New releases come and go, but the backlog never shrinks. “Press on the Backlog” is a monthly blog series where we take a step back from the hype to explore the games we missed, abandoned, or simply never finished. From hidden gems to unfinished epics, this series is about rediscovering what’s been waiting in our library all along while discovering new games to play along the way!
As this is the first edition, I’ll start with posting a late entry for my December 2025 backlog and will begin posting on the last Friday of every month!
Horizon: Forbidden West – Backlog Completed! (For Now)
The game I’ve been focusing on the most! I’ve been falling on and off this game for years and after a Twitch redeem, I started to invest time back into Forbidden West. According to my PS5, I was 52% through the main story! After spending about 20 hours so far, I’ve moved that to….59% completed.
As the “completionist” that I am, I started early into the game with the focus on doing my side and miscellaneous quests I’ve picked up or found along the way. What I realized is that this game has a large abundance of them and I spent my first week alone just doing that! I’ve realized that I need to minimize that as much as possible and focus solely on Main Quests with a dab of Side Quests when they pop up.
Since I did that, I went up 7% on the story side. It did take me a few hours alone trying to remember where I was at in the story along with how to actually play the game again and what controls I’m not remembering (I was over 50 hours into the game already). It reminded me why I stopped: I needed smaller games to play that respected my time and didn’t backseat me every ten seconds into a puzzle. Fortunately, I completed the main story and I’m now at 72% completion according to my PS5 (now realizing it took into account side quests AND main story).
I’ll take a backseat on the DLC, Burning Shores, to focus on other games. But very happy to at least get *something* completed!
How To Train Your Cock – Backlog Completed!
Just…hear me out. For those that I don’t know me, I do like to play the occasional idle game on my PC. I could be working on, say, this article and I’d like to play a game in the background. The game is typically a “game has small number, get number bigger” routine and I’ve enjoyed most of them. In this case, there was a game that had a title that made me laugh with a side of “oh, I could get into this.”
You read the title correctly, the game is called “How To Train Your Cock” and to get your mind out of the gutter, you have a small bird (cock) that trains on your screen lifting a dumbbell with one arm and “gaining” (small number that needs to grow bigger) with the objective of speeding up, recovering, and strengthening your ‘cock’ to endure more gains. In time, your ‘cock’ grows and you can even decorate your ‘cock’ with different hats, apply decorations, change the color of your ‘cock’, and the landscape it stands on. Overall, the objective is to and I quote “compare cocks with your friends to see who has the biggest”.
I spent a few weeks on the game before completing it and for the most part, my ‘cock’ got to a solid 55cm.
Where Winds Meet – Why Did I Start This?
My problem game of the month. I fell into a live service/gatcha game from Chinese developer Everstone Studio and as most live service games are, it’s F2P! So, of course, I gave it a download and without realizing, ended up thoroughly enjoying the game way more than I anticipated. Yes, there’s battle passes, weekly/monthly challenges, and the live service purchases you can make. What I appreciated the most, however, was that the game was more “pay to glamour” and not “pay to win.”
I’m still early into the single player mode, but the premise involves around your created character locating your adopted Uncle Jiang. In terms of live service, the game is very “Genshin Impact/Wuthering Waves” whereas the actual gameplay is more in lines with “Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice” (which, I loved.)
There’s two modes: Solo Mode, as mentioned, where you play alone and a Online Mode where you can travel around the open world with friends and complete tasks/hangout in a lobby. Each mode also affects your stats in variety of ways. My main focus so far as been leveling and doing story objectives and I have to say, the story so far has been solid with some surprising twists. But man, does the game have some bugs in terms of dialog and cutscenes.
I’ve barely grasped what I can do in Online Mode. Energy for dailies are, of course, there. But, there’s also bounties where you can either hunt, or be hunted by, players and the hunted player can be “punished” by being locked inside a jail as well as the “Pardon Parade” where either the locked player can reduce their prison time or other players can join in to throw food at the prisoned player being paraded and be rewarded! The concept is ridiculous, and I can’t wait to get thrown in jail.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – ‘Thank You’ DLC Completed!
I won’t go into a ton of details with it as I played the DLC announced at the end of The Game Awards, but the DLC is brilliant and a fantastic nod of fanfare service to players. I played it the following evening and spent at least a solid three hours on it. Just for the extra dungeon alone, it’s worth a return.
I did hit the challenge portion of the DLC and I think I hit a point where I’m okay to move on. It’s all optional, but it by far brings out the toughest challenges in the game you’ll experience. Could I invest time into beating these bosses? Absolutely. Does it likely provide some of the best rewards you can receive? Likely. Do I currently have the time and energy to do so? Probably, but I’d like to put that energy elsewhere.
Let me know what you’ve been playing in the comments below, and happy backlogging!
