Daerphen


Challenge me! Monthly Edition
previous


And here comes another round. Like every round, please consider to pick at least one game that is also a valid monthly game. This time please pick at least one game, which allows the player to see any animal.

  • 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 October 16th


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

Reply here, if you have any issues

bloudeuedd

I’d like to join and get 5 games picked for me. I never finish all five on time, but I play them for a couple of months as long as it takes, and always finish at least one on time. Thank you! :)

Blue Ϟ Lightning

:3

  • UnEpic - HLTB Time: 18-24hrs Fun platformer/rpg I haven't gotten around to beating but that I enjoyed while playing.
  • Rakuen - HLTB Time:8 hrs Game I'm intrested in playing myself (SG win)
  • Layers of Fear - HLTB Time: 4 hrs horror/walking simulator that I was challenged and liked (not nearly as scary as I feared) SG win
  • Teslagrad - HLTB Time: 5 hrs (I remember liking this years and years ago) (SG win)
  • Offworld Trading Company - HLTB Time: 7hrs game I've wishlisted/looks good
good luck o/

bloudeuedd

Thanks! Looking forward. :)

Progress (2/5)
Rakuen - completed
Offworld Trading Company - beaten

Blue Ϟ Lightning

I just beat Rakuen as well…how did you find it?
I dont have any motivation to 100% it but I enjoyed the story (liked it alot more than to the moon)

bloudeuedd

I 100% it without thinking twice - so I liked it very much. It’s been some time since I played to the moon, so it’s hard to compare them for me, I think Rakuen had some comic elements aswell and because of that I think it was a bit easier to process. But then again it sure did envolve heavy themes, just the right amount to leave a lasting impression. Bottom line I’m really glad you picked it for me, because I probably would have overlooked it within my backlog.

kubikill

I would like to join! I might not be able to finish all of them on time, but I want something to play after I’m done with my currently playing list. Please pick games from the unfinished games list if possible. Thanks!

escollo

Black Mesa - HLTB: 12 Hours
Day of the Tentacle Remastered - HLTB: 4½ Hours
Costume Quest - HLTB: 5½ Hours
No Time To Explain Remastered - HLTB: 2½ Hours
Q.U.B.E: Director’s Cut - HLTB: 3 Hours
Stardew Valley - HLTB: 50 Hours

All of them from your unfinished list

kubikill

Thank you for the picks! Could you please pick something else instead of Black Mesa, though? I want to play that once the Xen update is out.

escollo

Edited

kubikill

Thanks, that’ll do!

kubikill

Q.U.B.E: Director’s Cut completed! 46 out of 53 achievements. Pretty fun, puzzles were interesting but they could’ve made the levels look better.

kubikill

No Time To Explain Remastered completed! 9 of 9 achievements. A pretty good platformer. Feels like one of those games I would play on school computers back in the day.

escollo

So you even did speedrun achievs? I wasn’t able to complete them

kubikill

Yeah, both speedrun achievements are very tough. You can get them with some practice, though.

kubikill

Here’s an update on remaining games:

  • I started playing Day of the Tentacle Remastered a couple days ago. I got almost halfway there. I love the art style and the humour, but the puzzles are quite hard.
  • I managed to 100% complete the base storyline of Costume Quest. I still have to complete the “Grubbins on Ice” bonus. A cute little game, but the fights get boring quite quickly.
  • Haven’t started playing Stardew Valley yet. Since there’s an Android port coming out later, I’ll play it on my phone once the port is released.
Blue Ϟ Lightning

\o/
Like Clockwork this appears
Challenge me (please treat gifts the same as wins and dont pick anything thats already been challenged)
if at all possible pick shorter games because school’s started (and motivation for large games is lacking right now)

*amendment/edit/whatever I’m fine with whatever picked for me but I’m reading umineko right now and on the last arc so I’d prefer less/no VN

uguleley

If there’s any problem with a game on the list, let me know!

Blue Ϟ Lightning

Thank you! No problems

Blue Ϟ Lightning

I’ve started playing everything in the list simultaneously/flipping between them.
and just finished The Norwood suite.
its interesting and artsy but it crashed partway through and cause it only saved when you closed I lost almost an hour of work and didn’t have quite as much fun redoing/finishing it.

uguleley

Argh, that’s frustrating… and not very good game save design. An hour isn’t the worst case scenario but I share the same feelings nonetheless if I lose progress that way. D: Congrats on the completion anyway, one more down!

Blue Ϟ Lightning

Little Nightmares is appropriately spooky for the monthly theme…its beautifully animated and I enjoyed myself playing it…but not enough to go back and try and 100% it.

