Thanks Nelly to take over the Challenge Me round for me. Vacation was very nice, but now I am back to business. Same procedure as every year. Let's get started with a new challenge.

I am sure you are well aware of the current double monthly theme. So to keep that spirit up I ask you to include a game in your picks where you have one or more companion. It doesn't have to be of the same race ;) So whether it is a pet or a party of hobbit, dwarfs, elves and humans. Just to be clear, the companions have to be named characters or a coop partner.

Rules are very similar to other months

• One of the games have to be a game with a companion.
• 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 February 15th.

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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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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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

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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.