Gaming abstinence challenge: buying just 12 games in 12 months in 2022. Clear your pile of shame!

[ox1973]

This is getting ridiculous now:

 

1. Capcom vs SNK Card Fighters Clash (Nintendo Switch) - £4.19

2. Elden Ring (PC) - £36.99

3. Peglin (PC) - £13.49

 

I passed on Mario Strikers (looked a bit thin, especially in single player) and Biomotor Unitron (waiting for the inevitible Neo Geo Pocket Collection Volume 2 instead). I did make one small gaming related purchase in June: a 512gb Steam Deck! Have been using it to churn through the backlog rather than buying anything new though. And I'm still playing Elden Ring 😄 That might have something to do with the lack of purchases this year; it's just such an all consuming game.

[acidbearboy]

I spent 65p on Konami Arcade Classics for the Switch. I had a few goes at Castlevania Haunted Castle but it’s hard as nails! Also had a quick game of Lifeforce but didn’t fare much better with that. 
 

Quite fancied playing the new Turtles and Pocky & Rocky, but will wait for a sale. Have been dipping into my backlog instead, including Streets of Rage 4 and Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon. I also grabbed a free download of Street Fighter 2 for Capcom Arcade Stadium. 
 

 

[spanx]

End of June…

 

1. OlliOlli World (£15)

2. Elden Ring (£38)

3. Death Stranding Directors Cut Upgrade (£8)

4. Kodiak 100 Plane for MSFS2020 (£30)

5. BAe 146 plane for MSFS (£50)

6. Satisfactory (£14)

 

Using various vouchers and being on sale meant I could get this, big fan of factory games and had my eye on this for a while and it’s EXCELLENT. Being first person means you can build insanely complex, vertical structures and being in the middle of a complex factory means you can really appreciate what you’ve built. Still in early access but it’s rock solid, the map is enormous, varied and beautiful and once you unlock more of the cosmetic building structures you can make some pretty incredible buildings. Worth a punt

[teddymeow]

Progress Report:

 

Jan - Uncharted Legacy of Thieves (PS5) - £6.79

 

Feb - Horizon Forbidden West (PS4 with PS5 upgrade) - £52.95

 

March - Kirby & The Forgotten Land (NSW) - £39.45

 

April - Nothing

 

May - Ghostwire Tokyo (PS5) - £24.99

 

June - Mario Strikers: Battle League (NSW) - £42.95 (sold after a week!!)

 

July - Binary Domain (XSX) - £5.99 - Though I used MS Rewards to get a £10 Xbox gift card

 

August - ??

 

September - The Last of Us: Part I

 

October - LEGO Builder's Journey

 

November - God of War: Ragnarok

 

December - ??

_____________________________________________________

 

To be clear, however: I did re-sub to GamePass for another year for £6.99 after using a bunch of MS Reward points to get 4 x 3 month Live codes. I also paid £35ish to upgrade my PS+ from Essential to Premium but those aren't actually games so they don't count...ahem...😉

[Jamie John]

 

1. Inscryption (PC) - 7/1/22

2. Kena: Bridge of Spirits (PS4) - 28/1/22

3. Elden Ring (XSX) - 21/02/22

4. Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch) - 25/03/22

5. Dragon Quest XI: Definitive Edition (Switch) - 28/4/22

6. Horizon: Forbidden West (PS5) - 27/5/22

7. Sifu: Extended Edition (PS5) - 6/7/22

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

 

I didn't need it, but having just finished Citizen Sleeper (which was excellent), I wanted something new and shiny to play with a bit more bite, and the premise of an easier difficulty since the update, as well as a decent discount on Amazon, clinched it. It's due to arrive tomorrow, so I'll get straight on it.

[glb]

Bought the Wolf Mountain DLC for Sniper Elite 5. One of the better levels in the game, and executing Hitler is always cathartic. 
 

Otherwise, Two Point Hospital and House Flipper on Game Pass are keeping me occupied. Love the latter, it’s a super-chilled way to spend a few hours with a podcast on or something on the iPad. May go back to Valhalla as and when but will start Cyberpunk soon I think.
 

