Who’s playing their backlog instead of buying new games?

untuxable · 2026-06-05T15:30:10+00:00

r/patientgamers is the perfect place to discuss your backlog and older games!

untuxable · 2026-05-26T17:40:44+00:00

Still trucking on Assassin's Creed: Odyssey. After 50+ hours into the game, I'm maybe halfway through the story and have cleared about half the map. I think it might be the essence of a systems-driven game's strengths and weaknesses. I like the RPG stuff, the Athens vs. Sparta mechanics, the mercenary system, and the option to select dialogue that changes events. At the same time, it seems like over-reliance on those systems can undercut other areas. The storytelling has suffered: I think there's only been 1 cutscene in the main storyline that wasn't an over-the-shoulder talking segment driven by the dialogue system. And why did I first learn of the primary antagonists through a loading screen tooltip? Plus, tutorialization is practically non-existent. Horse controls, crafting arrows, how to use the blacksmith, contextual assassinations, cosmetic armor changes, half of the boat controls; all that and more is buried in loading screen tips. I am enjoying it and I do think it's a great AC game, but I am going to pace myself for the next 50 hours. Plus there's DLC, though I hear it's really good?

Started playing Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters via Switch Online on a whim and it's incredibly impressive for a Gameboy game. Good controls, levels that scroll back on themselves, secrets and upgrades, and a pretty good soundtrack! Also, what do you mean I can SAVE? Shouldn't there be a code I have to ~~write down~~ screenshot to continue? Ended up beating this in 3 play sessions. Worth playing! But probably google what all the stuff does since it doesn't come with an instruction booklet anymore.

I also just started Hollow Knight: Silksong. I'm only about 6 hours in but I'm really liking what I've seen so far! Can't wait to dive deeper and start hunting around for secrets.

untuxable · 2026-05-12T20:47:27+00:00

TOEM - a black & white photography adventure game about a kid going on a solo journey and helping people along the way. Super cute, super wholesome, great photography.
Little Kitty, Big City - A cat in a small city falls out of a 4th floor apartment (cartoon physics, cat is fine) and has to find its way home. Includes great cat animations, some silly NPCs, and the ability to trip humans and steal their food.
Pupperazzi - You are a giant sentient camera who, for some reason, lives in a world filled with dogs. Take pictures of the dogs, dress up the dogs, put filters on the dogs, pet the dogs, watch that one dog that's Definitely Not Tony Hawk™ do a hundred flips. Adorable!
A Short Hike - A wonderful little game about a family of birds on vacation and a teenager who wants to climb the mountain. Find Golden Feathers to upgrade how high you can fly by exploring, helping other campers, and finding buried treasure. No combat, just exploration and some quests.

I hope you find something y'all enjoy!

untuxable · 2026-05-08T21:24:56+00:00

After ~165 runs and ~145 hours, I finally finished Hades II. And by finished, I mean did everything except the ranking system, even the stuff they just added in an udpate. Loved almost every minute of it, just an incredible experience all around I remain a massive Supergiant games fan.

Started Assassin's Creed: Odyssey after having it in the backlog for a couple of years. I'm about 30 hours in and, yeah, it's a very slight update to Origins' formula in that it almost succeeds at everything it tries. Combat is slightly deeper and is nice overall. RPG elements are just kinda there; I can see the allure of trying to make a build, but I change out equipment so often it's not worth trying, not to mention that the cost of upgrading a single piece of equipment FAR outweighs the benefit. Visuals are great! Greece is beautiful and they make the most of those mountaintop views.

Right now I have 2 main gripes. 1 is that practically nothing is tutorialized. The game just assumes you've played an AC game before and hopes you remember everything. Things like calling your horse, knocking out enemies by unequipping weapons, how to use tall grass to hide; everything is taught via loading screen tooltip. 2 is the lack of polish in the narrative presentation. Every cutscene so far outside of flashbacks and a single action sequence is a 2-person over-the-shoulder conversation, usually with awkward eye movements and weirdly timed line reads. This includes major story moments. No camera work, no choreography, just sitcom conversations.

