Buying one game per month for the rest of 2021 - A compulsive game buyer's support thread - End of November/start of December check-in

[Jamie John]

I know that I seem to make lots of threads about my pile of shame and that lots of people will just say things like 'Don't worry about it, games are cheap so it doesn't matter, just play what you want to play, don't make gaming work', and so on, but I've been trying to adopt that kind of mentality for the last few years and it simply doesn't work for me. I just buy games for the sake of it, occasionally with no true intention of ever playing them, but often just for the (very temporary) sense of satisfaction that comes purely from ownership and having a particular game as part of my collection, both physical and digital, or because I get the game cheaply and therefore feel like I've netted a bargain, or just for the thrill of coming home and seeing some game-shaped packages on my doormat. It's stupid, and I know that it's stupid, and I need to stop before it gets entirely out of hand.

 

In truth, I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about my pile of shame, then feel ashamed of myself for spending time giving thought space to something so trivial, but I think about it nonetheless. I wouldn't say that it makes me anxious, necessarily, and I wouldn't want to trivialise that condition, but it's certainly something that I don't want in my life. I also think that if I can get out of this collecting mentality then I'll enjoy the games I do have a lot more as I won't constantly be thinking about the game I'm going to play next. Ultimately, I don't want to have a pile of shame at all beyond maybe five games.

 

I've tried going completely cold turkey and not buying any games at all, but that didn't work. I've tried not buying any games for the first six months of the year and just focusing on my backlog, but that didn't work. I've tried only buying games if I intend to play them straight away, as opposed to just adding them to the pile to be played 'later', but that didn't work either. So, now, with the forum's help, I'd like to try only buying one game per month for the remainder of the year to see if I can stick to that. I thought that making a thread about it and updating it every month as a sort of diary would make it a bit more formal, and therefore something I'd be more likely to stick to, and I wanted to know if anyone in a similar position wanted to join me? Otherwise, this thread will just be a place for me to post what I've bought and whether I've managed to stay strong for the month, which will be a bit boring.

 

Here are some of the practical steps I've taken to stop me from buying any more games:
 

• I've made a  gaming calendar for the rest of the year with games that I know I'll buy, or have pre-ordered, so that I can plan for the future and stop buying compulsively (see below).
• I've removed the Hot UK Deals app from my phone.
• I've turned off my alerts for the Trading folder on the forum,, as well as Deku Deals, PS Prices and Steam.
• I'm not going to download any more free games from the Epic store or Amazon Prime gaming.
• I've deleted all the games from my Amazon wishlist.
• I'm going to do everything I can to avoid the PS, Xbox, eShop and Steam store pages, as well as just avoid gaming retail websites entirely.
• I've deleted the 'Wanted' list of games that I had on my phone.

 

So, with today being the 1st of July, I thought it would be a good time to start.

 

Here's my pile of shame as it currently stands - 83 (!) games I own which I would like to play, most of which I've paid money for, some of which I've got for free, and some of which that I have access to through Game Pass:

 

Spoiler

Alien Isolation

Asgard's Wrath

Astrologaster (GP)

Beat Saber

Bioshock Collection

Blasphemous

Call of the Sea (GP)

Carto (GP)

Chicory: A Colourful Tale

Civilization VI

Crosscode (GP)

Crusader Kings III (GP)

Darkwood

Dead Cells (GP)

Dirt 4 (GP)

Doom Eternal (GP)

Final Fantasy X Remastered

Frostpunk

Full Throttle Remastered (GP)

Gears 5 Hivebusters (GP)

Gears of War 1 Ultimate Edition (GP)

Gears of War 4 (GP)

Gears Tactics (GP)

Ghost of Tsushima

Grindstone

Horace

Hotline Miami 2

Islanders

Journey to the Savage Planet (GP)

Jurassic World: Evolution

Ken Follet's The Pillars of the Earth

Kentucky Route Zero

Microsoft Flight Simulator (GP)

Monster Train (GP)

Mortal Shell

MudRunner

No Man's Sky (GP)

