Daerphen


Challenge me! Monthly Edition
previous


Get ready, we are about to start a new round for our challenges. We are still in testing phase, so we decided to change the rules a little bit again ;)

  • When you pick for someone, please consider games, that are unfinished and try to include at least one game from that list.
  • You are allowed to ask a specific person to pick for you, but that person can only be asked to pick for someone specific once. For example: Mandril askes me to pick for him. I do that, but later Nelly also wants me to pick for her. I cannot pick for Nelly anymore, someone else needs to do that.
  • You are only allowed to pick for up to 2 members in total. So if you already picked for 2 and you are asked to pick for someone specific you have to pass and another member should pick the games. Exception: Nobody picked games for 24 hours.

The main goal of this is of course to motivate you to reduce your backlog and help you pick some games to do just that. And you can help others do the same!
If you've used the Steam group forums at all, you may have also seen a suggestion about profile badges, including participation badges for themes. We thought for this additional and hopefully regular) event, we will give out two permanent badges that basically level up the more you participate, one for finishing challenges (up to 2 per month) and one for issuing challenges/picking for others. Since badges are still quite a ways off, we'll keep an internal spreadsheet for now, so if we ever implement that, your "progress" won't be lost ;)

This round will last until November 15th.


Post your application for this month’s challenge as a reply here. Please before doing so, read the corresponding section below. Also, if you decide to pick games for others, read the corresponding section before you do so. If you encounter any problem with the games that were picked for you (either technical or if you think they don’t follow the guidelines) and can’t solve it with your picker, please leave a message as a reply of the first comment.


Applicants’ guidelines

  • Please make sure your games are sorted by completion before applying.
  • If you so desire and you have at least 5 unplayed SG wins, the 5 games can be picked out of your SG wins (instead of only 2/5). Just note it in your application comment.
  • Note in your post if you're ok playing multiplayer only games.
  • Same for Early Access (I know some people want to wait for release).
  • When you finish one (or more) of the games picked for you, please post an update by replying to your picker's comment.
  • If the game has achievements, you can link to either the Steam or Astats page corresponding to your progress.
  • If the game doesn't have achievements, please post a screenshot showing your completion.
  • Finally, if you have completed all the games that were assigned to you but want another go at it, feel free to post another application.

Pickers’ guidelines

  • You can pick for/challenge up to 2 fellow assassins, please refrain to pick more so everybody who wants get a chance at it.
  • You can pick for anybody who has applied and hasn't been given a list yet, unless they specified otherwise (see next point). It is recommended to signal with a "reserved" comment that you're currently picking for that person. This way it'll avoid the situation where you spend time picking games just to come back to somebody's comment 2 minutes prior.
  • Please use the following criteria when picking a list for somebody.
  • Length-wise: at least 2 short games (under 10h to beat) and 2 medium (under 15-20h). You can use HLTB to check the time, or more conveniently the Enhanced Steam browser extension (it shows the HLTB time directly on the game's steam page). That rule can be overridden by the bottom (i.e. pick 5 short games) but not the other way around, as not everybody has the same time to dedicate to gaming.
  • Pick two SG wins unless the person specified SG wins only, in which case pick only in the applicant's SG wins list.
  • Quality-wise: at least 3 of the 5 games should have a positive (or above) rating. You can use this site to quickly sort games in a user's library by ratings (thanks to JaffaCaffa for the suggestion).
  • Please, respect the applicant's choice regarding multiplayer-only and Early access games, as well as other requests (exclusion of certain genre etc.).
  • Please use the code below to post your comment, it's already formatted, you just have to copy/paste & complete the data.

For Pickers. Just copy paste and complete the data :)

* [GAME#1](http://store.steampowered.com/app/GAME#1-ID/) - HLTB Time: GAME#1-HLTBTIME
* [GAME#2](http://store.steampowered.com/app/GAME#2-ID/) - HLTB Time: GAME#2-HLTBTIME
* [GAME#3](http://store.steampowered.com/app/GAME#3-ID/) - HLTB Time: GAME#3-HLTBTIME
* [GAME#4](http://store.steampowered.com/app/GAME#4-ID/) - HLTB Time: GAME#4-HLTBTIME
* [GAME#5](http://store.steampowered.com/app/GAME#5-ID/) - HLTB Time: GAME#5-HLTBTIME

FAQ

Do I have to participate in this event?
No, this is an event to help you reduce your backlog. If you already have a plan and don't want anyone to pick games for you, you're free to ignore it.

What happens if I don’t participate in the event?
Absolutely nothing.

What happens if I play all the games picked for me this month?
Still nothing. (You might get a shiny profile badge at some later date. And you can come back for another batch.)

What if I don’t have time to play 5 games?
Don’t worry, one is enough, we’re just asking the pickers to select 5 to give the player a little choice.

One of the game picked for me won’t run on my computer for X or Y reason, what do I do?
If this happens, please notify the picker by replying his comment and ask them to pick a replacement. If the original picker don’t give you an answer within 24h, don’t panic, just leave a comment and we’ll pick one for you. Meanwhile, you could try one of the other picked games if you haven't played them all yet.

I played all 5 games that were picked for me and I want more!
If you have completed all 5 games and reported your completion to the original comment, you can make a new request for another list.

When picking for other people, can I only pick “never played” games?
Not necessarily, you can also pick games that seem to have been abandoned but haven’t been categorized as “won’t play”. No beaten or completed games, or games being currently played obviously.

Why are there so many rules for picking the games? I can’t be bothered!
We’re trying to make this enjoyable for everyone so if you decide to pick games for others, please read and follow the rules. I’ve tried to make it as easy as possible for the pickers too, but if it’s bothering you too much, remember you don’t need to pick games for others to join the challenge.

I’m new here, can I join the challenge?
Yes of course (and welcome to BLAEO). Please just be sure to have your games sorted by progress before signing up for the challenge, to make it easier for your picker.