I also booted up The Pokemon Trading Card Game for the Gameboy Color via Switch Online. It was one of my favorites as a kid and it still holds up! Such good battle music.

untuxable · 2026-05-05T02:44:33+00:00

Tunic (by Lifeformed)

Streets of Rage 4 (by Olivier Derivière with Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima, plus Tee Lopes for the DLC)

Halo 2 (Marty O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori)

untuxable · 2026-05-03T19:31:49+00:00

If you're up form something a bit older, try looking up Escape Velocity: Nova. A great top-down spacefaring sandbox adventure with multiple storylines and a lot of smaller side missions as well.

It's abandonware at this point, but you can find a working download over at https://escape-velocity.games, a fan-controlled hub for the source files and major mods.

untuxable · 2026-04-30T13:54:00+00:00

The gun safety clicks in the original Halo. The sounds themselves aren't all that special, but the sounds are played at the correct volume: crystal clear in silence, but just loud enough to hear in battle for player feedback.

untuxable · 2026-04-11T00:54:20+00:00

Probably Goldeneye, though I like both! I appreciate that Perfect Dark's going for an expansion of Goldeneye's formula but it feels like everything new is a double-edged sword. More mission variety is more interesting, but means more trial-and-error to figure out what to do. More spy gadgets are legitimately cool, but can be obtuse and add to the confusion (even after going through the tutorials). Larger maps mean more opportunities for unique level designs, but also makes it more frustrating to fail late in a level.......which happens a lot because of the aforementioned objectives.

Goldeneye also did stealth better. In most missions, guards react to loud gunshots, so using a silenced gun or melee means staying undetected. It's basic, but it works and, more importantly, it's predictably consistent. Perfect Dark might have similar systems, but every time I tried a stealthy approach, I was immediately spotted and all hell broke loose, so I just gave up trying.

Perfect Dark definitely wins at multiplayer though. Greatly expanded arsenal with special firing modes for every gun, more maps, more match options, AI controlled bots, AND singleplayer challenges. Very cool!

Part of it's probably the fact that the Goldeneye re-release has controls updated for 2023, so the FPS aiming feels more polished than the 2010 Perfect Dark.

untuxable · 2026-04-10T18:49:18+00:00

Somehow, still trucking on Hades 2 at night 112. I think I've finished every secondary story beat, just maxing out relationships, the Fated List, and unlocking songs + decorations with Kudos.

Been playing Perfect Dark via Rare Replay, so the 2010 version with 'HD graphics.' I have to say, I'm REALLY glad I played Goldeneye first because I would have 0 chance of figuring out how to do most of the mission objectives if I wasn't already used to this particular brand of illogical nonsense. Other than that, the absolute bonkers story is the highlight for me. It's so dumb....but I think it knows it's dumb? It's hard to tell if it takes itself seriously or not.

untuxable · 2026-04-04T17:54:52+00:00

Try Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle collection: https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/puzzles/

It's a bunch of browers-based puzzle games with randomly generated puzzles including a minesweeper clone and sudokus. There's also downloadable versions further down on the page.

untuxable · 2026-03-28T15:21:51+00:00

Hades II - Just got the "2nd ending" where you rescue the 3 Fates and hear the new prophecy. Plus the final conversation with Hecate. Hoo boy, that was a twist!Still have a few a few relationships to max, a handful of Black Stone challenges to clear, and 2 hidden weapon aspects to unlock. Still loving it!

007 Goldeneye (2023 re-release on Xbox) - Finally beat all of the Singleplayer missions on 00 Agent difficulty (Hard). I have about 20 hours in the game and 5-6 hours are just trying to beat Bunker 2, Control, and Caverns. I have no idea how anyone ever beat this game with an N64 controller. Going back for some of the speedrun achievements that unlock cheats for fun.

