March: Popularity Contest
We’re marching on with our monthly themes! All credit for this month’s theme goes to Yeliena - the idea is to play games that everyone is talking about but you haven’t played yet.
I think there’s no need to post a list of eligible games; there are a lot of games we all keep hearing about because they’re just so popular, but some of it also depends on where we get our gaming news from, which genres we’re interested in, which websites we visit, what our friends are playing, etc.
To participate, reply to this post and tell us which games that fit the monthly theme you’re going to play.
Please 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!
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.
| Game | Achievements | Playtime | Status |
| Kingdom: New Lands | 6/34 (+6) | 2.7 hrs | Currently Playing |
| HITMAN™ 2 | 40/118 (+40) | 28.1 hrs | Beaten (Hitman 2 Campaign) |
| The Escapists 2 | 39/58 (+14) | 15.8 hrs | Beaten (Got all achievements besides DLC) |
| Two Point Hospital | 14/31 (+14) | 34.7 hrs | Currently Playing |
| Joggernauts | 18/28 (+18) | 4.4 hrs | Beaten |
| Total: | +92 | 77.1 hrs | 3 Beaten |
While Joggernauts isn’t popular on Steam, I saw several bigger youtubers/streamers playing it for release on the Switch and heard about it initially due to the surrounding praise, esp among local co-op & indie games release channels/sites.
Starting with a pun, I like it!
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomb Raider | 35/50 | 31.4 hours | beaten |
—> Completed everything but the multiplayer achievements.
Well both Dark Souls and Higurashi series seem to be a very popular talked about games so I’ll do them since they were for play or pay + sg wins
Also did some portal 2 but not completely
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dark Souls 3 | 35/43 | 45 | Finished |
| Higurashi When They Cry CH.1 | 14/14 | 10.2 | Finished |
Woo, for once my already started game matches the theme. Thanks, past me.
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| King’s Quest | 53/53 | 15.1h | finished |
Yeliena, did you conceive this topic as, “games that everyone is talking about recently / nowadays but you haven’t played yet?” (Like say, Monster Hunter: World) Or is it games that people might have talked about several years ago but I haven’t played? (Like say, Mass Effect)?
I was thinking about the latter, for the most part. That’s a great excuse to pressure your friends to finally play that game you’ve been nagging them about!
Oh, good. I don’t know if I’d even have anything in the first category since I seldom have new (or new-ish) releases. Now the challenge will be to try to choose one of those games that I hear so many great things about, and try to squeeze in more than one since they tend to be longer games.
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Beginner’s Guide | - | 1.3h | Beaten |
| Doki Doki Literature Club! | - | 3.6h | Completed |
| Undertale | - | 6.4h | Beaten |
| TOTAL: | - | 11.3h | 3/3 |
Question– is it, “games that everyone is talking about recently / nowadays but you haven’t played yet?” (Like say, Monster Hunter: World) Or is it games that people might have talked about several years ago but I haven’t played? (Like say, Mass Effect)?
MASS EFFECT! \o/ xD
It can apply to older games as well, Mass Effect would definitely count for something like this!
Well, then half of my itching to play list would probably qualify, lol. Thanks, Skanda.
You still haven’t played The Talos Principle and SOMA! judgement intensifies Memoria and The Witcher 2 are some of my favourites as well.
Yeah, so although the idea sounds nice, I really have no idea what to do with it. I have zero clue what of my games might be considered popular, so… eh… Help? Pls!
Or I’ll just skip the month. That’s fine too :]
Settled on:
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bioshock 2 (Remastered) | 1/53 | playtime this month | unfinished/finished |
| HITMAN | 20/69 (20 starting point) | 0h (46h) | unfinished/finished |
| TOTAL: | achievements obtained | playtime this month | Number of games finished |
If it helps, I used Lorenzo Stanco’s library filters and made a list of games with more than 5000 reviews.
https://www.lorenzostanco.com/lab/steam/
Nice tip! :)
Thank you, Quisty! This is really helpful! Although I can only set it on 1k? Uh, what ever, right? :D
Select “Reviews count” under “Order by”.
thumbs up
I’d say Assassin’s Creed Games, Arkham games, Bioshock Infinite, Borderlands 2, Deus Ex games, Fallout NV, Hitman, MGS V, Monkey Island 2+games, KOTOR, The Witcher 3, Watch_Dogs 2. Those are the ones that stand out most, but hopefully some other assassins will chip in as well.
