Decided I won't buy another game, unless it's being delisted or made by a friend, until I have removed 50 games from my back log.

Obviously, this does not include preorders or gifts, and games I have already finished do not count. Has to be new.

50 games.

Let's go.

Oh no, I made a list

No, you can't see it

The first game on the list is Dragon Quest Builders 2 though. Almost done with this one.

Shit I had a really bad headache and was trying to sleep but couldn't so I logged onto my x1 and saw juju for $2.24 and bought it -_-

Reset the clock

Backlog 50

Game 1) Dragon Quest Builders 2

Loved it. Very long. Wanted it to be over but never in the moment. Never. Except for those awful "text just sits there on the screen and you can't skip it" sequences

What if Minecraft had a heartwarming story and was good at it?

This game has like a 900 hour campaign and then it becomes Minecraft

2) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

I have bought every single mainline Call of Duty game since World at War (and then went back and bought all the others). With some proper difficulty tuning, this could be a great one. One character's arc falls flat, everyone else is stellar.

I've talked about this a bit before when I've written about Battlefield, but the reason that nobody else was as good at making games as Infinity Ward/Respawn was because CoD4 and MW2 were extremely good at flow and communication. I don't think this quite hits those highs.

I say this as someone who liked Modern Warfare a lot and felt like this is the first time we've had a real Call of Duty game since around 2011. The shooting feels better than ever, really gnarly, like every firefight is Michael Mann's HEAT if you died way more often

Cinematic games need to feel intuitive to play. This isn't rainbow six or ghost recon, and the pace the game tells you it's running at (scripting, sound, etc) all make it feel like you should play really fast, but the game actually wants you to play slow, but the LD...

The LD wants you to play something else. You have a mix of really good flanking routes and level structure I like, but then, like, the game screams "cover now" and you die before you can get to it. The health system doesn't work with the level design, player should have more hp

3) Disco Elysium. It is the best RPG I have ever played. It is also the best detective game I have ever played.

4) Death Stranding.

The final cutscene was so boring. The characters were emotional but the emotions didn't feel earned (especially the loyalties to one character in particular)

but

in the end

I wept

it earned that moment.

and then there were like 4 more cutscenes

46 games to go

5) Red Faction: Armageddon

As someone who did not have a special connection to Guerilla, it's a shooter with some interesting ideas. The plot, however, is completely unoriginal. If you saw it here, it was done elsewhere first.

The idea of "rebuild anything" seems to be because if you can break anything in a linear game, you couldn't proceed through the levels. A necessary evil.

Lot of really fun weapons, combat feels better than saints row

Wait what

Excuse me?!

I wonder what's next on the list... Hmm

Coming up soon: outer worlds, age of Mythology, the park, some other stuff

6) Deathtrap

Diablo x Tower Defense. The Van Helsing games--it's part of that series--are pretty okay, and this is okay too. I prefer TD where you can determine enemy route and tower placement, but it was fun.

7) Age of Mythology

it's fun, not as good as Age of Empires 1 or 2, I miss stone as a resource.

gaia has some amazing abs ngl

8) Eat a Dick, Gary Oak

Pokemon: Fire Red is done

9) Captain Spirit

didn't take a picture of this one

hated the actual experience of playing the game, felt that the narrative core--the insight into the relationship--was one I was all too familiar with and quite good.

Huge anxiety when you can't put the key back though.

I grew up having to do things like that and the fact that this kid's got this relationship with his dad but he's also not cognizant of needing to put the key to his dad's locked wardrobe back is really anxiety-inducing to me. Put the key back, don't let him know you found it!!!

10 on the Backlog 50) Halo Reach

It's perfect, other than bloom, fuck bloom

11) Skeal

fuck you, @WritNelson

12) The Outer Worlds

No

everyone talks about parvati because she's the only good questline in the game

i'm reminded of how everyone is like "fallout 3 is bad, new vegas is better, here, look at this 1 (one) (uno) (eins) quest where there are cannibals who eat people, it is typical of fallout new vegas quests" when it's the only quest with that kind of depth

parvati is that.

i'm normally not so down on games but im pretty down on this game

13) Resident Evil Revelations - I liked this. There's something tremendously satisfying about a 3d game with a space you gradually unlock over time, getting better at using the space in interesting ways.

14) Man of Medan.

Oof.

15) Lost Planet 2, the greatest video game of all time. None of my screenshots came through, which was pretty darn upsettting, as it's an AMAZING game.

16) Dusk. Episode 1 is some of the best gaming there is. Not a fan of how often your flashlight breaks. Gets very Serious Sam by the end. Liked the final two bosses a lot. Not entirely here for Episode 3. Rivet Gun For Life

17) I beat The Expendabros

i told you it's okay to buy games made by friends, like Can Androids Pray

18) Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Just when you think it's never going to end... it ends weirdly abruptly. Was I supposed to be cool with the cult at the end suddenly? Just... pretend they weren't evil? I don't even know. I have lots of thoughts. An article. https://twitter.com/docsquiddy/status/1210157719988117510

19) Battlefront. The original. Fun times.

20) Can Androids Pray? Blue -- hahaha, that ending I got

21) A Short Hike: neat game, mouse and keyboard controls aren't great for it tho :(

22) Darksiders 3: lots of thoughts about this one, will have to write 'em down later though.

23) It's Winter. Did I actually beat it? You can't, really. It was neat. Don't know if I loved it. But I loved the mood. Apparently it's meant to be accompanied by poetry, audiovisual readings, etc. It's a transmedia companion piece?

24) Pokemon Sword: This is the easiest Pokemon game in history, lol. It continues that insistence that kids are dumb and need to be babied. I was glad that Bede existed, but he flames out like half way through the game lol. A bummer. Really good QOL changes overall tho

25) Ico

half way done with the backlog 50. REALLY liked this one. I can see why people think it's a masterpiece, and while I'm not sure it gets there (fixed cameras in 3d spaces are bad unless they are bird's eye and you aren't directly controlling the unit in real time)

that is the kind of game that leaves an indelible mark.