Rakuen has a great story (stories) and thats about all…its similar to to the moon but I liked it alot more.

uguleley

Good stuff! I agree, the animations in Little Nightmares look pretty. I’m still keeping it on my radar as a future purchase or maybe it comes up in another bundle.

escollo

Let’s join again. Maybe this time it would be more productive.
I would like SG wins, probably short ones and no MP-only

kubikill
escollo

Thanks!

Blue Ϟ Lightning

+1 for Wuppo :3
fine choice :3

escollo

Wuppo - completed. It was a nice metroidvania game. I wasn’t always sure what to do next in the game and I spent too many times to get some of the achievements. But overall, it was an exciting game with an unusual gameplay.
Slavistan - screens. I just opened all the characters, so I think I completed this game.
Crayon Physics Deluxe - I didn’t bother myself with unlocking all of the stars, so I just completed all levels and drew a cat.

3 out of 5. Not a bad result

kubikill

Nice! I find it impressive that you got the Boss Run: Impossible achievement. I couldn’t get it myself! Also, your cat looks pretty!

escollo

Boss Run: World Champion was a harder cheevo. And I got it throught a bag. I was killed by the last boss before 25th minute and the cheevo popped up, I don’t know why.

kiseli

It’s been a while since i joined these events, so let’s give it a try again :D I can’t promise to play all the games though :)

No EA or MP-only games please :)

kubikill
kiseli

Nice game selection, thanks :)

I can’t remember why i dropped playing Gunpoint 4 years ago, all i remember that it was fun game :D
SUPERHOT i remember rage quitting several time ^_^
And Stanley Parable i got in the last summer sale, so was planning on playing it some time sooner :)

kiseli

Gunpoint beaten - achievements

Thanks for getting me back to the great game :D

kiseli

The Stanley Parable beaten - achievements

kiseli

Me again :D

Kingdom: New Lands completed (achievements) - Great game, enjoyed going for 100%. It gets easy once you figure out what to do :)
SUPERHOT beaten (achievements) - Just finished last level today, glad i got back to it even though i rage quit several times. Might try going for few more achivements
MANOS dropped playing - Tried playing it both on old PC and newer laptop, on both sometimes it gets unresponsive while moving/jumping which can e real problem in platformer. Since i dont have gamepad atm will try it again some other time.

Thanks again for picking great games :)

kubikill

No problem, glad you enjoyed the games I picked :)

uguleley

I’ll join as well! No multiplayer-only games, please. Also, I don’t have unplayed SG wins at the moment.

Tristar

Reserved Finished :3

Aporia: Beyond The Valley 6h
Human Resource Machine 4-7h
SOMA 10h
Prey 16-27h

Looks like most of your (unplayed) games are FPS/TPS, didn’t want it to be too monotonous with only one genre/type, so I have a RPG and strategy choice but the issue with those is that they are fairly long

Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game 20h
Tropico 4 40h

so if those don’t fit there are two additional options as replacement

AER Memories of Old 3h
The Turing Test 5h

Hope you like those but of course can switch any if needed ^^

uguleley

Fallout is good! It’s definitely a game I’ve wanted to check out eventually. And I don’t mind having two longer games on the list, although I’m going to give the list more time than just this challenge month. The other four look good as well, I appreciate your effort to mix up the genres :)

Thanks for picking, time for me to install some games!

edit: That makes a difference of 20 years between the oldest and newest game on the list! I like that.

uguleley

Mid-way update:

  • Aporia: A true “mixed” verdict from me, seems like all aspects of the game had some good and bad in it. A few puzzles were nice and I wouldn’t call it a waste of time, but I don’t feel like going back to look for all optional puzzles.
  • SOMA: Top-notch! Very interesting world and story, gets your mind wondering in a nice way. I disliked the enemy encounters that got increasingly frustrating further on (the game has that story mode now, but it doesn’t allow you to change it mid-save).
  • Human Resource Machine: In progress, I’m having lots of fun with this! I’ve also learned that I’d be a very ineffective programmer. I’m improving but my “code” is still a mess.
  • Fallout: Postponed for now, technical difficulties. I was able to start playing but the game crashes every 15 minutes or so.
Flygonite

Well, I managed to finish one last month, at least! I’ll keep chipping away at the rest, but no harm in getting another set to look at, right? Feel free to pick unfinished games too.

bloudeuedd

Narcissu 10th Anniversary Anthology Project - HLTB Time: 11hrs

Flygonite

Thank you! I’ve actually read the entirety of Narcissu already however, so can you swap it for something else?

bloudeuedd

Sorry, I somehow missed that it’s blue.