Oh right! Totally Witcher 3! Yeah, sometimes my brain is not my best friend xD
Thank you <3
Going for Witcher 3 this month? Finally you’ll beat less games than me. xD
I’ll see how much time is left after my PoP games, so BEWARE! xD
games that everyone is talking about
Eh, I don’t know about this one. I feel like, by their very nature, these are the kind of games people are going to play anyway, especially if they already own them (besides the rare spectacle-flops like Fallout 76 or Anthem). Maybe a future theme could be about prioritizing more obscure releases, with a rule that it needs less than X Steam user reviews or something.
Eh, I don’t know about this one. I feel like, by their very nature, these are the kind of games people are going to play anyway
I understand where you’re coming from, but we get so many amazing game releases every year that it’s almost impossible to keep up with them. A lot of popular games then keep being pushed down the priority list because something else pops up - so this is a good time to play some of the ones we’ve neglected for too long.
Maybe a future theme could be about prioritizing more obscure releases, with a rule that it needs less than X Steam user reviews or something.
Yeah I’ve considered that before, but this month didn’t feel right for it since the previous monthly theme was already kinda restricted so it seemed better to do one that’s a bit “easier” this time.
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full Throttle | 34/40 | 3,4 | finished | Considering this is a classic Lucas Arts game, it should fit the theme |
| Ghostbusters: The Video Game | N/A | 7,6 | finished | This game was kind of a big deal, 10 years ago, using the original actors as voice actors, and it was more or less considered a direct sequel to Ghostbusters 2 |
| ABZÛ | 7/12 | 1,5 | finished | Played with sound! |
| TOTAL: | 41 | 12,5 | 3 |
Is Abzu really that short?
Yep! Even shorter if you don’t look around.
That seems ridiculous advice to give for a game: “Don’t look around!” :)
I don’t think I’ve ever played a game with a user controlled camera where I didn’t look around. ;)
It took me 9.2 hours with looking around and getting collectibles (using a guide to clean up the ones I missed). But I’m slow.
I really love this theme but my computer is busted so I have to think of some potato running popular games to play. If anyone has any suggestions my ears are open!
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dream Daddy | 17/19 achievements | 14 hrs | finished |
| Punch Club | 29/47 achievements | 16 hrs | finished |
| Portal | 2/15 achievements | 2 hrs | unfinished |
| TOTAL: | achievements obtained | playtime this month | Number of games finished |
Mini Metro, Reus and Punch Club are all pretty potato friendly and widely known! (I like how Punch Club says OS: Windows XP+ and Graphics: Toaster haha)
Haha perfect. Thank you for the suggestions!
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hitman | 17/69 | 9.7 h | finished |
| TOTAL: | 17 | 9.7 h | 1 game finished |
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dungeon of the Endless | 29/33 | 103 hours | Beaten/Paused |
| VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action | 34/34 | 18 hours | Completed |
| The Beginner’s Guide | - | 2 hours | Beaten |
| Beholder | 35/60 | 26 hours | Beaten/Paused |
| Postal 2 | 31/89 | 9 hours | playing |
| ABZU | 6/12 | 4 hours | beaten |
Need DLC for Beholder and I didn’t like the game enough to pay full price.
PS: Any DotE players missing the multiplayer achievements?
I’m jumping in the Fallout hype train, just 10 years later! I downloaded a mod manager and installed a bunch of stuff, seems to be working well so far. Since the game has no achievements I think I’ll add a link to my screenshots when I’ll get to uploading some.
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fallout 3 | no achievements | 22 hours | finished (screenshots) |
| TOTAL: | - | 22 hours | 1 |
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Stanley Parable | 10/10 yes, “cheats” | 5.4h | completed |
| Bioshock | No achievements | 29.0h | Unfinished |
| TOTAL: | 10 | 34.4h | 1 |
Oh, I get to post again and participate a bit in a Monthly! Last summer I fell into a giant gaming hole called Elder Scrolls Online, and it’s a beast. I’ve got over 600 hours in there, which is apparently 20% of my total game-time on Steam, and it’s a blast. ESO is actually the only MMO that I’ve ever bought an ongoing subscription for, and in my play so far I’ve hardly dented the enormous amount of content hidden there. I’m not much of an MMO player - I’ve always played a couple, and never gone in deep with any of them - so this has been a big change.
And I’ve hardly played anything else since I waded in, because I gather there are only so many hours in the day.
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elder Scrolls Online | N/A | 59 hours | questing |
| TOTAL: | N/A | 59 | 1ish |
| Name | Achievements Obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dying Light | 30/68 | 49 hours | Beaten |
| TOTAL: | 30 | 49 hours | 1 |
Such a great theme idea, thanks Yeliena!
Will be back later with a list, but it’s for sure a wide theme that will give the occasion to finally play those games we keep hearing/reading about :3
Yay for playing Forgotton Anne! Hope you liked it. :)
I did really like it, yes! It was like playing a ghibli movie.
Always happy to see more people playing it, completely agree!