skanda

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.

imly2k

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.

Kaleith

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  
jullebarge

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 ;) )

Skatrzoo

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)

skanda

Best octopus has the best list name ever. <3
The Steam store page for that weeb game still looks very pink/red to me!

Kaleith

You’re breathtaking

Skatrzoo

I knew at least one corgo would like it :3 Looks like I couldn’t get away with it after all :sab

And fair enough :blobdogeyes:

Girlbeard

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
tsupertsundere

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!
Fnord

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
Lucky Thirteen

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  
ninglor03

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
adil

Yep, good luck with that list indeed xD

ninglor03

Maybe it’s not a one month project xD

EvilBlackSheep

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
Quisty

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
adam1224

Wow, that list indeed looks cool :D

ninglor03

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

GiseIIe

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

Saikania

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).

samwise84

Some games I would pack into the Ruby category.

skanda

It might just be my eyes/screen, but out of those only really Hitman and Bioshock Infinite look red (enough) to me. The rest of them look brown/orange.

samwise84

Well you might be right on that front XD
Changed some games. Now it should look better.

samwise84

Finished Hitman: Absolution

adam1224

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

stef

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
JaffaCaffa
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.

tonsti

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
banikanani
Name Achievements obtained Playtime Status
Hacknet 11/11 15h completed
TOTAL: 11 15h 1
86maylin

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
Crizyz

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. :)

Crizyz

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.

aonrao
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. =)

Saikania

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. :)

Saikania
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
Amitte

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
Aquilla

Sooooooo Reeeeeed

Name Achievements obtained Playtime Status
Virginia 0/17 0 (+3h idling) unfinished
TOTAL: 0 0 0
the Traveler

I’ve been failing at the Monthlies, let’s see if I can get back on track for July.

  • Hacknet
    Hacknet

    21 hours playtime

    11 of 11 achievements

UPDATE mid-month: Finished the main game, am now deep into the DLC campaign.

Garcias
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.

Jaded
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

MercuriaEclipse

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…)

Lucky Thirteen

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?

MercuriaEclipse

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.

Lucky Thirteen

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

Bangledeschler

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
DrBoklan

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
uguleley

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
malabagaa

Ok, let’s see if I manage to beat something..

Name Achievements obtained Playtime Status
Bad Rats: the Rats’ Revenge 13/13 6.9h COMPLETED!
TOTAL: 13 6.9h 1
skanda
Name Achievements obtained Playtime Status
Atom Zombie Smasher 15/41 (+3) 8.5 hours (+2.2 hours) finished
Bejeweled 3 42/65 (+11) 11.9 hours (+4.4 hours) finished
Jack Lumber 17/27 (+16) 2.6 hours (+1.8 hours) finished
TOTAL: 30 achievements obtained 8.4 hours this month 3 games finished
Aquilla
Name Achievements obtained Playtime Status
Beginner’s guide 0/0 1.5h finished
TOTAL: 0 1.5h 1 game finished
escollo
Name Achievements obtained Playtime Status
Mafia III 51 of 85 57h beaten
DISTRAINT 2 9 of 9 2h completed
TOTAL: 60 10h 2
Formidolosus

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
Trent

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