2026 Backlog of Stuff
I, like many of us, am often too ambitious for my own good. I’ll pick up a game, a movie, or a book that’s on sale knowing I don’t have time now, but I totally will later. The problem is twofold. Not only will I not get time, but whatever I bought will be added to a stack of other crap I bought earlier with that exact mindset. This has created a pretty gnarly backlog of stuff.
Here is this year's list of all the games, books, and movies I bought long ago that I will finally get to this year.
Video Games
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox
In 2024 Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana became one of my favorite games. I loved it so much I bought almost every Ys game before I finished it, and played five more of them over the next four months. I was liking them all, until the newly released Ys X: Nordics came around. It was the first Ys game I didn’t like, so much so that I didn’t even finish it. Follow that up with Falcom’s greedy Proud Nordics re-release months later at full price, and their breathless love for genAI and I shelved the rest of the Ys games, vowing to never to buy Falcom’s trash again.
Modern Falcom’s many failings shouldn’t affect their past games. I mean, I already own them, I might as well play them, and Ys IX: Monstrum Nox is calling my name the loudest.
Chronologically the last game in the series (ignore the numbers, Ys’ timeline is all over the place), Monstrum Nox follows on from Adol and companion Dogi’s misadventures in Altago after the criminally underrated Ys Seven. This is also the last of the "party system" games, which is my favorite era of Ys, so either way, it's going to be bittersweet.
Suikoden II Remastered
I picked up Suikoden I & II Remastered after hearing about how great these games are and how they’re a cornerstone for JRPGs. I played the first one, and while it had its moments, it was pretty mediocre. More like mid-iocre, am I right? It’s only been five months since then, yet I can’t remember a thing about it. There was a castle that slowly fills up with your party members, and you’re looking for your dad, for some reason? That’s all I got.
Most say that Suikoden II is the better game, one of the best ever. Suikoden I was so underwhelming though that I put the bundle down and forgot I had it. It’s not really fair to hold that against the sequel. I want to judge this supposedly all-time classic on its own merits, and I can’t do that without playing it. My expectations are low after the first game, so it’s got that working to its advantage.
Yakuza Kiwami 2
I always loved the look of Yakuza, or I guess Like a Dragon as its called now. By that, I mean I love the story, the characters, the focus on mini-games, and the absurdity and memes. But I don't like beat 'em up combat, and that always kept me from trying it. When the confusingly titled Yakuza: Like a Dragon came out in 2020 and switched to turn-based combat, I gave it a try. And sure enough, I loved it.
I was so enamored that when Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami were on sale for something like $5 each during a Steam Sale, I took the plunge. Yakuza 0 was exactly what I expected – a fantastic game overall with great writing, storytelling, characters, side quests, and mini-games with combat that bored me to tears. Yakuza Kiwami... well, let's say I wasn't a fan.
Next up is Yakuza Kiwami 2. Will I like it? Will it be more like Yakuza 0 or the first Kiwami? I’ve been told the sequel was better than the original, and that more work was put into updating Kiwami 2 compared to Kiwami 1. I’m going to find out how true that is very soon, as the game is installing on my PS5 as I write this.
Dread Delusion
I picked up Lovely Hellplace’s award-winning RPG Dread Delusion after loving the demo. I then promptly let it sit on my desktop for almost a year before uninstalling it. I’m not sure why I never got around to it. A Morrowind-like first-person RPG with the freedom to play how I want and alter the story? That’s right up my alley. It’s been so long I don’t remember much about it now, and that might work in the game’s favor when I do play it.
Threefold Recital
I picked up Threefold Recital after being told by multiple people that it was one of the best games of 2025 that nobody talked about. It’s a story-driven game, and plays sort of like a 2D platformer, though there’s not much platforming from what I understand. I bought it based on the high praise, though after looking at trailers and reading the Steam page… eh. It doesn’t really seem like my cup of tea. The recommendations were strong enough to get me to buy it though, so I should give it a fair chance.
Books
CJ Cherryh
Last year, I discovered CJ Cherryh through her first book, Gate of Ivrel. I loved it, and wondered why this talented, award-winning, foundational writer of science fiction has been forgotten today. Then I read Heavy Time and got the answer. In my post-coital bliss of Gate of Ivrel, I bought a job lot of her books on eBay that have been gathering dust since the disaster of Heavy Time.
These books include her Hugo Award winning Downbelow Station, Serpent’s Reach, the first part of her massive Foreigner series, Brothers of Earth, Hunter of Worlds, and The Faded Sun: Kesrith. It’s time to see if they live up to her first book, or if they sink like the second of hers I read.
Colson Whitehead
So here’s a weird thing. My library sells books, some of their old books and some donated. Most of them are in great condition, and they’re all 25 or 50 cents. One day, I found pristine copies of most of Colson Whitehead’s books - The Underground Railroad, The Nickel Boys, Harlem Shuffle, and Crook Manifesto for a quarter each. This happened in 2023, the year Crook Manifesto came out, which made it even more surprising.
I left The Underground Railroad since I already had a copy, taking the other three instead. They’ve since sat on my shelf with barely a glance thrown their way. I don’t know why I haven’t read any of them yet, probably because I basically quit reading in 2023 and 2024.
That changes this year. I don’t know which I’ll read first, probably The Nickel Boys since that was his next book after The Underground Railroad. Whitehead has a new book coming in 2026, called Cool Machine. It’d be great if I can get through at least one of these by the time that comes out so it can get the same treatment. I mean, so I can read it right away!