Daerphen

Problems? Please comment here

LastM

Not a problem, just a suggestion: it would be nice to have a link to the previous challenge here. :)

GiseIIe

Actually, could we have a link to all the past challenges? In the Past Themes page only the April 2017 Challenge me is linked there :( It’s difficult to go find them all in the monthly challenges pages

LastM

That’s an even better idea. :)

Daerphen

added the link. The current posting style will confuse probably most users as the changes to the page are very minimal ;)

:) <3!!

Am I able to participate even if I dont have any SG wins?

Daerphen

sure why not? then a picker will only pick non-wins for you

Daerphen

I want to be challenged. Please remember to pick 1 game from my unfinished. Also please no Early Access and Multiplayer. I would be very happy to have as many SG wins as possible in the list, and it would be very helpful if they are all recommended to play by you. A few words to why you picked that game would be very helpful

LastM

reserved.
edit: It’s gonna take some time. Your page takes a while to load because of the number of games. xD Done. Have fun!

Normal:

  • Max: The Curse of Brotherhood - HLTB Time: 6 Hours - It’s an amazing platformer, with a nice story. The art style in this game is very Pixar-y. If they ever decide to create a game, it will probably be very similar to this game.
  • Guacamelee!: Super Turbo Championship Edition - HLTB Time: 6½ Hours - It’s a very good metroidvania. I’ve beaten it on the PS4 and I hope to do it again on steam, someday. It features a lot of mexican/luchador culture. The controls are very tight and responsive., which is great for a metroidvania. The story is good too.
  • Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller - HLTB Time: 16½ Hours - I absolutely loved this Point and Click game. It’s one of the best detective stories in games I’ve seen. It catches you from the get-go and keeps you hooked throughout the episodes. Episode 4 is a bit weaker and slower than the rest, but still good. Overall, a solid 8/10.
  • The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky - HLTB Time: 41½ Hours - I know. It seems a lot, but it’s actually not that long. I’ve beaten it in ~26h, iirc and I got some 80% of the achievements. Can definitely be done faster. The game itself is a great JRPG. Nihom Falcon is great at world building and this game definitely displays that. It’s impossible not to care about the world and its people in this game. Everyone has its own story/background. The chest dialogue is the best thing I’ve seen in a rpg. Ps: it’s actually not a SG win, but you won the sequel, so you’ll need to play it before that anyway, so why not now?! xD

Unfinished:

  • Prey - HLTB Time: 15½ Hours - I haven’t actually played this game, but the only games in your unfinished list (Decay and God eater) aren’t good. I heard some good stuff about prey and how it’s similar to bioshock, which is one of my favorites of all time. Should be decent.

It was hard to choose for you. You have so many good games! In the end, I’ve decided to pick 5 different genres, so I’ve had to cut some amazing games from this list.

On a side note, if you haven’t yet, you should buy and play The Longest Journey. You’ve won both sequels, but you don’t have this masterpiece. It’s my favorite game of all time, up there with Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It’s that good. The sequels are decent, but not even close to the original 1999 game.

Daerphen

thanks for picking, probably will skip the longer games as I am not sure how much time I will have to play for all the events (monthly, blaeo-challenge, sg-challenge, …). Prey is already installed as I started it right after winning but then decided to finish some others first

MouseWithBeer

Finished 7 games I was challenged to in the last month so I am here for another go :D
Please pick some shorter games and preferably games that can be played with mouse only (I killed my good keyboard) maybe some HOGs wink wink

ninglor03

reserved

ninglor03

Hope they work all out for you, I was lazy and refused to scroll past K :]
As always: If something is wrong, poke me and I’ll help asap!
Have fun playing, keep me posted :)

MouseWithBeer

Once again, thank you for picking for me! ^^

Here goes my chart

# Game Achievements Playtime
1 Ferrum's Secrets: where is grandpa?
65% (13 of 20) about 3 hours
2 Sword of Asumi Won on SteamGifts
100% (22 of 22) about 7 hours
3 Luna's Wandering Stars Won on SteamGifts
13% (7 of 55) about 5 hours
4 Lost Grimoires: Stolen Kingdom
100% (13 of 13) about 5 hours
5 Angelica Weaver: Catch Me When You Can - Collector’s Edition
about 2 hours

Ferrum's Secrets: where is grandpa?: Achievements, My thoughts on it
Sword of Asumi: Achievements, My thoughts on it
Luna's Wandering Stars: 2hard4me
Lost Grimoires: Stolen Kingdom: Achievements, My thoughts on it
Angelica Weaver: Catch Me When You Can - Collector’s Edition: Screenshot, My thoughts on it

LastM

I’m almost done with my last challenge -I’m finishing Postal 2. What a crazy game! :O-, so I’d like a new challenge! Sg wins only please, I have a bunch to choose from. xD
Please no Mp-only/EA or unfinished episodic games (Eg: Kentucky route zero). Everything else is fair game, including bad games. T_T
I’m busy right now, but I’ll be back later to pick for some people! :)

Blue Ϟ Lightning

reserved for my revenge
I chose main story+extra times for a few of them cause they are probably a bit more accurate (+1-2 hours)…personally I end up spending more time on mine by accident.

  • Super Avalanche (avalanche 2) - Main Story and Extras:6 Hours
    I just won this myself. And while its not a phenomenal game its (the original) like the flash game I used to play at school/during class with friends and like is being a blast to the past right now… Plus I’m playing it as well so idk
  • The Banner Saga 2 - Main Story and Extras:14 Hours
    I’m currently running this gib as the main prize for my current puzzle and idk I hope it gets played so I’m passing on that hope by having you play your copy idk >_<.
  • Hitogata Happa - Main Story:1 Hours
    now I don’t know much about this but as I’m part of 2hu I feel like I should help spread bullet hell games idk…plus decided to be nice on you as its only an hour idk. (letting you off the hook cause the last one is big)
  • OddPlanet - like 40 minutes apparently
    again I’m making a small time specifically to let you focus on the next one.
  • GOD EATER 2 Rage Burst - Main Story:66 Hours
    okay tbh I wavered slightly on this one. I’m not sure 100% the genre (and personally I don’t like the muso game I won OP) and I’ve heard it gets a bit tedious…so I wouldn’t recommend this normally. But I do believe we need to play our largest wins. I don’t think everyone needs to play all the trash the’ve won (you said everything’s fair including bad games) but while I personally don’t want trash on my account I know alot of people went willy nilly winning everything when they joined SG. Rip I got off track basically I wouldn’t reccomend this if you had let me have free reign with anything but as you specifically directed me to your wins and as I think people should at least put an effort into the games that actually cost the GA creators more etc…here you go you’re up.
LastM

