July: Ruby
This month’s theme is inspired by ruby - the birthstone for July. Because rubies are pink to red in colour you can participate by playing games with a prominent red/pink colour in their display picture.
Ruby is also a programming language, which means you can also participate by playing games about programming, algorithms, machines, robots and androids.
To participate, reply to this post and tell us which games that fit the monthly theme you’re going to play.
Some examples of games that qualify based on the the colours in their display picture:
You can use the following (or similar) format to make it easier for me to keep track of everyone’s progress, but feel free to add any extra thoughts about the game(s) to your post!
Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status
:-: | :-: | :-: | :-: | :-:
name of game 1 | achievements obtained | playtime this month | unfinished/finished
name of game 2 | achievements obtained | playtime this month | unfinished/finished
name of game 3 | achievements obtained | playtime this month | unfinished/finished
TOTAL: | achievements obtained | playtime this month | Number of games finished
Have fun!
Theme song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qObzgUfCl28
Challenge me
The newest edition of the monthly Challenge Me is available here: click.
FAQ
Do I have to participate in this month’s theme?
No, as with every theme, these are merely suggestions for anyone who is unsure about what to play next. If you already have a battle plan for your backlog and/or don’t like this month’s theme, you’re free to ignore it.
What happens if I don’t participate in the monthly theme?
Nothing.
What happens if I play all of my unfinished games this month?
Your backlog will be a much smaller place.
I don’t have any unfinished games!
Really? well that makes one of us… I salute you.
I already finished my entry can I play another?
Go ahead - the goal is to reduce your unfinished games list. The more you can play the better.
I kinda expected the theme song to be the same as last month’s :sab
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NieR: Automata | 35/47 (4/47 in June) | 41h (3.4h in June) | beaten | Androids |
| TOTAL: | 31 | 37h | 1 game beaten |
As I play Nier Automata mostly these days, I think it fit the theme because it’s all about robots, androids, and hacking (in run B ;) )
I promised I’d get back to NieR if it would fit the next theme since a certain fat cat started it recently so… here we go again, I guess.
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NieR: Automata | 28/47 (25/47 before July) | ~6h (+42h before July) | “Beaten” | Androids |
| Our World Is Ended. | 5/40 | ~5h | Unfinished | Programmers working on augmented reality game |
| Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls | 28/35 | ~17h | Beaten | Mostly pink title? >_> |
| TOTAL: | 36 | ~28h | Games beaten: 1* | Wasted space, don’t mind me |
Hey Red… list thingy
Where does the API take the display pictures from anyway? I don’t even know if Ultra Despair Girls actually fits the theme (it would based on the BLAEO list thumbnails, but not sure if it would fit anymore based on steam store page/wishlist pictures for example)
I had to look through my backlog to find some games that fit the theme.
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Braveland | 20/21 | 4.2h | Complete |
| Cursed Treasure 2 | 53/53 | 29h | Complete |
| Journey Down: Chapter Three | 0/0 | 4h | Complete |
| Banner Saga 2 | 38/55 | 16h | Beaten |
| Sundered | 17/20 | 10.2h | Beaten |
| Mega Man Legacy Collection | 0/24 | 0h | unfinished |
| TOTAL: | 128/173 | 63.4h | 5/6 |
What a unique challenge! And what luck - I should be finished Nier: Automata in a couple of days, so it’ll count! Yessss. I’m going to bridge Nier: Automata over the two months’ themes.
| Name | Achievements | Theme? | Status |
| Nier: Automata | 47 of 47 | Robots/Androids | Completed! |
| MechaNika | 30 of 30 | Robots/Androids | Completed! |
| Just, Bearly | 9 of 9 | Ruby | Completed! |
| DISTRAINT | 16 of 16 | Ruby (Pink) | Completed! |
| Unavowed | 24 of 56 | Ruby | Beaten! |
Hey, looks like I’m going to be able to fit in Age of Empires for the second month in a row!
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age of Empires 2: Rise of the Rajas | +12 | +16,1 | finished |
| Alicia Quatermain: Secrets Of The Lost Treasures | 20/20 | 4,4 | finished |
| TOTAL: | 32 | 20,1 | 2 |
Seeking refuge from the Steam sale and the Steam Grand Prix?
