Five Games that I Somehow Still Haven’t Played

Elden Ring

I have been eyeing this game since it was first advertised, and the glowing reviews have only made me more intrigued about it. I’ve gone as far as putting it in my cart on Steam while it’s on sale, only to change my mind when I realize I won’t be playing it right away so I can always wait longer. I have plenty of unplayed games already, so I don’t necessarily need to be adding more when I’m not sure how long it’ll take me to get started.

I think my block here comes in part from the fact that I just know I would love this entire genre. The now-ubiquitous ‘soulslike’ category has eluded me for a long time, and I even got a ways into Dark Souls III some years back before getting stuck at the first major boss and giving up. I’m confident I could return now with a newfound determination, but I also feel sort of like I have to do so—and finish the game—in order to ‘earn’ playing Elden Ring. Which is, of course, extremely silly. But I also believe that sometimes a self-imposed restriction can be the driving force behind having fun, especially with games.

I did pick back up Dark Souls III just recently, but I got distracted by the release of the new Monster Hunter, so I lost all my momentum. One day, though, when I finally dive into the genre…all those bosses better watch out.

 

Chrono Trigger or Basically Any True JRPG At All

Similarly to soulslikes, I have a suspicion that I could really love the JRPG genre, but in this case I feel as though I have no experience with them. I suppose Persona might count, but I’ve never played any games in the classic style of pixel-y fantasy JRPGs like Chrono Trigger or Dragon Quest or even any Final Fantasy games (except for a brief stint with FFXIV which certainly doesn’t count).

As a teen, I spent a lot of time playing competitive online games like League of Legends and Counter-strike, but in recent years I’ve gotten much more interested in single player experiences—the kind of stuff that I had always assumed would bore me if I tried it. And I’m plenty familiar with all the gameplay elements separately from other games, because the genre has so much influence. I’ve already played games with turn-based combat, inventory management and consumables, random encounters, stuff like that—just not all in one.

It’s especially appealing to me to get interested in this genre because there’s such a rich backlog of amazing games to go through, like I would basically never run out.

 

Balatro

Oh, man. This one feels dangerous. With the way people talk about this game, you’d think it was real-life gambling with real-life money. But no, it’s just an incredibly addictive roguelike, which is a genre I’ve already enjoyed my fair share of. Also, it probably doesn’t hurt that I have nostalgia for traditional playing cards in general. I think when I inevitably pick this up, I’ll have to avoid the temptation to get it on my phone. That would be a little too dangerous, I think.

 

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

It’s almost shameful for me to admit that I’ve never actually beaten this game. It sits proudly at number one on some lists of the best video games of all time, but it also came before my time, which means going back to play it is sort of an exercise in gaming history. To be clear, this is a source of appeal for me; I like playing important older games that are a little outside of my comfort zone. But for some combination of reasons, I’ve picked up Ocarina no less than five times and been unable to stick with it every time. I’ve even played through seven other Zelda games at this point, but this one iconic title has remained unfinished.

 

Shovel Knight

Shovel Knight is one of those games that I know is well beloved, but have never managed to get around to playing. I love platformers, and I’m pretty good at them, too. This is one that I’ve seen on sale dozens of times, and by now I genuinely regret not having picked up yet. On the bright side, I can be certain that the full collection will go on sale on Steam for absurdly cheap, probably soon.

And yet, maybe I should play some of the games I already own, first, like my two most recent purchases, Rain World and Nine Sols, both of which are…also platformers. There are simply too many games to play, and they just keep making them! They should really slow down, so I, personally, can catch up. I guess I can’t really complain, though, since I’m in the middle of replaying Super Mario Galaxy for the third time. What can I say? The heart wants what the heart wants.