my biggest and most played platform), and I will do my best to reach back into the old memory hole and only choose games I have no recollection of playing in any form. To give myself a fighting chance, I created a dynamic collection of unplayed single player games, scrolled past the first couple years (to avoid relatively new purchases), and started plucking out a variety.
Here's my starting pool:
Half-Life: The original, not Source, not Black Mesa. I'd been meaning to play the other two versions, but figure you can't beat the original (plus the two ill-reputed expansions). I'm squidgy about horror, but it's old enough that it feels campy, rather than horrific, and I'm just getting out of Black Mesa right now. I'd started HL2 a few years ago, but got stuck in Ravenholm, so I may use this to play the series in order. I also like the autoaim for hitting the headcrabs, since they can be slippery little buggers.
I might sneak some Bioshock in, but I imagine I'm going to be taking HL/horror FPS breaks.
I'm taking a slightly different approach this first week which isn't the main aim of the event but I need to do to setup the others I want to play. I've got about halfway through both Assassins Creed: Rogue and Metro 2033. I've enjoyed them so far but I move a lot and they both suffered the same fate of not being picked up again once I was back with my pc. I'm looking forward to finishing them and then moving on to the next two Metro games afterwards if I've got the time for both this month.
I started playing the Halo Master Chief Collection, working my way through the games in chronological order. I've finished Reach, which I didn't really have strong feelings about, and now I'm on to mission 7 or 8 in Halo: CE. Boy, do they get hard!
I never owned any consoles growing up so I missed out on playing those games even though I was very big into gaming when they came out, so it's been fun to go back and play through what I've missed. I remember my friends talking about "the Covenant" and "the Flood" and now 20 years later I actually have an understanding of what those things are! It's been pretty fun!
I didn't do it for the Backlog Burner, but last week I played through all of Master Chief collection too, but coop with a buddy since we had never played Halo's campaigns before, only Halo multiplayer at LAN parties.
I was surprised by how hard it was on Normal difficulty too, and I am no slouch in the FPS department either. The story was much better than I expected as well. For some reason I thought it was just your garden variety humans vs aliens story, but it turned out to be more complicated than that, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Master Chief was a bit bland, especially since he didn't talk much, and his plot armor was a bit much at time. But it suited the game in the same way Gordon Freeman being totally silent badass does in Half Life; Them not saying much (or anything) allows you to imprint your own personality on them, and them being nigh invulnerable makes you feel that way too.
My only real complaint with the games was that I seriously could not get used to the lack of sprint, or only being able to sprint with a particular powerup equipped though. So I was greatly relieved when they added shift to sprint in Halo 4 without needing a powerup. Especially since in all the prior games I barely got to try any of the other powerups due to always feeling the need to keep sprint equipped.
For this Backlog Burner I decided to filter all my games in Playnite by their HowLongToBeat times using Playnite's HLTB extension, sort them by community scores, and then try to tear through as many as possible. My games collection is getting pretty rediculous at this point, with literally thousands of unplayed games in it, so I'm hoping that I can reduce that number by a few hundred by the end of the month. That's probably a bit unrealistic, but we shall see. :)
Games played on Feb 2
(MS = My Score, CS = Community Score, HTLB = HowLongToBeat, MPT = My Play Time)
The Supper
Super short, super straight-forward, point & click adventure game. No challenge whatsoever, but had great art, decent music, and tells an interesting little tale.
Steam (Free) - Itch.io ($Any) | MS = 65, CS = 94, HLTB = 21min, MPT = 23min
a new life.
Beautifully illustrated visual novel with a branching story about a lesbian relationship. It seemed quite good, but despite supposedly having 5 different endings the first one I landed on was way too depressing for me, so I decided to stop there since I am not in the mood for depressing right now.
Steam ($3.39) - Itch.io ($2.99) | MS = 70, CS = 91, HLTB = 47min, MPT = 9min
MANDAGON
Very relaxing, meditative, pixel-art exploration game full of Tibetan inspired themes. Also very straight-forward and no challenge whatsoever, but very pleasant and pretty.
Steam (Free) - Itch.io (Free) | MS = 65, CS = 91, HLTB = 37min, MPT = 31min
Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, And The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist
A very amusing narrative game from the makers of The Stanley Parable, made in the same style, narrated by Simon Amstell and Justin Roiland. After the Backlog Burner is over I will likely go back and 100% this game (which can take ~2 hours) like I also did for The Stanley Parable.
Steam (Free) - Itch.io ($Any) | MS = 85, CS = 91, HLTB = 25min, MPT = 19min
Marie's Room
Narrative game with a good soundtrack, and exceptional narration. Tells a rather tragic story where the mystery of what occurred slowly unfolds as you interact with all the objects in the room. It made me uncomfortable, and should probably come with a trigger warning or two, but I still enjoyed it.