Hah, I love the Steam announcement for this theme. The Grand Prix thing truly is a shitshow >_<
Anyway, let’s see how many of these I can beat before this month ends!
| Name | Achievements | Playtime | Status | Bonus: red screenshots |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hot Vengeance | 10/15 | ~10 hrs | ✔️ | 📸 |
| Rusty Lake Paradise | 50/50 | ~5 hrs | ✔️ | 🚫 |
| Summer Nightmare | 5/5 | ~1 hr | ✔️ | 📸 |
| To Be or Not To Be | 33/33 | ~14 hrs | ✔️ | 📸 |
| Shadows on Vatican Act II | 0/21 | 0 hrs | ✖️ | - |
| Plague Inc: Evolved | 160/199 | ~65 hrs | ✔️ | 📸 |
| Postmortem: One Must Die (Extended Cut) | N/A | ~2 hrs | ✔️ | 🚫 |
| Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut | 6/60 | ~16 hrs | ✖️ | - |
| Metro 2033 | 0/48 | 0 hrs | ✖️ | - |
| Doorways: Holy Mountains of Flesh | 0/12 | 0 hrs | ✖️ | - |
| Gorky 17 | N/A | 0 hrs | ✖️ | - |
| Eaten Alive | N/A | 0 hrs | ✖️ | - |
| Apocalypse Hotel | 0/14 | 0 hrs | ✖️ | - |
| TOTAL: | 264/457 | ~113 hrs | 6 |
Interesting! I shall see what works for me this month thinking
Put together a List I might just regret this :D
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Batman: Arkham City | 40/64 | 39h | beaten |
| fault - milestone two side:above | 9/9 | 8h | finished |
| Crimson Gray | 10/10 | 4h | finished |
| 911 Operator | 18/18 | 16h | finished |
| TOTAL: | 77/101 | 67h | 4 game |
Gonna sort for candidates now, and will be back when i do make progress. Is your theme secretly because the floor is lava?
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detention | 5/8 | 4h | finished |
| Mystery of Unicorn Castle: The Beastmaster | - | 3h | finished |
| Inside | 14/14 | 5h | finished |
| TOTAL: | 19 | 12h | 3 |
Oooh, my list is so pretty to look at. I’ll stick to the Ruby theme to not ruin the aesthetic.
What do you think of Lorelai? Is it red enough for the monthly theme?
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| iBomber Defense Pacific | 25/25 | 23 hours | Completed |
| Dead Age | 77/77 | 59 hours | Completed |
| Alicia Quatermain: Secrets Of The Lost Treasures | 20/20 | 6 hours | Completed |
| LiEat | 30/30 | 5 hours | Completed |
| TOTAL: | 141 | 93 hours | 4 |
Wow, that list indeed looks cool :D
Uh, wow! This is pretty red! <3
Now I wanna do that too, but then again I already know… this will be the end of me :D
wow that’s so red like the heat we are feeling right now. it’s so pretty I want to try to do a list too, except I will never have the strength to play during this hot month
Lorelai will definitly do it and it’s such a great game, really. And it’s not so long, you can make 1 playthrough on a weekend or maybe even on a sunday (take you 7 hours or so).
Hopefully I get around to play Always Sometimes Monsters this month, if that is red enough. If not, I’ll try to find something else :D
I like this theme. It leads to some random and easy to find games.
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| To Be or Not To Be | 15/33 | 2 | finished |
| TOTAL: | 15 achievements obtained | 2 playtime this month | 1 Number of games finished |
| Game | Achievements | Playtime | Theme | Status |
| Let’s Explore The Farm (Junior Field Trips) | - | 1.5 hrs | Red | Beaten |
| Borderlands Game of the Year Enhanced | 22/80 | 6.9 hrs | Red | Currently Playing (Beat The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned DLC) |
| Captain Starshot | 1/16 (All other achievements are currently bugged) | 0.8 hrs | Red | Beaten |
| Love is Dead | 32/36 | 10.4 hrs | Pink | Beaten |
| Refunct | 8/10 | 0.9 hrs | Pink | Beaten |
| Sigils of Elohim | - | 1.7 hrs | Red | Completed |
| Tower Unite | 120/362 | 33.6 hrs | Red/Pink | Beaten |
| Nex Machina | 12/39 | 2.7 hrs | Red / Robots | Oh so nearly beaten before bug(?) :( |
| Stacking | 5/21 (+2) | 3.1 hrs | Red | Beaten |
| Pacify | 10/14 | 1.1 hrs | Red | Beaten |
Although I played part of Stacking previously, I lost my save and had to start again.
Some games from my backlog that apply, and I’ll see how many I can finish.