Purchased

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (January)

Lego Skywalker Yortcakes (April)

Cyberpunk 2077 (April) - trade

Wolf Mountain - Sniper Elite 5 DLC (July)

 

Completed 2022

Black Ops: Cold War

Crackdown 3 (GP)

Deathloop

Doom Eternal (GP)

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

Sniper Elite V (GP)

 

Wishlist

God of War Ragnarok
Horizon Forbidden West

Saints Row

Starfield

Stray

The Callisto Project

 

Currently Playing

House Flipper

Sniper Elite 5 DLC (and mission replays)

Two Point Hospital

 

Backlog (Owned not subbed)

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (incomplete)

Bound

Cyberpunk 2077

FIFA ‘22

Mortal Kombat 11

Resident Evil 7

Soma

[teddymeow]

I'm going to have to go back through the release schedule later this year for stuff I want to play but didn't buy.

 

SIFU, Resi Village, Klonoa, Olli Olli World to name but four.

[Qazimod]

No change from the end of June:

 

On 31/12/2021 at 20:46, Qazimod said:

1. Destiny 2: The Witch Queen (Feb)

2. Elden Ring (Feb)

3. FFVII Remake: INTERmission (May)

4. Hades (Jun)

5. Clustertruck (Jun)

 

Notables:

October: P5R PC

 

It looks like I'll come out of July with no spends, which might make up for me picking up two sale items in the previous month. Generally I've just been dabbling in older games and emulation and the like - going through the unlocks of Soulcalibur 1, or replaying Persona 3 Portable. Although I am still enjoying these sale games too.

 

On 30/06/2022 at 18:04, Qazimod said:

Based on my personal interests I'm expecting a drought now until September (Metal: Hellsinger) or October (P5 Royal PC), but we'll see.

 

So yeah, I want to keep this going for a bit. I'll be looking at the reception of Soul Hackers 2 with interest (I missed the first game but this sequel looks neat), but it's not really a high priority for me.

[teddymeow]

I am, perhaps ridiculously, rather proud of myself for keeping up with this.

 

I just hope that I can close out the last 1/3 of the year with similar strength!

[glb]

I did buy a retro handheld in July, which cost-wise would be the equivalent of two new PS5 games. Still under my allowance even if I include that though.

 

Resisted upgrading PS+ too. Think Game Pass is more than enough, especially if they keep dropping fire like Power Wash Simulator.

[Jamie John]

Checking in for the end of July.

 

This was an eventful month: my Steam Deck arrived, and (after far too much deliberation) I've decided to keep it. In order to pay for it, however, I had to sell my Oculus Quest 2. I was sad to see it go, especially as, if I want to rebuy one in the future, I'll have to pay more money for it now that Zuckerberg is whacking the price up by £100. Really, though, it just wasn't being played - I hadn't touched it since February - nor was I especially interested in buying any more games for it, so selling it was probably the best thing to do. Doing so knocked six games I'd bought for it off of my pile in one fell swoop, which (it's sad to say) I considered one of the positives when I was weighing up whether to sell it. As a result, I've gone from 25 to 18 games in the backlog, and it feels like the end is in sight, which is a nice feeling to have.

 

My current backlog:

 

 

(Highlighted games are ones I've started but not finished.)

 

Additionally, the Steam Deck means that lots of the PC games I'd previously been putting off are now in with a real chance of getting played. That is, if I can stop using the Deck to replay old favourites, midway as I am at the moment through another run of the fantastic Disco Elysium, which, if anything, is better the second time around. That said, I'm off on holiday at the end of next week and will be taking both my Deck and Switch with me, so I'm hoping to tick a couple off my list in August.

 

As for new purchases, I posted a poll recently as I was unsure of what to buy next, but there was a clear winner, so I'll be getting that tomorrow, ready for the holiday. I might as well post it now:

 

1. Inscryption (PC) - 7/1/22

2. Kena: Bridge of Spirits (PS4) - 28/1/22

3. Elden Ring (XSX) - 21/02/22

4. Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch) - 25/03/22

5. Dragon Quest XI: Definitive Edition (Switch) - 28/4/22

6. Horizon: Forbidden West (PS5) - 27/5/22

7. Sifu: Vengeance Edition (PS5) - 6/7/22

8. Streets of Rage 4 (Switch) - 1/8/22

9.

10.

11.

12.

 

Once Disco is out of the way, I'm looking forward to trying it on dat OLED screen and seeing if I can get into it a little bit more this time around after failing to when it was on Game Pass.

