As The Pub Landlord Al Murray put it... It's been a year!

So today marks the 1 year anniversary of my Backlog journey.

So how's it going? 

I have knocked out 55 Steam games I had never finished before, and nearly all of them I had never played before.

I have failed to get through 25, most of which need kernel level anti cheat or a third party account, which is outlined as a no no in the completely arbitrary rules I set myself.

I have covered off a lot of games I have already played on other platforms, such as Assassins Creed Odyssey, the Bioshock, Dead Space, Prototype and Dead Island games, as well as replaying the entire Half Life series because I had lost my save data.

A Nice Surprise

However, there have also been some genuine surprises with games I was wanting to play but actually really enjoyed, and now annoyed me I did not play them before. These include the Deus Ex, and Just Cause games. I did enjoy the Hitman series from 2 onwards, but that first one was a chore, as it had been every time I had tried to play it since buying it back in the early 2000s. The 3D era GTA games were OK, but not my highlight. 

Covering off some of the free junk I have acquired over the years has also presented some unexpected surprises like Along the Edge, Golden Light and Dr Langeskov, The Tiger and the Terribly Cursed Emerald. As well as the diabolical trash like Arabian Gulf and Battle Simulator, Counter Stickman, please just don't.

Free does not always mean it costs nothing 

I have acquired about 20 other new free 100% discount games over the last 12 months which have increased my backlog, and I am cleaning them up as I go along, I also broke one of my rules by buying Cyberpunk 2077, primarily because it was the only game in my Friends and Family list I really want to finish off, but circumstances presented themselves which meant I needed my own copy.

All is going according to plan 

I am currently averaging 6.6 days per game, which falls in line with my initial estimate of 1 week, so looking like I may have another 2 years at least to get through the remaining 102 currently sat waiting to be played, as well as any new free garbage that presents itself to me.

While, today, I am currently at L with Left4Dead 2, I am far from half way there. I also have nearly the entire Resident Evil and Tomb Raider series, as well as both original and enhanced editions of all 3 S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games to get through which accounts for 26 of those 102 left.

Defeating my demons

One huge win was being finally able to finish Silent Hill Homecoming, which plays considerably better on Linux via Proton than it ever did on Windows, which is not hard because there were so many persistent crashes, even on Windows XP at release, that I never made it past the first Shepherd house visit.

I initially only gave it a try this time around because I needed a break from where I was in the list. Silent Hill is one of my favourite game series, so took a shot, and it paid off big time.