How do you tackle your games backlog?

[Magically Clueless]

I-I might need some advice. At the beginning of this year, I started a little 'challenge' with some other friends about how many games we can beat in a year. Needless to say, I'm a bit behind, and there's a lot of games I can play. Often I'm in the mood to play something I've beaten or made a lot of progress on though, so I end up feeling like I'll just play the same 3 games and not make any progress! And when I don't play those games, I want to do some more productive stuff online. It's a curse!

So, how do you guys tackle your games backlog? Any rules you set for yourself?

 

[Neverbell]

I also struggle with this, especially as someone who frequents humble bundle. I think the best way to go about it is to just obsess over one game (with a finite conclusion) until you complete it and just keep it within your mind. For grindier games or ones that are less story heavy, getting really into a podcast can help you power through some of the less interesting parts.

something else that I find helps is restricting access to other games. If you’ve ever played Virtue’s Last Reward, you’d know how much of a grind it is to get to the true ending, even with text skipping on. With that game, I ended up leaving town with just my laptop which did not have many other games, and so I could focus exclusively on it during my downtime.

 

[Zaphira]

I had the same problem with my many games at GoG, a while ago. Since I play WoW a lot, all the games started to get older there. ;)
I started a 'backlog-blog' in another gameforum and I got some 'help' from the other users there.

1. Go through your list and (if possible) put some tags on them. (next to play, done, have a look at, trash it)
2. Don't play games you don't like, just because you have them. If the game is really old, has a lot of bugs or other problems, just skip it.
3. Don't waste your time. Use walkthroughs, if you're not able to find clues in games with many puzzles (p.e. Point and click adventures)
4. If you are not sure what kind of game it is and if you would like it, watch a 'lets play' on YouTube. The same goes for very old games with bad graphics or complicated rulesets. (Old Dungeon and Dragons-games)
5. Make yourself an appointment for playing. Play 1 or 2 evenings in the week until it get's like a routine. If you like a game, you will play more often, if you have the time for it.

With these tips I reduced my backlog a lot, because there were many games I didn't like. (some were for free and/or a genre I don't like, that I didn't look at while buying some bundles).
Then I put the tags on the games and started playing with searching for a good and complete walkthrough, just in case. That helped me a lot and I played many games from my list in the last two years.

I still got many games left, but I'm a little proud of myself with what I have achieved until now.
Oh, and don't buy to many new games. ;)

 

[Lew Zealand]

Zaphira's advice is great and I'm trying to implement much of it.

There are 22 shortcuts on my desktop to games I'm nominally playing. Played in the last:

week - 6
month - 12
8 mo. (this year) - 21 (I think I haven't played Tomb Raider Legend since late last year)

2 games 'finished' (SDV & Minecraft) and Rocket League has no finish. 8 barely started (Zaphira #2, probably). The rest are btw 1/4 and 3/4 finished. In order to expected finish (Zaphira #1):

Control (@2/3)
Tomb Raider (2013) (@2/3)
Raft (@3/4)
My Time at Portia (@3/4)
Slime Rancher (@1/2-2/3)
Gris (?? maybe half?)

The rest I may not ever finish, though I'm taking the DiRT Rally career path starting in the 1960s, which is slow and steady, so that may take me years to finish but it's real fun.

 

[Zaphira]

Since I started this 'blog' in may 2018 I played and completed:

Divinity: Original Sin 1 + 2
Divinity 2: Ego draconis
Blackguards 1+2
Fallout 1
Pillars of Eternity 1+2
Grim Dawn incl. Addons
Pathfinder: Kingmaker
Elex
Diablo 3 (several Seasons completed)
Syberia 1
Red dead Redemption 2
Trüberbrook

Played, but not (yet) completed:
Shadows: Heretic Kingdoms
Darksiders 1
Lords of Xulima
Children of Morta

I started some others, but after playing an hour or two I discarded the game because different reasons.

Oh, and I still play WoW, but not so much anymore.

 

[Rotan]

I have never had a back-log. I just do what I feel like. I usually stick to the same game until its beaten or Im bored of it. I use games that you 'never' beat like runescape as a break sometimes.