The MMORPG Backlog Struggle Is Real: What Games Did You Swear You'd Get Back Into?

Already, 2025 is shaping up to be an interesting year for multiplayer games and MMORPGs, and there’s quite a few that I’ve been eyeing. While Final Fantasy 14 is my clear and obvious go-to game for anyone that follows me on my site (or even just sees my Miqo’te in my bio), it’s possible, and arguably even common, for an MMORPG player to dabble elsewhere. 

That said, it turns out that I’ve had quite a few false starts that I remember clear as day, and that are suppressed deep into my memory—which means this year of great games is really bad news for that backlog. So what in our MMORPG backlogs is worth tackling and taking on nowadays? 

Ironically, one false start of mine that’s come back to life is Blade & Soul, as the game recently launched its Neo reboot. I remember playing maybe eight hours of that game, buying a $20 pack I could just barely afford, and then feeling absolutely stuck on the grind. That was back in college, so maybe with some more time for leisurely adult activities, I can try the Neo reboot. 

Meanwhile, I can lightly recall the few months in 2017 that I gave EVE Online a whirl for a solid 20 hours, as a college buddy who was a relatively high rank in their respective corporation recruited me. However, that wasn’t particularly in-depth gameplay-wise, because out of sheer novelty of combined available technologies, I mostly used Google Chrome’s Remote Desktop to do some high-sec mining while grabbing lunch and dinner during my last semester of college. Now that I have two screens, I can always give mining a whirl again—maybe with a bit more intensity, and a bit further into space. 

I also gave Guild Wars 2 a shot back in 2017 for a grand total of maybe six hours. It was beautiful, and I loved the combat system, but something didn’t stick with me. I’d argue the same thing happened for many other serious multiplayer games I tried, and there are plenty where I remember it exists and go, ah, right, that one. 

More recently, I’ve been able to pick up Elite Dangerous on a few platforms through a variety of sales and through my Playstation Plus Premium library (which I still pay an old grandfathered price for). While exploring the sphere of multiplayer games the past near-decade, I’d certainly heard the tales of Elite Dangerous storylines, but it still feels like an intimidating world to tackle. I have faith that the directors really do want newcomers to feel welcome, so maybe I’d just need to spend more time with it.  

Fast forward to now, and the big gamer question still lingers—how am I supposed to dig into that backlog of games when there’s a surge of other new promising games? It seems like the pandemic brought back a lot of the nostalgia and appeal of multiplayer games, and we’re finally seeing the fruit of it. With Dune: Awakening especially on the sandy horizon, it’s an overwhelming time to be an MMORPG explorer. 

What games have you been telling yourself you’ll pick back up? Do you think you’ll be successful? And more importantly for me—which of these games do you think are still worth tackling nowadays?