As clearly seen by the date of this article, it has taken me a while to figure out how to write this article and properly iterate my feelings on this topic.

Recently, I was feeling like I was losing my passion for gaming. Passion may not be right word because I still WANTED to play games, but I felt like I had nothing to play. Most of my gaming time went to playing multiplayer games with friends and those games were honestly beginning to bore me because it was all I was playing. I wasn’t looking forward to gaming all the time, and that’s not because of my friends, but because the games we played were getting repetitive and not fulfilling (minus the occasional friendslop banger).

I figured it was time to try something different and start picking up some of my old steam library and starting with some games I have played before but are easy to pick up. That’s why I started my playthrough of all the Batman Arkham games. They were easy, chill, didn’t require much brain power and most importantly, fun. Playing through these games reminded me of how much I love single-player games and how important they are to the industry. Through this rediscovery, I have decided to play more single-player games new and backlogged. However, accomplishing such a monumental task requires a strong course of action.

 

Play Two Games Together:

So, to tackle this monumental task (my steam backlog) I decided to try playing two games simultaneously. While this may sound a bit counter-intuitive because at first glance the idea seems like it would divide your attention and you wouldn’t really be able to digest the games you are playing properly, but this concern can be disposed of with this trick: pick the right pair.

As I stated back towards the beginning, I began my replay of the Batman Arkham series games which I thought to be perfect to pair with something else. The Arkham games (while having depth) were simple. They were easy to pick up and put down and didn’t require deep thinking to enjoy or to stay on track no matter how long it had been since I last played. I didn’t feel like I needed to have a long sit-down session to enjoy my time playing it. If I had 20 minutes to myself, I’d pick up my steam deck, beat up some goons and then put it right back down where it was ready for me when I could come back.

Since this game was so easy to pick up and enjoy in short increments, this was what I called my “palette cleanser”. It was a game that was light and easy to digest. Since this was my palette cleanser, and this is an article about clearing your backlog by playing two games, I needed my entrée. I needed something heavy. Something to sink my teeth into when I had the time to sit down and really get into.

My entrée game originally was Persona 3 Reloaded. It is a very narrative driven game with a lot of moving parts and requires your time and attention to really progress or even enjoy for that matter. It is not a pickup and put down game because it requires a higher level of your attention to even participate in engaging, let alone enjoy it. I will say recently I have stepped back from P3R due to the amount of games that have come out recently that I have been looking forward to that have taken priority (Onimusha, Silent Hill, etc.).

However, I still wanted to try and see if I could balance two “Entrée” games at once because of how many games were coming out and I wanted to try and progress through them all and discovered it really is not a good way to enjoy games. It did what might be expected and just became too heavy. Anytime I played, I felt like I was completing a chore by trying to make reasonable progress in either game. I would mix up stories and even forget story points of games because the other game took so much attention from me on a prior play session. I tried playing Silent Hill Townfall and a new game called Silver Pines (tis the spooky season). Both of those games are very narrative driven with a lot of depth and puzzles that just were not mixing well together. So, for now, I am going to complete Silent Hill Townfall and find a new second game and go back to the “palette cleanser” genre. I was thinking of starting up Marvel’s Wolverine because combat seems simple and a story that doesn’t seem too dense to tackle alongside the puzzle driven mystery narrative of Silent Hill TF.

 

Gaming on the go:

Another important point I wanted to make was how I am able to have those quick gaming sessions with my palette cleanser game and the answer is handheld consoles. While I know this form of gaming is not accessible to everyone, especially in a day-and-age where gaming is becoming one of the most expensive hobbies on the planet, it is still such a great way to enjoy games. With my Steam Deck, I was able to complete so much of the Batman Arkham series in little moments of free time instead of heading to my main setup and firing up my pc, etc. I have also played some P3R on the Steam Deck as well when laying in bed before falling asleep. I used to think that handheld gaming was somewhat gimmicky and that you wouldn’t really do it that much but with my life getting busier as I get older, I couldn’t disagree with that prior thought process more than ever. The Switch 2 is also a great option. I have one as well, but my Nintendo library is a lot smaller than my steam library, so Nintendo games are on the back burner.

But going back to the original point, handheld gaming is such a great way to enjoy one of your favorite hobbies in those small moments in life where it is quiet. Being able to capitalize those short periods of time where you have nothing going on by enjoying a piece of gaming media that you have been wanting to get around to makes life just a little bit better.

 

Conclusion:

If you made it this far in the article, I really hope you enjoyed my ted talk and thanks for reading my yap session. I wanted to be able to share an experience with anyone who may be feeling how I used to where gaming was becoming a hobby hard to enjoy because of not knowing what to play or where to start on your library/backlog. Playing 2 games simultaneously has been revolutionary in not only tackling my backlog but getting to ingest more media and stories that are waiting to be discovered. Replaying through classics of my childhood (Batman Arkham series) and popular franchises that have been endeared in the hearts of many that I have yet to experience (Persona 3 Reloaded).

I am currently still looking for a palette cleanser game to pair with my playthrough of Silent Hill so I would love to hear your suggestions!

Until next time snobs.

Photo credit to Daryl Talks Games on Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/@DarylTalksGames