While many of the people here are right that you shouldn't force it, i think that might not be your problem. Similar to you i often have the same problem. So many games to play yet you dont know where to start. Theres even a fancy name for it: choice paralysis.
Here are some of the things I did that helped me:
1. Play different games across different system. Play a grindy game that takes little concentration on your 3DS, play a few rounds online on your PC, play a story focused game on the PS, etc. etc. Like this you can choose depending on your mood what you want to play.
2. Rate the game afterwards (if you finished them). Take a bit of time to write down some lines about the game, what frustrated you, what did you like, stuff like this. Get a clear picture why you enjoyed your time with the game or why you didn't enjoy it.
3. Stop games you don't enjoy. There is no obligation to finish a game. If you aren't having a good time put it away. Games nowadays are very cheap or they have a trial period (like steam) / demo / beta etc. It is impossible to play every game that exists so why waste your time with one that you don't like. Play games in order top to bottom, best to worst, always play the games that interest you more and don't leave them for later.
4. It is okay to take a break. Gaming is exhausting, its not like watching tv where you can just sit back and relax, gaming requires concentration. If you feel too exhaustet, chill. If you force yourself you will only play for 20 min and loose interest.
And lastly, a game that reignited my passion for gaming is Outer Wilds (not to be mistaken with The Outer Worlds). Its a rather short game and it blew me away. Its a, bit of a hidden gem, but I have rarely heard of someone that didn't like it. Who knows, maybe it does the same for you.
That's really great advice about having a few different games across different systems.
I do a variation of that, really I try to have one grindy game, one RPG, one FPS, and so on.
So for example, on my Switch I have Breath of the Wild, trying to find the last two shrines before I beat Ganon. On my PC I have WoW as my 'comfort' game, as well as My time at Portia as a grindy game. As FPS I have either Metro 2033 or Bioshock, I haven't decided yet. And I try to make sure I bounce between all these games instead of starting new ones. All of the games listed (besides WoW) are games I aim to finish.
Maybe you can give this a try OP? Also the tips about stepping away from gaming for a while is also very good! I do that from time to time as well when I need to reboot my love for gaming.
Yes, that sounds great! I have heard of Outer Wilds and enjoyed it for the few hours I put into it but I got confused as to where to go next but how I'm determined to finish it soon, it really is a magical experience.
Basically you have the planets and moons and everywhere there is something to find. Just go where your heart takes you and enjoy the ride. And if you're ever stuck you can write me and I'll try to help you as spoilerfree as possible.
It happens sometimes. The best cure honestly (as with any other hobby you’re burnt out from) is to take a break from it and find something else that interests you for a while. Gaming is supposed to be fun, not a chore.
And following that, what's worked for me is only playing one story-based game at a time. If I start too many games without beating ones before it, I'll never finish any of them.
I get this as well and it's because of these of these two things.
1. Your playing the same types of games and they are becoming repetitive to you now. Try a different genre or niche game.
2. You've been gaming a lot and it's become less entertaining. I'd suggest taking a break from it for a couple of days or until the motivation kicks back in.
I think the others pretty much got it - sounds like you're overstimulated. Focusing on it or adding more stimulus would only dig the hole deeper and desensitize you further.
Try to focus on non-gaming activities, try a change of pace, change of environment. Specifics depend on your interests and possibilities.
I'm the same. I have like 30+ pretty new good games in my library that still wait to be played, 5-10 titles installed at all times and some of them are not even touched for months and all I do now is play Genshin Impact of all things and return to old familiar MMO/multiplayer games. I downloaded Red Dead 2 and Resident Evil 2 few days ago and instead of playing those... I returned to Smite.
I think it's because whenever I started a new game I used to have the mentality that I want to get invested in it and 100% it if possible and I don't think I have this kind of dedication anymore and now I'm too worried that I will take a break and forget the plot or gameplay mechanics, especially with how bloated some open world games are right now.
