With the potential game of the century on the horizon, hit after hit being released, and only 24 hours in a day, most gamers have likely resigned themselves to putting some unmissable titles on the back burner. It’s a tale as old as time; an exciting new release drops, and those shiny game of the year contenders slowly fade in your backlog, not through any question of their quality, but due to the sheer amount of content there is to get through. But what if there’s a way to power through and see the credits roll on all of them, just in time for the arrival of Rockstar’s behemoth? With this goal in mind, here’s one way to challenge yourself and streamline those precious hours into as much gameplay as possible before GTA 6’s release: by playing across as many different devices as possible.
The key is maximising your time actually playing, while cutting down on any time outside the games themselves. Between the hours of work, life admin and family commitments, it can sometimes feel like years in between sessions, and that’s if you can win the battle to sit at your set up when you finally get some time to yourself.
When you do manage to carve out a window, Nvidia’s cloud gaming service GeForce NOW offers a potential solution. The premium streaming platform brings 4000+ titles to your fingertips, processing all of the graphical information on RTX 5080 Superpods at NVIDIA’s data centres and sending all the shiny visuals back to you. More than 2000 of these titles are available immediately without waiting on long downloads, and all you need is a compatible device (of which there are many) and a decent internet connection (25 Mbps download speed for 1080p at 60 FPS).
No matter how you want to clear your backlog, GeForce NOW could be the solution. With a decent internet connection, you can jump on your Steam Deck while on the go, or make some progress on your phone while half-paying attention to a binge-worthy TV show. By taking the short time to link your existing libraries, your save files are accessible across the cloud, meaning your progress isn’t limited to your desk. That convenience adds up to more time spent gaming and less time downloading the next title or installing updates to keep up with the latest additions.
To get started on the ambitious goal of clearing the slate, you might want to jump back into Night City to pop some chooms in Cyberpunk 2077, and finally finish off V’s storyline. Running through the neon streets, using the RTX 5080 your GFN membership gives you access to, you can fully crank up the settings and still enjoy a high frame rate (using DLSS Multi-frame gen), even while playing in 4K. After a satisfying bit of emotional closure (especially if you leave the city’s fate to the Aldecados), that’s one title ticked off, and you can jump straight into the next.
Next up, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which after the impressive year the game has had, it’s somewhat criminal if you haven’t had the chance to check it out yet. Without giving too many spoilers, this game was a phenomenal title to play, and a great choice to try out GeForce NOW on the Steam Deck. As a turn-based title, trips to the office and a few nights on the sofa can be filled with the rich world-building and engaging combat that’s well-suited to getting comfy and relaxing for the evening.
While these are just two examples of games you can instantly access and jump into without any long downloads, you can make your way through a decent portion of your backlog however long and overwhelming it might seem at first; although to clear the full library, you’ll have to keep on steadily gaming in these next few months before GTA 6 releases.
If you’re curious to see how far you can make it through your own backlog with GeForce NOW, you can try a Free account or a Day Pass to give the service a go – or head straight for the Ultimate tier for the full bells and whistles experience. As long as you’ve got a compatible device and a stable internet connection, you can get playing instantly, no storage juggling or PC clean-up required.
You can access NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW from the GeForce NOW website or the Play Store, depending on your device. System requirements and recommended internet download speeds can be found here.