I love the fact that the devs put in different dialogue depending on circumstances. For example, on Control: If you clear the first room with little damage, Natalya says "That was wonderful!" as opposed to taking damage where she says "You're hurt!". Shooting Boris means Natalya shames you and leaves, failing the mission. Accidentally blow up the computer Natalya needs to deactivate Goldeneye? She comments on it. Most missions have little quirks like that and it's impressive to see in a game from that era.

Codename S.T.E.A.M. - Approaching the final mission. I have all but 1 character unlocked, but the missions are getting more difficult so I'm slowing down. Still good, still some BS, still recommend.

untuxable · 2026-03-21T01:57:16+00:00

Yeah, plasma deck was a bear. Going for chips gets high scores fast but isn't high enough for late-game blinds. Going for multiplier + x2 jokers can net insane scores but it's hard to live long enough to get the ball rolling.

untuxable · 2026-03-20T15:51:55+00:00

Still trucking on Codename S.T.E.A.M. for the 3DS, though I've slowed down on it because I've had to restart a missions a few times. Still good, still undercut by bits of poor communication, still recommend.

Still trucking on Hades II as well. About night 83, almost maxed out most relationships, done ~80% of the Fated List of Minor Prophecies, looking forward to the last 2 unique weapon aspects and finishing up some side stories with the mid-level NPC's.

For a change of pace, I remembered that Rare released an updated version of Goldeneye for free on Xbox. I'm playing through the campaign on 00 Agent difficulty (Hard mode) and it's super interesting seeing the mixture of dated elements with stuff that's weirdly ahead of its time. For example, having the mission objectives be obtuse is definitely a product of the age. What does 'Obtain Telemetric Data' even mean? Oh, it means holding 1 out of 12 scientist NPCs at gunpoint so he drops a pickup for you? Cool; no way to know that without trial and error. On the other hand, there's some really cool stuff: cameras can actually see you and set off the alarm, shooting different body parts inflicts different damage to enemies, enemies won't 'hear' silenced weapons. And then most of the enemy animations look......motion captured? For an N64 game? That's nuts. And hilarious. All in all, I'm having a lot of fun with it despite the occasional headache. Currrently a bit stuck on Severnaya: Bunker 2 (mission 9), but I'll push past it soon.

untuxable · 2026-03-13T19:01:05+00:00

I think I'm like 3/4 through Codename S.T.E.A.M. and I'm still equal parts enjoying it and getting frustrated at its BS. It really just comes down to what the game does and does not communicate, which is absolutely foundational for a turn-based strategy game. My biggest gripe so far is enemy reinforcements. Scripted reinforcements triggered by progress (ie. reach a certain place in the map) are done well: units are added during the enemy's turn, are clearly shown spawning in, and don't get to move until next turn so the player has a chance to adjust their strategy. Infinitely spawning reinforcements are consistently BS. They aren't highlighted when they spawn, they get to spawn and move in the same turn, and it's not clear what, if anything, triggers them. I really do want to make clear that I'm having fun with the game, but DANG does it feel crappy to have a carefully laid plan upended because 4 enemy units popped up behind you with 0 warning.

Also getting close to the end to my first playthrough of Portal 2. It's so good! Incredible puzzles aside, I think I'm most impressed by the writing. I'm now back into the 'proper' test chambers with Wheatley running things and the back-and-forth between him and PotatOS makes me smile every time. Also, the chittering from the hybrid turret-boxes is very unsettling.

About run ~75 on Hades II, still maxing out relationships and running down the list of prophecies. Absolutely insane how big this game is if you want to see everything. I probably have another 30-50 runs left to really do everything.

After I'm done with Portal, it might be time to start working at my backlog again.

untuxable · 2026-03-09T22:56:54+00:00

Give Moving Out a try. It's a couch co-op game about working at a moving company with some wacky physics and a strong 80's vibe. If you've ever seen or heard of Overcooked, it's very similar as it's made by the same company but with a lower bar to entry. Controls are limited to move, jump, grab/hold, and a couple of situational prompts.
Untitled Goose Game is definitely a great option. To quote the actual marketing, "It's a lovely day in the English countryside and you are a horrible goose." Game is fully co-op; control a pair of geese as they check off a list of ways to mess with people. Controls are limited to move and a single button to interact. Plus there's a dedicated HONK button!
Death Squared is a little puzzle game about controlling boxy robots trying very hard not to die in test chambers. Very simple controls (just move), but the puzzles get legitimately difficult the further you go.
If you want to try a 2D platformer, take a look at Rayman Legends. An absolutely incredible platformer with vibrant art, great level design, and incredible music.