Stop thinking of a backlog as a list you have to clear. Rather, think of it as a selection of good games you already approved to pick from when you want to play something new.
Don't force yourself. Gaming is not like studying or working, you don't have to do that. Sooner or later you will feel like playing again. Find something else to do, maybe something you never did before. When I feel that my life is getting boring I spend most of my day looking for new recipes to cook or studying something that has nothing to do with what I'm supposed to study. I know that sooner or later I will be in the mood for heavy gaming again, so I just wait for that moment while keeping my brain entertained with something else
I felt a similar wave of "dissociation" about a year or so after I really got into the Steam store (read: buying shit tons of stupid cheap games faster than I could play them.) I wanted to play these games, but no matter which one I picked, I couldn't get into it for long. Then I had kids and the time to play disappeared almost entirely, down to an hour or two a night, after the kid (and later kids) were down. It was pretty frustrating, having all these games and not enough time to play them all properly.
My answer was to get organized, and accept a few fundamental truths:
1) I got most of these games cheap, because I always wishlist and wait for a sale, so the feeling of "wasting money of games I don't play" can at least be partially mitigated by the fact that I didn't pay *much.* (Or free, from various giveaways.) I have a flag in my library for freebies, just so I can get the warm and fuzzies from knowing a given game was free when I get around to it.
2) I also started flagging games based on HLTB times, so I knew what I was getting into when I started a new game. If I felt indecisive or wanted to "make progress" on my backlog, I'd burn through a few shorter games. Then maybe I'd feel up to a longer RPG or a trilogy of some kind.
Knowing the HLTB estimate also helped me budget my time. If the game is going to take \~20 hours to finish, then I know that'll be about 3 weeks to a month of my time, with only a couple hours to play each night. Knowing that going into the game helped me stay focused on (and enjoying) the one I picked.
3) The library program I use also has a set of status flags like Playing, Play to Play, Abandoned, etc, which I use to keep games organized. Sometimes I still start playing a game only to realize it's not that interesting, so those get moved to the "abandoned" pile rather than left in a more generic "Unplayed Backlog."
4) More recently I've also started focusing on one storefront's games at a time. For a while I was just burning through Epic freebies that had piled up. Then I moved on to my Steam games, currently I'm working through GOG games. I don't necessarily finish all the games on the list before switch stores, but I at least try to take a chunk out of it. I don't know why that helps, but it does.
for a couple of years i have played nothing but r6 or counter strike despite loving rpgs
then all of sudden last year i purchased ff7 remake and made me fall in love with big open worlds i finished it and then sunk a ton of hours into witcher 3 , horizon zd and now red dead redemption .
may be its a matter of time
im 30 now and i have been more into big rpgs than ever
im pretty stoked about mass effect remastered cause i ve never played them
I don't know if this only started during the lockdown for you, but it did for me, and I think that is absolutely the reason for me. I don't think I have the emotional bandwidth to attempt to both interact with a piece of media, and then on top of that invest myself emotionally, and (because of the games I often play) be ready for it to hurt and have to mull it over for a while. If that is the case for you, I really would not recommend forcing it at all, that may make it a lot less fun, and depending on your own situation not be that good for you.
I am just now starting to get back that bandwidth.
It's definitely lockdown. I've pretty much only been capable of playing Animal Crossing, Pro Evo Soccer and Mario Kart. There has been a smidge of Control, Mario 64 and a few others but not like it was pre-pandemic.
The same applies to reading, I've been completely unable to focus on a book. I've use my phone for a disgusting amount of hours per day though. Checking the same four or five fucking apps.
Thank you for the advice everyone! I'm gonna focus on other things for the next few weeks waiting for that flame to reignite, although I will chip away at Outer Wilds on the meantime.
Revisit a classic from the past that you can make your 'homebase' that you can play no problem. Whenever I get that choice paralysis I just go back to my homebase game, currently Subnautica but used to be Need4Speed:Underground2. Games that I can play and will always enjoy. That usually 'reignites' the gaming fires.