Please, be gentle. (ಥ﹏ಥ)
Thanks for the picks! I’ll edit this reply as I beat the games throughout the month! :)

OddPlanet
GOD EATER 2 Rage Burst
Hitogata Happa
The Banner Saga 2
Super Avalanche (avalanche 2)

Blue Ϟ Lightning

bumping with this reply cause I suddenly remembered you were the one who wrote how god eater made you lose all desire to play anything and I suddenly felt guilty…
I was not gentle at all

So if you absolutly can’t play it I’ll replace it with doom for the exact same reasoning I used for god eater…just replace I dislike muso with I dislike FPS but I still think people should put some effort into playing their bigger/unbundled wins.

LastM

Ok. I’ve finished my challenge. God Eater wasn’t that bad. I had some decent new additions like blood skills ( the more you use a skill, the better it becomes - great for spammers like myself. xD), more monster variety (even though they recycled a LOT of content: monsters, maps, etc). The only bad addition is the new multi-mission where you have to kill 3x the amount of monters to count as 1 completed mission. Terrible idea. Thankfully, there are only 2-3 of them in the main story.
The game itself wasn’t as long as HLTB says. It took me almost 20h to beat it. As I found out there is still the blood rage dlc arc that is much longer and harder, plus some character missions. Both of them would take some 40h+ to beat, but I’m not gonna do it. I’ve played enough God Eaters for 5 lifetimes. xD
The rest was fun too. The Banner Saga 2 was my favorite of this batch. Only nitpick is that I had to download a save file because the game wasn’t accepting my old TBS 1 save. Amazing game nonetheless.
Thanks for picking! :)

Blue Ϟ Lightning

I’m basically done with my last challenge-I have to go back to one at some point to finish beholder but I’m done with it for now. (think I’m going restart from the begining and not in the mood for that right now)
For this month I’m asking in a similar manner as last month-I have school and stuff so I can’t play alot and thus shorter games would be better.
I’m the host of this months theme and have been abysmal about following it myself so far so if at all possible could you pick solely from this list? Unfinished (adding to the previous point it doesn’t matter that much if the game is not short so long as I only have a little more ways to go to beat it…thats hard to gauge unless you know it so its not as important)
Ideally I’d want all of them from here but id still accept unplayed games.
Also too many of my past two challenge me’s had games from my ABC list so I would prefer they wern’t included.
Edit: I’m sorry I added so many rules

will come back later to pick for people.

lmxn

Reserved

  • Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons - HLTB Time: 3 Hours
    I was once challenged to play this but it’s still sitting in my unfinished pile of shame. Now I’ll challenge you instead :D

  • Mandagon - HLTB Time: 40 Mins
    This one is super short. And extremely pretty <3

  • Ori and the Blind Forest - HLTB Time: 8 Hours
    I know you said shorter but… it’s Ori!! I love this game to bits and it doesn’t deserve to be unfinished ;__; I really hope you’ll play this! My first playthrough was slightly longer, at around 12 hours though, since I like exploring and collecting everything.

  • The Journey Down: Chapter One - HLTB Time: 2 Hours
    Story-wise it’s only a small part of the entire series but still a nice little point and click.

  • Titan Souls - HLTB Time: 3 Hours
    Last time I tried this it was too hard for me and I gave up ;__; So don’t give up!

Blue Ϟ Lightning

Dammit-thanks alot…time to fin ally get around to trying to beat titan souls…it’s just too hard ahhhh.
Guess I can’t give up again this time thanks.

Also actually haven’t even started orI my little sister bought it on my account/played it a bit.
But ill definitely play it’ll.
I was using the definition in the main post as bellow 10 hours for short…so it’s still completly fine

Finished Titan Souls. what were people smoking when they said HLTB 3 hrs…final boss was 3 hrs alone!
Finish Mandagon
Finished Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Finished the journey down.

Blue Ϟ Lightning

Ori is so hard wtf

wtf

I’m trying to finish it by the end of my round despite midterms but aaaaaaaaaaaa
I’m at 6 hours and only 30% :sob: am I just bad at games

skanda

If you play these (especially Ori and Brothers) with the sound off, I will never talk to you again!

ninglor03

On board!

As always, please pick things you liked/find interesting/want to play/you get the idea ;)
No Multiplayer only games. You may pick a win, but only one, please no unfinished games, since there are most likely reasons for them being not (yet) finished. I guess that’s it. Oh, no, wait. One more thing, since I want change, certain ppl are excluded from picking - sorry, I still love you, but I want opinions from other ppl as well! smooch
Lucky Thirteen, Tsupertsundere and Kiseli may not pick hide

Thank you in advance!

GiseIIe

reserved (ノ◕ヮ◕)ノ*:・゚✧

ninglor03

Woho! bounce

GiseIIe

As asked, I chose games I liked or would like to play and find interesting. I didn’t chose all VNs but you have many interesting ones. If something is not okay, I can replace stuff!

