Why Your Gaming Backlog Gives You Guilt

Yeah this is me. Steam wishlist + buying games only on a heavy sale + keeping track of everything I started but not yet finished. The only thing that makes me sad and sometimes gives anxiety is that the backlog is really huge and it keeps getting bigger. I don't have the issue with playing a game years later after the release, in fact sometimes I do prefer that, because you can get a Definitive Edition, all DLCs and patches, sometimes nextgen update or even a remaster. But man, I have 700+ games on Steam and 400+ in wishlist, and I really would've wanted to play at least a hundred of them right now. But of course I don't have that much time, and I never will.

I keep overwatch and gta for my friends , but everything else is me finally enjoying my backlog of games .

I recently finished fallout 3, NV , the halo McC , fable trilogy , the dark souls trilogy and mass effect trilogy for the first time .

I’m currently playing Skyrim , fallout 4, then the metro series , Alan wake , The gears trilogy , and the hit man collection

Yes I know
I’m so late to these , but better late than never .

Too many people live with FOMO and it's pathetic.
Games don't go anywhere..... They don't sell out.
I am 44, i used too be one of these morons that got a game every time it was released, if it was new or it looked good.... I bought it.
That was when most of my purchases were physical.
However, about 7 years ago, i quit buying physical, because you just
A. Need too make so much room for all your games
B. You buy too much crap in bargain bins or in used stores like CEX.

Since i went all digital, i have saved so much money, i even feel it.
I only buy games i 100% know are good or i want.
Any other game, i wait for trusted reviews or deep, deep sale.
I own a SX, PS5 and PC.... I have no more than 4 games running at any one time.
That is either CoD and Tarkov
Then a couple of solo campaign games.
I make it a rule that i never buy another game, until i fully complete one.
You save so much money and your focus is kept on the games you play.
If you are over 18 and you have no self control or you just can't stop yourself from clicking the 'buy' button, just because a game is on sale, then you are pretty pathetic.

Moral of the story. Don't have friends.

Most of my Steam wishlist are Early Access games or not yet published. I've avoided pre-buying or buying EA simply because I have no time to deal with an unfinished game, knowing I will get tired of it long before the official 1.0 version comes out.

The bought but unplayed games, yes, it's a significant list. Will have to start whittling away at it.

My most common mistake when i pick games i pick too big games like Pathfinder WotR, GTA5 or Fallout 4. Also im big fan of co-op games like Monster Hunter, Vermintide, Deep Rock Galactic, Helldivers etc but literally have no time to play this games with friends :(

This year i bought steam deck from sale to help me with my backlog not new games to made it worse and im little proud of myself 😁

I use Playnite to see all my games in one place and divide them in categories, and good old excel to list all games I want to play with their How Long to Beat times. It's been years since I bought a game, this process made me very critical of the games I buy, I know I only have time for the best of the best.

Remember if it’s on sale now it will be on sale again shortly.

Dragon Age Inquisition took me 5 or 6 years to finish, just playing it on and off. It's a good game but it's so drawn out if you're a completionist like me lol. Eventually finished it (and all the DLC) though and don't regret it one bit. COVID lockdown and furlough pay really helped get it done lol.

I don't game with my friends. I usually beat games or stop playing if I'm not enjoying.

I don't really have the money anymore to buy alot of games. So I usually at least try the ones a buy.

I use tovnot care when I was a kid then I realized that I need to be more responsible.

“And you gotta look at yourself” I kind of appreciated you expressing that kind of personal time/financial responsibility

For me, a lot of it i think is steam itself. The layout shows my entire library on the left. Which is almost overwhelming at times. I added shortcuts of my last 10 games and have them on my desktop. A variety of genres to try and stick to those instead of looking at all 260 games i own and struggling to pick one.

Great video! Gaming shouldn't feel like a chore! Just play what you feel like playing no matter what others think!

Watched a few of your videos and they've really been helping me be a more focused gamer, i thank you

Do all of us gamers fall under the same umbrella, and make the same mistakes? lol I’m happy to know I’m not the only dumbass who buys more than they can play, but still… are there any responsible gamers out there!?