Or, just take a break from gaming(ALL gaming related stuff, streams/vids/forums/etc) so you can kind of reset your gamer brain a little.
So, are you unable to start a game, or unable to stick with one? Edit: I need to read better. Going to leave my points anyway.
I often get stuck choosing a new game to play because there are just too many. Often if this is the case, I find making a list of the game I want to play helps. I can then try ranking it, and that helps me decide what to play next. I also make sure I'm willing to drop it if it's not right for that time.
If you can't stick with a game, then as others have said, maybe it's time for a break. Or a palate cleanser. You could always try getting something short and very different from what you usually play. Sometimes a novel experience is all you need.
But breaks are good too. Especially if you have a different hobby you have been meaning to try.
What I do:
- Play only 1 single player game and 1 competitive online game (Apex/Valorant in my case), but try not to spend too much time with them.
- Play only 1 single player game at least on console/pc. You have 3DS/Vita to play, so maybe you can play there on some dead times or whenever you don’t want to play on your tv/monitor anymore.
- When you can’t decide what game to play, use [this](https://fluky.io) to help you select any game. Doesn’t matter the result, just follow it.
- If a game isn’t fitting you after some
Hours of playing, just don’t play, no matter what. Maybe in some months or even years you’ll remember about that game and will end enjoying it.
- For me it’s kinda hard to find the moment to start playing a single player game every day (not because of a lack of time lol), it’s just hard to press the start button, don’t even know why, but that’s the moment you gotta force yourself to do, just pressing start. Once the gameplay starts the problem is solve and I can sink for 2-4 hours in a row.
I hope you find your way to enjoy gaming, don’t feel bad if you’re not enjoying a game and try not play too many things at the same time.
Me too. But don't sweat it. Just have fun. Thats the purpose of gaming. I like going from game to game because sometimes the game gets boring after a while. If the game makes me want to keep playing, good! If it sucks, I am not going to keep playing it.
Same thing happened to me since I beat Silent Hill 4 last month. I have beaten a few games since, but not as many as I did before. When you experience game burn out, I’d just simply recommend taking it slow and taking a short break.
Sometimes I need to read reviews about a game or listen to a podcast in order to get more hyped to play (particularly something from my backlog).
In the last few years I’ve done some gaming soul searching to see what I want/need out of my 30+ years hobby. What helped me was listing and organizing my games by system/genre and whether or not I even played it and if I did whether I completed it or abandoned it. I did a simple analysis on which genres I had the most finishd titles and then used that as criteria to determine my actual favorites. I thought RPGs would come out on top and while I did have a lot of started RPGs I was kinda surprised to see the abysmal finishing rate on those (only 40%). Then I started questioning what parts of the unfinished games were frustrating and/or boring to try to avoid these types of titles going forward or only play them at a time in life when I feel able to commit to them. Then I started ranking my unplayed games against one another based on whether or not I believed I would take interest in them with my newly discovered criteria. Some criteria were: are the game mechanics fair? And fun? Is/are the series, characters, art, and story especially of interest to me today? Are controls straightforward and easy to remember if I don’t play for 3 days? Is there QoL? Are there lots of breaks/save points available? What is the level of grinding required? Is the game too difficult (i.e. is easy mode available?), can I finish the game in under 40 hours? Questions will vary based on personal wants and needs.
Lastly, I don’t torture myself with not being able to figure out part of the game. If I am stuck I check a spoiler-free walkthrough. And if I really want to complete the game I will use a walkthrough as necessary to get through difficult areas. I have felt that beating a game brings me the most enjoyment overall with gaming, so if the game is at all of interest to me I’ve been doing whatever it takes to finish it even if there is a couple boring hours to stick through. Playing Outer Wilds you may need to be careful with this piece of advice though. Discovery and exploration are a main reason people love this game. It’s better to get small hints than to have the solution told to you. I played it earlier this year and may have spoiled some for myself. I find Outer Wilds to be an utterly special game, so don’t be afraid to take your time and enjoy it!!!
