At the end of 2023, I wanted to give myself a goal. While I should have picked something meaningful, I went a different route. I gave myself the task of trying a different game every day in 2024. If you’re reading this, then I’ve accomplished that goal. For those new here, you can see the games I played separated by weeks. Now that I’m done, I wanted to look back at this quest and share some of my thoughts about the project.
Going in with no plan
For this challenge, I went in not having a goal in mind. I wasn’t trying to improve my gaming skills. Nor, was I doing this for any sort of research or future project. In 2023, I started tracking my daily gaming. Every time I played a game, I marked it in a spreadsheet. I noticed that in general, I do play a lot of different games. Sometimes I’ll try something for a bit, feel like I got a good sample of what they have to offer, and move on to another game. Chances are, this is the case for most people.
So for 2024, I wanted to take this one step further. Not only did I continue to track my daily gaming, I wanted to make sure that every day included a new game for me to play. This meant that every day, I was starting a new game for the first time. Jumping into it fresh and giving it a fair chance to see what the game was about. I didn’t give myself a time limit. What was most important was to play enough that I could explain my thoughts. My only limit was that I didn’t want to include early access or betas. If the game had a demo where the progress transferred to the main game, I could play it.
Although I didn’t have a time limit, this did become a problem for some games. I love RPGs but most start slow. There is almost always a build-up before you set off on your adventure. That meant I needed to play for at least an hour. Meanwhile, I could play a sports or fighting game and get a good understanding of it in the first 30 minutes.
The most I’ve spent on gaming ever
A lot of my backlog includes “free” games I’ve gotten over the years. From the weekly offers on the Epic Game Store to new stuff added to Xbox Game Pass I would have something to try. Early on, I was dedicating time each week to those games. But, I was also buying games and I bought a lot in 2024.
Most of the games I bought this year I did so on PC. It was the best way to get games for cheap. I was taking full advantage of deals through sites like Green Man Gaming and Fanatical. While both give great deals on older games, they almost always have deals on new releases.
I would also wait for sales. It’s so common to see discounts within 3-5 weeks after a game’s launch. It wasn’t necessary to buy the game immediately. I could wait a bit and save a few more dollars. This was the case for stuff like Dragon’s Dogma 2, Astro Bot, and Silent Hill 2.
In all, I can’t say for certain how much I spent on games but it was a lot. This doesn’t include the gaming-related items I bought. In 2024, I also bought stuff like a PlayStation Portal and the ROG Ally X. On top of that, I visited Japan twice. There I bought a Japanese Sega Dreamcast and a handful of games.
Would I do this again? No way!
This was a fun experiment. I played almost every notable game from 2024. The only games I didn’t play were Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, FFVII Rebirth, and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. On top of that, I also went out of my way to play as many different genres as I could. If I heard about a game and it sounded cool, I went out and bought a copy. It was a lot of fun trying things I otherwise would not have.
The three major releases I mentioned above I missed for specific reasons. I’ve put in over 30 hours into Elden Ring and around 20 hours each for FFVII Remake and Yakuza: Like a Dragon. For Shadow of the Erdtree, I have to finish Elden Ring before I can access the content. Meanwhile, both Rebirth and Infinite Wealth are continuations of the previous games. So, I didn’t want to spoil the sequels, but never managed to finish either in 2024.
At the same time, because I had a new game to play every day, it didn’t give me too much time to spend on games I was enjoying. I would start a game and like what I was playing. Since I had to move on to the next thing, I would not give the earlier game more time to enjoy. Yes, I did finish plenty of games in 2024, but most of them were shorter games.
Of the longer games from 2024, only two took me more than 15+ hours to complete. Because of that, I only put in around 12 hours into Metaphor: ReFantazio. It didn’t help that I played Dragon Quest III instead, which took me about 28 hours to finish.
What’s my plan for 2025?
For 2025, I want to shift my focus a bit. I still want to try different games but at a slower cadence. Instead of trying a different game every day, I’m going to shift it to a new game each week. I’m going to mix it up when I can to include older games on top of newer ones. For the first few weeks of the new year, I’ll play classics. But as we get new releases, I’m going to feature as many as I can.
By giving a game a full week, I’m giving it more time to form an opinion and to share my thoughts. Some games I’ll be able to finish in a week, but others I won’t. But, I will be able to share more of my thoughts than I would if I only played the first 1-2 hours. I don’t have a set time I need to give. If I like the game, I’ll spend more time than I would if I don’t.
For these, I will post my “Game of the Week” on Wednesdays. Since January 1 is a Wednesday, it was easier to post these on Mondays as I did for the previous feature. If I can, I will tease the game I’m playing for the next week, so it gives people an idea of what to expect. For example, the first game I’m trying in 2025 is Jade Empire. This is a game I’ve wanted to play for the longest time. Originally, it was going to be one of the last games I played in 2024. Instead, I’m giving it a full week to play and share my thoughts.
If you read any of this, thank you!
I know my blog is super small. I got off most social media platforms a few years ago, so any real traffic to this site is organic. To be honest, I should be looking at ways to get more people to my content. It’s been a goal of mine to get back into video posting. Perhaps this new project will allow me to do that. In any case, thanks again for taking the time to read my content, and have a great 2025!