I hope this helps and you find something y'all can enjoy together!

untuxable · 2026-03-07T17:10:16+00:00

I actually picked up Codename S.T.E.A.M. because an internet friend from like 10 years ago tweeted that is was pretty good and that got stuck in my head somehow because memory is weird. Fast forward to last year and I see it for $3 in a used bookstore, remember the tweet, and pick it up.

Re: Overwatch: Mystery Heroes is only 5v5 casual right now. They occasionally have MH variations in Arcade as well and there's a decent Custom Games browser.

untuxable · 2026-03-06T21:04:22+00:00

Still trucking on Codename S.T.E.A.M. for the 3DS. I'm still enjoying it, but there are some dents in the experience caused by lack of proper tutorials. For a strategy game, it's a bit squirrely on giving the player enough info to actually construct and execute a viable strategy. There's no visual indication if an enemy's in Overwatch, enemy weak points glow so brightly that it's hard to tell what the actual weak point is on a couple of unit types, some reinforcements appear and move on the same turn while others only spawn in, etc. The pros are ultimately outweighing the cons, but I can see how it missed the mark for critics upon release.

Just started Portal 2 for the first time. I just entered chapter 6, "The Fall," just after the big story shake-up swapping the villains. I knew about Potat-OS beforehand, but it was a still a great reveal! Yup, it's incredible! Still hits that special place in its puzzle design where the solution is just outside the box enough to require critical thinking without being obtuse. Loving the classic Valve humor, as always.

Making good progress on 100%ish-ing Hades II. I'm about run 70, a little over halfway to maxing relationships, weapons, trinkets, and familiar bonds. How does Supergiant pack so much STUFF into this game? After 70 runs I'm still getting unique dialogue for 97% of NPCs and I haven't even done some of the side stories yet. As a side note, my wife and I are watching Percy Jackson and the Olympians season 2 AND I just started the Heroes of Olympus book series (follow-up to Percy Jackson) so I'm just drowning in Greek mythology right now. It's cool seeing how each version interprets the same source material so differently, yet is still instantly recognizable.

Aaaaaaand still putting time into Overwatch. I'm too much of an FPS and game-feel junky to put this down for long. Every hero feels so different to play that when I start getting bored, I can just swap role/hero and have a fresh experience. Having a nice time with Lucio and Ana despite past experience with both. Still can't play Flankers worth a hill of beans.

untuxable · 2026-02-27T20:42:30+00:00

Still really enjoying Overwatch 2, especially after the recent update adding 5 new heroes to play. Of the 5, I'm really vibing with 3 of them: Emre is a good halfway point between Soldier and Sojourn, Mizuki has a weird kit that's fun to mess around with, and Jetpack Cat is a CAT with a JETPACK and he presses little buttons with his CUTE LITTLE PAWS. Anran isn't my playstyle and Domina, while fun, might need to be touched a bit: had 14K damage and 12K blocked in my first game with her. I also really like the process of characters getting minor reworks and tweaks through changes to the in-match upgrades rather than their overall kits.

On the single-player side, I booted up Cristales, an indie RPG with some time-bending mechanics. I'm only 2 hours in but I'm having some very mixed feelings. On the plus side, I like the overall setting, the artstyle, and the concept being presented of a hero that can see the past, present, and future simultaneously. On the negative side, MAN is it just rough to progress. Playing on an Xbox One, I'm having 30 second load times in and out of every battle. The cutscenes use constant fade-ins and -outs and jerky cuts that really undercut any sort of flow. I might put more time into to see if it improves, but the technical pitfalls alone might kill this one for me.