  • Slime Rancher - HLTB Time: 15hrs - I haven’t played it, but don’t know other of you SG won gifts and this one has really nice reviews and to give you a bit genre variety.
Flygonite

Sounds good!

Trilled Meow

Can someone pick for me, please? Treat my unfinished games the same as never played. Thanks.

86maylin

Back to Bed is a really bizarre and interesting puzzle game. Hacknet is quite fun with ok learning curve and pretty good visualized hacking game that doesn’t require you to use console commands all the time. Hand of Fate I’ve heard good things about it, and also is on my to play list for a long time now.

Trilled Meow

Nice, with those relatively short games, I might actually appear to do well on this this month. Do you mind if I finish the 2nd Deponia game instead of playing Doomsday? Chaos on Deponia is also an SG win, so it would still meet the requirements. Thanks!

86maylin

Sure. :)

86maylin

Well, I’ll still give it a try then, even though I didn’t finish any games last time. ><

Prefer shorter games.
No multiplayer games.
Fine with early access.
No horror, ever.
For easier picking, look at To Play and ABC plan lists. :3
As always, thanks for digging through my huge backlog. x3

Trilled Meow
  • The Silent Age - HLTB Time: 3 hours. SG win. I played it earlier this year and thought it was decent.
  • Pickers - HLTB Time: 5 hours. SG win. A fun twist on the HOG genre.
  • Beyond Eyes - 2 hours. Short, visually interesting game with animals for the monthly theme.
  • Hand of Fate - 10 1/2 hours. We can both play it, and whoever doesn’t finish is a loser (maybe both of us!). :)
  • The Deer - 5 minutes. I dug far in your unfinished games to find this – perfect for the monthly theme (Ice Age animal education), and so short you have no excuse not to finish at least one game. I can pick a different one if you want, but I have this too and the description cracks me up.
86maylin

Thanks for picking! I would probably be the loser since I’m still stuck in the big hole called Monster Hunter World. xD But I’ll definitely try to get as far as possible in it. And thanks for picking The Deer. I can most definitely finish it. xP

Trilled Meow

Usually Elder Scrolls Online has been keeping me from beating more than a game or two a month, but I’m actually doing really well with your picks so far. I beat Suits and Back to Bed, both were enjoyable for the short time they lasted (I’ll be posting more about them sometime today).

And last night, I started playing Hands of Fate and didn’t stop until I was slightly over halfway through the story mode. At first I was afraid it would be kind of lame like most RPGs I’ve played that use a card game gimmick, but this game is a lot more addictive for me. It is kind of building on itself every hand you play, because you get new cards that can make you stronger. Even though I like turn-based RPGs, I think it was a good choice for them to use an action system.

Dandey

Can I have another try after a long break from the challenge me? I only ask for two things(if possible), the big game preferably to be in the racer gender as I kinda want to start something and have no idea, and the rest preferably to have the ability to make progress in ~10 mins sessions as most likely will play them during breaks at work

Blue Ϟ Lightning

don’t know what you mean by racer gender…kinda want to add metal gear but just going do all 10 min session games instead

  • Terraria - HLTB Time: N.A. endless game you can play in whatever length of sessions you like…and something I really enjoyed (enough to put 800+ hours into it more than any other game) (SG win)
  • The Inner World - HLTB Time: 6hrs cute point and click game (SG win)
  • Teslagrad - HLTB Time: 5hrs I remember enjoying this…
  • Little Nightmares - HLTB Time: 3hrs I’m playing this rn for my challenge me can definitely be played in small bursts
  • Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Ch.1 Onikakushi - HLTB Time: N.A Visual novels can definitely be played in smol bursts and I like higurashi…idk time to beat dependent on reading speed.
    also psa you can patch it to psp if you want nicer sprites.

please tell me if theres a problem with any of the choices.

dixia

plz pick 5 games for me, pref from my sg wins and from my not finished pile

thank you

skanda

All of these should be at least decent. I really enjoyed Fahrenheit so hopefully that one will be one of the ones you finish. :)

dixia

Thank you, i wil start with The warlock of firetop mountain.Wil keep ya updated.

dixia

the secret order4: https://steamcommunity.com/id/DixiaTheMotherDragon/stats/appid/517360/achievements done for now, dont feel like doing the harder achievements
the warlock of firetop mountain : https://steamcommunity.com/id/DixiaTheMotherDragon/stats/appid/324740/achievements i didnt like the game, done for now

starting with broken sword 5 now.