Nowhere Prophet (GP)

Outer Wilds (GP)

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Trilogy

Pillars of Eternity

Planescape Torment

Primordia

Radiant Historia

Red Matter

Returnal

Rez Infinite

Samorost 1

Sea of Thieves (GP)

Shadowpoint

Shovel Knight: King of Cards

Sine Mora

Slay the Spire

Soma

Song of Horror

Spelunky 2

Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order (GP)

Sunless Sea

Super Mario 3D World

Surviving Mars

Surviving Mars

Tacoma

Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition (GP)

Tekken 7

The Cat Lady

The Escapists 2

The Long Dark

The Touryst (GP)

The Walking Dead (GP)

The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners

The Wolf Among Us

Titanfall 2 (GP)

Torment: Tides of Numenara (GP)

Trials Rising

Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection

Until You Fall

Unto the End (GP)

Walkabout Mini Golf

Wasteland 3 (GP)

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine

XCOM 2

Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition

Yooka-Laylee 2

I'm going to post this each month with a running total.

 

My gaming purchases calendar for the rest of the year looks like this:

 

July: Zelda: Skyward Sword (pre-ordered)

August: Nothing

September: Nothing

October: Metroid Dread (pre-ordered)

November: Nothing

December: Nothing

 

I'm hoping that the gamut of Game Pass titles coming out between now and the end of the year will tide me over for novelty, but I'm keeping the months where I've not planned to buy anything open for now in case I get caught up in the hype of some hot new release.

 

Anyway, it would be great to have some company in this thread for people who want to also get through their piles of shame. Strength in numbers, and all that. But even if you don't want to take part, your support would also be appreciated

 

Cheers!

[Lorfarius]

Game Pass is great, I'm still on the free version after a couple of months and not bought a single game. There's far too many to play and I've found I'm not even bothering to look at the rest of the Xbox library. I might go an entire generation without buying a game for the Xbox at this rate.

[Jamie John]

1 minute ago, Lorfarius said:

Game Pass is great, I'm still on the free version after a couple of months and not bought a single game. There's far too many to play and I've found I'm not even bothering to look at the rest of the Xbox library. I might go an entire generation without buying a game for the Xbox at this rate.

 

Yep. Another negative effect of having all these unplayed games is that I don't really play that many Game Pass games, despite having an Ultimate subscription, because I feel like I should prioritise the games I've actually paid for, so I'm hoping to get more from my GP library by doing this.

[Qazimod]

I usually try and aim for one game per month (roughly) every other year, so that I can justify some stupid peripheral or console spending the following year. E.g.

 

So far this year I’ve probably bought about seven games (Doom VFR, The Textorcist, My Friend Pedro, Graze Counter, Rhythm Doctor, R-Type Final 2, Neo TWEWY), plus some season pass stuff for Destiny. And the first four of those were sale items. So I’ll see what the rest of the year is like  

[BitterToad]

Bang up for this. I'm currently looking at:

 

July: Skyward Sword HD

August: Nothing
September: Nothing

October: Battlefield 2042

November: Nothing

December: Metroid: Dread

 

I'll grab Metroid late because it's always nice to play something on Switch over Christmas. 

[The Mighty Ash]

I'm in, my pile of shame is embarrassing.

 

July: Skyward Sword HD

August: Nothing
September: Nothing

October: Metroid Dread

November: Nothing

December: Nothing

 

Also eyeballing - Warioware, Advance Wars

[Marlew]

I've largely done this so far this year, probably less. I've bought the PS5 games and Mushihimesama on Switch. Can't remember anything else. Been my best ever year for not buying shit in sales. Not being unkind but not really being around this place or any gaming chat has also been a factor. Swerving the hyperbole effect and general discourse is really helpful to reduce gaming expenditure so I buy hundreds of boutique Blu-rays instead. 

[djbhammer]

Battlefield 2042 will most likely be my only retail purchase for the remainder of the year.  The rest will all be from Gamepass.