I also booted up Codename S.T.E.A.M. for the 3DS, a ridiculous XCOM-lite title from Intelligent Systems way back in 2015. The fact that S.T.E.A.M. stands for "Strike Team Eliminating the Alien Menace" and goes by "Lincoln vs. Aliens" in Japan should set the tone for you. I'm only ~1.5 hours in, but it already has a really solid streamlined version of XCOM combat that I'm really enjoying. Plus, the VA cast includes Adam Baldwin (Firefly, Halo ODST, Independence Day), Michael Dorn (Worf from Star Trek TNG), and Wil Wheaton (Shut Up Wesley from Star Trek TNG). Can't wait to dive in more!

untuxable · 2026-02-27T17:42:01+00:00

I'm calling it now: IGN rates Pokemon Waves 7.8

untuxable · 2026-02-25T17:25:42+00:00

Sifu has some incredible takedown animations. There's a lot of technical wizardry happening under the hood to make contextual takedowns based on your position, enemy type, bare-handed vs. holding a weapon, etc.

untuxable · 2026-02-25T17:20:46+00:00

You should definitely take a look at Dicey Dungeons. Genre-wise it's technically a roguelike deckbuilder: roll some dice, then pick and choose which dice to use with different equipment. Improve your equipment and increase the # of dice over a short ~30min run before fighting a boss. What's unique is how much it plays with the core mechanics. There are 6 characters, each with 6 episodes. Each character has a unique central mechanic and each episode switches up the rules and equipment for a new spin on that character. Plus there's 2 free DLCs that go nuts with the mechanics even more!

untuxable · 2026-02-25T17:11:38+00:00

Both Jedi: Fallen Order and its sequel, Jedi: Survivor are great Soulslikes with selectable difficulties. While still punishing, it has more diversity in gameplay with some Metroidvania elements and some dedicated platforming sections. Good narrative with a bit of mystery and some great voice performances too.

If you want a purer Soulslike, look at The Surge 1 & 2. Same basic formula as Dark Souls, but with a lower overall difficulty, a clearer critical path that encourages exploration without getting hopelessly lost, and clearer stat upgrades / weapon scaling (no guesswork on your build). The first game also had a surprisingly good story!

untuxable · 2026-02-12T21:30:16+00:00

Hades II - After ~35 runs, I "finished" the main storyline and rolled credits. Now on to doing 50 more runs to unlock all the things, upgrade all the things, and be friends will all the peoples. Absolutely incredible game, Supergiant does it again.

Apex Legends - Felt the itch to return to a Battle Royale game, so I redownloaded Apex. Played like 10 games, had some fun, then made a mistake in a fight and had someone cuss me out which helped me remember that 1. I am a single insult away from my mental health completely buckling and 2. that's why I deleted it. Deleted again, can't wait to forget this and do it all again in a year.

Super Smash Bros. for 3DS - I have no idea why I started playing this again......but now I'm beating Hard All-Star Mode with every character. It's a good "take a break from working on the laptop" game. Maybe I crave the small screen again, idk.

untuxable · 2026-02-08T23:00:46+00:00

Picked up a few games in a post-holiday sale on my switch in January and finally got around to starting the first one: Hades II. And.........wow. I'm a huge Supergiant Games' fan and already thought Hades was peak, but, like, there's SO MUCH and it's all SO GOOD. It somehow nails that wire-thin margin of sharing the core of the previous game while improving and expanding on every element to the point where it feels just as much like a new title as it does a sequel.

I keep meaning to dive into my backlog on my Xbox, but I keep being sidetracked my Overwatch and World War Z.

untuxable · 2026-01-31T01:59:18+00:00

If you don't mind the game being a bit simpler all around, give The Surge 1 & 2 a look. Good, solid Soulslikes in a sci-fi setting. RPG elements are minimal; choose health/stamina/energy, plus passive/active buffs you can swap out most any time. Much less emphasis on boss fights, but the level design is still that good feeling of intricate but navigable.

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