Noble Gamer

2019: Year in Review

I thought I’d reflect on the past year as it pertains to my PC gaming, and what I look forward to in 2020. This covers backlog stats, backlog strategy, my gaming rig, highlights from what I beat, and what I’m most eager to play next.

Stats

June 2019 (when I joined BLAEO):

562 games
73% never played
11% unfinished
12% beaten
1% completed
3% won’t play

End of 2019:

767 games (+205)
75% (576) never played (+2%, <182 games)
9% (66) unfinished (-2%, -? games)
11% (88) beaten (-1%, +26 games)
1% (11) completed (+0%, +2 games)
3% (26) won’t play (+0%, +1 games)

I’m somewhat surprised with my progress of beating games in half a year, averaging one game per week. Its not something I’ve shot for, nor can I think of any month or two where I’ve consistently had that pace week to week, so I guess that’s something to be proud of. Same with decreasing the amount of unfinished games relative to my overall backlog, though that’s likely more of a function of how many games I’ve acquired and haven’t yet played.

So evidently in the past 6 months I’ve won 37 games from SG.  Of the other 168 games I acquired, my guess is that I bought only ~10 of them outright, traded for 40, and got the 100+ others from bundles. I’ve tried to restrict most of my non-bundle purchases to DLC to prevent an unwillingness to play a game because I don’t own the DLC (when the DLC is meaningful).

Backlog Strategy

When I started out on BLAEO, I was mostly focusing on whatever I felt like playing with the occasional SG win while also avoiding games that were F2P, in Beta/Early Access, awaiting important updates (like Kentucky Route Zero’s last episode), or games with meaningful DLC that I don’t own yet.

As the year went on, my backlog strategy each month evolved into:

  • At least one SG win per month
  • At least one game with an active multiplayer player base (before its player base depletes) The latter shouldn’t be confused with online-only games, which I usually avoid because I have a history of getting hooked on online RPGs like I did with Warframe, Robocraft, and years ago MW:O.
  • At least one game with a known short time to beat
  • Whatever I feel like playing: Generally choosing from a variety of genres unless I’m hooked on a genre or a game I played in a genre disappointed me & the genre needs redemption of sorts.

My PC Rig

The only minor changes to my rig this year were:

  • 8 GB of additional RAM (24 GB total) - Nice for a little RAMDrive or a few more Chrome tabs, lol
  • Seagate Barracuda 2TB HDD to replace 5+ year old 1TB HDD
  • Internet connection upgraded to 100 mbps down/15 mbps up from 50/10 mbps.
  • Corsair HS 60 Pro Surround headset
    If I upgrade anything later this year, it could be the CPU/Mobo/RAM since those parts are over 5 years old and I’ve pushed them as far as they’ll go. It would cost a pretty penny to ensure I’m getting a big enough boost over my i5-3570K.

2019: Beaten In Review

Highlights

  • Card-Based: Hand of Fate. I found its progression and card unlocks to be more meaningful than Slay the Spire, even though its deck building strategy wasn’t quite as deep.
  • Puzzle/Construction: When Ski Lifts Go Wrong. The physics were solid and hilarious with a variety of challenges.
  • Park Builder: Jurassic World Evolution (no major DLCs). I love the JP & JW movies, so although the game is not very deep in terms of customization and park management seemed no better than Planet Coaster, it nailed the vibe & wonder of the franchise.
  • Social: Tower Unite. Lots of fun games (mini or otherwise) and decent multiplayer that doesn’t have much jerks or cheating. Planning to revisit as soon as the arcade update is rolled out.
  • Story Rich: Quantum Break. I was a sucker for time manipulation and its TV show.
  • Survival: This War of Mine (with all DLCs). A masterclass in relatively realistic survival with meaningful progression, emotion-heavy stories, and some brutal choices.

Best Game to Revisit

This War of Mine - It was great to play it again with all the DLCs having been recently released.

Most Disappointing

Human Fall Flat - I expected it to be one of the best physics platformers, but it literally fell flat for me with how unnecessarily wonky the camera and controls are.  Not much of a sense of progression other than getting to the next area or level, and my multiplayer sessions were meh.  The intrigue of getting to the next area wore off on me after the first couple of levels, and having to look up guides a couple of times.

