The Game That's Been Haunting My Digital Shelf for Seven Years

And why I keep making excuses instead of just hitting "Install"

We've all been there. You're scrolling through your Steam library (or whatever your platform of choice), and there it sits—that game you bought with the best of intentions, gathering digital dust while newer, shinier titles demand your attention. For me, that game is The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and it's been silently judging me from my backlog since 2017.

The Weight of Expectations

Here's the thing about having a legendary RPG sitting in your library for seven years: the expectations become suffocating. Every gaming podcast mentions it. Every "best games of all time" list features it prominently. Friends tell you it's "life-changing" and that you're "missing out on gaming perfection."

The bar has been set so impossibly high that starting it now feels like preparing for a final exam I've been procrastinating on since college.

The Time Commitment Paradox

The Witcher 3 isn't just a game—it's a lifestyle choice. We're talking about 100+ hours of content if you want the "complete experience." That's roughly two and a half work weeks. In gaming time, it's equivalent to playing through Portal 2 about fifteen times.

Every time I consider starting it, I do the mental math: "Do I have 100 hours to commit to this? What if I get 20 hours in and life gets busy? Will I remember the story when I come back six months later?" It's analysis paralysis at its finest.

The Shiny Object Syndrome

Then there's the constant stream of new releases. Just when I think, "This weekend, I'm finally doing it," along comes a new indie darling or a Game Pass addition that promises a more digestible 8-12 hour experience. These shorter games feel like quick wins—instant gratification versus the marathon commitment that The Witcher 3 demands.

It's like choosing between a bag of chips and cooking a five-course meal. Both have their merits, but one requires significantly less commitment.

The Technical Anxiety

Seven years later, there's now the Enhanced Edition, the Complete Edition, mods that "fix" things, and debates over whether to play the original version or wait for the next-gen update. Should I play with all the DLC immediately available? Should I mod it first? Will my potato laptop even run it properly in 2024?

What started as "I'll just install and play" has become a research project rivaling my college thesis.

The Social Pressure Backfire

The more people tell you that you "HAVE to play this game," the more your brain rebels against it. It's the same psychological phenomenon that makes you want to do literally anything except the thing your parents, friends, or society tells you you should do.

The Witcher 3 has become my gaming Brussels sprouts—probably good for me, universally praised, but somehow less appealing the more it's pushed on me.

Breaking the Cycle

Here's what I've learned about backlog paralysis: the anticipation is often worse than the experience itself. The weight of expectation, the time commitment fears, the technical perfectionism—these are all elaborate excuses our brains create to avoid starting something that might be challenging or time-consuming.

Maybe the solution isn't to clear our schedules for the "perfect" gaming experience. Maybe it's to embrace the messy, imperfect journey. Play for an hour. Stop when it stops being fun. Come back when you feel like it. Your backlog game doesn't need to be a life-changing experience—it just needs to be played.

The Universal Gaming Truth

Whether your longest-sitting backlog game is The Witcher 3, Red Dead Redemption 2, Persona 5, or that indie darling everyone raved about three years ago, you're not alone in this delicious torment. Our backlogs are monuments to our optimism—proof that we believe we'll eventually have infinite time and perfect gaming conditions.

Maybe that's not such a bad thing.

What game have you been avoiding despite genuinely wanting to play it? Drop a comment below and let's commiserate together. Misery loves company, and backlog anxiety loves a good support group.