Thursday, December 3, 2015

2016 Prospective Play

I want to compile a short list of games as high-priority to play in the coming year. There are a great number of games still on my backlog, and I want to check out as many of those as time allows, but there are a few key titles I especially need to play, and I will attempt to list those here.


I think it needs to be a short list, ten or fewer. I thought about twelve, one a month, but realistically I think the number actually addressed will be between five and ten. There are a couple of genres I specifically want to catch up on, so I may go heavy on the strategy and role playing in 2016.


Some of these will be games I have currently in progress, and some altogether new. Expansions are considered implicit in the base title.


Here's a first draft:
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Dawn of War II: Retribution
Warcraft III
StarCraft II
Company of Heroes
Company of Heroes II
X-Com: Enemy Unknown
The Walking Dead Season 2
Mass Effect 3
The Witcher 3
Skyrim
Wasteland 2
Baldur's Gate II
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Dragon Age II
Dragon Age Origins


OK, I over shot 10 a little, but I don't think that's bad considering the overwhelming size of my backlog. Of course this is a list comprising potentially hundreds of hours of play, so who knows how viable it is. Right now it's more like a long-term road map than anything. Many of these would be mutually exclusive of any of the others, with the way I play games.


Here's a little more realistic take, with strikethrough representing games further down the priority/requisite chain:


Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Dawn of War II: Retribution
Warcraft III
StarCraft II
Company of Heroes
Company of Heroes II
X-Com: Enemy Unknown
The Walking Dead Season 2
Mass Effect 3
The Witcher 3
Skyrim
Wasteland 2
Baldur's Gate II
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Dragon Age II
Dragon Age Origins


That brings me down to 13. I don't know that I can really refine it that much more, but considering how many of these are currently in progress or relatively short (Walking Dead), I consider this list workable. Mass Effect 3 and The Witcher 3 are already in my rotation and soon to be returning for GOTY consideration, too.


So here's what I'm left with at the moment for my 2016 Prospectus, ranked roughly by current desire to play:


Mass Effect 3
The Witcher 3
Skyrim
The Walking Dead Season 2
Dawn of War II: Retribution
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
X-Com: Enemy Unknown
Warcraft III
StarCraft II
Dragon Age II
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Wasteland 2
Baldur's Gate II


With luck, maybe I'll knock five of these off the list in the coming year. This is, of course, completely discounting any 2016 releases, though there's not much on the horizon I am that interested in. I'll have to update this little list at the beginning of January.



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