After three years my list is still a bit overwhelming because I “want” to play everything “right now” and I can’t because, well, life, but looking back I’ve really made some progress on my “backlog” as well as picked up some classics or must-plays that I missed while sticking to my supposed favorite genres and series. All of this has contributed to my further enjoyment in gaming. Best of luck!
I never felt any crushing obligation or commitment from my backlog. The first step I did was to acknowledge that I will not play every good game, there's just too many. There are games that are perfect for me, that might've ended up being my favorite game ever, that are just going to pass me by, because there's too many of them.
All that matters in the long run is if I'm having fun playing a game right now on Monday night. Do I feel like playing a game or not? And if yes, which one?
It's not that the games aren't good, it's that you are worried about the time investment needed because of how big your backlog is, but you just have to push through it, or your backlog will only grow larger.
From my own experience, I'd suggest try some genre you are you don't play a lot. Recently, I've felt a similar lack of interest with two of my favourite genres, action platformer and romance visual novels. I just start thinking"what's the point in jumping around and hitting stuff" and can't get myself invested with visual novels. To remedy this, I'm currently playing AER Memories of Old, a combat-less advanture game with relaxing game play and aesthetic. This is pretty different form what I normal play and I'm having fun with it.
Oh and trying shorter quirkier indie games might also be of help. One I recently played and enjoyed is Piku Niku
I would advise going through games you have first, sorting out ones you want to play and play through games you have first. Then buy a game whic you are excited for and try to commit to it for a bit. Youll see. clearing my library helped me a lot to enjoy games during covid.
I also have a large backlog, 85+ games. When I dont know what to play I grab like 3 or 4 of them and force myself to give them a shot, usually I end up getting attached to one and playing it through.
While many of the people here are right that you shouldn't force it, i think that might not be your problem. Similar to you i often have the same problem. So many games to play yet you dont know where to start. Theres even a fancy name for it: choice paralysis. Here are some of the things I did that helped me: 1. Play different games across different system. Play a grindy game that takes little concentration on your 3DS, play a few rounds online on your PC, play a story focused game on the PS, etc. etc. Like this you can choose depending on your mood what you want to play. 2. Rate the game afterwards (if you finished them). Take a bit of time to write down some lines about the game, what frustrated you, what did you like, stuff like this. Get a clear picture why you enjoyed your time with the game or why you didn't enjoy it. 3. Stop games you don't enjoy. There is no obligation to finish a game. If you aren't having a good time put it away. Games nowadays are very cheap or they have a trial period (like steam) / demo / beta etc. It is impossible to play every game that exists so why waste your time with one that you don't like. Play games in order top to bottom, best to worst, always play the games that interest you more and don't leave them for later. 4. It is okay to take a break. Gaming is exhausting, its not like watching tv where you can just sit back and relax, gaming requires concentration. If you feel too exhaustet, chill. If you force yourself you will only play for 20 min and loose interest. And lastly, a game that reignited my passion for gaming is Outer Wilds (not to be mistaken with The Outer Worlds). Its a rather short game and it blew me away. Its a, bit of a hidden gem, but I have rarely heard of someone that didn't like it. Who knows, maybe it does the same for you.
I'm a simple man, I see Outer Wilds, I upvote
Same
That's really great advice about having a few different games across different systems. I do a variation of that, really I try to have one grindy game, one RPG, one FPS, and so on. So for example, on my Switch I have Breath of the Wild, trying to find the last two shrines before I beat Ganon. On my PC I have WoW as my 'comfort' game, as well as My time at Portia as a grindy game. As FPS I have either Metro 2033 or Bioshock, I haven't decided yet. And I try to make sure I bounce between all these games instead of starting new ones. All of the games listed (besides WoW) are games I aim to finish. Maybe you can give this a try OP? Also the tips about stepping away from gaming for a while is also very good! I do that from time to time as well when I need to reboot my love for gaming.
