Fun fact: each of us is going to die before we get to play all the games that we want to! Here’s my way of dealing with that:
People talk about their “backlog” of 20,000 games and sometimes ask the internet the best way to “get through” them all.
Wait, what?
The sad fact is, you’ll never finish your backlog. Even if it only had three games on it, just while (and as a result of) playing these three you’ll discover new games that excite you and you just need to add to the list. And so on.
I hate the idea of a backlog and have always advised against thinking about games that way. However, I have started prioritising games.
Games I haven’t played that I think about regularly, or games that I might regret never getting around to, they go at the top of my list. When I’m choosing what to play next, I’ll ask myself which of those “High Priority” games I’m most excited to play. I have a chronological preference, so I tend to play an older game before a newer one, but I won’t let age supercede priority or excitement.
Yes, I have a spreadsheet.
I’ll never finish the whole list, but I feel satisfied that I’ll at least get to the games that feel most important to me because I’ve put them in order.
After all, if I was hit by a truck tomorrow, I would hate my last thought to be “But I never played Valkyria Chroni—” 💀