  • The Royal Trap: The Confines Of The Crown - HLTB Time: it says 3 h but it took me like 15 to complete - This VN is so SO important, I have to recommend it. While the artstyle is not my favourite, it’s the story that really shines. Awesome characterizations and interesting worldbuilding.
  • The Shrouded Isle - HLTB Time: 3 h - While I don’t have this, its artstyle is something that surely catches my eye. Apparently it’s a management game where you have to manage the sacrifices to make in a religious town… that’s sure an interesting strategy game.
  • Highway Blossoms - HLTB Time: 6 h - I read this today and I can tell that this is awesome! It’s a yuri kinetic novel and it’s really well done. I loved the music and the little animations that were showed every once in a while. I always say that the world needs more yuri things that don’t end up in tragedy, and my prayers are slowly being answered in recent times. There is an adult patch but it’s totally skippable since there are only two short explicit scenes that don’t add much.
  • CUPID - A free to play Visual Novel - HLTB Time: 4 h for an ending, definitely more if you want to unlock everything on your own. - I saw that you started this but never finished but it’s not in the unfinished category, is it okay to choose? Tell me if you want me to replace this! This is one of my favourite VNs, I was really surprised when I first found this little gem in the lemma soft forums. If you decide to play it, I have to tell you to pay attention to details in the story, since many things are not spelt out loud and are implicit. I helped writing the achievements guide and you’ll need to complete more than one ending to find out the real truth about some things.
  • Vampire Legends: The True Story of Kisilova - HLTB Time: 3 h - A classy HOG for Halloween time. I recently won many Halloweeny HOGs, you should join me in completing them! <3
  • Tomb Raider - HLTB Time: 11½ h - I NEVER managed to finish a Tomb Raider game in all my life. I remember throwing my money years ago at whichever Tomb Raider game came out for playstation, and I always ended up getting stuck in a ditch or something like that. I wish I was good at this kind of games.
Blue Ϟ Lightning

Highway Blossoms <3

ninglor03

Aw, may I ask you to repick the free to play game? Guess I should have excluded them as well blush
Is The Royal Trap: The Confines Of The Crown also ftp? I somehow don’t have it in my lib O.o
But apart form that: Thanks, looks great! bounce

GiseIIe

You’ve got in your library, it’s not free to play, the page store is this. Apparently, there has been a name change again, it now is just The Confines Of The Crown in my library (here on BLAEO and the store page it still shows the old name).

Instead of CUPID, then my vote goes to:

ninglor03

Ha, thanks for pointing it out, found it :D

Yes, very nice! I noticed just today that I kinda miss HOGs and would like to play some, so that works nicely happy
Thank you very much for the pick and the change! <3

ninglor03

The Confines Of The Crown - 100%!
Vampire Legends - dead!
Tomb Raider - killed, although only 58% ;)
The shrouded Isle - everybody pretty dead!
Highway Blossoms - nailed it!

GiseIIe

Ahah, I hope that at least you’ll reach a proper ending! :P

ninglor03

Working on it :D

ninglor03

Killed those vampires or not, I started a terror reign ;)

ninglor03

Ha! Lara Croft is down!

ninglor03

In case I annoy you with updates, do tell and I’ll stop ;)
Anyway, beat the last one buuuuuut I’m totally not finished with killing of my ppl! evil laugh
Ups, sry. I’m a nice Queen, I don’t kill my subjects!

GiseIIe

Don’t worry, you’re not annoying me! I’m reading all the messages but I still haven’t found the time to write updates myself these past weeks.
I’m waiting for you to play Highway Blossoms soon :D

ninglor03

Glad to hear it! happy
Yeah, me too! I’m actually keeping it for the end :]
Also… these cheevos seem to be a bit on the avoiding site ;)

ninglor03

I killed them! (My subjects ^^)
Now I can move on to the last one! hyped

ninglor03

Two days left and I AM done! <3

Thank you for picking those games, I had fun with all off them! bounce

GiseIIe

Alright, I’m ready to be challenged!

Like usual, I’m asking you (who will you be?) to choose:
2 SG Wins (no Crusader Kings II) + 3 Visual Novels.
Don’t forget to pick at least 1 visual novel that is unfinished. Also, please don’t choose the ones tagged as VN picks from BLAEO since I plan to play them very soon.

JaffaCaffa

I’ve not played any of these, so I’ll just pick ones that look interesting. :)
Lemme know if I messed something up and should change something! Hope you enjoy them. :D

GiseIIe

Thank you, these are good picks!!

GiseIIe

Alright finally I’m writing an update!

completed games: 4/5

  • World End Economica: Episode 1 - I found this boring, I’ll write a post about it!
  • Sam & Max 101: Culture Shock - I completed the first episode Culture Shock, but I’m actually going for the whole season (6 episodes) since it counts as only one game here.
  • Memoria
  • eden*

It goes without saying that I won’t be able to complete this challenge in time >:(

JaffaCaffa

Congrats on beating both, sorry you didn’t like World End Economica. :( I’ll look out for your post!

GiseIIe

completed Memoria, I liked this, post to come!

GiseIIe

finished eden*, it was good, I’ll write a post about it but it’ll be short because I cannot spoil the story!

Kap

Edit: Whoops, I guess I hadn’t refreshed the page in an hour, so I didn’t think anyone had picked for you, yet. :P

Hudath

I would like to be challenged :D Please no multiplayer or early access titles :)

Blue Ϟ Lightning

Reserved I guess \o/

  • Evoland 2 - HLTB Time: Main Story:17 Hours (100% is closer to 29-30hrs)
    I was given this by a kind stranger and 100% completed it myself…won on SG (haven’t played the first one but they arn’t related)
  • Puzzle Agent (1) - HLTB Time: Main Story:3 Hours
    You gotta play both of these!!! They are actually really good. (plus won on SG)
  • Puzzle Agent (2) - HLTB Time: Main Story:3 Hours
    Won on SG-see above.
  • Portal 2 - HLTB Time: Main Story:8 Hours
    To fit the monthly theme something from your unfinished games (and I noticed it had the want to play tag)
  • Teslegrad - HLTB Time: Main Story:5 Hours
    Personally played through this awhile ago and liked it.