I love making lists. I may never use it, but it feels good nonetheless

My wishlist grows faster than I'm able to buy the games 😭

These videos are making me want to play Metro Exodus. The last game I beat from front to back is Metro Last Light

Keeping a Spreadsheet of my backlog felt silly at first. but I've been doing it for 2 years and it changed the way i buy & play games. I play a lot more diverse Titles that I'm interested in and I play a lot less multiplayer live service crap.

It is because I have paid for so many of them and don't want to feel like I've wasted my money even though it has been years since I purchased a lot of them.

yeah man...
That's me.. having so much games on my wishlist rn
Steam Summer sale is like: WOOOOH 50% off !!!

And at this point.. i'm just.. naah man, i have still so much games in my library that i haven't even touched..
Witcher 3, horizon, metro, God of War 2018.. just a few of them.. can you believe that?!?!
haha i think i skip the next few years of sale till i have played them loool

I've been massively overwhelmed with games on my PS5 for years. There's just so many.

Thankfully I didn't buy any games for over 2 years which is a record for me (until Helldivers 2).

I have no friends though...😢

I had some great success with 3 things:
1. Made a spreadsheet tool to help me organize and prioritize the games I want to play, and mark complete, quit, play again, or which I've never touched.
2. Accepted that I don’t need to finish every game - sometimes 1 or 2, or even 10 hours is enough to know what the game offers or if I want to play to completion or leave it.
3. Change the way I play - I love my Steam Deck OLED, which has helped me play when/where and how I want to play, and leave my main PC for FPS and RTS. Having things more accessible has made it easier to spend my precious time efficiently and more enjoyably. The right controller or chair can make a difference too.
Great video! I have watched a few of these recent ones, and really like the content.

Great video honestly. The backlog struggle is real. I tend to switch between new releases, the multiplayer game with friends and a specific game on my backlog. Right now that's Elden Ring DLC, Siege & Uncharted. Sometimes I have weeks were I mostly play multiplayer games & sometimes I go days where I only touch singleplayer games.

If you have friends that have different tastes in games, I highly recommend using Steam Family share (beta). I prob never would've tried Yakuza, Monster Hunter, Resident Evil etc, but now that I can try them for free through my friends I got plenty to try (and maybe finish).The reason I don't use Gamepass is bc of this. If there is a game some of us are interested in, one will buy it and we can all eventually play it. No rush to try every new thing since we got plenty to play. Don't worry about finishing everything in your backlog, it will only stress you out imo.

The one game that makes me reconsider finishing my backlog is Control. I pushed through Control and the ending is so bad I feel rip-offed even though it was a free Epic giveaway.

I should play games I enjoy, and not feel pressured into finishing what I've started, it's a sunk-cost fallacy. Would you push through a bad book you know it's gonna suck for 400+ more pages? Same thing.

I have even better advice - ONLY buy games when you are ready to play them. Dont buy games with the intent of playing later.

Cyberpunk is definitely one of my most favorite games that has recently come out, definitely is a game I will always remember as I get older

I couldn't have afforded great PC for years since recently and biggest irony is that I have huge pressure with finishing games to have only 1 game to play (or none at all before new game arrives). Even on old PC I have been having same problems and even now I'm in the same place. I have other hobbies as well and I still have a lot of games which I want to play. I don't know what to do about that. Funny thing is I'm not even playing everything good, just titles and genres which I love but problems are staying the same.

Nowadays I have more patience reading a book than trying to finish a singleplayer game.

When i was younger and poor and didnt have internet, i would have to play the same games over and over again. Ever since then i would just keep stock up on games so that if i ever went back to that life again i would atleast have hundreds of games to play. But now that im an adult if i ever got to that point in life i doubt i would have time to be playing games so now it all seems wasted because there is 0 chance i can get time to play through them all 😢.

My library has most of the games that I played and completed earlier (using other “ ways”). I couldn’t afford games then, after getting a job now, I’ve been buying those older games on steam along with the newer ones.

