How Do You Tackle Your Gaming Backlog?

I have so many games in my backlog! How do you work your way through yours?

Music in this Video from Octopath Traveler (Nintendo Switch, PC)

[BudgetGamingAndCollecting]

I use Howlongtobeat all the time. I mostly prioritize shorter games.

Since 2007 I have had a list of Video Games that I've finished. I mostly consider a game done when I beat the campaign. Once I finish the campaign or see the end credits roll I add the game to my list and to my shelf. Nothing touches my shelf until I've beat it. I keep my backlogged games in storage trunks. I always find that the satisfaction of removing a game from storage and placing it on my shelf motivates me to keep completing games.

[Momofdom]

I use a spreadsheet for my entire backlog and do whiteboards for smaller more specific goals. What games to prioritize this year, how many games to complete this month, what's my next three platinums.

[brentonrock]

Man the list is the way to go!

With what's happening in the world right now the backlog has been a life saver for me. I knew I didn't play all my games for a reason.

Keep up the good work!

[EriesAston]

I have lists and spreadsheets just to combat the dreaded backlog paralysis, the feeling of not knowing what to play and wasting time deciding that could be better spend playing something.
But the best method has been the site how long to bet, because it helped me get better organized.

Love the use of the Octopath Traveler soundtrack in this video.

[Detway]

I also check howlongtobeat for game length, but I tend to take longer than the average. I usually have a stack of games that I play on a shelf next to my tv, to avoid overchoice. The rest of the backlog/collection is displayed/stored in another room. I have tried sites like backloggery to help plan/track what to tackle next, but couldn’t keep it updated. I do have spreadsheets with mostly all my games/systems/condition/price, but I have a rather large collection. Keep making videos as long as you get enjoyment out of it, I’ll keep watching them.

[renanrodrigues]

I rate my games as:
0 - Games I'm currently playing (max 4 games)
5 - Finished Games.


BackLog is classified as:
1 - Very short games (x < 7h)
2 - Short Games (7h < x <10h)
3 - Medium duration games (10h < x <15h)
4 - Long duration Games (x > 15h)


...
1 - Every three months I finish 15 games. (Most of them are short games).
2 - Every season I buy only 6 games.
3 - By year I must finish at least 2 long games.

I don't like rush to finish a game. I like to enjoy the game as much as possible (I usually spend a little more than normal time to finish a game).

[theconsolekiller]

Similiar to what Budget Gaming wrote, I place beaten games in a seperate shelving unit in my closet. With newer games I have them on the main shelves but I put beaten games on the far end and unbeaten on the right side. Makes it easy to see what was completed at a glance. With close to 2000 completed games I cant remember alot of the older completions so I keep an Excel spreadsheet on my PC (Ive always listed games Ive beaten from the beginning, but it was hand written at one point). When playing emulated games on the emulation focused PC I use a tablet to check the spreadsheet, as it updates through the cloud. Using a tablet makes it quick to see what games ive beaten on various consoles, computers. I also have a printed out list of games beaten with newer entries being hand written, but that binder is more of a back up. The list of emulated games is massive so I can try all of them and check which ones if Im not sure. Occasionally I dont check and end up beating a game twice. I only own around 600 games. I owned many previous consoles when they were current but I sold all my old consoles and games to consolidate them into an emulation focused PC. The games I still own are mostly games that are not emulated well or at all. Once the emulation gets to a point of satisfaction for me I will sell all of those too and put the money back into the entertainment set up, free up space, etc. Im not really a collector but a player. I play games heavily. I also list all the details for each game often including how long they took to beat (that was added later when I was able to capture gameplay footage and check the times).

I also have over 80 folders on my PC that contain gameplay footage of games I was working on but didnt finish, on the emulation PC. These games are all saved too, so I can resume from the last save state. I only use save /load states for practice mainly, never to cheat. Aside from that alot of saves on my old original Xbox, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, etc. There is also many Xbox 360 games I purchased when the system died out, and didnt even boot up yet. So there is 1000s of games to either get to, or resume again. I set a pace for myself and aim for about 25 beaten games each month. I usually go well above. There are many easier games and fighting games, old arcade games that loop, etc. I made my own rules for old games that loop, considering them beaten when the layouts repeat. I also have rules for compilations and things like that as well. I list the rules clearly in a text so that everything is as clear as possible, since I only do it for my own satisfaction. I jump around ALOT when hunting down the next game to kill, to keep my numbers up. I enjoy that process. If Im working on a very long game I will usually get in a few hours on some shorter games to keep the kills rolling in. There is way too much for me to complete in my life time but I will get back on games that Ive really wanted to complete and put off for a long time. What ends up happening is games get completed all at different times. One month there may be 5 or 10 games that were ready to be beaten and I just finished off the final hour or few hours on them, since there is so many saves. The main thing I focus on is trying to put in the play time daily as thats more important to me than the number of games beaten. The numbers are fun but dont really mean anything. The more difficult games are the most satisfying to add to the list. Aslong as Im putting in a decent amount of time daily it all falls into place. The harder old games with limited continues require alot of memorization and are usually best to play daily, so that I dont forget all the small details in the legit attempts. Sometimes I have to force myself to focus purely on backlogged games though because it really builds. I will probably focus on some newer and Xbox 360 games for a few months since I havent been on those in a while.