Hope they all work fine :3

Hudath

Thank you, will get right on them :)

JaffaCaffa

Challenge me please! No rules, just nothing crazy long. My main goal is to beat one game as I already have a few I need to play, but will try my best! Thanks. ^-^

MouseWithBeer
JaffaCaffa

Nice! There’s a couple in there I’ve been meaning to play but forever putting off. Thanks a bunch. :)

MouseWithBeer

Now you have an excuse to play them! :P Have fun ^^

JaffaCaffa

Beat The Last Door - Collector’s Edition. As someone who isn’t a big fan of point & click games anymore I was bit wary about this one. I’ve heard such great things though and wanted to give it a go, thanks for picking it for me. Honestly it was quite good! I really liked the pixel art and the atmosphere it managed to create, was impressed. Despite being horror I think it’s really hard to make pixel art scary, but I diiiid get caught off guard and jump once which made me laugh. haha Probably won’t be playing the sequel, but am happy to have played this. :)

Completed Pony Island This was a weird one. I liked it and am glad I played, but it didn’t quiiiite live up to the massive hype. This was on my top 5 wishlisted games when I got it and for some dumb reason have been putting it off ever since (even after putting on my ABC Challenge considered changing it and I have no idea why). I think the story was a bit too in your face, something about it felt like it was trying too hard. Reminded me of Undertale (the 2 hours I’ve played at least), though I preferred the humour. The pony gameplay slowed it down a bit, prob my least favourite parts. Complaints aside, I think some of the gimmickyness of Pony Island was so well done! I enjoyed a lot of the puzzles/computer segments and the ending(s) were neat. Thanks for finally kicking my butt into gear and giving incentive to play. :)

Beat Titan Souls (!!!) I can’t tell you how happy I am to have finally beaten this holy moly. I’ve been challenged to play it a few times, have tried but reallllly didn’t like it (which is a shame bc it was another wishlisted). I really struggled to get the hang of it at the beginning. That said!!! I ended up dying only 252 times, which honestly all things considered I’m super proud of. I’ve not been so frustrated with a game in a long time, the whole getting one shot/same basic shooting mechanic was not for me. I think the combination of getting one shot mixed with long walking times after every single death and similar bosses made the whole game feel tedius. I’d sigh of relief when beating a boss. That said, the pixel art is pretty and there’s some really nice music. (And you’ll feel super accomplished.) :D

MouseWithBeer

I am very happy to see that you liked it! I still need to finish it myself as I only played the first 2 episodes.

JaffaCaffa

I’m probably done for the month, haven’t been feeling very well. GoNNER’s another super difficult game that I don’t have the reflexes for atm. And I’d like to try Serious Sam at some point (I’d completely forgotten I owned it whoops!) - probably over Christmas with my brother, if not now. I’m happy with what I played, thanks again for the good picks. :D

MouseWithBeer

I hope you feel better soon! And congratulations on beating 3 games of your backlog! :D

JaffaCaffa

Thanks :)

Deleted

This comment was deleted over 6 years ago.

kiseli

Took a break last month, so back for some challenge :D No MP-only, no EA and would prefer shorter games xD

JaffaCaffa

Picked a bunch of short ones, hopefully not too short. Lemme know if you’d like me to change anything. Have fun. :D

  • Octodad: Dadliest Catch - HLTB Time: 2 Hours. Unfinished: I hope you didn’t hate the controls too much and that’s why you quit it? I personally adored this game!
  • Go! Go! Nippon! My First Trip to Japan - HLTB Time: 2 Hours. I’ve had my eye on this one, looks interesting.
  • Kraven Manor - HLTB Time: 1 Hour. I watched a friend play this and it was quite good, perfect for October.
  • Hero of the Kingdom - HLTB Time: 3 - 4 Hours. Casual, relaxing point & click game. Also saw you won the 2nd one (can swap out if you’d prefer another win, story is pretty straightforward).
  • Nova-111 - HLTB Time: 6 Hours. A fun turn-based puzzle game. It is linear, but that aside it’s an enjoyable game!
kiseli

Nice games, thanks :)

  • Not sure why i stopped playing Octodad in the end, so that is why i put in on ABC list as well since i remember it was fun game :)
  • I won it long ago, but since they added achievements with DLC later never tried playing it. But it can be beaten without achievements as well :D
  • Horror adventure, great pick to test new headphones :D Looking forward to it, let’s hope it doesn’t get too scary ^_^
  • Always wanted to play second one, but didn’t since i never finished first. So now i can play both :D
  • Got it on HB Monthly, but never got to play it like many other HB Monthly games. I guess i should start playing those more, like SG wins :D

All games installed, now just to play them ^_^

JaffaCaffa

Yay I’m glad to hear I picked some good choices! Thanks for letting me know, really hope you enjoy them. Kraven isn’t too scary no worries. :P And I completely feel you on the monthly games. I have a handful that I was super excited for at the time but they always seem to pass me by, definitely need to prioritise them more. :)

kiseli

Little late replay, was beating Hero of the Kingdom :D Only grinding and searching for all those items left, found the shrooms :D Fun game, will play sequel as well i guess :)

As for monthly games i will have to check if the list for them is up to date and then include games from there as well in challenges :D

JaffaCaffa

Dang that was fast, nice job! Will be interested in hearing your thoughts whenever you beat the sequel, if you like it just as much. Not sure if they expand on any of the gameplay as I’ve only played the first one myself, but have heard equally good things.

kiseli

Well i always wanted to play it but never got to it, so this challenge was great for it :D
Finding last crate and egg took me a while and sleeping 30 nights in a row in camp took a while, but was fun 100% ^_^ Hope sequel is similar :) Even read they are making part 3 of the game :D

kiseli

Progress so far, will be edited once i play more games :)

# Game Achievements Playtime
1 Octodad: Dadliest Catch abc list? Won on SteamGifts 3% (1 of 32) about 2 hours
2 Go! Go! Nippon! ~My First Trip to Japan~ Won on SteamGifts 0% (0 of 85) 0 minutes
3 Kraven Manor Bug? 18% (2 of 11) about 1 hour
4 Hero of the Kingdom 100% (38 of 38) about 5 hours
5 Nova-111 0% (0 of 10) 0 minutes
kiseli

Unfortunatly Kraven Manor is not working.

Started it yesterday to see if it works and everything was fine. Got to play it today a little and it was fine until i got to one of the checkpoints. While saving at checkpoint game crashed, i can’t load game from that checkpoint which makes sense and that is not a problem since i am at begging of the game. But i can’t start new game from game menu anymore, always getting “BUILT WITH UDK” error. Tried several solutions from net about it(all related to that UDK), even verifying steam data and uninstalling game didn’t help.

On positive side, i really liked the game and creepy atmosphere i got to see/hear :D So i will definitely try it again one day ^_^

JaffaCaffa

Ooh I’d not heard of a third Hero sequel, that’s cool.

