Daerphen
Challenge me! Bi-Monthly Edition
(15.05.2025 - 14.07.2025)
Here we go again. Another round of backlog assassination.

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

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Pick exactly 5 games
  • 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.

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.

Atro

Pick me some games from the updated list here. Max 1 Very Long tagged game.

Kyrrelin

Reserved. Done. :)
Haven’t played any of them myself, but some are in my backlog or on my wishlist. Hope you will enjoy them. :3

Atro

Thank you, picks look great!
I’m getting a new gpu at the start of June, so looking forward to Hogwarts Legacy being one of the first games I’ll play on it.

Atro
  1. Really enjoyed Hogwarts Legacy despite everything. They really made the castle visually great and I finally have a gpu that supports ray tracing, so I spent a lot of time just going around and looking at everything. :D Exploring the castle and questing there was definitely the peak of the game, Forbidden Forest and Hogsmeade are a close second, rest of the map was kiindaa mediocre, like it feels they just added so much space simply to put grindy activities and collectibles in it and extend the game’s time. Besides collectibles most of it felt very empty, like nothing was going on there, all the main story quests are in the castle’s area and on occasion they put just an entrance to some of them somewhere randomly, so they could say there was a reason for such a big map. Story was enjoyable, but felt pretty short, they could’ve done much more. You can do it all in 20 hours and I can honestly say you wouldn’t have missed much. The only difference in my 90 hours and your 20 is a plethora of random collectibles and activities that don’t really have much of anything to do with Hogwarts. I did find some fun in doing them, so i guess there is that. Combat I really liked, they really nailed its controls, spells and combos. The thing I am most disappointed about is the spell Alohomora, in older Harry Potter games it felt like something special using it, was really looking forward to unlocking it here and seeing what they did with it, but once I did I felt a bit of a disappointment. It’s just a thing that gets you into a lockpicking mini game and the mini game is nothing special. Overall not the best game ever, but if you like Harry Potter, you’ll definitely get a lot of enjoyment out of it.
  2. Loddlenaut at first I found mind-numbingly boring, like making me fall asleep while playing boring. :P It felt like a monotone cleaning simulator, but as the game progressed I did gradually get into it. Finding all the evolutions of the loddles and filling all the habitats with them definitely was my favourite part of the game and I think this is where the game shines.
  3. Forgotten city was great. Time resetting was really done well and they nailed the atmosphere. A unique experience, you have to play it to see it for yourself. Funny thing is how you can actually fully finish the game in less than 30 minutes. You won’t get to experience a lot of things, but the option is there.
  4. And the Town of Light. Yes… I would not recommend this game to anyone ever. I don’t think I ever played a game so disturbing. Like there is a fine line between making people aware of how things were and what was happening in the past and just plain disturbing and I’m sorry, but the developers of this game not just have zero idea where this line is, but that it even exists. Making me sit and watch for 5 minutes, first in first-person and then the aerial perspective like the first-person wasn’t enough of someone performing a lobotomy on me was definitely not what i had in mind when I started playing this. Like you have every single little detail shown and if you are playing with a controller with vibrations you can even feel the guy breaking your skull with a stick through your eye and picking through your brain. I’m sorry, but no. That was not even the single instance of something so disturbing, game is full of similar experiences.

Anyways, sorry for such a lengthy review of everything. Thank you for the picks once again! Time goes by so fast with this event I swear :D

Kyrrelin

Don’t be sorry at all! I am happy to read about your opinion. :D

I think I will enjoy the Hogwarts Legacy once I get my hands on it. xD Sounds like they managed to capture the right mood in the game. Haha, yeah, sightseeing, I know that all too well! :D Oh, now I am tempted to install the old Potter games. I wish they would bring it properly to GOG one day. <3

Good to hear that the loddles got to you in the end! :3

I keep hearing about the Forgotten City all the time… I am really curious about it. But I try to stay in the dark so I can enjoy it without spoiling myself beforehand. ;)

Oh my gosh! O_O I… I didn’t know… that’s really… brutal. Sorry!!!! ^^’ It’s been sitting in my library since 2019… now I am a little afraid to play it. I think it will wait for some more time. xD

Thank you for your thoughts! I am really happy that you have enjoyed yourself… for most of it. ;)

Moony1986

Can you believe we are already in Mid May? Where did the year go? D:

Please pick something from my shortlist

Kyrrelin

Reserved. Done. :)
I played only Space Marines (I really liked it), so I hope you will have fun even with the rest of the picks. ;)

Moony1986

Thanks a lot for the great picks! :) Looks like I will do my first step into the Warhammer universe :D

Ice (on her Mahou Shoujo arc)

I have yet to win a single SG GA (rip), but since I have a lot of bundle stuff I hope it works instead 🙏
List~, I go by main story section of HLTB for length, max 1 “Fucking JRPG length” tag. Idk why some games aren’t synced to HLTB lol

Daerphen

Here are your picks.

What do you mean with “synced to HLTB”?
If nobody played the game and afterwards went to to HLTB to enter their game time, they cannot have any info. Also I know from own experience that Steam API is not always easy to rely on :/

Ice (on her Mahou Shoujo arc)

What do you mean with “synced to HLTB”?

Maybe it’s because I’m using BLAEO+, some games doesn’t show their playtime here but they have their stats on HLTB… Expedition 33 ie, which is obviously popular enough to have its own page with data. Might have forgot that it was a BLAEO+ function teehee, sorry. Also thanks for the picks, looking forward them!

Daerphen

Then just ask kubikill to fix it. The data of HLTB is proxied by them. Might be the proxy fault.