There are definately games in my backlog that I will never finish. Some of them are games that I forced myself to play and got worse as I got farther. I play through bad games too but those are the least likely for me to return to. I go through a large quantity of games monthly so theres always going to be games that get left behind.

Howlongtobeat is a very good site. Ive been killing off some Xbox 360 games that I collected and Ive been using that to pick out some of the 4-6 hour games for some quick kills. Im not always looking to add a 40 hour new game to my backlog. Especially when working on several other RPGs and long games.

[Ryan-xnmt]

Sir have a sub. I know this video is older but I wanted to add my two cents. Honestly I have a really short attention span when it comes to gaming. I'll start a game play 10-30 hours depending on the game and then something new comes along, or some sale happens. And I tell myself that I don't need anymore games, but I usually end up buying something. And the game I had been playing goes on a shelf, and I might come back to it. I might not. For example it took me a year and a half for beat Dragon Quest 11. The one game I'm determined to finish is Ghost Of Tsushima. Ghost is a work of art. Ghost almost went on a shelf, because I bought the Mass Effect LE when that came out. Honestly I have a backlog that goes back the Atari 2600, and it seems like I was better at finishing games when I had less choice. I need to stop buying game lol. Thanks for the tip on HLTB and great video.

[huevonesunltd]

For emulator games there's something you can do that is actually pretty crazy but it can work and it can get things done faster.
Play multiple games literally at the same time, there's a plugin in Bizhawk called the bizhawk shuffler and what it does is to shuffle games while you are playing a game and it even supports cross platform.
For example, you can set it to 20 minutes, you're playing NES Mario 3 and then all of sudden BOOM you're playing Playstation megaman X5 for the next 20 minutes and then it changes to another and after 20 minutes it may change back to Mario 3, you can have as many as you want at the same time and you can save your progress in all of them at the same time.
And it's pretty good because this way you make sure you don't slack off at all with "inactive/dead time" in any of the games as it always keeps you on your toes, you could go as far as the game changing every 2 minutes, you can go crazy with it, it's a lot of fun, it's specially hilarious when you are in the middle of a jump and then it changes to a boss fight in another game or to a racing game or even an RPG, it's just nuts.

[Ali-gxlb]

You ain't a dork bro I do the same shit lmao with such limited time predefining your path is essential

[mathewakad]

Earned a sub for such a good presentation

[Jerrel]

For me, I almost took a generation off. I didn't get a PS4 until 2018, which allowed me to beat all but 3 of my PS3 games. When I got the PS4, I made a decision to just buy my games as I've wanted to play them and then move on. I sold quite a bit of my retro collection for the ps1, ps2, and psp and just kept my favorites physically.

[windsweptanew]

My backlog messes with my brain. It grates on me. It’s gotten to the point where I almost want to just start a new Gamertag and PSN account and just start over and complete games one by one.

[TheGamingNinja]

I usually play two or three games at a time. Usually it's a long game (+20 hrs) and two short to medium games usually in the 6 to 15 hr range.

[StephenWakeOfficial]

I have a list on Google Keep. I started this 2020 with a goal. Finish games that I want to play (backlog) and play 5 new games (2020 games).

[johnnyroche]

The free PS Plus games certainly add to it.

[icelevel]

In an era of scripted videos, I really enjoy these unscripted casual style videos.

[thecuriousgamingwarlock]

I am having this issue right now, I have about 8 games where I am trying to do like 1 level each but putting more focus on one specific game that I am further into.

[JokinJoe]

My backlog is so large I could never get through it. I have so many games that I could sell a whole bunch and still have tons to play. What I'm going to do is just pick a handful that interest me the most and try them. My idea is I don't have to play everything, because they're just games, it's not a job. But even getting through a handful will take the guilt away from buying new games.

[DMB]

My backlog for the year isn't huge, but most of the games are legnthy/difficult:

Dark Souls Remastered
Dark Souls II
Dark Souls III
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Zelda Link's Awakening
A Link to the Past (Complete)

I am currently working on Sekiro and I feel like I am making decent progress but not a ton. With FromSoftware games, how do you make progress if you only have an hour a day to play?