Steam, library, video games, adventures, point-and-clicks

February was all about loving your library for #LoveYourBacklog.

During this event, I encouraged everyone to share their love for their ever-growing pile of video games. A mountain of releases surely isn’t a cause for shame, but a sign of how much we enjoy our hobby and having something to suit every mood.

The backlog appreciation isn’t over just yet as there’s more planned for the next few weeks. Last month, I asked bloggers to nominate unplayed or unfinished titles in five categories, including the one which had spent the most time in their libraries. So how about now trying to complete it for #MaybeInMarch? It might seem like a daunting prospect, but you’ll have a bunch of other people doing the same alongside you for support.

This event is open to everyone regardless of whether they participated in February’s #LoveYourBacklog event or not. It also doesn’t need to be focused on your Steam library, although that’s what I’ve chosen to do to make things simpler for myself. If you’d like to use this platform too but aren’t sure how to find out which game has been in there the longest: click on your name in the top right-hand corner, go to Account details and then click on View licenses and product key activations.

My nominated game for the first #MaybeInMarch in 2019 was LIMBO by Playdead, which I managed to complete and come up with some theories about the ending. This was followed by Thomas Was Alone by Mike Bithell in 2020 but I decided to give up after four hours because it wasn’t something I was enjoying. In 2021, I completed two games as they were both rather short: the lovely Machinarium by Amanita Design, followed by Dragon’s Lair by Digital Leisure which sadly failed to live up to my childhood memories.

Steam, library, video games

That’s the beauty of this event. It gives us a chance to try a title we might have forgotten about, perhaps a genre we wouldn’t normally play, and inspires plenty of discussion while we’re doing it. #MaybeInMarch is about more than just ticking another title off your list. Like last month’s #LoveYourBacklog, it’s a way of celebrating the awesome releases which make up your library and showing that a backlog of any size isn’t a reason for guilt. With so much variety available to us nowadays, it’s no wonder there’s so much we want to play.

While checking my Steam account this time around, I realised that the unplayed game which has spent the longest in my library is Brütal Legend by Double Fine Productions. This left me with a bit of a problem. I like to stream my #MaybeInMarch entry each year so I have a record of it (although this isn’t a requirement for the event), and this title is bound to result in a copyright strike due to its licensed music. I therefore made the decision to pass over it and move on to the next release.

But as I bought several on the same day, which will it be? There’s puzzle-platformer The Cave also by Double Fine, a game I could rope Pete into playing cooperatively with me. Then there’s the other puzzle-platformer Papo & Yo by Minority Media, with what I’ve heard is a very powerful and emotional story. And finally there’s short horror The Path by Tale of Tales, which intrigued me with its promise of a ‘unique form of gameplay’. Who knows, I may even get around to completing more than one again.

I’m planning to stream my #MaybeInMarch attempt soon and then publish a post about how I got on in a few weeks’ time. I’m looking forward to hearing all about your experiences too, and will be sharing everybody’s posts on Twitter. Good luck!