8
votes
May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 2 Discussion
Week 2 has begun!
Post your current bingo cards.
Continue updating us on your games!
If you did not participate in Week 1 but want to start this week, that's fine!
Reminder: playing bingo is OPTIONAL.
Quick links:
Week 1 Recap
⚔️🛡️ Battle lines have been drawn. 🛡️⚔️
Team Mellow
Calm, easygoing, relaxed (<3 games played this week)
- u/CannibalisticApple
- u/dannydotcafe
- u/Durinthal
- u/J-Chiptunator
- u/JCPhoenix
- u/ShroudedScribe
- u/SingedFrostLantern
- u/Wes
Team Motivated
Driven, energized, results-oriented (≥3 games played this week)
Who will come out on top? Which team will reign supreme? What metric will we even use to determine what counts as a win? STAY TUNED.
11 participants played 10 bingo cards and moved 24 games out of their backlogs!
Game list:
- 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
- Aris Arcanum
- Assault on Proxima
- AtmaSphere
- Blue Maiden
- Death and Taxes
- DigDigDrill
- Donna: The Canine Quest
- FINAL FANTASY IV
- Hades
- Hatoful Boyfriend
- Marble Mayhem: Fragile Ball
- Not Tonight 2
- The Pedestrian
- Pokémon: Kanto Expansion Pak
- Polarity
- Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom
- Ravenswatch
- The Shapeshifting Detective
- shapez
- Strange Horticulture
- The Textorcist: The Story of Ray Bibbia
- Vartio
- Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom
Pinging all Backlog Burner participants/conversationalists: here's the new topic for the week.
TEAM MOTIVATED: GO, GO, GO! FULL THROTTLE!
Team Mellow: See you when you get here. Hope everyone's keeping it chill.
Notification List
@1338
@BailerAppleby
@Bullmaestro
@CannibalisticApple
@dannydotcafe
@Durinthal
@Eidolon
@J-Chiptunator
@JCPhoenix
@kingofsnake
@ShroudedScribe
@sotix
@Wes
If you would like to be removed from/added to the list, let me know either here or by PM.
So! Bingo card, week 2!
A romhack or total conversion mod✅ Pokémon Kanto Expansion Pack
It’s already installed✅ Say No! More
Recommended by someone on Tildes✅ Say No! More
Is beatable without killing any enemies✅ Say No! More
Has a third-person perspective✅ Pokémon Kanto Expansion Pack
I played Say No! More and marked off another three squares. Short game all about... Well, saying no.
I marked off "recommended by someone on Tildes" but there's a funny story. I had a free key for it which I gave to @BailerAppleby last December, and who then reviewed it later in the weekly gaming thread. And that review convinced me to keep an eye out for it!
As I explained in a DM, it had been one of those games where if I'd redeemed it, it likely would have sat in my library for years and possibly never been touched. Also I had like 60 gold points left on the Nintendo eshop and it went up for sale for like, $2, shortly after that post. I wanted my final purchase with gold loints to be something worthwhile, and I'd say this one definitely was.
So! More detailed thoughts!
Thoughts on Say No! More
The game is short and linear, about two hours total. And when I say linear, I mean you're moving on a rail and just shout no (or don't) at obstacles. That may be one of my few disappointments, I wanted to be able to wander freely and yell NO! as my heart desired.
The story is short, but sweet. Obviously it's incredibly silly (the whole plot could have been avoided if people just stopped taking our dang lunchbox), and it's pretty campy in a good way, but it was also surprisingly heartfelt at the end. I almost felt a little teary. Its aesop of the importance of saying "no" is actually a message I think more people need to internalize, and I think this game does a really good job at portraying that.
One downside of how short the story is, is that I feel like we didnt get to exercise the power of saying NO to its full extent. We unlock different styles of saying NO throughout the game, but I didn't really need to use specific ones, most people were taken down by a simple or charged NO.
But the NO styles are definitely fun, especially when you mess with languages. I replayed the start of one chapter a few times with several different languages. The Wacky laugh style has some really fun variations, including some "singing" melodies when charging up. Bailer mentioned Chinese female voice and German male, I'll add in that the Korean male voice using the Cool No is very chilly.