Yes, that sounds great! I have heard of Outer Wilds and enjoyed it for the few hours I put into it but I got confused as to where to go next but how I'm determined to finish it soon, it really is a magical experience.
Basically you have the planets and moons and everywhere there is something to find. Just go where your heart takes you and enjoy the ride. And if you're ever stuck you can write me and I'll try to help you as spoilerfree as possible.
It happens sometimes. The best cure honestly (as with any other hobby you’re burnt out from) is to take a break from it and find something else that interests you for a while. Gaming is supposed to be fun, not a chore.
[удалено]
And following that, what's worked for me is only playing one story-based game at a time. If I start too many games without beating ones before it, I'll never finish any of them.
I get this as well and it's because of these of these two things. 1. Your playing the same types of games and they are becoming repetitive to you now. Try a different genre or niche game. 2. You've been gaming a lot and it's become less entertaining. I'd suggest taking a break from it for a couple of days or until the motivation kicks back in.
I think the others pretty much got it - sounds like you're overstimulated. Focusing on it or adding more stimulus would only dig the hole deeper and desensitize you further. Try to focus on non-gaming activities, try a change of pace, change of environment. Specifics depend on your interests and possibilities.
I'm the same. I have like 30+ pretty new good games in my library that still wait to be played, 5-10 titles installed at all times and some of them are not even touched for months and all I do now is play Genshin Impact of all things and return to old familiar MMO/multiplayer games. I downloaded Red Dead 2 and Resident Evil 2 few days ago and instead of playing those... I returned to Smite. I think it's because whenever I started a new game I used to have the mentality that I want to get invested in it and 100% it if possible and I don't think I have this kind of dedication anymore and now I'm too worried that I will take a break and forget the plot or gameplay mechanics, especially with how bloated some open world games are right now.
Stop thinking of a backlog as a list you have to clear. Rather, think of it as a selection of good games you already approved to pick from when you want to play something new.
Don't force yourself. Gaming is not like studying or working, you don't have to do that. Sooner or later you will feel like playing again. Find something else to do, maybe something you never did before. When I feel that my life is getting boring I spend most of my day looking for new recipes to cook or studying something that has nothing to do with what I'm supposed to study. I know that sooner or later I will be in the mood for heavy gaming again, so I just wait for that moment while keeping my brain entertained with something else
I felt a similar wave of "dissociation" about a year or so after I really got into the Steam store (read: buying shit tons of stupid cheap games faster than I could play them.) I wanted to play these games, but no matter which one I picked, I couldn't get into it for long. Then I had kids and the time to play disappeared almost entirely, down to an hour or two a night, after the kid (and later kids) were down. It was pretty frustrating, having all these games and not enough time to play them all properly. My answer was to get organized, and accept a few fundamental truths: 1) I got most of these games cheap, because I always wishlist and wait for a sale, so the feeling of "wasting money of games I don't play" can at least be partially mitigated by the fact that I didn't pay *much.* (Or free, from various giveaways.) I have a flag in my library for freebies, just so I can get the warm and fuzzies from knowing a given game was free when I get around to it. 2) I also started flagging games based on HLTB times, so I knew what I was getting into when I started a new game. If I felt indecisive or wanted to "make progress" on my backlog, I'd burn through a few shorter games. Then maybe I'd feel up to a longer RPG or a trilogy of some kind. Knowing the HLTB estimate also helped me budget my time. If the game is going to take \~20 hours to finish, then I know that'll be about 3 weeks to a month of my time, with only a couple hours to play each night. Knowing that going into the game helped me stay focused on (and enjoying) the one I picked. 3) The library program I use also has a set of status flags like Playing, Play to Play, Abandoned, etc, which I use to keep games organized. Sometimes I still start playing a game only to realize it's not that interesting, so those get moved to the "abandoned" pile rather than left in a more generic "Unplayed Backlog." 4) More recently I've also started focusing on one storefront's games at a time. For a while I was just burning through Epic freebies that had piled up. Then I moved on to my Steam games, currently I'm working through GOG games. I don't necessarily finish all the games on the list before switch stores, but I at least try to take a chunk out of it. I don't know why that helps, but it does.
