May: Think Locally
I heard there are some nice girls unplayed games in your area. Maybe it’s time to finally check if they’re a good fit for you?
Try to find games that were developed as close to where you live as possible. Depending on where you’re from that might mean same district, same city, same country,… In some cases it might mean having to expand the search to neighbouring countries or beyond.
Games that are set where you live (or near you) count as well.
When posting which game(s) you’re going to play, tell us in what way the game(s) is/are local to you, for example approximately how many kilometres/miles from the development studio you live.
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=f6sR9R3k_kA
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.
Might be a good excuse to finally play Just Cause 2, as Avalanche is located in my city.
As is DICE, Paradox, Fatshark, Mojang, Overkill, Arrowhead, Starbreeze & Might and Delight, and we also had GRIN. So plenty of big companies to chose from!
Nice theme :) The studios in my area here in Germany mostly don’t produce games for Steam or I don’t have any of those, so I will look at the Netherlands, as it’s nearer than Berlin, Hamburg or Munich to me :)
| Name | Developer | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toki Tori | Two Tribes - Harderwijk, Netherlands (209 km) | 26/38 | 8.6h | Beaten |
| Lethal League | Team Reptile - Hilversum, Netherlands (204 km) | 6/23 | 3.3h | Beaten |
| SpeedRunners | DoubleDutch Games - Utrecht, Netherlands (194 km) | 8/29 | 2.0h | Beaten |
| TOTAL: | 40 | 13.9h | 3 |
Great theme! My country is very small and all of the devs for these games seem to be from Vilnius, and so am I, so they’re 20 km away at most :D
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime this month | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scrap Garden | 13/42 | 1h 58min | won’t finish/retired |
| The Howler | N/A | 1h 37min | finished |
| Gremlins, Inc. | 47/100 | 30h 56min | endless, 10+ hours done |
| TOTAL: | 60/142 | 34h 31min | 3/3 |
| Name | Theme | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Future Games - Beroun, Czech Republic (158km) | none | 0.0h | unfinished | |
| Cinemax - Prague, Czech Republic (150km) | none | 0.0h (15h) | playing | |
| In the Raven Shadow * | Cinemax - Prague, Czech Republic (150km) | 1 / 1 | 6.4h | Completed |
| Machinarium | Amanita Design - Brno, Czech Republic (355km) | 12 / 12 | 3.6h | Completed |
| SCS Software - Prague, Czech Republic (150km) | 0 / 75 | 0.0h | unfinished | |
| TOTAL: | 13 | 10.0h | 2 |
*In the Raven Shadow - was developed by Rainbow Rhino and published by CINEMAX, but as I can’t find any info about the developers (which should be from Slovakia) I have selected the Cinemax
I love this theme. I currently live in the Paris region, so lots of choice.
| Name | Developer | Achievements | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Remember Me | Dontnod - Paris, 20 km | 27/50 | 25 h | beaten |
| Life is Strange | Dontnod - Paris, 20 km | 60/60 | 15 h | completed |
| Total | 40 km? | 87/110 | 40 h | Did it |
Remember Me is one of my favorite games of all-time, and it’s really the only fighting/beat-em-up game I’ve ever played. I hope you enjoy it. It also has really well-designed achievements. One of my favorite SG wins and one of my proudest 100% completions. Good luck!
Thanks. About halfway through, there’s a lot to like: dystopian cyberpunk Paris, the combat system, the memory remixing, overall production quality. I’m a bit miffed with the way the game forces you onto its trajectory, though…
It is very much on-rails, yes. Nothing open world about it.
No, you will not force me to play Witcher now. I am too busy to fully appreciate it.
But… You know who is working one town away from me? Artifex Mundi. Time for some HOPA’s !!!!