- Black the Fall
- Half Life
- Papers Please
- Bayonetta
- Borderlands
- Darkest Dungeon
- immortal Redneck
- Monochroma
- Pathologic
- Red Embrace
- Seum
- Soulblight
- Blades of the Shogun
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hacknet | 11/11 | 15h | completed |
| TOTAL: | 11 | 15h | 1 |
Last month. 3 games~I’m happy with it. :3
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cyber City 2157: The Visual Novel | 0/0 | 2.3 hours | Completed |
| Chaos Control | 0/0 | 20 minutes | Beaten |
| Chicken Labyrinth Puzzles | 0/0 | 36 minutes | Completed |
| Just, Bearly | 9/9 | 22 minutes | Completed |
| CAT Interstellar | 18/18 | 1.8 hours | Completed |
| Love Thyself - A Horatio Story | 13/13 | 5.2 hours | Completed |
| 2064: Read Only Memories | 3/64 | 56 minutes(idled 3 hours 32 minutes) | Unfinished |
| Total: | 43 | 11.5 hours | 6 |
Hmm, how is ruby the birthstone of July?
I’m gonna try and give Hitman and Yakuza 0 a go. Will give it the proper layout if I do get around to playing them. :)
Thought I fixed my pc problems with another motherboard, guess not. So I’m withdrawing from this. Too much frustration with a lot of games being crash prone. Just don’t feel like going through that.
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hacknet | 0/11 | 0 minutes | unfinished |
| Inside | 0/14 | 0 minutes | unfinished |
| TOTAL: | 0/25 | 0 minutes | 0/2 |
I’m not sure if I’ll actually do this, but it doesn’t hurt to hope. =)
Ok, I also make a list for the monthly theme. I know, my list is not as beautiful as the other ones, but I tried to put every game in, that would fit in my opinion. Everything from red to pink and games with robots/machines… Maybe I can inspire you a bit. And I think about in the meantime with which game I should start. :)
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coloring Game | 3/92 | 1.0 | unfinished |
| Portal of Evil: Stolen Runes | 6/20 | 2.0 | unfinished |
| Rumu | 4/17 | 0.7 | unfinished |
| Whispers of a Machine | 0/25 | 2.6 | unfinished |
| Dungeons&Vampires | 0/45 | 0.5 | unfinished |
| Epic Battle Fantasy 4 | 19/104 | 3.8 | unfinished |
| TOTAL: | 32 | 10.6 | Number of games finished: 0 |
So I didn’t feel too hot about playing games in May, I suppose… and then I didn’t give a damn about the June theme… but seems like I can write down a coherent list for this one, so let’s jump right in!
(Disclaimer: Obviously, I’m not going to play all these games - I just compiled this list by looking at titles I never touched and deciding what fits the color scheme [from the red angle, rather than the pink], in case anyone was debating on what they could play this month. As for me, if I complete three games, I’ll be happy. If I hit five or more, that’ll be amazing.)
EDIT: The month has now ended, and I’m happy to say I reached the bar I set for myself! Here’s to the next time I feel like taking part in a monthly theme :D
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Captive | 14/14 | 3.1 hours | completed |
| Just, Bearly | 9/9 | 0.5 hours | completed |
| Summer Nightmare | 5/5 | 1.1 hours | completed |
| TOTAL: | 28/28 | 4.7 hours | 3/3 completed |
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia | 0/17 | 0 (+3h idling) | unfinished |
| TOTAL: | 0 | 0 | 0 |
I’ve been failing at the Monthlies, let’s see if I can get back on track for July.
- Hacknet
21 hours playtime
11 of 11 achievements
UPDATE mid-month: Finished the main game, am now deep into the DLC campaign.
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status | Screenshots |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hector Episode 1 | - | 2h | beaten | Screenshots |
| Hector Episode 2 | - | 3h | beaten | Screenshots |
| Hector Episode 3 | - | 3h | beaten | Screenshots |
| Life is Strange: Before the Storm | 17/34 | 13h | beaten | Screenshots |
| TOTAL: | - | 21h | 4 beaten |
I’ll update this post when I make progress on some game and decide what to play next since there are a lot of applicable games this month.
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zen Garden (You did say Pink :P) | 30/30 | 2.7 hours | Complete |
| Clockwork Tales: Of Glass and Ink | 19/19 | 4.2 hours | Complete |
| NORTH | NA | 0.8 hours (Rest afking for last TC..) | Complete |
| TOTAL: | 49 | 7.7 hours | 3 |
Ok NORTH I wouldn’t have normally gone to play, so the theme made me play it. It was…strange. Have some screenshots…. 1 2 3
Other game ideas: The Silent Age, Toren, The Secret Order 2: Masked Intent, Peregrin, Noir Chronicles: City of Crime, Mind Snares: Alice’s Journey, LEGO games, Mass Effect 2, Layers of Fear, The Inner Darkness, ISLANDERS, Hot Tin Roof, Grid 2, Glass Masquerade 2, Fumiko, Crime Secrets: Crimson Lily, Anna’s Quest—-Pink: Wandersong, Varenje, Verlet Swing, A Story About my Uncle
I made a list too :D I get the feeling I won’t beat all those this month, though…I already finished the Bone games because the second one fit this month’s PAGYWOSG theme, but I don’t have anything else that fits both themes. I might focus on other SG wins.
