List of Shame 2025: Twenty-Mortified

New year, new reasons to feel disappointed in myself. Specifically, in this case, how much of my video game backlog that still exists and was not helped in the slightest by a little post-Christmas spending spree. As always, I've split this list into roughly two halves: the first are the games that are currently locked and loaded and ready to go (though more accurate to say "within a few hours if we account for installation times and patch downloads") and the second half are the many highlights from last year that I'm going to have get my grubby mitts on (ooh, "Grubby Minottis". Do they have a podcast named that yet? They already have like five so probably).

Returning again like an old friend with codependency issues, we have the B-W-C system. It's a good system, Brent.

• [B]acklog games are those I own but have yet to start. Quite a few additions since last year, since I've no real impetus to actually shift this backlog. I'll just hire a bulldozer once it gets bad enough.
• [W]ishlist games are those I've yet to purchase but have been reliably informed that they're worth my time to chase down. As with 2023's shame list, I have 20 from the previous year and 10 going even further back. A mere glimpse into a whole world of irresponsible purchasing decisions.
• [C]ompleted games are those I've since finished after 1/1/2025, with completion dates included. Thanks to new games, retro games, unanticipated bundle impulse buys, and being distracted by my own shadow as it dances across the wall when projected by the candlelight, I've yet to finish a year with more [C]s than [B]s and [W]s combined. There's always a first time I guess.

Previous year's record to beat: 14 out of 50 (which was also 2023's too).