I have been toying with the idea of making a challenge like this for ages. It is, however, a whole lot simpler to join one that’s already prepared and ready to go! 
Hopefully with this I’ll actually make a dent in my backlog in 2019 instead of just adding to it…
Completed Firewatch. I liked the story and enjoyed the banter between the main characters, but felt that the story would have been much more at home in a different medium, such as a short story or a radio play. I know that the poignant uneventfulness of this game is meant to be a commentary on traditional video game conventions, but I felt that it was much too drawn-out and boring just to make a point that could have been made in five minutes. I hope I’ll get around to writing a full review of this, as I have a lot to rant about. 
I also completed Distraint, which is a little indie adventure game about a real estate lawyer whose job it is to evict people form their homes. Its style is that of a horror game with mostly simple puzzles (and one infuriating timed sequence), with a focus on storytelling. I liked its visual style, and the fact that the game does not look around for a fence to sit on, but unambiguously states that what the protagonist does is morally wrong. Any suspense comes from wanting to know whether he can disentangle himself from the evil corporate world or not. An interesting little morality tale that I probably needed at this point in my own humble career, so I stuck with it despite the gameplay flaws.