2020: Most Anticipated Owned Games to Play

SG Wins

Purchases or Trades

2020 Priorities (final list at end of year)

  • Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince

    3 hours playtime

    0 of 39 achievements

  • West of Loathing

    7 hours playtime

    1 of 28 achievements

  • GRIP: Combat Racing

    13 hours playtime

    15 of 35 achievements

  • Tomb Raider

    19 hours playtime

    11 of 50 achievements

  • Hand of Fate 2

    49 hours playtime

    28 of 99 achievements

  • Yooka-Laylee

    5 hours playtime

    0 of 35 achievements

  • Phantom Doctrine

    7 hours playtime

    0 of 47 achievements

  • Deus Ex: Mankind Divided™

    5 hours playtime

    0 of 81 achievements

  • LEGO® Jurassic World

    0 minutes playtime

    0 of 49 achievements

  • Dungeons & Robots

    0 minutes playtime

    0 of 37 achievements

  • Moonlighter

    4 hours playtime

    0 of 67 achievements

  • RiME

    6 hours playtime

    0 of 31 achievements

  • The LEGO® Movie - Videogame

    0 minutes playtime

    0 of 48 achievements

  • Frostpunk

    6 hours playtime

    0 of 115 achievements

  • My Time At Portia

    6 hours playtime

    0 of 91 achievements

  • Oxygen Not Included

    0 minutes playtime

    0 of 35 achievements

  • Two Point Hospital

    5 hours playtime

    0 of 51 achievements

  • Portal Knights

    0 minutes playtime

    0 of 40 achievements

  • Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed Collection

    12 hours playtime

    14 of 50 achievements

  • Hacktag

    9 hours playtime

    4 of 42 achievements

  • For The King

    12 hours playtime

    16 of 72 achievements

  • Battle Chef Brigade

    14 hours playtime

    12 of 25 achievements

  • Mad Tower Tycoon

    84 hours playtime

    42 of 42 achievements

  • Beholder 2

    16 hours playtime

    6 of 52 achievements

  • Dungeon of the Endless™ - Crystal Edition

    26 hours playtime

    6 of 33 achievements

  • Bridge Constructor Portal

    26 hours playtime

    12 of 26 achievements

  • Late Shift

    8 hours playtime

    8 of 20 achievements

  • MOTHERGUNSHIP

    18 hours playtime

    5 of 20 achievements

  • Infinifactory

    15 hours playtime

    2 of 22 achievements

  • The Sexy Brutale

    12 hours playtime

    15 of 18 achievements

  • NBA Playgrounds

    3 minutes playtime

    0 of 13 achievements

  • Volume

    8 hours playtime

    10 of 24 achievements

  • Letter Quest: Grimm's Journey Remastered

    15 hours playtime

    31 of 60 achievements

  • Kentucky Route Zero

    7 hours playtime

    5 of 24 achievements

  • SpaceChem

    8 hours playtime

    0 of 20 achievements

  • Streets of Rogue

    9 hours playtime

    5 of 52 achievements

  • Event[0]

    8 hours playtime

    7 of 12 achievements

almost 5 years ago* 5 comments
Cece09

im noticing a theme with people joining blaeo only to gain like 200+ extra games XD

almost 5 years ago
Noble Gamer

Glad I’m in good company and am not alone, lol

almost 5 years ago
Cece09

Proof can see it here how I mentioned my 200+ and then there our sam with 400+ who can make even you feel better about that massive backlog that somehow just gets acquired as soon as you decide to fight it

almost 5 years ago
JaffaCaffa

Congrats on your progress! Looks like some nice games to look forward to in 2020. I really need to play A Hat in Time this year myself, it’s crazy how much time flies, so many games to play “soon” and somehow years pass. :( haha I’ve enjoyed watching some streams of Oxygen Not Included, Klei is always really good at updating/fixing games as well. Nice to see how much love it’s been getting.

I just wanted to add that you can get 100% achievements/about 20 hours of gameplay from purely the main campaign in Redout, in case you weren’t sure how important the DLC was. Basically extra fun content, which I get that in can sometimes be more enjoyable to play all at once anyways. (I was spying on your list to see if there were any games I should hold off on bc of unknown DLC. :P)

Happy gaming in the new year!!

almost 5 years ago
Noble Gamer

I only got A Hat in Time this fall, then got its DLC in a seasonal sale. ONI is something I got in early access because Klei has been awesome with so many of their other games, and then I waited for release. I didn’t know it was going to turn into an automation & thermodynamic simulator, so its somewhat intimidating for me because I have a hunch it will become a time suck like Factorio is for many people. Watching some gameplay videos definitely helps show and explain some important things though.

Thanks for the tip about Redout. If you are trying to stay away from games with DLC, I have a list here of games that I’m putting off until I have their DLC.

almost 5 years ago