Steam (Free) - Itch.io (Free) | MS = 70, CS = 91, HLTB = 42min, MPT = 28min
Games played on Feb 3
(MS = My Score, CS = Community Score, HTLB = HowLongToBeat, MPT = My Play Time)
Speed Dating for Ghosts
A straight-forward Interactive Fiction game that should probably be renamed "Speed Therapy for Ghosts", but that's not a bad thing. Some of the ghosts were far more interesting than others, and a few were not very interesting to me at all. But the fact that I kept playing after completing the first round says a lot, and I might even go back to this game eventually to see the endings for the other ghosts that piqued my curiosity.
Steam ($7.99) - Itch.io ($6.99) | MS = 75, CS = 87, HLTB = 24min, MPT = 48min
Toaster Jam
Cute little arcade game, but definitely not my cup of tea (heh). IMO it was far too easy and casual, so I got no enjoyment from playing it, and no satisfaction from completing the levels. Maybe later levels get hard enough to get something out of it, but I'm not willing to put in the time to find that out.
Steam ($2.29) - Itch.io ($1.99) | MS = 25, CS = 86, HLTB = 15min, MPT = 2min
Half-Life 2: Lost Coast
Basically just a tech demo, but it was still fun to jump back into Half-Life, if only for a short while. At some point I may go back and play this with the commentary turned on, just to hear what the devs had to say.
Steam (Free) | MS = 50, CS = 85, HLTB = 23min, MPT = 24min
Plug & Play
A truly bizarre, interactive experience with hand-drawn animation, lovely choral music, and some very basic puzzle elements. It was probably intended to have some deeper meaning that I didn't fully understand, but it was still enjoyable, amusing, and even got a few chuckles out of me.
Steam ($3.29) - Itch.io ($3) | MS = 65 ,CS = 82, HLTB = 15min, MPT = 13min
Games played on Feb 4
(MS = My Score, CS = Community Score, HTLB = HowLongToBeat, MPT = My Play Time)
Path Out
Semi-autobiographical game about the dev escaping from Syria to Turkey. The JRPG style movement was annoyingly slow, and the interspersed videos of the dev were pretty awkward. I also didn't like how the dev added in events that didn't actually happen (and even admitted to that), since it undermined a lot of the emotional weight of the story. I only finished the game out of a sense of obligation, not enjoyment.
Steam (Free) - Itch.io ($Any) | MS = 55, CS = 85, HLTB = 32min, MPT = 32min
Sewer Rave
WTF? How does this have an 85 community score? The comments on Itch.io about it are bizarre too... so many people raving how amazing it is. Is it all meant as a joke, or have I missed something? Because IMO it was pretty terrible.
Itch.io ($3.99) | MS = 15, CS = 85, HLTB = 31min, MPT = 8min
Stars Die
Trippy exploration game with a mysterious sci-fi story, and graphics+music reminiscent of the demos from ye olden times. It was good, and I enjoyed it, but I also didn't feel like starting all over again to see what the other endings were, especially since I was totally satisfied with the one I got.
Steam ($5.69) - Itch.io ($5) | MS = 75, CS = 85, HLTB = 56min, MPT = 38min
Tiny Dangerous Dungeons
Cute, Game Boy inspired metroidvania game with solid chiptunes music. A bit too simple for my tastes so I didn't get far into it, but I can see the appeal for people who are into that sort of thing.
Steam ($5.69) - Itch.io ($4.99) | MS = 65, CS = 85, HLTB = 38min, MPT = 8min
Gutwhale
Grotesquely themed 2D shooter/arcade game. Keyboard only controls, the tiny area in which you have to fight, and only having a single bullet which you have to retrieve in order to fire again, made this very frustrating. I didn't enjoy it much, but again I can sort of see the appeal, and I'm sure with enough practice you could get good at it.
Steam ($5.69) - Itch.io ($5) | MS = 55, CS = 83, HLTB = 43min, MPT = 5min
Hidden Paws
Really simple game where you just rotate the 3D models of various islands in order to pet all the cats and find balls of yarn for hints to their locations. Definitely not my cup of tea.
Steam ($3.39) - Itch.io ($2.99) | MS = 0, CS = 83, HLTB = 39min, MPT = 2min
One Night Stand
Visual Novel about a one night stand. I played through twice to see two different endings, neither of which was very satisfying, so I stopped after that. I am not a fan of these sort of games though, and probably not the best judge here, so YMMV.
Steam ($3.29) - Itch.io ($2.99) | MS = 50, CS = 83, HLTB = 31min, MPT = 19min
Un Pas Fragile
Hand drawn/animated interactive story about a frog that takes dancing lessons. Cute, short, and enjoyable.
