My Backlog Progress in 2024

A check in with my ongoing boss fight with my gaming backlog

Well, it’s almost time for the year to come to an end and that means it’s time for all of my end of the year articles. The end of 2024 turned out to be really busy for me, but no worries I was able to carve out some time to write them! First up, looking into my backlog progress. Last year I was able to make my goal and kept the goal for this year a secret. So, how did I do this year and what was my secret goals?

Just like last year, I don’t really have much to talk about. Nothing really exciting to talk about other than I’ve kept up with my backlog spreadsheet and I kept up with a personal promise that I won’t force myself to continue playing a game I’m not enjoying. Though, I did fail in only buying a game I was going to play right away again. I think I’m just really bad at following through my plans of what games I’ll play next or playing them before a certain date. Like I told myself I won’t buy Metaphor ReFantazio until I play and complete Persona 5 Royal, the two Persona 5 spinoffs, and Soul Hackers 2. I didn’t get around to any of them by the time Metaphor released, but at least I didn’t buy Metaphor. I sure did try to hint that I wanted it for my birthday and Christmas, but my attempts failed.

Anyway, first up I wanted to show off a graph of games I finished for each year. I’m still keeping track and, like before, I didn’t include any games that I ended up dropping or endless games.

Wow, I really feel like I slacked this year. Compared to last year, there’s a 16 game difference and if I compared it to the first two years I started keeping track I’m about 35 game difference. I think part of it is due to what was happening in my personal life, playing long games, and feeling a bit burnt out. Though, at least I was able to (technically) make the number for this year even! I completed 50 games this year.

Next up, my backlog progress:

Yep, I basically made no progress (*cries*). While I did complete some games off of my backlog, I also almost added just as much. I started the year at 160 and ended it at 155. Definitely stinks, even if I wanted to end the year on a nice sounding number like 155.

With that said, I think this is the perfect time to mention I set as my goals for this year. I set two goals: don’t buy any games (with exceptions) and get 22 games off of my backlog (whether it’s completing them or dropping them if it turns out that I didn’t enjoy them). You can probably guess which one I failed and which one I succeeded. I did get 22 games off of my backlog, however I definitely bought games outside of my exceptions. There is a silver lining in that failure though as it did feel like I bought less games. Granted, part of it is because I have game subscriptions and get review keys, but still. So, it became a low-buy year, which might give me better odds at achieving my goals for next year.

You may wonder why I didn’t list out my exceptions and that’s because I am going to mention my goals for 2025. Why? Well, it’s because it’s going to be the same goals I had this year and since I always planned on revealing them at the end of 2024 when I wrote my 2023 Backlog Progress post, I didn’t think it would make sense to hide it again.

First off, the goal of getting 22 games off of my backlog. I am planning on having those 22 be games I completed (which for me is at least to the credits, as I promised myself I won’t go for 100% achievements unless I really wanted to), but you never know if you really would like a game until you play it. Plus, this means I just have to complete 2 games per month, while giving me one month where I can slack off if I want to. And, if I manage to get ahead like I did this year (2024) I can have more months just in case I get super busy with reviews or personal stuff.

Second, 2025 is going to be a no-buy year. Yep. I do have exceptions though, I’m allowed to buy a game on my birthday, Christmas, and maybe Black Friday (just depends on what releases and the deals). I also did set aside money for a couple games; those being Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping, Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist, and The Red Bell’s Lament. I am also accepting gifts, but I rarely receive gifts so that’s not going to be a problem. Perhaps I’ll be able to be successful next year.

And lastly, I am planning on unsubscribing from game subscription services. It pains me to do so, but I’m going to say goodbye to Gamefly once I complete the game I have now (which thankfully is the OK KO and Steven Universe duo game considering what happened Christmas week with all Cartoon Network games being delisted without warning) and PS Plus. However, I do want to complete the PS Plus games I haven’t gotten to yet first so I’m going to extend it to complete those games when I know I can focus on them. This is in hopes that I’ll stay focused and not be distracted as much. I’m going to miss Gamefly most of all, though.

Well, that’s it. I hope to see you guys next year. Wish me luck on my goals!