 

Looking ahead to the final third of 2022, God of War: Ragnarok is the only dead cert there, now scheduled for November. Apart from that, I do still want to play Neon White after all the hype, so I'll try to squeeze that in somewhere. Stray, too, and maybe the Callisto Protocol come December, although it doesn't strike me as an especially Christmassy game, and one that I imagine will come down in price drastically in the new year, so we'll see. Lastly, after all the positive reviews it's received, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has piqued my interest, but I need to actually get round to trying the Switch port of the original game first. And, as ever, there's a shitload of stuff on Game Pass that I've been neglecting, too.

 

A good month, all in all!

[spanx]

End of July

 

End of June…

 

1. OlliOlli World (£15)

2. Elden Ring (£38)

3. Death Stranding Directors Cut Upgrade (£8)

4. Kodiak 100 Plane for MSFS2020 (£30)

5. BAe 146 plane for MSFS (£50)

6. Satisfactory (£14)

7. Stray (£18)

 

Bought this on PC and played for a couple of hours but not really feeling it. Heard it’s very short so will probably finish it just so it’s not stuck on my backlog. 
 

Also abandoned Satisfactory… too addictive and endless. Already got MSFS fulfilling that place and I much prefer it so Satisfactory gets binned. 

[glb]

I'll include Hero Emblems 2 (iOS) as part of my allocation. Rarely have paid for games on my iPhone but love the first HE, so happy to drop six squids on the sequel.

 

Purchased

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (January)

Lego Skywalker Yortcakes (April)

Cyberpunk 2077 (April) - trade

Wolf Mountain - Sniper Elite 5 DLC (July)

Anbernic RG351MP (July - cost equivalent of two new games)

Hero Emblems 2 (August)

(five games remaining)

 

Completed 2022

Black Ops: Cold War

Crackdown 3 (GP)

Deathloop

Doom Eternal (GP)

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

Power Wash Simulator (GP)

Sniper Elite V (GP)

 

Wishlist (2022)

God of War Ragnarok
Horizon Forbidden West

Saints Row

The Callisto Project

 

Currently Playing (owned/subs)

House Flipper

UFC 4

 

Backlog (owned not subbed)

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (incomplete)

Bound

Cyberpunk 2077

FIFA ‘22

Mortal Kombat 11

Resident Evil 7

Soma

[teddymeow]

What has surprised me by doing this I I've not felt any sort of "fear" that I've missed a release that I thought I'd really want and let fall by the wayside.

 

Playing the Klonoa demo made me realize that, while I love the games, the recently released double pack is over-priced for what it is.

 

Advance Wars being delayed has helped alleviate some concern too.

 

The only game that I've wanted but didn't buy because of another game was Sifu which I am hoping will be reduced soon enough and could fill my October purchase gap between TLOU1 and Ragnarok.

[Qazimod]

On 31/12/2021 at 20:46, Qazimod said:

1. Destiny 2: The Witch Queen (Feb)

2. Elden Ring (Feb)

3. FFVII Remake: INTERmission (May)

4. Hades (Jun)

5. Clustertruck (Jun)

6. Return to Castle Wolfenstein (Aug)

 

Notables:

October: P5R PC

 

Damnit, my weakness for early 00s trash at a low price got to me. (£1.49 on GOG.) I had this on my Steam wishlist for a while (because early 00s trash), but when I noticed a "Quakecon sale" at GOG I thought I'd take a look. Also: shooting Nazis.

 

I still think I'll be okay though; P5R in October is my only definite future purchase; Metal: Hellsinger in September is a "maybe", and I can't think of much else.

[drkbfhmmr]

On 30/05/2022 at 12:00, drkbfhmmr said:

I'm gonna give this a go, but for the sake of my own sanity I'm going to count bundles and collections as single entries on the list (as I've already got hundreds of games through the Bundle for Ukraine)

 

1. Dead Cells: Road to the Sea Bundle

2. Deep Rock Galactic

3. GolfTopia

4. Bundle for Ukraine

5. Monster Hunter World

6. Halo: The Master Chief Collection

Challenge failed! I'll have to give it a try again next year

 

1. Dead Cells: Road to the Sea Bundle

2. Deep Rock Galactic

3. GolfTopia

4. Bundle for Ukraine

5. Monster Hunter World

6. Halo: The Master Chief Collection

7. Total War: Warhammer II: The Warden & The Paunch

8. Wreckfest

9. Humble Lego Bundle

10. Fanatical Bundle

11. Another Fanatical Bundle

12. Devil May Cry 5

13. Doom Eternal

14. Doom 64

[ox1973]

Summer Update:

 

1. Capcom vs SNK Card Fighters Clash (Nintendo Switch) - £4.19

2. Elden Ring (PC) - £36.99

3. Peglin (PC) - £13.49

4. Steam Deck 512GB - £565.00

5. Roundguard (PC) - £3.74

6. Cursed to Golf (PC) - £15.29

 

Even with the lack of blockbusters released this year I'm a little surprised by how well it has gone. I'm still doing plenty of gaming but it's all perennials like Slay the Spire or eating into the backlog. The Steam Deck has definitely helped with that!

