Joe

2019: Backlog Progress

Having just squeezed Half Life 2 Episode Two in - I know I’m a bit late but wow that cliff hanger is mean! - I thought I’d make a quick post summarising my progress this year. I set a target of 100 in April and have ended with 75. Unless I blast through 25 tomorrow I won’t have reached that, but considering the games I’ve played and replayed (a few really long ones!) I’m happy with my progress overall. It has definitely been the year where I’ve been more careful than ever about adding to the backlog, and have done several clearances of games I really couldn’t see myself playing anytime, thanks to this I find myself close to that 50% played milestone which seemed a mile off when I joined in late 2016 with around 20%! Highlights that come to mind are making good progress in the Assassin’s Creed series, I’ve got up to Rogue now, finally beating the main quest in Fallout New Vegas, a Skyrim replay, and playing more co-op games.

Below I’ve picked out my top 5 favourites I’ve played in 2019, and my 10 key targets for 2020. Feel free to ask about those I’ve played, the full list can be found here, or any recommendations from my unplayed!

Happy New Year :)

2019: Favourites

  • Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag

    67 hours playtime

    no achievements

  • Half-Life 2

    32 hours playtime

    33 of 33 achievements

  • Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

    11 hours playtime

    14 of 14 achievements

  • A Plague Tale: Innocence

    24 hours playtime

    35 of 35 achievements

  • The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

    191 hours playtime

    78 of 78 achievements

2020: Targets

  • Batman: Arkham City GOTY

    75 minutes playtime

    0 of 64 achievements

  • Deus Ex: Mankind Divided™

    4 hours playtime

    0 of 81 achievements

  • The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

    0 minutes playtime

    no achievements

  • Fallout 4

    0 minutes playtime

    0 of 84 achievements

  • Far Cry 3

    0 minutes playtime

    no achievements

  • My Time At Portia

    0 minutes playtime

    0 of 91 achievements

  • NieR:Automata™

    0 minutes playtime

    0 of 47 achievements

  • Portal 2

    4 hours playtime

    0 of 51 achievements

  • Rise of the Tomb Raider

    4 hours playtime

    0 of 143 achievements

  • Subnautica

    0 minutes playtime

    0 of 17 achievements

  • </ul>
stef

Those are some good 2020 games. Make sure once you beat Portal 2, you play the co-op campaign (if you can!)

Joe

Yeah it was hard to pick out 10 but I feel there’s a good mix there to keep me busy! I created something similar last year that I only managed 6 of 16, but it was forgotten by February lol, so it was interesting to find I had managed to cross off a few after all, I’ll see how I get on next year now I’ve created a proper list…

I’ll keep that in mind about Portal 2!

adil

Those 2020 targets are indeed pretty awesome games! I’d add Bayonetta in there too, because it’s my favourite game and it’s a really great action game! And you can’t go for NieR:Automata without beating Bayonetta first!

Joe

Thanks for the suggestion! It’s the same developer isn’t it? Hmmm okay you’ve convinced me, I’ll make sure to play Bayonetta beforehand!

adil

Yep but a lot more crazy and silly story wise and it’s also a linear game compared to NieR.
Bayonetta is mainly focused on action and is a bit old now but it still packs a punch if you enjoy action/beat’em up games.

Joe

Haha I have seen some gameplay which definitely backs that up, it does look wild! I’ll look forward to playing it :)

DaedricDan

Loving many of those 2020 picks!

Joe

Thought you might!

Vito

I’m playing AC Black Flag at the moment and it is a really enjoyable game, I agree. A few too many collectibles maybe :D

Happy New Year to you too!

Joe

Haha well it’s been like that in every Assassin’s Creed game I’ve played, maybe it’s a bit more annoying in Black Flag with you having to dive off your ship whenever you pass by a small island! Completing it did require some patience, but yeah it felt like a perfect way to show how much I enjoyed it! Glad you’re having a good time with it too! The story definitely took me by surprise, I was genuinely saddened at the end of it.

Arbiter Libera

The Witcher 3

PREACH IT, BROTHER.

You set yourself some pretty serious targets up there for 2020, but that will come. For now I just wanted to wish you a happy New Year. :)

Joe

Haha! Well I’ve put it at the top of my all time favourites list, there’s no higher honour than that, it deserves it!

Yeah I’m not sure how many I’ll be able to finish due to their lengths, but hopefully most of them! Which one would you say you enjoyed the most?

Arbiter Libera

Which one would you say you enjoyed the most?

You mean out of games I’ve played in 2019? Probably Pillars of the Earth because it was just a good P&C adventure and I haven’t played one in forever due to Telltale’s effect on the entire genre. Out of the games you’ve listed for 2020 to-kill list I’ve only played through Batman and Morrowind. Amusingly enough I played Morrowind for a long time before actually finishing the main quest when it first came out.

Joe

Oh nice, I had a good time with Pillars too, I read the book which may have boosted my enjoyment of it being familiar with it, but yeah it was solid P&C with a lovely graphics. The main quest always seems to get saved for last in Elder Scrolls and Fallout games! Morrowind will hopefully be an interesting experience once I’ve got used to it, I’ll be going into it without knowing anything really, I’m looking forward to it!

Arbiter Libera

You planning to mod Morrowind? I really want to see how it’s aged in the eyes of someone who never played it before. :D

Joe

It’s unlikely I’d change anything too drastically, like to keep things as vanilla as possible on a first playthrough! I’ll be sure to do a post on here if I do manage to beat it.