This year has been one of the busiest in gaming history. Things kicked off back in January with Hi-Fi Rush and Dead Space commanding near-universal acclaim and the release schedule hasn’t let up since. After all that, we’re now standing on the precipice of the holiday season. Impossible though it may seem, the best could still be to come. It’s all very exciting, but it does pose the question: Where do I find the time to play everything?
On the cusp of Starfield’s monumental release, here are some suggestions on how to make the most of your gaming time over the rest of 2023.
Play the Field
With so many of the year’s titles proving to be 50+ hour behemoths, there’s simply no feasible way to complete them all. With that being the case, why worry about completing any of them?
Keep your gaming time varied and flit between multiple games at a time. It may only amount to a few hours of each, but if you absolutely have to play everything, this is really the only way. Plus, this allows you to sample everything on offer before you commit too much of your time to any of them.
Tie Yourself Down
On the other hand, if you just can’t bear to see a good ending go to waste, you might as well drown out the rest of the noise and go all in on 1 game at a time.
If you’re partial to annual offerings such as FIFA or Call of Duty, this may already be your usual holiday routine. You might be missing out on a lot of the wider conversation with this method, but there’s something rather special about throwing yourself wholly into a game when it’s first released and uncovering all it has to offer along with the rest of its community of die-hard fans.
Mix Shorter Games in With Longer Titles
If these approaches seem a little extreme, then the middle path might be the more appropriate. Starfield and Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty are two games that will certainly be joining Baldur’s Gate 3 and Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom as the year’s longest experiences, and with so many diversions at player’s fingertips they’re definitely not games you pick up lightly.
Couple them up with something a little more pick-up and play like Party Animals, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, or Mortal Kombat 1 to add some variation and stave off burnout. You’ll thank yourself when you reach the end of the longer titles happy for the experience instead of burnt out from playing nothing but them for weeks.
Prioritize Must-Plays Over Might-Plays
When something’s got to give, you might as well come to terms with it sooner rather than later. Sure, there might be a surprise mega-hit that shoots a game to the top of your list, but chances are you already have a pretty good feel for which games are your cup of tea and which games you were thinking about trying just because of the hype.
If Alan Wake 2 is melting everyone’s face off at the end of October but you’re finding yourself more intrigued by the decidedly more niche Jusant, leave the nightmares to everybody else and enjoy those chill vibes. You’ll be much happier when the credits roll, and won’t be left trying desperately to get back to the game you liked more in the first place.
Try It and Drop It
Sometimes a game doesn’t immediately click with you, but you plug away at it because there’s nothing else that’s prying for your attention at that specific moment. It may seem mean, but sometimes first impressions count, and when time’s limited that’s all you’ve got to go on.
Of course, we’ve all had those games which we feel indifferent about early on only to have them become some of our all-time favorites. It’s amazing when that happens, but let’s be real: Those occasions are few and far between. If you’re playing something out of a sense of obligation when you’d much rather be playing something else, drop the baggage and move onto what actually grabs your attention.
Small but Many
Alongside all the epic AAA offerings this year, there have been loads of indie games promising just as much innovation and polish; just on a far smaller scale. If you’re just capping off a playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3 and the prospect of devoting the rest of your year to Starfield seems a daunting prospect, then maybe it’s time for a change of pace.
You don’t have to entirely rule out the mainstream. We already know that Assassin’s Creed Mirage is going to be much shorter than recent titles in the franchise, and while we don’t yet know for certain how long exactly games like Spider-Man 2 and Alan Wake 2 will be, they’ll surely be much more approachable than Bethesda’s sci-fi colossus. All the same, taking time to indulge in games that aren’t weeks long commitments can be a godsend for your enjoyment of the medium.
The Wallet-Friendly Approach
Between the cost of hardware and the rising price of new releases, gaming can be a pretty expensive hobby these days. While nobody begrudges game studios for having to keep up with the pressures of inflation, the best price for the consumer is “Free” when choices are vast and time is limited.
If you’re already paying for Game Pass or PlayStation Plus, then day-one releases to those services such as Sea of Stars can make for a very attractive offer. If you’re deciding between two games and know you only have time to play one right now, then go for the cheapest and hope the price of the other goes down by the time you circle back around to it.
Forget About FOMO
Following on from the last point, you might have already purchased a lot of new games this year. Diablo IV might still have its demonic claws in you, and all you really want to play is its latest seasonal content. Plus, do you really need to pile more on your plate when you’re still perfectly happy tinkering away with the Ultrahand in Tears of the Kingdom?
The additional bonus of embracing this marketing-resistance mentality is that you’ll be able to pick up the bug-free, ‘Complete Edition’ of upcoming titles at half the price a few months down the line. Doing so could be the difference between having a sub-par experience with a holiday season release and playing what becomes one of your new favorite games of all time.
Ride the Hype Wave
Moments like this don’t come along all that often and being able to be a part of that is something special. Sometimes you just want to get involved in the conversation and get a taste for the flavor of the week, and it’s perfectly fine to embrace that.
There may be a whole bunch of half-finished games left along the way, but surely 2024 can’t be quite as jam-packed, right? If something catches your attention along the way, you can always stick it on the rainy-day pile with the rest of the games you say you’ll get back around to someday.
Don’t Overthink It
Make peace with your inability to cheat time. Don’t sit with your controller in your hand playing one game and wishing you were playing another, and absolutely do not sacrifice your well-being and your social life just so you can say you’ve played it all.
These things were made by people who wanted you to enjoy them. None of them want you to rush through the experience in a caffeine-riddled, sleep-deprived delirium. So whatever you choose to play, settle in, have fun, and give the game the time and attention it deserves.
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