(I swear the Lifestream image looked red when I was making the list, but now that I’m looking again it seems to be mostly brown…? I’ll probably remove that…)
What is this “WAGYWOSG” thing? This is the second time I see it mentioned and I’ve got no idea what it could stand for. Care to enlighten me?
I got the acronym messed up, it’s PAGYWOSG (Play a Game You Won on SteamGifts). Basically there’s monthly themes and you choose games from your SG wins that fit the theme and try to beat/complete them.
Ahh, I see, thanks for the explanation :) And indeed, I checked and the other user did spell it as “PAGYWOSG”, but that’s too many letters for my brain to remember :D
A little surprised no one has done a RWBY: Grimm Eclipse entry yet… suppose someone has to. Already beaten it and will try to complete it before the month is over. Though, since there are more than a few multiplayer based ones I may need to switch up my entry like last month.
Update: I somehow managed to complete RWBY: Grimm Eclipse this month! Not sure I have anything else towards this months theme. Just glad I got this wipes sweat from forehead
Update Two: I unintentionally ended up playing and beating Mother Russia Bleeds before this month ended which fits the red color criteria.
| Name | Achievements | Achievements This Month | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RWBY: Grimm Eclipse | 37/37 | 25 | 46 Hours | Completed |
| Mother Russia Bleeds | 12/33 | 12 | 3.1 Hours | Beaten |
| TOTAL: | 49/70 | 37 | 49.1 hours | 1 Completed/1 Beaten |
Gonna try to do five games that fit the theme this month, also trying to get Bardbarian and Plantera to 100%.
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fortix | 12/12 | 8 Hours | Completed |
| Dear Red | 11/11 | 1.6 hours (+4.0 Idle) | Completed |
| Rescue Love Revenge | 2/2 | 1.0 hours | Completed |
| Catherine Classic | 18/50 | 11.5 hours (+4.0 Idle) | Beaten |
| Ybit | 0/0 | 1.1 hours | Stuck (Level 37 / 100) |
| TOTAL: | 7 | 1.3 | 1 Beaten / 3 Complete |
After mostly playing RDR2 last month I wanted to find short-ish games, this theme has certainly done the trick! Plus there’s something satisfying knocking down a bunch of small games off your backlog. :)
Theme list
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rusty Lake: Roots | 9/16 | 4.3 hours | finished |
| Metrico+ | 4/18 | 3.6 hours | finished |
| Poker Night at the Inventory | 15/20 | 3.5 hours | finished |
| Hector: Badge of Carnage (ep 1-3) | - | 8.6 hours | finished |
| Layers of Fear | 9/27 | 2.9 hours | finished |
| Rusty Lake Paradise | 30/50 | 4.0 hours | finished |
| TOTAL: | 67/131 | 26.9 hours | 6 |
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
15/41 (+3) | 8.5 hours (+2.2 hours) | finished |
 |
42/65 (+11) | 11.9 hours (+4.4 hours) | finished |
 |
17/27 (+16) | 2.6 hours (+1.8 hours) | finished |
| TOTAL: | 30 achievements obtained | 8.4 hours this month | 3 games finished |
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beginner’s guide | 0/0 | 1.5h | finished |
| TOTAL: | 0 | 1.5h | 1 game finished |
Late to the party, but i did actually beat a programming game! :-)
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 Billion Humans | 19/19 | 11 Hours | Finished |
| TOTAL: | 19 | 11 Hours | 1 Finished |
Might as well log these…you never know if a farsighted Corgi might be watching.
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Theme match | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TSIOQUE | 31/31 | 7.3h | Red display pic | completed |
| The 39 Steps | 20/20 | 6.1h | Red display pic | completed |
| Subsurface Circular | 13/13 | 3.3h | Robots | completed |
| Hollow Steps | 5/5 | 3.3h | Robots | completed |
| TOTAL: | 69 | 20.0h | 4 completed |
I think I’m going to play Overlord: Raising Hell (Can’t really commit more time than one game). The title is kinda red/orangey. I hope it counts!
I got about halfway through it on my old PS3 and loved it. This is an excuse to dust it off again and finally complete it on my PC.