Activities
Sep 16 2025
September Assassination #3
Ok, this feels kind of shitty, because the game turned really unfun in the final stretch (the last 20% or so) and I ended up half-abandoning it at that point. There’s such a tonal shift in the last final missions that it didn’t feel like the same game, and I didn’t have it in me to beat them the way it was intended, so I used a trainer to at least experience the final levels without having to deal with all the BS at that point. It’s half an assassination, half an abandonment, but another game struck down from my list anyway. It really feels bittersweet, as this had been such a fantastic experience up to that point, but oh well ….
Thank you everyone at the PAGYWOSG Discord that helped me choose this one from my backlog!
Consider liking my review on Steam - it means a lot to me!
Ugh, it's so painful to write this review. For 80% of my playtime, Thief was everything I hoped it would be: an atmospheric, balanced, interesting, dense stealth game with incredible level design, enemy AI, light and sound systems, and great variety of tools to approach any scenario. I was enjoying myself to no end, even though I was slightly annoyed by levels with a big number of undead enemies.
But then I hit "Return to the Cathedral", and it just became another game, a bad one at that. Suddenly it felt sneaking was barely a viable alternative anymore, with hyper-aggressive enemies that would track you down any corner and two-or-three hit you at most. I had to switch from my previous "hide, observe, plan, act" to "run, try to memorize the level, save-scum, run, try to hit all the objectives with the level memorized, save-scum if anything goes wrong", and I don't think I need to explain why this is not fun.
This last stretch of Thief was so jarring for me, turning one of the most enjoyable 20-odd hours I've had in recent gaming memory into a 5-hour stretch that was an absolute slog. I'm still reeling from the whiplash. If I could go back in time, I would just with that I could force myself to stop playing after "Undercover!" and tell myself the game was over, in which case Thief would still be one of my favorite games of all time. Having endured the last four missions, I almost feel like not recommending it, but the rest of the game is so solid that it would be a disservice to skip it
Two-Week Report: September
Hollow Knight: Silksong 
Masterwork, worth the wait. Extremely difficult. Too hard for casuals? Patches in progress might change this.
Too early for a full review. Maybe when the game is a bit older than a week and people have had their chance to play it.
-8 Backlog
Games Completed: 1
Games Purchased: 8
Free Games Deleted: 15
I’ve decided to use a new approach to fight against my backlog.
I’m the kind of guy who tries to leave the best for the last, so until now I’ve been picking up mostly short, casual games I don’t even care about. I realized I’m not going to play Dark Souls III in my life this way, so the solution is: lottery.
Here’s the current state of my backlog:
- 234 games with achievements: I’ve never played these at all, my aim with these is 100% completion
- 86 games with no achievements: some of these I’ve played a little, but most of them haven’t played at all, and a few I played a lot - I don’t really care about these, just finish them or get close to it is fine
- 25 unfinished games: these are the scariest, some with tens or even 100+ hours playtime from years ago, probably have to start these all over again - I just want to get rid of these, they’ve been frustrating me for years
I’m putting all of the games in alphabetical order and roll the 345-sided dice.
| # | title | play time | start date | end date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #185 | A story about my uncle | 00:00 | 2025.09.16 | ? |
Sep 15 2025
#382
#49 of 2025
September 15, 2025
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.
Sep 14 2025
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Hamlet or the last game without MMORPG features, [...]
4 hours playtime
no achievements
Report #421: Hamlet or the last game without MMORPG features, [...]
Very short and fun game finished. Its actually faster than 4 hours. Probably around 1 hour. Earlier idle time is also counted here.
Just be aware that the game is so old, that it changes your entire display resolution. Now I need to reorder my windows on 2 screens.
Sep 13 2025
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Assassin's Creed Mirage
44 hours playtime
50 of 50 achievements
Report #420: Assassin's Creed Mirage
It has been a while since I played an Assassin’s Creed part. Recently the even added steam achievements for almost all of their games. So probably I will want to revisit some more titles soonish.
Game is solid, not too fancy or new. Playing in Baghdad works very well. Some annoying bugs here in there like getting stuck mid flight on invisible ropes or guards suddenly to decide to hunt you although your notoriety is at 0.
Took me 33h according to the savegame. Probably not counting menu time (scanning map, reading stuff, going through inventory) and of course tab out of game to look something up.
Sep 12 2025
#20 AUG 2025
Nine Sols
32.9 hours playtime, 35 of 35 achievements
TBA. Sadly I'm still not inspired to write reviews.
Doom: The Dark Ages
18.1 hours playtime, 25 of 28 achievements
TBA
Beyond two souls
10.3 hours playtime, 22 of 45 achievements
TBA
Sep 10 2025
Socio-ecological collapse due to systemic corporate incompetence - maybe a bit too close to home ?
Fallout New Vegas in space ? Oh how i hoped Outer Worlds would be that. It's obviously a bit unfair to compare the two, as any game should really be judged on its own merits, but i feel like that was a lot of the pull here (at least for me)
Outer Worlds probably owes some lineage to the Bethesda-type open worlds, and so many of its changes - most of them in the quality of life area - are straight up improvements to the formula.. on paper at least. Maybe i'm a bit off base here, but if all the rough edges are filed off of something, even if those edges were really irritating before, you're kind of just left with a smooth, featureless object, that just slips out of your hands, and out of your mind..
I don't mean to sound so negative on it, as it's still a really good game, and i would recommend it to most. The two DLCs were extra great - the team clearly found their groove by then, and it makes me hopeful for any future work in this series. I guess it just had a lot to live up to.
Is it better than Starfield? Probably. I haven't played it, and i doubt i ever will
[Short (and very late) review this time (again). I'm in a bit of a weird spot with writing these things - trying to find my voice again, if you know what i mean]
Sep 09 2025
#381
#48 of 2025
September 9, 2025