 

There are a couple of Switch games on the horizon that I'll no doubt pick up (Neo-Geo Pocket Collection Volume 2, Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp) but not much else.

 

[glb]

Caved and upgraded my PS+. My basic sub expired last week, and went premium for the renewal. Pro rata for the rest of the year is £38, so equivalent price of a b-tier game.

 

Leaves me with space for four purchases. Saints Row and Horizon Forbidden West will likely be two, although the latter is still close to full-price. Tempted to get SR first as it’s £50 new, then go for HFW as a Christmas present to self. Only other purchases I can foresee this year is God of War if it does release, and a Miyoo Mini if it’s ever back in stock. Those, plus HFW and SR would fill my quota, and make for a decent year I reckon.

 

Purchased

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (January)

Lego Skywalker Yortcakes (April)

Cyberpunk 2077 (April) - trade

Wolf Mountain - Sniper Elite 5 DLC (July)

Anbernic RG351MP (July - cost equivalent of two new AAA games)

Hero Emblems 2 (August)

PS+ Plus Premium (August)

(four games remaining)

 

Completed 2022

Black Ops: Cold War

Crackdown 3 (GP)

Deathloop

Doom Eternal (GP)

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

Power Wash Simulator (GP)

Sniper Elite V (GP)

 

Wishlist (2022)

God of War Ragnarok
Horizon Forbidden West

Saints Row

The Callisto Project

 

Currently Playing (owned/subs)

Hero Emblems II (iOS)

House Flipper (GP)

Two Point Campus (GP)

UFC 4 (PS+)

 

Backlog (owned not subbed)

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (incomplete - deleted from my HD to make space, don’t know when I’ll go back to it, started to feel like a chore)

Bound

Cyberpunk 2077

FIFA ‘22

Mortal Kombat 11

Resident Evil 7

Soma

[Jamie John]

Start of the month. Get your backlogs out!

 

I'm down to 16 games, 2 fewer than last month after setting aside Spelunky 2 (too hard) and Dragon Quest XI (too boring, although it's the type of game I might end up playing with my son when he's a bit older). I don't think I'm going to get it to 0 by January, but I reckon single digits is definitely doable, especially when there's not a great deal out this month that's likely to tickle my fancy. Possibly Monkey Island, but I'm going to wait for the reviews.

 

In the meantime, I'm playing through Mass Effect 3 on the Series X, but more often on the Steam Deck via the cloud, which has been excellent. I'm going to try to get this done before I buy anything else, although the constant stream of cheap Steam keys is hard to ignore.

 

Otherwise, my boy has been enjoying watching me play through the Switch port of Super Mario Galaxy for 30 minutes each day. As you might expect, it still holds up very well.

 

How was your August?

[spanx]

 

1. OlliOlli World (£15)

2. Elden Ring (£38)

3. Death Stranding Directors Cut Upgrade (£8)

4. Kodiak 100 Plane for MSFS2020 (£30)

5. BAe 146 plane for MSFS (£50)

6. Satisfactory (£14)

7. Stray (£18)
8. Inside (£2)

9. Super Mario 3D World (£35)

10. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (£50)

 

Ooops, fell off the wagon a bit in August, blame travelling with the Switch and wanting some games to play. 
 

Inside completed though, and abandoned Mario quite quickly; found it quite annoying to control and pretty uninspiring all round. So not added much to the backlog and also ticked off a couple of other games. 
 

No new games being bought in Sept though. Probably. 

[Jamie John]

How many in the backlog, @spanx?

[teddymeow]

Progress Report:

 

Jan - Uncharted Legacy of Thieves (PS5) - £6.79

 

Feb - Horizon Forbidden West (PS4 with PS5 upgrade) - £52.95

 

March - Kirby & The Forgotten Land (NSW) - £39.45

 

April - Nothing

 

May - Ghostwire Tokyo (PS5) - £24.99

 

June - Mario Strikers: Battle League (NSW) - £42.95 (sold after a week!!)