Beat BG3 a couple months ago, tried to clean up some of the backlog...completed zero...added even more to the backlog during the steam summer sale...decided it was time to finish those backlog games...started another BG3 playthrough instead 😅
Im doomed.

If one is stressed out over games, backlog or not there is definitely something wrong. Whatever you play and on whatever device you play, this is supposed to be fun, if it is not, better go out and do some sports lol

TL/DR: There is too much stuff to consume in any media and we only have so much time. You WILL miss out, so you might as well just play what you feel like and stop caring about a backlog altogether. Like a wise person once said "Ain't nobody got time for that".

I hate having a backlog because it feels like there is unfinished business. It's not a good mindset to have fun, but it's also difficult to break out of it. So what I've been doing to battle this, is to stop buying new games until I have finished what I already have on my plate.

There will always be a sale, there are always sites that sell gamekeys for the same price (if not lower) and there will always be a good offer for a physical copy (if you're on console), especially as time goes on. So there is no need to stress over getting a good price if you think you're missing out. At least in theory 🌚

Also, there is nothing wrong with buying that hot new game if that's what you want to play. At least it doesn't make your backlog bigger. And sometimes it's okay to admit that you've spend money on something you will never make use of.

My advice for tackling your back log is to just start playing. I know it’s simple but it really is a snowball effect. You find one great game you love, play it, beat it, don’t overstay your welcome, and move on to the next. Before you know it you’ve knocked out 4-5 games in a week.

Use How Long To Beat to manage your time and decided which games you want to commit to. And just commit. Play with your friends on the weekends and week days play your own game or however you want to rearrange your schedule. Just play your games. Beat them. And move on

My backlog is my wishlist. I only buy games (or "move them" into my actual backlog) if I find them extremely cheap somewhere, or if I run out of things to play.

this channel is amazing and speaks directly to me

Here is a practical approach to beating the backlog which has helped me.
1) make a list - I own a lot of games and most of it is free games which is not my style. I do not enjoy RPG, strategy games. So having a list really helps to narrow down to the games I want to play.
2) add additional information to list - game journalist, players score the games basis of how much fun it is. You would have paid money for some games, other you would have acquired for free. Some will be racing, some fill be fps, some has good story etc. Know how long it will take you to complete the main story. Have separate columns and provide additional information to your list.
3) Start crushing your backlog.
4) Allocate some time every day/ every week for gaming - You need to dedicate time to finish your backlog. (Optional: Or you can teach your spouce to game and watch him/her die multiple times to kill easy boss fights)
5) Avoid Multiplayer games - It will drain you of energy and time. You cannot focus on backlog, if you get stuck on same multiplayer game every time you boot up.
6) Keep them interesting - Mix Genre of games when you complete. example - If you enjoy stealth games. Playing stealth games one after another will bore you out of your mind. Once you finish a game, play a short game from another genre to refresh you.

I have watched tons of videos on gaming backlog. This 6 step process is which I follow personally and worked for me. I hope you crush your gaming backlog too.

Remember gents if you don’t enjoy it don’t force yourself.

"There are no good games anymore"
My backlog: nuh uh

I hate early access and early advertising. Game releases are always in the future but I am in the now. I'm constantly waiting for games to be finished and released. By the time they are released they seem lame becasuse of the even newer demos. It's a trend that betas turned into alphas and pre-alphas lately and kickstarting games is a thing as well. We pay for a product that does not exist. What's next? Be the developer for 50% off? Raise a fund so they present you and idea of a project that could be a video game in a decade? 7 days to die 1.0 was released this year after ~13 years of development. I was already bored of that game by the time it came out! ...plus it looks 20...
I never buy games for the full price. I'm not in a hurry. The supply is great, but we control the demand.

I bought HL:2 in 2005, played & finished it in 2023!! Wow, what an experience!
HL:Alyx VR? Amazing!!

I’ve really needed to hear this. I’ve been stressing over hobbies goals and work. I enjoy too many things and this perfectly explains my situation. Than you.

me watching this with 0.04 in my account... XD