your backlog is lying to you: one game you finish beats ten you don't

Everyone has that list. Games bought in a sale. Games you mean to play “properly” one day. Games paused after two hours and left waiting ever since.

The list tells you you’re a gamer. It’s lying.

the problem with the pile

A backlog feels like a stockpile. It isn’t. It’s a collection of promises to your future self, who supposedly has more time than you do now. Your future self never has more time. It has a seminar, a side job and a group chat that won’t quit.

Most people know how this ends: you open the library, scroll, feel vaguely guilty, then watch a series instead. Nothing gets finished. Every game you started is a little open tab in your head.

On top of that, plenty of big games are built never to end. Season passes, side quests, collectibles. No malice intended, but it makes “finished” a feeling you rarely get.

finishing is underrated

Finishing a game is an experience in itself. The credits roll. You know how it ends. You can talk about it without saying “I’m not that far yet”. It’s a small, quiet sense of closure, and that’s rare in a life full of endless feeds.

Short games are made for this. They’ve no time for filler. Every scene has to do something. And they fit into a real evening, not an imaginary free month.

one example: an evening of horror

A recent example from the Quest shelf: HAUNTED: Are You Alone?, a mixed-reality horror game that plays out in your own room. The story runs about 25 to 35 minutes according to the studio. Prologue, seven chapters, finale, epilogue. Then the credits.

In practice: you can start after dinner and be done before you brush your teeth. No “I’ll carry on tomorrow”. No open loop.

And if you fancy more afterwards, you don’t have to. But you can. There’s New Game+, where menu text and phone dialogue change. There are three endless arcade modes with high scores. There are two secret chapters. That’s the right way round: a clear ending first, optional extras after. Not the other way about.

The price on 10 Oct 2026 was £3.99 in the UK store: HAUNTED: Are You Alone? on the Meta Horizon Store. Worth noting: PEGI 18, loud jump scares, gore. Not everyone’s evening.

how to shrink the pile

Not a lifehack, just a few quiet rules:

1. One game at a time. Not three. One. Until it’s finished or deliberately dropped.
2. Dropping it is allowed. If a game isn’t grabbing you after two evenings, cross it off in your head. That counts as finishing too.
3. Short ones first. If you’ve a choice, take the game you can get through this week.
4. Don’t buy in a sale just because it’s in a sale. Otherwise the pile grows faster than you play.
5. You’re allowed to stop after the credits. Not every game needs 100 percent.

the catch

Short games have one real problem: how the price feels. Some people feel short-changed when a game’s over in half an hour, however good that half hour was. Fair enough. At small prices it stings less, but the feeling lingers.

And not every short game is good. Short isn’t a mark of quality. It’s just a length. A bad 30-minute game is still bad.

Also: if you love sinking into a world over weeks, with characters you get to know, a short game isn’t a substitute. Both can exist.

the actual point

The pile isn’t a sign that you love playing games. It’s a sign that you love buying them. That’s fine. But next time you’ve a free hour, pick something that fits that hour. And play it to the end.

The feeling afterwards beats any sale.

one game. one evening. credits. done.