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So many great games to play and so little time – we’ve all been there, especially when the holiday shopping spree is over. If the growing list of must-play games in your library stresses you out, we’re here to help. Just read our list of 6 useful tips to reduce your gaming backlog in the upcoming months!

1. Slow down
Like an ancient wise man said once (and all life coaches since) – a big journey consists of small steps. It may sound a bit strange, but maybe you’re trying too hard to finish all the cool titles you own. Instead of rushing into games, and being frustrated by the lack of progress, try a more systematic approach. Shortening your gaming sessions may help them become more satisfying. There’s really nothing chasing you here. For example, if you spend an hour a day with one title that needs 10 hours to finish, you can beat it in just 2 weeks.



2. Start with shorter games
Another popular saying states that you should always tackle obstacles from their easier side. If your gaming backlog keeps growing, start chipping away at it by choosing to play the shorter, easier titles first. Just visit sites like HowLongToBeat and make a list of owned games in order of their length. After beating shorter titles, you can take on the longer, more elaborate ones without having to dwell on the other games you still haven’t finished.

3. Find a co-op friend
One of the popular bits of advice to all gym-avoiders is to take a friend with you. Many activities are more fun when enjoyed in bigger groups, so check if the game you’ve been avoiding for some time has a co-op mode. Even if you invite your friend for a gaming session just once a week, it will still help you take down overdue titles in a social and very enjoyable way.



4. Use tools to keep order
Make your gaming life easier by creating a convenient, easy-to-access list of games to finish. Apps like GOG GALAXY let you add bookmarks to your game collection across all platforms. Just create a bookmark titled “The Pile of Shame”… just kidding – “Games to Play” (let’s remember to stay positive), and watch as it gets smaller with each day.

5. Give your favorites a break
We all have them – games that are evergreen, ones that we love to return to from time to time. Well, if we want to make that game to-do list disappear, those darlings will have to sit in the back row for a bit. It’s time to open up to new experiences and, let’s be honest, those golden oldies aren’t going anywhere, right?



6. Take it easy
Ask yourself, do you want to beat a specific game quickly or do you just want to explore its lore and story. If the second answer is the correct one, you can just as easily choose “easy” or “story mode” in the difficulty section and simply have fun. If the game really draws you in, you can always revisit it in “nightmare mode” in the future.

How about you? Do you have any games that you wish to finally play and finish in the upcoming months? Write about them in the comment section below, and remember – fresh or overdue, the main goal of playing every game is to have fun!
ထ. Just live forever.
Immortal = Plenty of time to play games -> Problem solved.
Thank me later.
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amok: for some strange reason, "stop buying games for a while" is not on the list
Strange, almost like there's some kind of bias.
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GOG.com: 4. Use tools to keep order
Make your gaming life easier by creating a convenient, easy-to-access list of games to finish. Apps like GOG GALAXY let you add bookmarks to your game collection across all platforms. Just create a bookmark titled “The Pile of Shame”… just kidding – “Games to Play” (let’s remember to stay positive), and watch as it gets smaller with each day.
Not gonna happen.

I was using the old Galaxy in the past, because it was still better than Galaxy 2.0. And because some offline installers weren't up to date, and bonus items in offline version of Divinity: OS 1 were (and probably still are) bugged. But after my HDD recently died, I tend not to install any crapware like Galaxy 2.0 on my new hard drive.

P.S. The Galaxy is not related to my HDD problem, but I'm not going to use this “pile of shame” you call "optional" gaming client anymore.
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mdqp: I was hoping for some high level sorcery, like extending my lifespan or creating temporary clones of myself, but I guess some of these are decent suggestions. XD
There are also certain techniques to decrease the sleep time. The culmination is you (as your brain) sleeps every other second and you're effectively constantly awake to play games (or constantly sleeping, if you favor pessimism).
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Okay, I have to agree that this was an unusual guide for a change.