Discworld
Terry Pratchett is one of my favorite writers, and Discworld is my favorite series of books. Yet I haven’t read either in six years. Like everyone, Pratchett’s death in 2015 (has it really been that long?) was/is devastating. I’d been picking up Discworld books every time I see them in the wild for years. I've been staring at a stack of Discworld books I haven’t touched in almost a decade. Seriously, there are ten of them sitting there for years now.
Those books are: Moving Pictures, Pyramids, Eric, Soul Music, Thief of Time, Interesting Times, Unseen Academicals, Making Money, Lords and Ladies, and Carpe Jugulum. I’m still missing five Discworld books I can’t find anywhere that I'm not going to buy online. The fun comes with finding Discworld books in random shops, and I’m content with waiting. Clearly.
The Continent of Lies
The newest addition to this list, The Continent of Lies by James Morrow was a recommendation by a YouTuber (I can’t remember who now, sorry). In this world, dreams grow on trees, and the protagonist is a failing dream critic, Quinjin. He’s somebody who travels the world “tasting” these dreams and then writing about his experiences. These dreams are always happy ones, until recently, when nightmares started appearing on trees. Our protagonist is tasked with finding the source of these nightmares. I don’t know a ton about it beyond that brief description, and that it’s a super trippy adventure story that explores all kinds of wild themes.
The House of Silk
Some Sherlock Holmes pastiches are great, like Robert Ryan’s underrated Dead Man’s Land and Nicolas Meyer’s The Seven Per-cent Solution. Others made me want to wash my eyes with bleach, like Laurie R. King’s The Beekeepers Apprentice or Alan Vanneman’s The Giant Rat of Sumatra.
I’ve often heard the best Sherlock pastiche is The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz. He’s the author behind the Alex Rider series and several James Bond books, and wrote for TV adaptations of Poirot and Midsomer Murders, so he’s got the pedigree. This is a book I picked up in one of those eBay “buy 3 get one 1 free” deals with every intention of reading it not long after I got it, but it’s been sitting on a shelf for months now.
Movies
Studio Ghibli
Okay, confession time… I’ve only ever seen one Studio Ghibli movie. Look, I don’t know how it happened. It was dark outside, my dog ate it, my alarm didn’t go off, it was raining men that day. What do you want me to say? I’m sorry, alright?
Still, I have a good chunk of Ghibli films. About five years ago, Target was selling steelbook Ghibli films on Blu-ray for $10 each, so I grabbed one of each. These include Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Deliver Service, Princess Mononoke, and Howl’s Moving Castle. There was also Spirited Away, the one Ghibli movie I have seen. A couple of years later they had From Up on Poppy Hill on sale too, so I grabbed that.
They’ve made a great display piece, which makes this worse doesn’t it? Nobody likes a poser. It’s time I finally watch these movies and see what all the fuss is about. The sooner, the better.
No Bears
After It Was Just an Accident, everybody knows Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s name. Somehow I first heard about Panahi from his previous film, 2022’s No Bears.
This is a strange one, part documentary and part narrative drama. It stars Panahi as himself filming a fake movie near the border with Türkiye in an attempt to secure a fake passport so he can flee Iran. Panahi is a critic of the current Iranian regime, and has been imprisoned in the past and banned from making films. So he shot No Bears in secret, almost getting caught several times. It’s a fascinating blend of real and fake, an intimate look at a private struggle made international news, and a fascinating story all around.
I plan on seeing It Was Just an Accident this year too, but I want to get to No Bears first since I already have it. I found the Criterion Collection release on Blu-ray for $10 late last year. What a steal.
Rafiki
Rafiki is a film I heard about from an Accented Cinema video where he talks about three LGBTQ+ movies across the world. Rafiki is about two queer women in Kenya, which is a remarkable thing given the country's harsh treatment of the LGBTQ+ community.
Rafiki challenges the region's draconian beliefs, and is a great movie in its own right (or so I’ve been told). Co-written and directed by Wanuri Kahiu, the film is a simple one that depicts the start of a relationship between Kena (in lead actress Samantha Mugatsia’s first film role) and Ziki. The film was unsurprisingly banned in Kenya, with the Kenyan film board hilariously asking Kahiu to change the ending because “it was too hopeful and positive.” What a world we live in.
In the Mood For Love
I watched my first Wong Kar-wai film last year, Chungking Express, and fell in love within the first few minutes. I’ve heard In the Mood For Love is even better, called one of the greatest films ever. I don’t know much about it, and I intend to keep it that way before I watch it.
It’s about a man and a woman who move into a neighborhood at roughly the same time and discover their spouses are cheating on them with each other. The two then fall in love themselves, and presumably some other stuff happens. It was made by Wong Kar-wai in his prime and stars Tony Leung, that’s all I need to know.
Ghost in the Shell & Black Lagoon
These last two are kind of embarrassing. I wrote in a previous blog about how I was afraid to watch Ghost in the Shell and Black Lagoon because I used to be addicted to anime, and feared I’d fall back into my old ways. I bought them for inspiration for the book I’m writing that you’re already tired of me yapping about. I never got around to watching them, though.
I’m definitely overreacting here. Watching a 90 minute movie and two seasons of an anime aren’t going to suddenly make me an addict. Probably. Watching these will no doubt give me great inspiration, so I need to do it already. It’s kind of sad, at this point. And Studio Ghibli films are anime, why am I okay watching those but not these two? I don’t know, maybe I’m not the sharpest lightbulb in the cheese factory.
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