Operation Backlog Completion 2026
Sep 082017
 

With fall approaching, I took a look at some of my survival horror games… and then I remembered one that still hasn’t appeared.

In 2014, I included a sci-fi game called Routine on my list of top upcoming survival horror games.

I’d previously mentioned it a year earlier, in my Alien review.

Routine is a survival horror game set on the moon, with an aesthetic designed to mimic 1980s science fiction. It had already been Greenlit on Steam, so all seemed well.

But what happened to it?

Throughout 2015 and 2016, updates showed Routine well on the way to a successful launch. Last Halloween, the developers announced a release window of March 2017.

March 2017 came… and with it, a delay. The team felt they needed to keep working on Routine to make it the best experience possible, and didn’t expect it to be “more than a month or two” before the game was ready.

Far more than a month or two has passed since March, and there have been no new updates on Routine.

However, it’s not dead yet! A mod from the Routine subreddit got in touch with the developers and learned that the game is still being developed. It hasn’t been cancelled, and they intend to finish it.

What do you think? Will we ever see Routine? And if so, when?

Sep 062017
 

At the start of the year, I declared Round 2 of Operation Backlog Completion, my determination to finally break my video game backlog.

I set a goal of 40 games for this year.

Since it’s now September, we’ve fully completed 8 months of the year. If I want to be on track for my goal, I should be roughly 67% finished. That’s around 27 games.

So far, I’ve completed 29 games in 2017, so I’m slightly ahead of where I should be.

And what about my specific backlog goals?

I intended to play:

  • Cosmic Star Heroine
  • Batman: Arkham Knight
  • The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (after playing The Witcher 2 first)
  • Yooka-Laylee
  • Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue
  • Tales of Berseria
  • Finding Paradise
  • Muv-Luv Alternative
  • Aviary Attorney
  • Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan

(And maybe, but probably not, Mighty No. 9.)

Two more games I crowd-funded, Dies Irae and Shadows of Adam, also game out this year, with A Hat in Time on its way.

Of these, I have played… Kingdom Hearts 2.8 and Tales of Berseria. I’ve started Muv-Luv Alternative, and I wanted to wait for the Switch version of Yooka-Laylee.

That leaves me with 4 months left in the year to play the rest! Plus I want to make a special effort to play horror games for October… and my overall backlog seems to be growing.

Well, that’s the current state of my backlog completion project. How do you handle your video game backlogs?

Sep 042017
 

I’ve been excited for A Hat in Time ever since I first saw it on Kickstarter, and the full release is almost here!

The void of 3D platformers has been filled somewhat since A Hat in Time was announced, but it still looks like one of the best!

The developers officially announced that A Hat in Time will be out on October 5, not only for the PC but also for the PS4 and Xbox One.

It will also feature mod support, including a full level editor. They also announced official mods, such as Raz’s helmet from Psychonauts.

Their list of mod partners also includes Gurumin, which I enjoyed a lot, so I’m interested to see what that will be.

They initially announced a fee to upgrade to the PS4 or Xbox One version, but later apologized and said it was a mistake due to their inexperience with consoles. They’re working on a solution.

Meanwhile, they’ve been posting comparisons on Twitter to show how far the game has come along since it was first announced.

A Hat in Time is estimated to take around 8-9 hours to play straight through, and over 30 hours for 100% completion. I’ve been waiting for this one for a long time, and I’m definitely looking forward to it.

Are you going to play A Hat in Time?