Also, this game has customization and I spent like, half an hour in it. A+ customization, ended up sporting a teal bomber jacket and camo pants. I went for something more serious, but the silly tone of the game makes it totally natural to go for super silly and dorky looks without feeling out of place. And this game has body types, which I actually can't recall really seeing in other games.
And better clothing options than Pokémon Scarlet/VioletOverall, I'm satisfied with the game and really just wish it was long. I wanted to say No! Much More. I heartily recommend it, especially to people who feel like they might need to be a bit more assertive.
The game said NO to letting you wander freely. You have to admire its commitment to its principles!
At work, some of the people I hang out with took it upon ourselves to create a mostly-joking-but-with-a-kernel-of-seriousness “support group” (which means we really just eat lunch together) called “Just Say No.”
We’re all kind people-pleasers who are willing to help, but this means we end up in situations where we’re sacrificing ourselves for things we really shouldn’t be, or people just learn that they can take advantage of our kindness.
I think I’ve talked on Tildes before about how having a patient disposition means I often get tasked with working with the worst people, under the assumption that I’m the best fit for whatever it is that makes them awful, because I’ll put up with it or work around it where others wouldn’t. It’s a tough line to walk because I think (nearly) everyone deserves grace and kindness, but also like, it gets really old having to deal with the most difficult people all the time.
My coworkers are similar, so the “Just Say No” group is our way of trying to help each other put up healthy boundaries and push back a bit on our somewhat pathological need to be of assistance to others. It sounds like this game could be a fun therapeutic exercise for us! (I’m the only gamer in it though…)
Also, totally unrelated, but I looked up screenshots and the game looks like an upscaled Dreamcast game, and I mean nothing but praise by that (I’m a forever fan of the greatest underdog console of all time so anything that harkens back to it warms my heart).
Day 7:
I gave Tametsi a shot today. I bought it a year ago when I got those mining games, but that was long enough for me to totally forget what it was supposed to be about. As I started playing through the tutorial my reaction was "oh this is just minesweeper" followed by "oh it's minesweeper with different grids" then "oh wow, this is minesweeper for grownups" and finally "oh fuck, I do not have the mental energy for this." It seems like a fun challenge, but lack of sleep and work being annoying meant my stopping point was level 11.
I then went back to Death and Taxes and finished my run, many people died.
The purpose of this event is for me to reduce my backlog, not add to it!! Tametsi looks like something I'd be interested in.
If you want a less-challenging minesweeper variant (but with some unique twists), Coinsweeper recently came out and I've been enjoying it between playing other games.
ShroudedScribe's Backlog Bingo card as of 5/8.
Super
Joy
Principle
The Nonary
Games
CEO
Knights of Penand Paper+1 EditionAge
Ascent
Rebirth
the
Breach
Kitty
Psycho
at Parking
Chasing
Shadows
Machinika:MuseumHueHeights
Over the past week, played the following:
Knights of Pen and Paper: This one was just okay to me. I appreciated it more this time compared to the 10min or so I played many years ago, now that I have some Dungeons & Dragons experience behind me. Even so, it just feels very grindy, moreso like a JRPG without a very compelling story. Calling it quits on this one, but played for over an hour, so marking it off.
Machinika: Museum: I really liked this short game, where you are exploring alien artifacts in a 3D spatial puzzler format. Nothing too deep here, but it was interesting enough (and short enough) that I completed it. Admittedly, I don't see myself buying the sequel unless it's in a bundle with other items I'm interested in. Marking it off.
Hue: Technically still in-progress, but I can tell I'm over halfway through. Very fun puzzle platformer that isn't too difficult overall (which is my preferred difficulty level). It really shines in the visuals department, proving that an indie game without detailed sprites or graphics can still be beautiful and engaging. Marking it off (even though I'm going to complete it in the next day or two before going to something else).
Next Bingo Strategy: If I take on Delver and You Suck at Parking, I will have a bingo! So probably going to focus on those next. But at this pace, I should be able to get at least two bingos.