[Popo]

Cant wait to start using everyone’s lists in this thread as my buyers guide over the next 6 months, thereby increasing the number of games I buy. 

[Wiper]

I half-heartedly tried to do something like this earlier in the year, but promptly fell off the wagon. A preference for small, indie games tends not to lend itself to once-monthly purchases; e.g. I bought A Monster's Expedition yesterday, and it's wonderful, but also I've almost completed it after three hours of play.

 

Still, I guess I could try again, albeit exempting small games.

 

Even so It'll be a bit tricky, as I've a good few almost-certains on my list already, barring catastrophic reviews:

 

July: Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

August: Humankind

September: Deathloop

November: Shin Megami Tensei V

December: Advance Wars: Ugly Edition

 

Plus tentative interest in Metroid Dread in October.

 

So, er, yes, one a month as long as nothing else catches my eye
 

[Polmon]

Am I the only on that thinks one game a month is a lot? Maybe it's just because a lot of my time gets hoovered up with GAAS these days. 

 

I think this year I've bought 3 games that I can recall: Hood, Wreckfest and Resi Village, but if I count the games bundles with the ps5 that ups it to 6 (Spidey Remastered + Miles, and Pathless). 

 

I feel like I have too many games just there, when adding on PS+ games, and a couple of upcoming games I'm looking forward to (Hades, Far Cry 6, Elden Ring). Oh and I did just order Doom Eternal as its only 13 quid with a free ps5 upgrade. 

 

I have just trimmed down my games library though; I've offloaded my Wii U collection and I'm aiming to get shot of the ps4 soon too. 

[Wiper]

Less than one game a week seems limiting to me! I blame growing up with 99p-£9.99 home computer games (and weekly visits to my dad's with an inevitable trip to the computer game shops) for setting certain expectations in my mind.

 

Well, that and ADHD.

[Jamie John]

12 minutes ago, Polmon said:

Am I the only on that thinks one game a month is a lot? Maybe it's just because a lot of my time gets hoovered up with GAAS these days. 

 

I think this year I've bought 3 games that I can recall: Hood, Wreckfest and Resi Village, but if I count the games bundles with the ps5 that ups it to 6 (Spidey Remastered + Miles, and Pathless). 

 

I feel like I have too many games just there, when adding on PS+ games, and a couple of upcoming games I'm looking forward to (Hades, Far Cry 6, Elden Ring). Oh and I did just order Doom Eternal as its only 13 quid with a free ps5 upgrade. 

 

I have just trimmed down my games library though; I've offloaded my Wii U collection and I'm aiming to get shot of the ps4 soon too. 

 

I've bought 25 games in 2021 so far 

[Polmon]

😱

[Wiper]

I'm on 83, not counting preorders or, say, absurd itch.io charity bundles of uncountable size. Lockdown, admittedly, has made a contribution here.

 

(this would be even higher but for Gamepass)

[KartoffelKopf]

I just ran the numbers on my pile of shame and using the average completion time on How Long to Beat, it totals 665 hours.

 

I play around 2 hours a night about 5 times a week which means it will take 66 weeks to complete the lot. I'm hoping there is a few in the list that I won't like and I can forget I ever paid for it.

 

Total doesn't include any future releases and stuff I want to play that I've yet to buy like Cyberpunk, Death Stranding DC, Elden Ring and Halo which is probably another 120+ hours right there.

 

Only thing on the immediate horizon that I will drop everything to play is The Ascent, otherwise everything else is getting a swerve until I've basically just got a grip on reality.

[Timmo]

I would be up for this but unfortunately I bought over 1,000 games in the recent itch.io charity drive.

[Qazimod]

25 minutes ago, Polmon said:

Am I the only on that thinks one game a month is a lot?

It depends on the games - if your twelve games include short experiences then you might have an appetite for something new pretty soon.
 

Then again, some people might think “well this 79p App Store purchase won’t count towards my twelve…”  

[The Mighty Ash]

I have Breath of the Wild to play, yet I'm having to fight the urge to preorder Skyward Sword. I know I won't even play it!