Dang that’s a big bummer. :/ Sorry you weren’t able to get it to work. It’s been a few years since I “watched” it, so was planning on playing it myself this month. Hopefully I won’t have the same game breaking bugs? Reading the reviews I also saw a couple people had issues with it crashing. That’s a shame. ;_; Fingers crossed you’re able to fix it in the future.

kiseli

Completed Hero of the Kingdom 2 too, cool game. Liked story more from the first one, but some game mechanics were better in sequel. You can go into the caves and sewers, in some places you could progress in two different ways so it is up to you to chose, there were no leveled skill which was ok for me, also those collectible achievements had several more items in world so you didn’t have to find every single one :D

As for Kraven Manor i guess problem is my system, read few things on net about UDK which say 32bit system can have that problem. So i guess i will have to wait for my laptop to get fixed or maybe try fixing it again :) And i hope you don’t have same problems with it :)

EvilBlackSheep

Challenge me please Queen Ninglor :3 (No EA or MP only game please, unfinished are fine, and if you can pick shortish games, i’d be thankful so there is more chances i have time to play them) Thanks in advance!!

ninglor03

Your wish is my command!

ninglor03

Ok, couldn’t decide, so it’ll be two unfinished games :)

  • Tales from the Borderlands - HLTB Time: 10 - 12h - unfinished business - It’s just gorgeous! At least imho :) Which is Queens opinion, don’t forget :D
  • Papers, Please - HLTB Time: 4 - 16h - some more unfinished business! - The music still pops sometimes up in my head… Also I liked the game! Never tried the endless mode though :]
  • Highway Blossoms - HLTB Time: around 6h - sg win - I was challenged to play it, so hop aboard!
  • Glass Masquerade - HLTB Time: around 3h - because it looks interesting!
  • Eventide: Slavic Fable - HLTB Time: 3 - 4h - so I know I’ve asked you about Erica Reed guess that would be number six if you wanted to :) , but you’re away and it just seemed to me like I had to add at least one HOG to honor my title and all that, so here we are!

Hope that works out for you. As always I picked games on personal interest ;)
If something bugs you, poke me and I’ll try to change it asap!
Keep me posted and have looooots of fun!
Also thank you for asking smooch

EvilBlackSheep

Thank you for picking <3

Nice picks, and I’m glad I’m challenged to finish Tales from the borderlands, I really loved what I played of it so far and kept wanting to go back to finish it.

ninglor03

Hope you’ll love the rest as well! <3

EvilBlackSheep

Agent Sheep to the report, my queen. I’m proud to let you know that the first target Glass masquerade was dealt with swiftly.

It was very refreshing, it was nice and relaxing, it reminded me a bit of Alice Patchwork (and reminds me i have the second sitting somewhere in my backlog :3)

Now onto our next victim :3

ninglor03

Agent Sheep! So glad to hear from you!
Eliminated target acknowledged.
Please proceed with the rest of the mission!

(Also: Yes you do. We saw it but decided against it, thought there might be more important targets out there ;) )
Go get em!

EvilBlackSheep

I’m proud to report I have completed Tales from the Borderlands over the past 2 days and it was reaaaaaaaaaaaally good (even better than the first episode). Except maybe WHY did they had to kill Scooter???? ;___; Definitely one of the 2 best Telltales so far. It almost made me wanna pick up the presequel again but I’m not sure as I have really bad memories of it.

ninglor03

That’s my awesome sheep! <3
Yeah, I know, I’m thinking as well about picking up the Borderlands game(s), but I kinda know it’s not the same, so… uhm… yeah :]

EvilBlackSheep

If you do, I’d say borderlands 2 is the best (but it’s not either the greatest game ever it’s just an ok FPS (and more fun in coop than in solo, in solo it’s kind of a grindy bore) and the presequel is the worst. Still if it’s not sitting in your library, there are better games to acquire.

ninglor03

I played two in coop with a friend. Problem as usual: I’m getting sick and we couldn’t play too long, so that was kinda annoying. I had fun at it, but not thaaaaaaaaaaat much, so… uhm… one day in the future, maybe? :]

EvilBlackSheep

yeah then stay away from the others, they’re not even as good as BL2 (good being relative)

ninglor03

Thank meow for the advice :)

EvilBlackSheep

And Eventide has been slayed just before the month ends my queen. It was pretty nice, I’m a bit more bummed now that I missed the Artifex giveaway for episode 3 but it’ll end up in a bundle eventually.

ninglor03

Very nice!
But I’m pretty sure you’ll get it at some point :)

EvilBlackSheep

Yes, it’s not like it’s an emergency, the backlog is fat enough as is.

ninglor03

Ha yeah. That ^^

escollo

I didn’t finish my last challenge but whatever. Challenge me again, anyone

Kap

Reserved

escollo

Thanks for picking!

escollo

Costume Quest - completed - nice and simple RPG
MANDAGON - completed - well, it’s ok for free game

Kap

Challenge me, BLAEO! :D

Anything goes, although if you pick a sequel and I haven’t yet played the earlier game(s) in the series yet, I’ll pout and have to play the first games first. :P

kiseli

Reserved :)

kiseli

You have plenty of great games, i could have easily chosen all from SG wins :D but wanted to mix them all :)
If you have trouble with any game, let me know so i can choose new one :D

  • Magicka - HLTB Time: 10 Hours - One game from unfinished. It is also on my unfinished list and i plan on playing it again one day. And it is a great game :D
  • Neighbours from Hell - HLTB Time: 4 Hours - SG win. Great game, played it long ago :) You won both games, but only first one is shown as SG win.
  • The Stanley Parable - HLTB Time: 1 Hour - SG win. A must play :D
  • Machinarium - HLTB Time: 5 Hours - Cool point&click game, enjoyed playing cracked/pirated verion :D
  • Windward - HLTB Time: 15 Hours(according to AStats) - Just coz it’s on my wishlist and it looks fun :D

Hope you like the list, enjoy ^_^

Kap

Great picks, kiseli. Thanks so much! :D

kiseli

You’re welcome, glad you like them :)

Kap

Neighbours from Hell
The Stanley Parable
Machinarium

Have all be finished :)

