🎮 Backlog Picks — Console/PC Only
Based on my Backloggd profile (ujj) and recent reviews. Curated to avoid series I haven’t started yet (Metal Gear, Silent Hill) and console/PC-exclusive only (handhelds reserved for HeartGold).
The List
1. 🗡️ No More Heroes
Suda51’s punk-rock action. Stylish, funny, self-aware, dripping with auteur personality. The creative boldness of Drakengard with gameplay that’s actually fun.
2. 🎨 El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron
Visually breathtaking, surreal, and completely its own thing. Satisfying combat, short and sweet. Peak “one person’s creative vision.”
3. 🤖 Binary Domain
The third-person shooter Vanquish should have been. Compelling sci-fi story, memorable squad, and shooting robots apart actually matters mechanically.
4. 🔫 Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered
Suda51 × Shinji Mikami. Pulpy grindhouse horror-action with great boss fights and real personality. Remaster smooths the edges.
5. 🔦 Condemned: Criminal Origins
Atmospheric first-person horror with uniquely brutal melee combat. Strong creative identity, great pacing, and a genuinely tense crime-thriller storyline. Short enough to never overstay its welcome.
6. 💯 The Wonderful 101: Remastered
Platinum at their most creative — the anti-Vanquish. Wild variety, insane setpieces, a story that goes fully off the rails. Incredible once it clicks, but the learning curve is a real risk.
7. 🐾 Tokyo Jungle
Animals surviving in post-apocalyptic Tokyo. Weird, addictive, uniquely Japanese. Nothing else like it — though the roguelike loop could feel repetitive.
8. 🤖 Chibi-Robo!
A tiny robot doing household chores to heal a dysfunctional family. Sounds mundane, plays magical. Creative, heartfelt, and utterly unique — though it’s a GameCube game, could feel a bit dated.
9. 🏰 Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom
A charming action-adventure where you team up with a big gentle beast to solve puzzles and reclaim a ruined kingdom. Ico/SotC vibes with more warmth. Solid, but the least distinctive game on the list.
10. 🕵️ Deadly Premonition
Twin Peaks as a janky open-world murder mystery. Swery65’s unhinged vision — bizarre, deeply personal, hilarious, and oddly touching. The most “love it or hate it” pick — after OOT frustrations, the jank here is a real gamble.
Notes
- ⚠️ Avoid for now (dated jank risk): Terranigma, Sonic Adventure, VtM: Bloodlines, American McGee’s Alice
- ⏳ Play first entries first: Metal Gear Solid → MGS2, Silent Hill 1/2 → SH3, Uncharted trilogy → Uncharted 4, Ninja Gaiden → NG II