I’m a big lover of a story game. My gaming journey truly started after I finished the first Portal game and since then I’ve loved it. However the older I’ve gotten, like most people, the less time I have to actually play games. But I also now have the money to actually buy games that I want to play, so comes the dilemma of too many games and not enough time. So here’s my list of highly acclaimed games that I’m still yet to finish.
Horizon Zero Dawn
I got Horizon back in 2021 and loved it. It was right up my alley, tribal cultures AND futuristic tech? Count me in! However after getting only 27% of the way through, it started feeling like a chore. I just wasn’t enjoying the missions. After looking online, it seems that a lot of people felt the same way. One thing I saw someone say was that you’re better off just following the story missions and ignoring the side quests until you’ve finished and I think they were right.
Some of the side quests feel like such a slog and are just kind of boring. Run here, talk to this person, now go back to the first person so he can tell you to go to another person and talk to them. Like come on. The story is great and I really enjoyed finding the collectables but I found everything else a little tiring. One day I will return to it and commit to just playing the story, but for now its on the back burner.
Stray
Contender for game of the year, Stray is such a beautiful and heart-warming game. And as a cat owner and total sap, made me very sad right at the start when you lose your little cat friends and make those sad little meows. I hug my cat so tight after that. I’ve put just over 2 hours into stray and had a tonne of fun playing it. I also discovered that I can be a little dumb with puzzles sometimes, like hello there’s a big flashing sign pointing where to go how did you miss that? I love how accurate the movements feel in this game, and getting to knock things off shelves just makes me unreasonably happy.
But again its one that I sat and played for a bit and just haven’t gone back to? I don’t think it has anything to do with the story or the gameplay, they’re both fantastic so far. I think maybe I just don’t want more sad cat experiences because I know this game is going to get sad. Or maybe I just have commitment issues? Who’s to say.
The Witcher 3
The Witcher 3 has been on my list for years. As both one of my partners’, and Sarah’s favourite games, I knew it’d be great and that I’d love it, and I do. I actually tried playing this game twice. I bought it on GOG and just couldn’t get around it on PC, I couldn’t get passed the bloody noon wraith quest at the start. But then my partner got a PS5 and then I got to pinch his PS4 and in turn, The Witcher. This time it hit just right. I sat on my couch playing for hours and late. I was doing all the side quests and monster contracts and loving every second of it. Additionally, I loved coming into work after playing and talking to Sarah about it, I was even enjoying playing Gwent.
But the more I spoke to people about it the more I realised how big this game is. It’s huge. Everyone kept talking about these key events from “the start of the game” that I hadn’t seen yet and I felt like I’d been playing forever. I think the sheer size of the game is daunting for me so I find it much easier to just put it down knowing I’ll come back to it eventually and it’s not like I’m almost finished anyway. The idea of a 50+ hour game makes me tired just thinking about it. 
Hades
Hades. Oh my lord I love this game. What I love about dungeon crawlers is that I can just play for half an hour or so after work and not feel like I cant get anything else done. Getting a run or two done a night doesn’t feel like a big commitment and so I often find myself jumping on more regularly than any other game. The story is fantastic and despite the fact that its rumoured to take over 100 hours to get a repeated dialog option, that actually doesn’t scare me for once. Because I know that its not going to take me 100 hours to finish the story. Although with my skill level it still might… 30-40 runs in and I still haven’t beat Hades.
I’m definitely impatient when it gets to the Hades fight and its my own fault for not taking the time to play properly.But it also doesn’t suck the enjoyment out of the game for me. I kind of like how the gameplay and the story are somewhat separate, and the relationship building is one of my favourite parts. I’m like 80% sure Zag and Meg dated and I’m hoping with enough nectar she’ll love me again. With the recent announcement of a second Hades coming I’ll definitely have to finish it before then, but I’m enjoying taking my time with this one and just plodding along.
So that’s my 4 highly acclaimed games that I have yet to finish.
Let me know if you have any games like this or if you agree or disagree with any of my points. But also like, be nice its my first blog and I’m soft and smol. Anyway that it, its done you can go home now. Or, check out our other gaming posts right about here or check out my sweet editing over on our YouTube channel.