CleaningSimp twitter

Great timing, my midterms will end on the 18th, so I’ll have time to play then:3
Please challenge me! ✌️
No multiplayer-only, or scary games, please. (I know it’s Halloween but I’m a coward >.>)

Tristar

Choosing in progress finished :3

Nova-111 6h
Zanzarah: The Hidden Portal 12h
The Eyes of Ara 7-13h (?)
Go! Go! Nippon! ~My First Trip to Japan~ 2h

For the long-pick I saw

The Witcher® 3: Wild Hunt 47h

an amazing title and SG-win on top ^^ but wasn’t sure if you had/wanted to play the 2nd part first

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings 24h

or maybe that won’t fit either so I have a third alternative ready :-)

Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut 38h

First 4/5 games are all SG-wins, I played Zanzarah when it released long ago, it’s like Pokemon with fairies ;D

Was thinking about putting in See No Evil or Distrust, but wasn’t sure if they were too scary ^^ (and didn’t find timings for the latter)

Hope those are fine, but can switch any if needed of-course ヽ(・∀・)ノ

CleaningSimp twitter

Awesome! Thank you for picking, Tristar:3.
I love that they’re SG wins, as I’m trying to play more of those. I thought of writing “pick SG wins!” but then I’d rather not get in the way of someone’s inspiration. So these work out great.
I’ll let you know which ones I beat!

Progress - Completed Games:
Go! Go! Nippon!

Tristar

Great to hear :D
I always look at SG wins first and there were enough good ones to select from, but which Witcher will you pick now? ^^

lmxn

Back for another challenge! I would prefer both SG wins to be from my unfinished pile of shame ;__; Also no horror and first person games please! Thank you (:

CleaningSimp twitter

Hi! :3 I picked some games. The 2 SG wins were a little hard because you barely have any unfinished SG wins, so they were a bit more random, but here they are:

Then the 3 non-wins:

  • Costume Quest - HLTB Time: 5h -
    It’s Halloween and this game rocks!!

  • Mini Metro - HLTB Time: 5h -
    I know, it looks like nothing. I was reluctant to try it myself. But Mini Metro turned out to be a super great surprise for me. Simple yet addicting game play!

  • Oxenfree - HLTB Time: 4h -
    Okay, so you said no horror. And this game has a bit of a spooky atmosphere. I’m sorry! xD But I played through it and I’m THE #1 coward. It’s just that while Oxenfree has its flaws, it offers something that is unique to this game. The voice acting and dialogues-while-walking are done in a genius way that I have not seen in any other game.

Let me know if anything needs changing! ^_^

lmxn

All good picks, thanks a lot!
I’ve a feeling Crypt of the NecroDancer will take way longer than that… so I’ll leave that for last. I’m also a huge coward, but I’ll trust you on Oxenfree :D

CleaningSimp twitter

Yeah, sometimes HLTB is ambitious. I can’t say I know anything about the two SG-wins picks, though.
Hope you find one you like!:3

CalculonJones

Challenge me (pretty please)! I’d prefer no MP/Early Access, but anything else is fine.

EvilBlackSheep

Here you go. I hope you enjoy some of those, I picked either stuff I loved myself or that friends told me it was really good.

  • Portal 2 - HLTB Time: 8h (Unfinished, you already have 2)
  • The Long Dark - HLTB Time: 19h
  • 2064: Read Only Memories - HLTB Time: 8h
  • Concrete jungle - HLTB Time: 16h (Also an unfinished one. Just picked it up again myself for the monthly challenge and I had a blast!)
  • Abzu - HLTB Time: 2h (Quite short but I found it really relaxing, it was a nice experience)

If there’s a problem with any of those, let me know, I’ll switch for another one ;)

CalculonJones

All great picks, thanks for choosing them! I’ve been meaning to get back to Portal 2 for far too long, maybe this’ll give me the push I need.

EvilBlackSheep

You’re welcome, happy backlog fighting. Feel free to update me on what you thought one you’ve beaten some of them ;)

CalculonJones

Portal 2 is still sitting in my backlog, sadly, but I found the time for a couple of the others.

ABZU
2064: Read Only Memories

2064 was a game I enjoyed less than I expected to. This wasn’t due to any single thing, but rather a combination of design choices that rubbed me the wrong way. The game is fairly light on puzzles - there’s generally one very obvious solution - so for these parts of the game I spent more time fiddling with the UI than thinking about how to solve problems, or bouncing in and out of map screens trying to remember where exactly the one item I knew I needed to progress was. It’s clear a lot of effort went into creating the dialogue, and it shows in the text itself, but the delivery is just an exercise in frustration. By default the text verrrrry slowwwwwly crawls onto the screen at roughly the same rate as the voice acting, which works if you want to listen but not if (like myself) you want to read. You can fast forward the appearance of the current piece of text, but conversations are quite long and delivered one sentence (sometimes one word) at a time, so expect to be doing that quite a lot. (My poor Enter key is still recovering.) I normally enjoy text-heavy games, but most of them make seeing the text less of a nuisance.

The end result is puzzles that require just enough effort to be a chore but never enough to be challenging, conversations with interesting characters that get cut short because you’re trying to escape the dialogue system, and a game that rewards reading but won’t let you read. It’s a pity, because when the game actually allows you to take in the writing at your own pace instead of keeping you shackled to the voice acting there’s some very interesting world-building and character development hidden in the dialogue trees (and in the commentary on the items scattered around the background). I know I’m grumbling a lot, but this isn’t so much because 2064 is a bad game as it is a game that never realizes its potential: a lot of love went into the artwork, the voice acting is respectable and the writing does a good job creating a cyberpunk future and believable characters who live in it. I’m sure if i went into the game looking for something closer to a visual novel I’d have had a better time with it, but such is life. 2064 is a perfectly fine game, just not one that got along with me.

ABZU was charming. It’s really a lovely, meditative piece where everything - art direction, soundtrack, the ambient environmental animations and audio - works in harmony to create a beautiful environment to be in. (I played it directly after Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, and really appreciated the change of pace.) It’s a game that wants to be enjoyed rather than beaten, and I appreciate it for that.