Steam ($2.79) - Itch.io ($2.60) | MS = 65, CS = 83, HLTB = 15min, MPT = 6min
Hi-Score Boi
You just mash spacebar to get points. No progression. Nothing to work towards. It has some pretty effects, but that's about the only positive thing I can say about it.
Steam ($2.29) - Itch.io ($1.99) | MS = 10, CS = 80, HLTB = 5min, MPT = 2min
Jet Buster
Decent looking arcade-style shmup/bullet-hell game. I suck at them, and don't enjoy them very much, so again I am probably not the best judge here.
Steam ($10.99) - Itch.io ($9.99) | MS = 70, CS = 80, HLTB = 24min, MPT = 5min
Games played on Feb 6
(MS = My Score, CS = Community Score, HTLB = HowLongToBeat, MPT = My Play Time)
The Night Fisherman
Very short interactive fiction. I don't want to spoil anything since it's worth checking out, IMO.
Steam (Free) - Itch.io ($Any) | MS = 90, CS = 80, HLTB = 5min, MPT = 5min
KIDS
Made by the same creators as Plug & Play (mentioned above), and very similar to it. Also a bizarre, hand-animated, interactive experience with choral music. Also probably intended to have some deeper meaning that I didn't fully understand. It got a bit more repetitive than Plug & Play though, and was not nearly as amusing.
Steam ($3.39) - Itch.io ($2.99) | MS = 60, CS = 79, HLTB = 22min, MPT = 19min
BasketBelle
Cute rhythm-based platformer with a great aesthetic and music. Keyboard only controls were a bit frustrating at times, but the story was worth completing the game for.
Steam ($5.49) - Itch.io ($4.99) | MS = 85, CS = 79, HLTB = 42min, MPT = 37min
Democratic Socialism Simulator
Overly simplified, Tinder-esque (swipe right or left for decisions), political sim. If only getting progressive legislation passed was this easy. :( Cute artwork, but not very realistic, or all that enjoyable to play.
Steam ($3.39) - Itch.io ($2.99) | MS = 50, CS = 79, HLTB = 36min, MPT = 7min
You Died but a Necromancer revived you
Felt like a much more simplified, top-down version of Super Meat Boy. Unlike SMB, dying on a level completely resets your entire progress though, so you have to restart on the first level again every time you mess up. It got pretty frustrating pretty quickly as a result. I can see the appeal, but it's not really my cup of tea (despite me loving SMB).
Steam ($10.29) - Itch.io ($8.99) | MS = 70, CS = 79, HLTB = 29min, MPT = 7min
Yi and the Thousand Moons
Interactive musical story. I really really really enjoyed it. What a great way to present your music to the world! Highly recommend checking this one out. p.s. OST is available to stream on Spotify and Apple Music.
Steam ($3.39) - Itch.io ($2.99) | MS = 92, CS = 77, HLTB = 17min, MPT = 19min
I'm so excited to hear about what you play and love the setup you have going! I did something similar a while back where I prioritized quick games, so MANDAGON, Dr. Langeskov, and Marie's Room are all familiar to me.
Thanks! Full credit goes to Deimos who gave me the idea in the announcement topic though. :P
p.s. What did you think of those games? I enjoyed all of them in different ways, but MANDAGON is the only I probably wouldn't recommend since it was just a bit too simplistic, and got tedious after a while.
Been a while since I've played them so I can't really remember specifics.
I remember loving Dr. Langeskov -- it's up there with The Stanley Parable and The Beginner's Guide for me for quality first-person meta-games (though admittedly much smaller in scope).
I seem to remember that I found MANDAGON tedious. I remember thinking it was beautiful but I'm pretty sure I finished it not because I wanted to but because it's so short that it felt wrong not to fully see it through to the end.
As for Marie's Room...
Spoilers?
I don't recall much about the game but I think it was about an abusive relationship? I don't remember enough to know how I felt about how that was handled (if I'm even remembering that correctly). According to my log, I played it back in 2018 and logged my response to it as "Indifferent"
Marie's Room spoilers
Yeah, that's what it was about. But it was also about a pretty toxic "friendship" as well, IMO. So even the main character was hard to sympathize with. The narration was fantastic so that carried me through it, but the story's conclusion left me pretty sad and uneasy afterwards.
Don’t forgot writing by Jack De Quidt! (I’m a huge fan of the actual play podcast he’s on, Friends at the Table, and Jack is the only reason I’ve heard of, and played this :p)
Eagle Island Twist
35 minutes, native Linux build
This was a well-made platformer where you control an owl that you can throw in different directions. The game has two modes: Classic, which is apparently a roguelike, and Twist, which is a more standard game progression with defined levels. I played the Twist mode. I didn't dislike what I played, but it didn't particularly grab me either.
