My Backlog Progress in 2023

My ongoing boss fight with my gaming backlog.

Well, another year is about to end and it’s time to do all of my end of the year articles. First up, one that talks about my backlog progress. Last year, I was able to parse it down from the 400s to the 200s with the goal of getting it into the 100s by the end of 2023. And by 100s, I counted 199 as a success since it was an obtainable goal. So, how did I do?

Man, this year I have way less to talk about. Last year was when I started my Google Sheet where I could keep track and count of all the games in my backlog and this year, I just made sure it was updated. Nothing exciting to report. I also have the same condition that if I’m just not enjoying a game even after giving it a good try I wasn’t going to force myself through it. Oh, but I can talk about one of the goals I did fail. Last year, I set some conditions on when I could buy a game, which was one game a month, additional games if I completed a backlog game, and if I was going to play it right away. Well…that didn’t work out too well. Though, I guess in a funny way it ended up looking like I did. The game subscriptions I have definitely helped me not buy a lot of games, but at the same time those game subscription games weren’t on my backlog. So I guess while I failed with this goal, it was at least balanced.

First up, I wanted to make a graph the showed the games I finished for each year. Yep, I kept track of that. Games I ended up dropping or endless games with no ending wasn’t included in the data. Here it is:

Yep, that’s a lot of finished games. Compared to the last two years, I really did slack this year as there’s about a 20 game difference. Though, I’m just going to blame it on playing a lot of longer games this year which is true. Plus, there were many games I was able to try out (thanks to game subscription services), but I didn’t end up finishing whether it was because I didn’t like it or I felt satisfied and heard the game never revolves. Though, I love how I finished 66 games. Perfect.

Next up, the main show of my backlog progress for this year:

Yep, I was able to make my goal of getting into the 100s! Though, you can see where I plateaued for pretty much the whole year. That stinks for sure. That is mainly due to both the subscription services and just me buying games. I think the most I purchased was during October for my birthday and for Christmas. Though, can you blame me? It’s really the only time you can justify big purchases. And trust me, for Christmas I only bought otome visual novels. 2024 is going to be me in otome heaven.

This year, I’m not even going to mention my goals. After all, one of the tips you’re told to achieve your goals is to not tell anyone. This year, it both worked out and didn’t work out, so I’m going to try the method of keeping it as a little secret. That is, until the end of next year. I’m not planning on going anywhere and I hope you guys will still check me out in the new year. Or at least to see what my secret goals were.