I had another go at Concrete Jungle, just enough to remind myself that I’m terrible at deck-building. Still, I made it a little further than last time. Progress!

Anyway, thanks again for the choices!

EvilBlackSheep

Hey thanks a lot for the update, it’s nice to read about what you thought about the games. 2064 was the only one I haven’t played myself yet, sorry it didn’t turn as good as expected. I’m glad you liked Abzu though, I really thought the same, it was so relaxing to play.

CalculonJones

Don’t be sorry! Even if it wasn’t my cup of tea 2064 was an interesting game, and I certainly don’t regret trying it.

bloudeuedd

Last month Challenge Me introduced me to some real gems. So I’m here again, asking to be challenged, No early access, no multiplayer and no super long games (don’t have a lot of time on my hands). Thank you!

GiseIIe

reserved

GiseIIe

Two are around 8 hours, if they’re too long I can replace them.

  • 2064: Read Only Memories - HLTB Time: 8h - Heard only good things about this one.
  • Midnight Mysteries 4: Haunted Houdini - HLTB Time: 4h - Join me in my quest to complete Halloweeny HOGs!
  • Analogue: A Hate Story - HLTB Time: 3h - This is a good visual novel. Don’t get discouraged by the simple interface with the white background, its story gives food for thought. It has some gameplay elements, as all the other vns by this dev do.
  • The Wolf Among Us - HLTB Time: 8½h - I can’t believe this is unplayed. I urge you to try this!
  • The Howler - HLTB Time: 1h - (unfinished) I challenge you to finish this! The keyboard controls suck, but I was able to finish it by following a Korean guy on Youtube that was screaming controls, it was awesome.
bloudeuedd

Thank you! They all seem nice and I just put them all in the download queue, tomorrow starting them. I’ll update my progress.
Are Midnight Mysteries better played in order or it doesn’t matter for the story?

GiseIIe

This I don’t know, but usually HOGs have stand-alone stories!

EvilBlackSheep

Sorry to hijack, but as I played them last month I can answer. You don’t really need to play them in order, the only thing that links them together is that you supposedly play the same character, an author that is visited by ghosts. Other than that, the story is contained on itself so you can go ahead and play Haunted Houdini without having played the previous ones ;)

bloudeuedd

Yes! Thank you. :D

bloudeuedd

Progress: 5/5
The Howler - completed.
2064: Read Only Memories - beaten.
The Wolf Among Us - completed.
Analogue: A Hate Story - completed
Midnight Mysteries 4: Haunted Hodini - beaten.

The month went by and I didn’t finish any other games. But I have a good excuse in my pretty important exam next week on which my career depends. So I actually didn’t play anything else, just idled some games for cards. I plan to make up for this by finishing this list as soon as the exam is over since they really seem as awesome picks and I was looking forward to playing them.
P.s. Now the exam is over and I’m gonna make up for it. Getting there.
P.s.s. Done.

bron99

Since i haven’t even started games from last challenge, as i was ill throughout first 2 weeks of september and then my laptop was in repair for next 2 weeks, i will need to play them this month :D So if i can ask, please pick 5 short games (btw. look at completionist time, not the story, since if it has achievements i want all of them :D), preferably sg wins with achievements, so i can play them and the ones from previous challenge. Thanks in advance ;)

Blue Ϟ Lightning

well no one has challenged you in 24hrs so I think I can provide something even though I’ve already picked for two…although I really suggest hitting your last challenge :3<

anyways…heres what I’m going do…
A bird story -SG win and ABC plan…as an extra incentive… :3
also these notes on the steam page
“Additional Notes: Usually runs on anything more than a baked potato.
Liabilities for ingesting product not covered.”
Bad Rats -SG win and ABC plan…as an extra incentive… :3
HLTB: 4 hrs (completionist)
Dark Heritage Guardians of hope -SG win and ABC plan…as an extra incentive… :3
HLTB: 6 hrs (completionist)

*continues on down abc list…I’m joking I’ll be a bit more serious sorry you had your reasons :3

Pony Island.
This is actually a surprisingly good game…the name reminds you of bronies so you shy away from it but its anything but close to that. Has some small puzzles related to programming and is reasonably fun idk.
HLTB 5 hrs (completionist)
Also if you can manage to finish it in the next week (should be really easy considering you are 40min in of a HLTB with 1 hour but Nekopara 0 is an option that is a SG win and fits the current theme/requirement that one of the games be unfinished.

bron99

Thank you, most likely i will blast through them this weekend, after i finish my extra classes from polish (since i totally suck at my native language :D) Love ya :3

bron99

Guess what, i failed again :( Just don’t have enough time for gaming and since season in League of Legends was ending i was focusing to get the highest rank. Anyway i promise that this weekend i will try to complete the games. Made one step forward as today i’ve completed bad rats as my 250 perfect game on steam :D Damn it was so annoying. At least -1 game from the backlog :)

Blue Ϟ Lightning

well…
well then.
I don’t have much time to game either and tbh I didn’t expect you to actually get around to playing this challenge so was bad rats as bad as they say it is?

bron99

It was far worse. I mean not that bad as for example Achievement Hunter series, as it’s actually a game that’s somewhat enjoyable and playable. Though the physics are random. Took me 31 tries to finish one level and i wasn’t even changing anything. You just need to be lucky, so the game engine decides that you can win. You can play it for the meme and that’s all to be honest. It’s a terrible game, though watching cats dying it different scenarios was fun, i have to admit that :D Will write more in the next update i’m going to made this weekend (hopefully, as i’m pretty inconsistent with updates, as you can clearly see).

bron99

Made a second step :D Finished Nekopara 0 ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). The story was kinda meh, so i started to skip the game around half way through. Still press p to bounce ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) was the best thing to do. i’m such a loser :D More coming soon, as definitely i need to finish all those games before 3rd of December (at least that’s what i plan to do, but you know how my plans end up) Also need to write that damn update, but i have no time to do so :(

Blue Ϟ Lightning

Did you use patchy?
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Edit I’m stupid vol 0 doesn’t have a patch and I skipped through it

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