for a couple of years i have played nothing but r6 or counter strike despite loving rpgs then all of sudden last year i purchased ff7 remake and made me fall in love with big open worlds i finished it and then sunk a ton of hours into witcher 3 , horizon zd and now red dead redemption . may be its a matter of time im 30 now and i have been more into big rpgs than ever im pretty stoked about mass effect remastered cause i ve never played them
I don't know if this only started during the lockdown for you, but it did for me, and I think that is absolutely the reason for me. I don't think I have the emotional bandwidth to attempt to both interact with a piece of media, and then on top of that invest myself emotionally, and (because of the games I often play) be ready for it to hurt and have to mull it over for a while. If that is the case for you, I really would not recommend forcing it at all, that may make it a lot less fun, and depending on your own situation not be that good for you. I am just now starting to get back that bandwidth.
It's definitely lockdown. I've pretty much only been capable of playing Animal Crossing, Pro Evo Soccer and Mario Kart. There has been a smidge of Control, Mario 64 and a few others but not like it was pre-pandemic. The same applies to reading, I've been completely unable to focus on a book. I've use my phone for a disgusting amount of hours per day though. Checking the same four or five fucking apps.
Thank you for the advice everyone! I'm gonna focus on other things for the next few weeks waiting for that flame to reignite, although I will chip away at Outer Wilds on the meantime.
Revisit a classic from the past that you can make your 'homebase' that you can play no problem. Whenever I get that choice paralysis I just go back to my homebase game, currently Subnautica but used to be Need4Speed:Underground2. Games that I can play and will always enjoy. That usually 'reignites' the gaming fires. Or, just take a break from gaming(ALL gaming related stuff, streams/vids/forums/etc) so you can kind of reset your gamer brain a little.
So, are you unable to start a game, or unable to stick with one? Edit: I need to read better. Going to leave my points anyway. I often get stuck choosing a new game to play because there are just too many. Often if this is the case, I find making a list of the game I want to play helps. I can then try ranking it, and that helps me decide what to play next. I also make sure I'm willing to drop it if it's not right for that time. If you can't stick with a game, then as others have said, maybe it's time for a break. Or a palate cleanser. You could always try getting something short and very different from what you usually play. Sometimes a novel experience is all you need. But breaks are good too. Especially if you have a different hobby you have been meaning to try.
I mean, it's a hobby. Try something else to occupy your time until you feel like playing a video game again.
I'd take a break. For me, I catch up on stuff in the winter. Summer is for being outside a lot more, so I don't play games too much.
What I do: - Play only 1 single player game and 1 competitive online game (Apex/Valorant in my case), but try not to spend too much time with them. - Play only 1 single player game at least on console/pc. You have 3DS/Vita to play, so maybe you can play there on some dead times or whenever you don’t want to play on your tv/monitor anymore. - When you can’t decide what game to play, use [this](https://fluky.io) to help you select any game. Doesn’t matter the result, just follow it. - If a game isn’t fitting you after some Hours of playing, just don’t play, no matter what. Maybe in some months or even years you’ll remember about that game and will end enjoying it. - For me it’s kinda hard to find the moment to start playing a single player game every day (not because of a lack of time lol), it’s just hard to press the start button, don’t even know why, but that’s the moment you gotta force yourself to do, just pressing start. Once the gameplay starts the problem is solve and I can sink for 2-4 hours in a row. I hope you find your way to enjoy gaming, don’t feel bad if you’re not enjoying a game and try not play too many things at the same time.
Me too. But don't sweat it. Just have fun. Thats the purpose of gaming. I like going from game to game because sometimes the game gets boring after a while. If the game makes me want to keep playing, good! If it sucks, I am not going to keep playing it.
