Back(log) to the Front: My Mission for 2019

It’s inescapable. No matter what you do, no matter how much time is devoted to it, it can’t be stopped. It affects us all – the backlog.

Comics, tv shows, movies, video games; so many avenues of media that we as human beings push aside with the honest (but foolish) intention that one day we will return to them. Yet we don’t. Many of us suffer from the desire to be in the moment of the brand new thing. I’m guilty of this as well.

2018 had been a rough year for me personally. Finances are tighter than ever, additional pressure of more people to take care of in our house, my almost three year old son potentially having a developmental disorder, and more. Since video games are a costly hobby, I’m going to heavily cutback my purchases in 2019. At least, that’s what I hope to do.

Which leads to my mission in 2019. I’m going to try and write a weekly piece discussing a game I’m playing from my backlog whether it a recent title or something from many console cycles ago. It won’t be an actual review, but more of my impressions of the game up to that point. I also want to touch on any games in the zeitgeist by acknowledging if I’m missing out and how hard it might be to pass them up.

Though spoilers: I’m not going to be successful 100%. There are certainly titles that will release I can’t resist. For example, if The Last of Us 2 drops this year, I’m not holding out on that!

In the end though, I have plenty at my disposal to choose from, but the following titles are some games in my backlog just quickly browsing:

• Yakuza Kiwami
• Gravity Rush 2
• Papers, Please
• Hotline Miami 2
• The Last of Us: Left Behind
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance 1 & 2
• The Misadventures of Tron Bonne
• Her Story
• To the Moon
• Oxenfree
• Tomba
• Killer Is Dead
• Metro 2033/Metro: Last Light
• Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic
• Star Wars: Force Unleashed
• Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune
• The Darkness 2
• Dead by Daylight
• Iconoclasts
• Batman: The Telltale Series
• Mortal Kombat X
• Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
• Nier Automata

There are plenty of others I’ve picked up along the way through PS+, Humble Bundles, or just fantastic sales in general. So it’s time for me to put up or shut up and dive into some games I’ve had on the backburner for far too long. Maybe I’ll finish them, maybe I won’t. But I will finally be able to say I’ve at least played them.

Then at the end of 2019, I would like to take a look and see what all Ive played throughout the year and even reflect on whether the focus on the backlog felt worth losing out on the brand new titles. I know I’m particularly eager to see my response at that time.