OmegaMouse

Ah neat! The first Splitgate was fun and I put a fair few hours into it. It felt like it had been abandoned by the devs after a while though (and cross progression wasn't possible, which put me off playing it after I got a Steam Deck). I'm interested to see what they do with a bigger budget.

I'm not sure if this is the best recommendation looking at your criteria, but Slime Rancher (1 and 2) are chilled games that have beautiful and colourful visuals. To me it feels like a summer vacation - one where you're staying at a farm and catching adorable slimes.

Another recommendation I'd have is Tearaway unfolded. It's a super charming adventure in a papercraft work. It really stuck with me and felt like an adventure. It's only on PS4/5 as far as I'm aware though, but if you happen to have one of those I guess you could cast it to your Steam Deck using Chiaki. Or on the off-chance that you have a PS Vita, the original version of the game was on there.

Amazing game, but I'm not sure I'd describe the gameplay as chill!

It appears that the squirrel on the right is not only smoking in the sense of having a cigarette, but he is also on fire.

Ahh thanks - It's included within an existing Playstation subscription I have, so I can play it without any extra charge. If it's short and fun like you say, I'll definitely give it a go!

Is RE3 remake worth playing? I loved the remake of the second one.

It does feel so easy to get distracted nowadays with the infinite amount of content available online. If you're pretty certain that there's a game you'll enjoy - yes, just give it a go rather than putting it off. If you don't find yourself enjoying it, at least you gave it a go! On the other hand, maybe you'll have found a new favourite genre.

Best of luck :)

I'm yet to play Elden Ring, but a friend offered to lend me the PS5 disc. So many people have told me it's great, can't wait to experience it.

Yeah definitely, wanting to complete every game 100% is a bit much. I'll only ever do the side content that I actually enjoy. Ratchet and Clank: RA was great for this as it was easy and fun to complete everything (hence it being the only game I've managed to get all the trophies for).

In terms of keeping my to-play list short, I've done a pretty good job of not buying any games in Steam sales recently. Because 99% of the time they'll be on sale again in the near future - buying them now only causes paralysis like you say.

I think that's a fair way to play a game like that. I like to explore as much as possible, but when there's a ridiculous amount of side content don't feel guilty for playing the bits that interest you most. The game was probably designed assuming most people would skip the majority of the extras.

Your labelling system is a good idea! I do have plenty of games from bundles, but I only add the ones to my library that I'm actually interested in. So everything in my backlog is something I want to play at some point. Personally I don't feel that there is any negative connotation to the word backlog, but maybe that's because mine is full of stuff I intend to play.

I have a spreadsheet listing the games I've got to play, and whilst I do usually set an 'up next', this can change depending on how I'm feeling at the time. So it's rare that I play a game I don't like or doesn't fit my mood :)

It works for me at least, and I guess it can't hurt to try. Best of luck!