September 2021 – Ranking My Backlog

Sep 1

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I got so busy with life since I last made a list at the start of July, that I actually didn’t get a chance to play a single game these last 2 months. Not just from my backlog, I didn’t play ANYTHING. So let’s try again. I removed some of the “horror/spooky” type games from July and expect them to revisit the list next month, I figure I can wait another month for October before I try to play them.

So what do I say is a Backlogged game? My definition is: A game that I bought more than 6 months ago, but I’ve owned it less than 3 years. I consider something shorter than that time-span to be too recent of a pick-up to be in a backlog. Anything longer than 3 years from when I purchased, I consider to be a “shelved” game, and less likely to get played after sitting so long while my pile of games keeps getting larger.

Here are the Top 10 Games in my current Backlog that I would like to play soon…

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

September Update: My interest in this really shot up over the past couple of weeks because I think it would be rather simple and easy to play and get through.

I played the original Link’s Awakening on the GameBoy when I was a kid, and I got pretty close to the end. Unfortunately a glitch occurred that got me stuck on a statue and I couldn’t move, I stupidly did “Save & Quit”, and was forever stuck there, I never finished the game. This seems like a smooth, fun game to play with not much stress or hassle and I’ve always been a fan of top-down Zeldas. This game almost seems forgotten on the Switch, but I’d like to get to it because I could probably enjoy it and complete it much faster than some of the other games here.

Y’s VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA

I’ve heard about the Y’s series for decades but never gave much attention to it. However when I saw Y’s VIII on the PS4 I thought it looked pretty good, I almost picked it up but I held off for it to come to the Switch. I bought the Collector’s Edition at launch, then it shot up in price, so instead of opening it, I bought the standard, then that shot up in price, and instead of opening it, I bought the digital for $23! Now Y’s IX is about to release!! I need to play this! I have only heard good things about it.

Yakuza 0 / The Yakuza Series

I’m already breaking the “rules” of a backlog game, because this is a game I got a little over 4 years ago, so why did I include it? Because I have also bought Yakuza 6, Yakuza Kiwami, Yakuza Kiwami 2, Yakuza Remastered Collection and Yakuza Like A Dragon over the last 4 years and played NONE of them. So some of these games “qualify” under my backlog rules, I feel like I can’t play those before starting at the beginning of the story, with Yakuza 0. I’ve heard nothing but great things about this series even since the PS3/PS2 days and it seems like my kind of game.

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim

Dragon’s Crown, Muramasa and Odin Sphere are the only games I’ve played by VanillaWare and I thought all 3 were unique and special. VanillaWare is one of those developers I occasionally check their Wiki page to see what projects they’re working on, I had seen 13 Sentinels in development for a while and when it released, I got picked it up with the intent of making time to play some day soon. I’m confident this is going to be a great game that slid under everyone’s radar last year. This should probably be higher in my list

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

I enjoyed the original Hyrule Warriors, I thought Koei-Tecmo did a good job of giving the player a large cast of characters to use with varying move sets. However at it’s core, I expect this to be just another mindless hack-n-slash Warriors game. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, with how busy I’ve been, something simple is good for me to jump in and out of. However, as far as games in my backlog, games with more depth rank higher for what I want to get to first. The fact this is a simple game probably means I’ll actually get to it before other longer RPG type games though.

Hades

I’ve heard nothing but great things about this game, some are calling it an instant-classic, not only the best game of 2020, but one of the best ever. I’ll have to check it out, I’ve had the physical ever since release. I know of the other games by this studio (Bastion, Transistor, etc) but I’ve never played them before.

Cybershadow

I actually forgot about this game and it looks exactly like the kind of game I would enjoy. Yacht Club Games (Shovel Knight) is one of my favorite indie developers and this 8bit style ninja platforming could make this one of my favorite indie games out there. I really enjoyed The Messenger, I’m really interested to see how this compares.

Ghost of Tsushima

September Update: I got a Playstation 5 again, so playing this with the PS5 patch really has pushed my interest up for a game to check out on my new system (which is also still unopened)

Picked this up last year on a price error at Walmart for $20, it always looked more interesting to me than a lot of the other recent Sony exclusives and I figured I couldn’t pass it up at $20. I waited a little bit and decided I would play it on the PS5 with the upgrade, but then I sold off my PS5 while waiting for the upgrade. So now I’m stuck in wondering if I’ll try it on my PS4 Pro, or if I’ll just wait until I get a PS5 again (which I’m not interested in any time soon)

Persona 5 Strikers

I’ve never played a Persona game before. This probably isn’t the place to start, however it does look fun. I understand it’s just another Koei-Tecmo hack and slash, just like Hyrule Warriors on this list, but I think it will be a cool way to quickly see what the characters and worlds are like in this game. My copy of Persona 5, still remains unopened on PS4!

Daemon X Machina

I’ve pretty much forgotten everything I knew about this game. I was pretty excited about it pre-release, it for some reason reminds me of the GameCube-era of gaming. When it released, it was against all odds for me, reviews weren’t that favorable, I didn’t know many people interested in playing it online, and I was in the process of moving, so this really got pushed on the back burner. It also came out at the same time as Luigi’s Mansion and Link’s Awakening (both on this list), so it never became a priority. I still would like to give it a try, but I get the impression it requires a good commitment too.

Where’d They Go?

All 3 of these games were on my July list, how did the #1, #2 and #5 games fall off the list? Did I get to play them finally? No. I decided since I went this far around the calendar again without playing them, I’ll wait another month and put all of them in my October line-up since I’ll prioritize them more with a Halloween vibe.

Posted on September 1, 2021, in Games From My Backlog, Write-Ups and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.

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