[Jamie John]

44 minutes ago, Timmo said:

I would be up for this but unfortunately I bought over 1,000 games in the recent itch.io charity drive.

 

So did I, but I'm not counting any of those.

[mdn2]

I've got 9 physical games preordered and 1 digital for July alone.  It's an unusually busy month for my tastes, to be fair. 

[Gabe]

I genuinely find that the 'What games did you complete' threads has pushed me to finish more games in the past 3/4 years than probably the rest of my adult life put together.

 

Whilst I don't suffer the problems of the OP, I do find that referring to your games as a pile of shame, even in the lighthearted way it is meant, isn't helpful because I think that phrase contributes to your guilt.

[Popo]

1 hour ago, Qazimod said:

Then again, some people might think “well this 79p App Store purchase won’t count towards my twelve…”  

It’s a slippery slope. I once tried to give up sweet things for a month, but managed to make fully justified exclusions for pastries and donuts.
 

I lost no weight. 

[Fierce Poodle]

It’s as good a time as any to do this given that 2021 is shaping up to be one of the worst years ever for gaming.

[Jamie John]

One week in and I'm game free. I came very close to rebuying Sekiro when I saw it going cheap, but managed to restrain myself. It was a near thing, though - I'd added it to my virtual basket before I checked myself.

 

I *may* have also pre-ordered a Switch OLED, but that's not a game, so it doesn't count 

[tnman]

19 hours ago, Jamie John said:

I *may* have also pre-ordered a Switch OLED, but that's not a game, so it doesn't count 

 

Cancel it. Unless you were a PS Vita fanboy and nothing ever came close to that screen again for you, and 100% of your playtime on Switch is handheld, you will not notice the difference.

 

I don't want to pry into your financials, but if you get really close to buying a game (or console) bung the money into a savings account instead. Maybe seeing an actual sum saved, combined with the great experiences you'll still get to have from your current collection will give you a boon?

[AlexM]

On 01/07/2021 at 10:01, Jamie John said:

 

Yep. Another negative effect of having all these unplayed games is that I don't really play that many Game Pass games, despite having an Ultimate subscription, because I feel like I should prioritise the games I've actually paid for, so I'm hoping to get more from my GP library by doing this.

 

I used to think about this the opposite way, I needed to play the games on the subscription service first as I might miss the opportunity to play them before they were removed. It's an utterly ridiculous way of thinking about it, and I didn't do it with movies - I seem to have got past that mentality recently, thankfully. 

[Jamie John]

2 hours ago, tnman said:

 

Cancel it. Unless you were a PS Vita fanboy and nothing ever came close to that screen again for you, and 100% of your playtime on Switch is handheld, you will not notice the difference.

 

I don't want to pry into your financials, but if you get really close to buying a game (or console) bung the money into a savings account instead. Maybe seeing an actual sum saved, combined with the great experiences you'll still get to have from your current collection will give you a boon?

 That's a good idea, actually. Thanks

 

Re. the Switch OLED, I'm only going to get it if I can sell my current one and get a decent amount for it. If I do get one then I'll be using it to play handheld a lot more.

[AlexM]

I'd better check myself in, I just saw a mention of BoxVR on my thread and almost impulse purchased it - even though I've recently bought Beat Saber. I'll update the spending 2021 thread at some point with all my latest purchases 😬.

 

Seeing as I've already bought an Xbox SS this year, and I have the other platforms, I'm going to disallow myself from buying new hardware.

 

Only game I'd really like to purchase currently is Breath of the Wild, I last played it in 2017 and sold my copy - fancy returning to it. But I have enough to play.. 

 

July: Nothing (BOTW - Sold)

August: Nothing (Luigi's Mansion 3 - Sold)

September: Nothing (Arms - Sold)

October: Nothing

November: Nothing

December: Nothing

[AlexM]

I saw those headphones in the for sale forum and almost went for them, then remembered this thread. 😅

 

It’s my Birthday next month, must wait.