 

July - Binary Domain (XSX) - £5.99 - Though I used MS Rewards to get a £10 Xbox gift card

 

August - Olli Olli World (PS5) - £18.74

 

September - The Last of Us: Part I (PS5) - £53.85

 

October - ??

 

November - God of War: Ragnarok (PS5) - £59.85

 

December - ??

 

Fuck, yeah!!! I got this.

[Jamie John]

Did you end up playing Binary Domain, @teddymeow? I've seen it going for peanuts a few times and I've been tempted as it's one from that gen I never played.

[teddymeow]

3 minutes ago, Jamie John said:

Did you end up playing Binary Domain, @teddymeow? I've seen it going for peanuts a few times and I've been tempted as it's one from that gen I never played.

 

Yeah, I finished it on PS3 back in the day but I've really enjoyed going back through it again. 

 

A very cool Japanese take on the "Gears of War" template.

[spanx]

47 minutes ago, Jamie John said:

How many in the backlog, @spanx?

11 at the moment, although a couple are Game Pass games (actually, all Arkane games)… Prey, Dishonored 2 and Death Loop. 
 

Edit: https://www.backloggd.com/u/StevenMB75/games/added/type:backlog/

[Jamie John]

10 minutes ago, teddymeow said:

 

Yeah, I finished it on PS3 back in the day but I've really enjoyed going back through it again. 

 

A very cool Japanese take on the "Gears of War" template.

 

Sounds good. This is what I was talking about when I mentioned the endless cheap Steam keys...

[teddymeow]

Hey, look at sensible me!!

 

Resi Village on PS4 (with free PS5 upgrade) is £10 in Smyth's and I've just not bought a copy!!

[glb]

Had a quiet afternoon yesterday so cleared most of my PS5 hard drive. Realised having a stack of games saved on there was a distraction from actually playing what interests me.

 

Tried half an hour of Bound (non VR) and didn’t get on with it at all, so that’s one less in my backlog:

 

Backlog (owned not subbed)

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (incomplete - deleted from my HD to make space, don’t know when I’ll go back to it, started to feel like a chore)

Cyberpunk 2077

FIFA ‘22

Mortal Kombat 11

Resident Evil 7

Soma

 

See FIFA and MK more as social games to have than really needing to complete. Will tackle RE7 and Soma around Halloween, so might be finally time to start Cyberpunk. Been meaning to but been hesitant as can see it being a 100 hour game, and I’ve quite enjoyed more moment to moment gaming recently.

[glb]

Not massively feeling Cyberpunk (yet) and have two weeks home alone in early October. Think I’ll finally get Horizon Forbidden West and take a few days off work to lose myself in it over a long weekend. Aiming high with my time!

 

See the code version is much cheaper than the disc but quite like having a disc to trade/sell.

[glb]

Caved and bought Horizon Forbidden West, even though Cyberpunk has finally hooked me. Still, HFW for £22.84 (£24.99 minus some koins or some shit) feels like it will be good value. Generally I prefer the disc versions of games for the trade value, but the cheapest I could find HFW is still over £40, and the highest trade-in price I could find is £16. #gamermaffs

 

Get those two done and might just have time to squeeze in one more new game before the end of the year.

 

Purchased

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (January)

Lego Skywalker Yortcakes (April)

Cyberpunk 2077 (April) - trade

Wolf Mountain - Sniper Elite 5 DLC (July)

Anbernic RG351MP (July - cost equivalent of two new AAA games)

Hero Emblems 2 (August)

PS+ Plus Premium (August)

Horizon Forbidden West (September)

(three games remaining)

 

Completed 2022

Bee Simulator (PS+)
Black Ops: Cold War (PS5)

Crackdown 3 (GP)

Deathloop (PS5)

Doom Eternal (GP)

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (PS5)

Power Wash Simulator (GP)

Sniper Elite V (GP)

Two Point Campus (GP)

 

Wishlist (2022)

God of War Ragnarok

Saints Row (will buy when around £20)

The Callisto Project

 

Currently Playing (owned/subs)
Cyberpunk 2077 (PS5)

Hero Emblems II (iOS)

 

Backlog (owned not subbed)

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

Cyberpunk 2077

FIFA ‘22

Horizon Forbidden West

Mortal Kombat 11 (story mode)

Resident Evil 7

Soma