The most epic battle that video games have ever delivered is not even on the screen. Nope, it’s on the hard drive; those thousands of games once purchased but never played are still hoping for attention.
How do you defeat such a monstrous foe? What does victory even look like? How can you even wage a war against indifference? Okay, that last one is for political advisors, but ever since that first Steam sale back at the end of 2009, the backlog became strenuously difficult to defeat.
With only so many hours in the day, and so many games priced lower than your particular country’s cheap snack – in my case a Freddo – you’d buy so many titles on a hypothetical. It didn’t matter if you bought them and didn’t play them, so it was worth it on the off-chance you’d get around to it later on.
The Digital Disaster
Later, digital stores all around followed suit. You’ll see some great deals across every storefront every day; at any one time hundreds of games will be on sale.
Some of them will genuinely be worthy of the ‘Steam sale-esque’ title. So why not give it a shot? You never know…
Hi, I’m that tiny little devil that pops up above your right-hand shoulder whenever you’re in a cartoon. Still, without Steam, I doubt this would be such an integral strategy for Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft.
Personally, I can remember the PlayStation 3 being particularly brutal on the sales front. I owe numerous games an apology.
My Backlog Story
Although, speaking of which, now we’re all sitting around in a hypothetical circle discussing our own experiences at the hands of the backlog, I’ll make my apologies.
In the current era, I have two major games: the above Ni No Kuni 2 and Final Fantasy Type-0. The former I bought when worrying ahead about how I’d react to the Covid jab… and subsequently got carried away with the other game I’d bought: Bloodstained Ritual of the Night. I just forgot about it after that, despite how much I loved the first title.
Type-0 is a strange one, but also the one I’m most likely to play. See, it is very obviously a PSP title remastered, set in a school environment which has a lot of main characters and a dark story. Yeah, it’s basically Final Fantasy Trails of Cold Steel; the first two I’ve recently played and enjoyed. It’ll happen, but after playing the intro two years ago, the heavy school elements put me off too much.
You’ll have your own games to apologise to. I’m actually pleasantly surprised it’s just two. I’m not a genius; I’m ignoring generations I no longer have access to, but I am quite tactical.
You see, with any big backlog you face the guilt: you left that poor game unattended. It’s like getting on the train and having it pull away and then seeing your child on the platform, but it’s that pang of guilt that exists before you panic about social services.
The Backlog Guilt
So, how do you rid yourself of the harrowing guilt?
Well, there is a very good reason this current generation is only two games for me, because I’m leaving out a big ol’ chunk of relevant context.
I have a two-terabyte hard drive and it’s approaching over half full. I haven’t paid for most of it.
See, digital sales grab you because sometimes you just want something shiny and new. Something you might not have thought of, but hey, you’ll give it a shot. It’s just nice to try it.
The thing that you paid for three months ago isn’t fun. No, it’s old news. You’re Andy and that game is Woody… and with that comment, I’m sorry for making every 90s kid cry.
Content Subscription
So, I cheat: I have a PlayStation Plus subscription. It isn’t the whole big supermassive tier, just enough to have a consistent selection of games. When I want to try something new or different, I go there. As a result, I wouldn’t exactly classify 13 Sentinels Aegis Rim as something in my backlog, as I haven’t explicitly paid for that game. Yet I’ve started it recently after having had it installed for ages and, while very different, it is also excellent.
If you’re someone lured in by a good bargain, just bite the bullet and get a content subscription. As long as you’re diligent enough to go to the service as opposed to the sales, it’ll treat you well.
I’m actually a case in point of using exactly this. I have other more pressing aims financially at the moment, so buying a new game isn’t a good idea. So, instead of opting for the Trails of Cold Steel III & IV PS5 remaster, I’m simply playing through other titles, like 13 Sentinels.
The backlog, unless you’re on PC, will eventually fade out anyway. You’ll put the console away and forget about it, with it eventually lost to time – which is exactly what happened with my PS3.
The backlog can be avoided, but once that beast has awoken, there are only so many hours in the day. Let the tear roll down your cheek and walk away.
It’s for the best.
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