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lost Grimoires 2: Shard of Mystery | 12/12 | 2 | finished |
| Bulletstorm | 0/60 | 0 | unfinished |
| Green Hell | 0/0 | 0 | unfinished |
| TOTAL: | 12 | 2 | 1 |
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mission: It’s Complicated | 0/33 | 0 | unfinished |
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dishonored | 30/80 | 23h | beaten |
| TOTAL: | 30/80 | 23h | 1 |
Hmm…well, I guess the approach would be to look for a game I want to play, see if they are US-based, and go from there. The only company I know that is based in my state is Bethesda Software, which is about 14mi/22km away. But I can only play games in short bursts (unless I’m playing with the kids), which doesn’t lend itself to Skyrim.
I guess I can play the Portal 2 co-op that I was hoping to do last month. But Valve is about as far away as it could be from me, clear on the other side of the country. Might be a good month to skip.
In my case, it would be same continent and an area with a radius of several thousand kilometers
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status | Theme |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Flower Collectors | 8/13 | 3h | finished | Takes place in Barcelona (338km away) |
| name of game 2 | achievements obtained | playtime this month | unfinished/finished | Theme |
| name of game 3 | achievements obtained | playtime this month | unfinished/finished | Theme |
| TOTAL: | achievements obtained | playtime this month | Number of games finished | - |
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status | Theme |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Night of the rabbit | 14/18 | 10.3h | beaten | Deadalic (497km between Hamburg and Frankfurt) |
| The Whispered World | 20/20 | 11.9 | completed | Daedalic |
| name of game | achievements obtained | playtime this month | unfinished/finished | theme |
| name of game | achievements obtained | playtime this month | unfinished/finished | theme |
| TOTAL: | 34/38 | 22.2 | 2 |
Ok after looking at WIkipedia, Australia has way more than I thought! Just looking at some of the games I own and haven’t beaten….
Armello
BioShock
BioShock 2
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified
Crawl
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
The Gardens Between
Hacknet
Hollow Knight
L.A. Noire
Paperbark
Satellite Reign
Submerged
Void Bastards
And this fun game I completed last day of December and didn’t realize was Australian:
Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles
I live in St. Louis, Missouri.
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status | Set/Developed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Midnight Mysteries 3: Devil on the Mississippi | 12/16 | 10.3 hours | beaten | Set in Hannibal, Missouri |
| Nancy Drew: Secret of the Old Clock | 0/0 | 13.7 hours | completed | Set in Illinois (Fictional Titusville) |
| name of game 3 | achievements obtained | playtime this month | unfinished/finished | |
| TOTAL: | 12/16 | 24 hours | 2 |
Raiden V has a section set in Manhattan
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raiden V: Director’s Cut | 15/38 | 1.3 hrs | Beaten |
I’m from southern Germany so going by distance I should have a lot of options.
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| SpellForce | 0/0 | 0 h | unfinished |
| TOTAL: | achievements obtained | playtime this month | Number of games finished |
Unfortunately, an Australian youtuber discovered that There Are No Hot Singles In Your Area. Fortunately, some good games actually get developed here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Video_games_developed_in_Australia (cheers to Moony1986 for linking the wikipedia article). Turns out I actually own a few of them! I might not actually have much time to play them this month because of uni work, but I loved the theme too much to skip it entirely.