CRYPTARK
40 minutes, native Linux build
This is a roguelike twin-stick space shooter where you fight drones on derelict spaceships to clear them out so that you can make money by scrapping the remaining valuables. It's well made and should be the kind of thing that I like, but, similar to the previous game, it didn't grab me for whatever reason -- not sure why. Bonus points for a native Linux build though!
Fallback
7.7 hours, completed, required GloriousEggroll build of Proton (Proton-7.1-GE-2)
This reminded me a lot of Shadow Complex, though it's not really a metroidvania and more of a roguelike with a similar feel. The game's aesthetic is neat and has very cool looking health bars and damage markers, as well as genuinely interesting rooms that you'll likely get a little sick of after playing through them over and over again. It has the typical roguelike permanent progression system where you unlock things after death that makes future runs easier -- a system which I still debate whether it's good or whether it's just grindy. Either way, it keeps me playing the game. I completed this one and think it's a hidden gem. A little rough around the edges and repetitive after a while, but well-made. My biggest complaint is that there's no map, and mentally mapping the game is nigh-impossible because even though it's 2D, the world rotates at certain points, so it's really a 3D configuration of 2D corridors. I got lost several times.
Super Raft Boat
5 minutes, worked perfectly in Proton 6.3-8
Very simple concept -- build a raft while shooting enemies who are trying to hurt you and the raft. I should have liked this, but I didn't like the controls. To build a spot on the raft you have to place your cursor over it instead of just being pointed in that direction. It made the twin-stick aspect of the game awkward, as I couldn't just keep the aiming joystick at the perimeter and had to pull it back in towards the center which really hurt my flow. It might work better via mouse/keyboard, but I didn't try.
Rising Dusk
12 minutes, worked perfectly in Proton 6.3-8
This is an old-school 2D platformer where certain platforms have numbers on them. If you have >= coins then those platforms disappear. Sometimes you don't want this, meaning you shouldn't just collect every coin you see, and sometimes you do, which means you have to backtrack to get more coins to advance. It's a novel concept, but unfortunately, I just didn't find it much fun.
Super MagBot
19 minutes, required GloriousEggroll build of Proton (Proton-7.1-GE-2)
Platformer where, instead of jumping, you use magnets. By activating the same pole on yourself as something in the environment, you can repel yourself away from it, and by activating the opposite pole, you can attract to it. The game is very well-made and it looks like there's a lot to love if you can get past the learning curve. I put in 20 minutes and couldn't see myself putting in the probable hours I'd need to get even somewhat decent with the mechanics. I did watch part of a speedrun of it, which is very impressive to see given the skill the game requires.
Red Horizon
5 minutes, worked perfectly in Proton 6.3-8
Asteroids-ish clone that gives you powerups every couple of waves. This felt more like a prototype than a full game.
Sunny Hillride
11 minutes, worked perfectly in Proton 6.3-8
Tiny Wings clone. Feels like one of those mobile clones that show up in the app store trying to cash in on the popularity of their "inspiration". It isn't necessarily bad, it's just... uninspired.
Gorescript
50 minutes, worked perfectly in Proton 6.3-8
I really wanted to like this one. It's a modern "DOOM clone" that's well-made. The levels are well-designed, but the game's downfall is its committment to its minimalistic, low-res voxel-y aesthetic. Player movement and actions are fluid, but enemy animations are deliberately slow and choppy. This means that when you kill something, the death animation is long and doesn't give that instant "I just killed something" satisfaction which is essential to the genre. Early on, when I started playing and didn't realize there were enemy healthbars at the top of the screen, I continued to shoot enemies after they were dead because their kill animations were so slow that I didn't realize they weren't still alive. Add to this the fact that enemies have far more health than is standard (one of the main enemy types takes three shotgun blasts to kill), and the combat slowed an otherwise fast-paced game way down.
One More Dungeon
12 minutes, native Linux build
First-person roguelike dungeon crawler. The game has a nice old-school modern art aesthetic, but I didn't find it much fun. I think, like many roguelikes, it would take me a lot more time investment and loops to get myself out of the initial basics of the game and into the good stuff. Also, the procedurally generated maps didn't really have much to them. I got lots of doors that opened to dead ends and similar-looking rooms that made me heavily dependent on the map.
Scoot Kaboom and the Tomb of Doom
12 minutes, worked perfectly in Proton 6.3-8
A single-screen platformer with a cutesy pixel aesthetic. The game world is one contiguous level that fits on your screen, though you'll spend most of the time zoomed in to your local area. The game is well-made, but it's just not much fun. It's mostly navigating tight corridors with traps on cycles, so it isn't really fun so much as it is waiting for the right timing window and hoping you don't botch a jump or two. To its credit, the game has modifiers that let you slow down the whole game or just the trap cycles, as well as allowing for more checkpoints, and it doesn't punish you for using these. Unfortunately, I just didn't enjoy it.
Bonus vote (in my mind) for giving Linux and Proton compatibility! Thanks.