Still ... was it really necessary to mention "Galaxy" here as well? "Use tools to keep order" ... " like GOG Galaxy." Well, I tried to use the organizing feature of GOG Galaxy by hiding all my DRM'd content and making it possible for me to concentrate on the DRM-free content only ... guess what - that's not possible with Galaxy. Hiding a game on one platform is hiding it for each platform ... but there's really no need to tell you this because I told you about 5 times during the last years ... well, no - not a good tool for me. Nice for getting your gametime displayed or using achievements (in the few instances they were actually implemented AND working) and - since you destroyed the GOG downloader - a more convenient download possibility (at least for me) than using the browser - but not a good tool to organize ... it might be one day when you finally finished those missing or not correctly working features.
Post edited January 11, 2021 by MarkoH01
7. Make sure to buy on GOG because they never discount the games you are interested in
- Is it possible to maybe add to Galaxy a suggest a random game button from the library, might that be from one platform, ALL platformed combined and/or picking one based on tags like e.g. FPS or RPG?
- An additional small add-on could be a chart list of 10 games called 'GOT to play' or something like a priority chart list?
- Another simple feature which would be nice which allows to mark a game simply as 'finished' or 'played through'.
- And/or a marker which allows to mark games with priority levels of importance like low, medium or high.

BTW, I call my pile of games 'Pile of Support' as I support with my pile like everybody else the hobby we ALL share, enjoying games. Just cynical 'poopers of lame' come up with all those negative terms.
Post edited January 11, 2021 by Bearhug_at
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Leroux: "Need to run, going to play Shooty Lootbox Quest Online with my pals."
True story...all the new gen seems to care about and be interested in is the next "jingly keys simulator".
(i.e. anything with bright colors, flashing lights, and snazzy sounds/music)
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Linko64: This reads like some bizarre rehab advice blog in my ma's Take A Break magazine.
What a wholesome magazine it is too.

https://www.newsstand.co.uk/issueimages/230x320/2647982.jpg
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Paraharaha: ထ. Just live forever.
Immortal = Plenty of time to play games -> Problem solved.
Thank me later.
Maybe not! If the speed at which you can play games is slower than the accretion rate of your backlog, you will be overwhelmed even if you have infinite time (I know, what a downer).

Maybe brain outsourcing or something like that is in order. Or multiple bodies. Like in David Brin's Kiln People.

Now seriously. Nice post from GOG's staff, and nice replies. Some of them are easy to relate to.

Possibly, an answer to digital distribution might be, play what you like... And put some effort into it. The way we used to do before digital distribution... The more you put into something, the more you get from it.
Post edited January 11, 2021 by Carradice
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BranjoHello: Best tool for keeping track of your backlog:
https://backloggery.com/
Why use a website instead of something like: add every game you buy to a text file under "not played yet", then after playing it either remove it or move to a different category?
Post edited January 12, 2021 by joveian
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Paraharaha: ထ. Just live forever.
Immortal = Plenty of time to play games -> Problem solved.
Thank me later.
You might be immortal but the value of the games aren't.

p.s and the brain has limited capacity.
Post edited January 12, 2021 by §pectre
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Paraharaha: ထ. Just live forever.
Immortal = Plenty of time to play games -> Problem solved.
Thank me later.
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§pectre: You might be immortal but the value of the games aren't.

p.s and the brain has limited capacity.
Oh well...i always thought, that immortality is simple and fun.
But after reading your and Carradice answers....i have to rethink my future ...and figure out on how i will be able to cancel my deal with the devil.

I even had a eternal bucket list what i will do with nothing than time in my hands.
I guess i am screwed.
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MarkoH01: Still ... was it really necessary to mention "Galaxy" here as well?
Of course it was: advertising Galaxy was the whole point of GOG making the original post.

Just like when they advertise "free games on GOG" to make it look like they are doing their customers a favor...but they always stick the microtransaction-filled GWENT onto their "free games" list.

In those cases, the whole point of them making the list is to advertise GWENT whilst trying not to make it obvious that they are doing so.

And that's also exactly what the original post here is doing, except that it's advertising for Galaxy 2.0 instead of GWENT.
Another not-so-subtle ad for Galaxy..
You do know you can add tags on the sites library as well right?