Simple, I don’t. I play whatever I feel like playing, sometimes I stick with it, sometimes I start again after a year and well sometimes, I never touch that game again.

I don’t have a backlog, I have a collection.

I clear my mind of the concept of a backlog, and embrace the idea that games are for my entertainment - thus if I am not currently feeling entertained, I can put the game down and not play it without guilt.

TL:DR; There is no backlog.

If I spend more than 5 minutes trying to decide what to play, I use one of the Steam game pickers and just go with it.

By not having a backlog in the first place.

I do have thousands of games on my library, but it’s a library. I only pick up the game I’m having an exact itch for, and I put them on hold until I get the itch again, exactly like I do with music albums.

No pressure, no rushing. I can recommend every single game from my library from firsthand experience because I’ve enjoyed every single second of my time playing them.

I actually have a few strategies.

1. I never ever buy a game without knowing that I will play it in the next 3-4 months. At least the first intro/level.

2. When I see a new game in a series I won’t play/buy it unless I’ve at least giving the game two generations a good amount of investment. Example: sniper elite 5 is out and I went back and played through 3. It scratched the itch for that game and I’m not considering buying 5 for a little more time.

3. Same as two but with developer. If I really love developer. Like Supergiant and am going to play all their games. I won’t start a new game until I’ve given sometime to the previous game if I own it. I played through Pyre before Hades and glad I did.

4. If I see something new I usually just double check I don’t have a “similar /type / style game” and give it little time just to make sure I’m not interested in playing it over the shinny new thing. I’ve been able to pull out some really good games just sorting by genre and giving it a shot.

I’ll break these rules if

• my friends are playing a game and I need to play with them before they get bored.
• It receives all 10’s everywhere. Like Elden Ring.

Ultimately it’s your time. I have the theory that you you should try a lot of games you already own but if it’s a struggle to get through. I’m not talking about the difficulty. Challenges can be fun and not a struggle. If it’s mentally a struggle and you don’t care about the reward or the ending of the story then stop playing it. If you aren’t having fun or find some satisfaction after you play find another game.

I just consider it a collection and not a backlog. Makes me feel a little better about all the $$ I’ve wasted.

It’s better to play a game you want then to think you need to play the game.

The game isn’t gone it just has to wait. Also don’t buy new games if you aren’t going to play them or play a hour and never return, that’s just wasting money and time

I don’t even add all my humble bundle games any more.

Occasionally I’ll see a humble bundle games that peaks my interest, only to find it already in my library.

I’ve really tried to stop purchasing anything, especially anything new, although it looks like AAA developers have caught onto this and are doing their best to keep “goty” versions as close in price to the original release price as possible. An excellent trick by them, release a game with a bunch of cut/"planned"content, sell 60% of the game at 100% price, then a year down the road sell the full game at 100% price, but look at the 40% extra content you get for your money!

I delete the other games from my switch and go down to the free I wanna focus on

I don’t worry about finishing a game, just about having fun. If I try a game and I don’t have fun, I put it in the “Tried it” category and move on

I maintain a TODO list (with tags) on GoG Galaxy and a wishlist on Steam. Whenever I want to play something new, I scroll through the TODO list and usually find a few games that I feel like playing at that moment. I hit install on a few of them, and play whatever installs first. After an hour or two, I get a feeling about the game, and decide: finish or uninstall it and remove it from TODO, or just uninstall it for another time and leave it in TODO. I rarely finish a game and put it in favorites, which I often replay. I only buy things from wishlist, if that is really what I want to play or there is a big discount. I never pre-order and I never buy impulsively.

The only game in my backlog is the Final Fantasy VII Remake and my strategy for clearing my backlog is “when my kids are sufficiently independent”. Right now that is not even a little bit a possibility.

I recently finished two games I’ve had for years (God of War: Origins Collection, PS3). My process is to plan ahead, categorize my games by genre. When I’m in the mood for a genre, I’ll narrow them down to one game/series & play as much as I can. when I’m bored, I’ll move onto another genre, that way I’m not overwhelming myself with the same types of games. of course this means I have a lot of half-finished games as well. Try to finish games when you can before starting a new one. I often switch between long & short games to avoid monotony.

I’ve accepted the fact that sometimes It is ok to let a game unfinished. If I had enough with a game in my backlog and I don’t want to play it anymore, I stop and play a new one, the game is « done ». If I finish then the game was a really good one !
Careful with forcing yourself to play !

I don’t have a backlog, I have a lot of options what I might be playing next. There is no pressure to finish or even play any of them.