How do you play multiple games simultaneously without mixing them up or neglecting them?

Submitted by XxLockdownZxX t3_zx42cl in gaming

Yesterday I started playing Elden ring since I got this game for Christmas and was really looking forward to it. So far it is an incredibly beautiful and cool game, but I would like to play other games alongside it. Usually I stuck to 1 big game, 1 smaller/ indie game and 1 relaxing game with friends. But if I do it this way I'm not going to be able to play many games until I finish the old one, and since Elden Ring is a huge game this is going to take a long time.

For example, a while ago I played 6 games side by side but this ended up being terribly blurry and I could never focus on 1 single game, and I did not like this. If it's 2 heavily narrative games I don't care, but there should be a limit to the number of games I play at the same time.

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Therefore the question, how do you guys play multiple games simultaneously without mixing them up or neglecting them? There are some great games coming to gamepass that I'm going to play (Starfield, Persona 4, Monster Hunter Rise) and there's some games in my backlog that I really want to play as well (The Witcher 3, Shadow of War and some great metroidvania games) but I don't want to wait too long and risk them going off gamepass before I've played them or completely forget about them and not play them at all.

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Ozi_izO t1_j1ybwd5 wrote

My issue has never been playing multiple games at once. My issue is leaving a significant span of time in between play sessions and coming back to a game I've lost familiarity with. This tends to lead to more games abandoned after months and sometimes years of not playing them.

I don't have that problem if I'm constantly rotating what I'm playing, but some games become more of a chore over time and some just lose their appeal. I don't have a set rule to play everything to completion. I just tend to let the mood take me where it will.

That being said I've got a lot of games unfinished. And for a few months now I've been on a bit of a gaming hiatus as the interst has just not been there for a while in general.

Ample opportunity and material, no inspiration or motivation.

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XxLockdownZxX OP t1_j1yc4ac wrote

>My issue has never been playing multiple games at once. My issue is leaving a significant span of time in between play sessions and coming back to a game I've lost familiarity with. This tends to lead to more games abandoned after months and sometimes years of not playing them.

Yes, this is exactly what I have as well. I can enjoy a game for hundreds of hours, but as soon as I find a game that is a little more interesting, I neglect the first game, never to return to it or return and have forgotten everything.

For that reason, I must have started games like Bloodborne and Skyrim a hundred times, simply because I forgot the controls or forgot where I was in the first place.

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Manjorno316 t1_j1ydkxl wrote

This is why I usually just stick to one game. If I get bored with it I usually switch to something new and retry the first one at a later date.

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wastingyourtimebud t1_j1ybgy8 wrote

i play what i want when i want because it's just a hobby it's meant to be fun.

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XxLockdownZxX OP t1_j1ybrm7 wrote

Yes, that's true and I am enjoying myself, but I can't play many games at once because I'll get the controls or the stories mixed up and I don't want that.

Elden Ring, for example, is a great game but I don't want to start another game now and possibly neglect Elden Ring because I like the other game better, or vice versa.

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ThayldDrekka t1_j1ybt9r wrote

I can enjoy multiple games because I'm a fucking idiot and can laser focus on one game for weeks or months, then wake up the next day and spend hours trying to figure out what I wanna play, or God forbid playing something for an hour then switching ad nauseam.

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DKCena t1_j1yfuxi wrote

I have the same problem. And 3 times now, I decided to give up on CP2077.

I love it first couple of hours. Then something else catches my attention. Then I come back after maybe 2 weeks and have lost interest and forgot story. I think this was the last time I’ll try to get into the game :)

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TheLostExplorer7 t1_j1yw4u6 wrote

I typically don't have this issue of forgetting where I am at in a game, but it also helps that I mentally go down a checklist every time I start playing a game. Especially if I have multiple games that I am playing at the same time. It is something that I have practiced since childhood and it is a good memory exercise.

For instance, I just went back to Dark Souls 3 despite not playing the game for over six months and immediately started on an old save that was midgame. I first reorient myself with the game and mentally check off what was done prior, which bosses I had fought, and what areas I had already unlocked double checking this against the Firelink Shrine's teleporter to make sure that I didn't forget anything major, all of this is done in roughly a minute.

If you are really having issues, I would also suggest keeping a notebook with just highlights of major events done in games. I used to do this before I came up with my current method, mostly because I thought logging my adventures in various games would be what adventurers like Link from Legend of Zelda would have done.

For RPGs, I typically do a debriefing session post gaming session where I go over the major events in my head and think about what made those events cool or thought provoking. That makes them stick out in my head more.

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djr7 t1_j1yw6f6 wrote

maybe try playing the games one at a time...

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