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paperbark | 16/25 | 2 hours | finished |
| Satellite Reign | 0/40 | 0 | unfinished |
| The Bureau: XCOM Declassified | 0/41 | 0 | unfinished |
| Hacknet | 0/11 | 0 | unfinished |
| Hand of Fate | 0/53 | 0 | unfinished |
| Total: | 16 | 2 hours | 1 |
Tip for quickly finding games in your country:
- Go to compare2steam.com
- Copy & paste the wikipedia article that lists the games developed in your country - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Video_games_developed_in_[your country]
- Scroll down to “Games that you already own. (Exact match).” This will show you all the games that are developed in your country that you own
Note that this list probably isn’t comprehensive as not every game will be listed on wikipedia (thanks to Jaded for finding Paperbark and Satellite Reign - both of which I own & weren’t listed in the article)
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition | 33/57 (+28) | 11.3 hrs (+10.3 hrs) | finished | Vienna ~ 170 km |
| Ori and the Will of the Wisps (XGP) | 15/37 (+15) | 11.2 hrs (+11.2 hrs) | finished | Vienna ~ 170 km |
| Samorost 3 | 17/30 (+12) | 4.1 hrs (+2.0 hrs) | finished | Brno ~ 300 km |
| TOTAL: | +55 | +23.5 hrs | 3 games finished |
Games to keep in mind:
- Last Day of June (Milano ~ 500 km)
- Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands (Milano ~ 500 km)
- The Talos Principle (Zagreb ~ 100 km)
- Old Man’s Journey (Vienna ~ 170 km)
Another potential candidate if I have my geography right - Marlow Briggs (Ljubljana)
Yes, you got it right. :) I actually thought of Zootfly when making the list but thought I don’t own any games developed by them, oops…. Thanks!
Note that Last Day of June has some game-breaking, save-corrupting bugs. It was a huge waste of time for me as I encountered these bugs. I would suggest avoiding it, but if you want to give it a try, best of luck…
Thanks for the heads up! I finished a few levels a couple of years ago and didn’t encounter any bugs then. Not sure if I’d have the same luck with the rest of the game so your warning combined with me not really enjoying the game that much is definitely pushing it down the list.
And I’ve also just found out that Ori was developed in Austria so other games now stand no chance! :D
Found this map: https://www.gamedevmap.com/
Hey that’s…kind of useful! Maybe if it pointed to a Steam search by dev or publisher with the dev or publisher filled in? But it’s still promising, thanks!
Found one company close to me: Daedalic
So I will play:
Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth - completed!
Some New Zealand developed games…
• A Fistful of Gun (about 650KM)
• Breakneck (about 150KM)
• Mini Metro (about 150KM)
• Platypus (about 650KM)
• Poly Bridge (about 150KM)
• Samsara (about 650KM) - Completed
• Shatter (about 150KM) - Beaten
Just saw this map for games developed in Europe:
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Endless Fables: The Minotaur’s Curse | 33/33 | 4h | completed |
| TOTAL: | 33 | 4h | 1 game finished |
| Name | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ninja Pizza Girl | 20/28 | 12.5 h | finished |
| Path of Exile | 10/120 | 40.5 h | finished |
| GIBZ | 33/75 | 52.5 h | finished |
| TOTAL: | 63 | 105.5h | 3 |
Welp, I’m here! Fashionably late :3
| Name | Developer | Achievements obtained | Playtime | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nightmares from the Deep: The Cursed Heart | Artifex Mundi (same country; about 550 km by foot) | 15/15 | 5.7 hours | completed |
| Teddy Floppy Ear - Mountain Adventure | Forever Entertainment S.A. (same country, about 215 km by foot) | N/A | 1.3 hours | completed |
| Time Mysteries: Inheritance - Remastered | Artifex Mundi (same country; about 550 km by foot) | 10/10 | 2.8 hours | completed |
| TOTAL: | 2 devs explored (?) | 25/25 | 9.8 hours | 3 |
Finding a game developed locally IS the real challenge here xD
Finding a way to know where games are developed, without checking one by one… Is too!
You should find something :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Video_games_developed_in_Italy
This is a nice idea, I wasn’t aware of such a wiki page. Thank you! :D
___________________
EDIT: and found one! The Town of Light. Thanks again!
You are very welcome my Italian friend :) Stay safe!
I have a list of the settings of games I’ve played: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UTyafTqmuYu_KhhCmmM8UKHefojg9sSlvzO9Zfw27EE/edit?usp=sharing
The second column has the countries games are set in in alphabetical order. But it’s limited to what I’ve played in the last couple of years. I also have lists for different countries, states, etc. on my BLAEO profile.
Oh wow, thanks for sharing that!