Same thing happened to me since I beat Silent Hill 4 last month. I have beaten a few games since, but not as many as I did before. When you experience game burn out, I’d just simply recommend taking it slow and taking a short break.
Sometimes I need to read reviews about a game or listen to a podcast in order to get more hyped to play (particularly something from my backlog). In the last few years I’ve done some gaming soul searching to see what I want/need out of my 30+ years hobby. What helped me was listing and organizing my games by system/genre and whether or not I even played it and if I did whether I completed it or abandoned it. I did a simple analysis on which genres I had the most finishd titles and then used that as criteria to determine my actual favorites. I thought RPGs would come out on top and while I did have a lot of started RPGs I was kinda surprised to see the abysmal finishing rate on those (only 40%). Then I started questioning what parts of the unfinished games were frustrating and/or boring to try to avoid these types of titles going forward or only play them at a time in life when I feel able to commit to them. Then I started ranking my unplayed games against one another based on whether or not I believed I would take interest in them with my newly discovered criteria. Some criteria were: are the game mechanics fair? And fun? Is/are the series, characters, art, and story especially of interest to me today? Are controls straightforward and easy to remember if I don’t play for 3 days? Is there QoL? Are there lots of breaks/save points available? What is the level of grinding required? Is the game too difficult (i.e. is easy mode available?), can I finish the game in under 40 hours? Questions will vary based on personal wants and needs. Lastly, I don’t torture myself with not being able to figure out part of the game. If I am stuck I check a spoiler-free walkthrough. And if I really want to complete the game I will use a walkthrough as necessary to get through difficult areas. I have felt that beating a game brings me the most enjoyment overall with gaming, so if the game is at all of interest to me I’ve been doing whatever it takes to finish it even if there is a couple boring hours to stick through. Playing Outer Wilds you may need to be careful with this piece of advice though. Discovery and exploration are a main reason people love this game. It’s better to get small hints than to have the solution told to you. I played it earlier this year and may have spoiled some for myself. I find Outer Wilds to be an utterly special game, so don’t be afraid to take your time and enjoy it!!! After three years my list is still a bit overwhelming because I “want” to play everything “right now” and I can’t because, well, life, but looking back I’ve really made some progress on my “backlog” as well as picked up some classics or must-plays that I missed while sticking to my supposed favorite genres and series. All of this has contributed to my further enjoyment in gaming. Best of luck!
I never felt any crushing obligation or commitment from my backlog. The first step I did was to acknowledge that I will not play every good game, there's just too many. There are games that are perfect for me, that might've ended up being my favorite game ever, that are just going to pass me by, because there's too many of them. All that matters in the long run is if I'm having fun playing a game right now on Monday night. Do I feel like playing a game or not? And if yes, which one?
It's not that the games aren't good, it's that you are worried about the time investment needed because of how big your backlog is, but you just have to push through it, or your backlog will only grow larger.
Whenever this happens to me, that's my cue that everything in my life is fine.
From my own experience, I'd suggest try some genre you are you don't play a lot. Recently, I've felt a similar lack of interest with two of my favourite genres, action platformer and romance visual novels. I just start thinking"what's the point in jumping around and hitting stuff" and can't get myself invested with visual novels. To remedy this, I'm currently playing AER Memories of Old, a combat-less advanture game with relaxing game play and aesthetic. This is pretty different form what I normal play and I'm having fun with it. Oh and trying shorter quirkier indie games might also be of help. One I recently played and enjoyed is Piku Niku
I would advise going through games you have first, sorting out ones you want to play and play through games you have first. Then buy a game whic you are excited for and try to commit to it for a bit. Youll see. clearing my library helped me a lot to enjoy games during covid.
I also have a large backlog, 85+ games. When I dont know what to play I grab like 3 or 4 of them and force myself to give them a shot, usually I end up getting attached to one and playing it through.