#playing every game in my steam library in alphabetical order until i finish them all challenge

[palmsalcove]

*furniture and objects hurling themselves at alan at unavoidable rates*

alan, with the stamina capacity of a sickly child: aw nuts!

[cavernelf]

playing every game in my steam library in alphabetical order until i finish them all challenge

started this challenge on a previous blog, @palmsalcove, but decided I wanted a dedicated main blog for it and more

this particular challenge was inspired by my bf, because his ability to sit down and play game after game and finish game after game (I’m talking jrpg length) both impresses and inspired me.

rules:

not necessarily a hard rule, but try to play through games alphabetically (already finished 9) that are on steam library

previously finished games are not a part of this challenge

if I really, really, REALLY don't want to play a certain game- I won't. I can skip as many as I feel I need to in order to get through the list

this isn't much of an issue but the point of this challenge isn't just to get through games but to finish more games before purchasing more

review the game when you’re done!

[palmsalcove]

playing every game in my steam library in alphabetical order until i finish them all challenge: brothers - a tale of two sons

total time: 3.5 hours

achievements unlocked: 6/12

overall rating: 8/10

this game was a fun little hidden gem in my steam library! I knew how it played, but I definitely think it's better played with a controller rather than keyboard- for instance, a couple times when you had to turn cranks, the keyboard made the animation dragggg whereas it would've been instant with a controller.

the game shines with its minimal storytelling, camera direction, and environmental design. where it lacks is in puzzle difficulty and the character animations itself. I feel like the brothers could have had slightly more unique animations, like when the older would interact with people in the world differently than the younger one.

the second half of the game felt way too rushed. I feel like there was a lot missing, like they had to cut several hours of content. still, it was a solid game and I was not expecting the ending at all! I think it was impactful enough to raise my rating of this game from a 7 to an 8. taking just about 3 hours to finish, I really recommend this one.

5 games down!

next game: 'danganronpa v3'

[palmsalcove]

playing every game in my steam library in alphabetical order until i finish them all challenge: dragon quest 1

overall rating: 7/10

*played on an emulator so no achievements or time given

WOW I had fun with this game. it's so simple and sometimes insanely frustrating due to its limitations- not being able to save except at the castle, no such thing as fast travel- but I felt great being able to finally beat it.

gotta say, the dragon lord really gave me a run for my money at the end. I think I was underleved, even while following a guide. I did end up using save states just for peace of mind, or this game would have driven me insane I think. I played what I think is the mobile remake of the game? with an interesting translation.

it's cool to see where this series originated as well as the influence from toriyama's art direction. I know almost nothing about the dragon quest games and I intend to play through all of them, maybe one every time I've beaten 3-5 steam games.

this game has its flaws of course, especially looking at it from a modern lens. but it's a great game regardless and easy to get through. I'm excited to see how the series develops with each title!

4 games down!

next up: 'brothers - a take of two sons'

[palmsalcove]

playing every game in my steam library in alphabetical order until i finish them all challenge: alan wake

alan wake: FINISHED

total time: 12.9 hours

achievements unlocked: 42/67

overall rating: 5/10

well, glad to be done with alan wake. took me too long but I hadn't gotten much chance to sit and play especially after I finished the initial episodes.

gave it 5/10- despite my initial dislike of the game, the story and alan himself grew on me a bit. the last dlc episode was especially fun because of the use of more light like the lighthouse to wipe out enemies. my favorite episode was the final one from the base game, and I enjoyed the ending to the story. the ending to the dlc was a fun cliffhanger, and it does make me interested in picking up alan wake 2 when it comes out. NOT UNTIL I FINISH MORE STEAM GAMES THO!!

btw, I realized I have Control on the epic games store so will be playing that, I have heard it's much better than alan wake

final thoughts: alan wake is a dated game that gets more fun to play with each episode. despite a lack of enemy and weapon variation, the light/flashlight mechanic never gets old. the story is intriguing and alan shows good development as the story progresses. the game shines the most in its environmental assets and design- both in the light of day (showing off the absolutely beautiful environments of this pacific northwest town) and in the dark of night (for the most part, the guiding lights are excellent waypoints for lack of a map and it is hard to get totally lost). the game lacks decent controls and fights are more annoying than anything. sometimes alan's narration is annoying.

1 game finished! next up: amnesia: 'the dark descent'

[palmsalcove]

playing every game in my steam library in alphabetical order until i finish them all challenge: danganronpa v3

total time: 37.1 hours

achievements unlocked: 18/41

overall rating: 10/10

okay okay so. I had already started v3 when it first came out- I have a long history with the dr games; I remember reading the unofficial translations of them on the something awful forums whenever the paywall would go down. I even got a ps vita to play the first game when it first got localized, because for some reason it only came to the ps vita at first. well basically I got to chapter 5, then dropped my playthrough of it and finished it by watching a friend's stream. so I never actually finished the game until today.

I mean, 10 outta freaking 10. The UI, the overall visuals, the characters, voice acting, the heart wrenching trials, the animations, the executions, the story- I cannot give this game enough praise. It's fantastic.

really not much else to say. It's great. I'll play it again and the whole series. the only game I haven't played is ultra despair girls, so I might get to that someday. for now though, as much as I'd love to have another dr game, I think v3 wrapped up the series perfectly.

6 games down!

next game: 'dark souls'

[palmsalcove]

playing every game in my steam library in alphabetical order until i finish them all challenge: the aquatic adventure of the last human

the aquatic adventure of the last human: FINISHED

total time: 7.4 hours

achievements unlocked: 17/21

overall rating: 9/10

this game was a pleasant surprise to play through! I'd call it a bit of a metroidvania, where the only real enemies are the different bosses you encounter. I really enjoyed the atmosphere the game created as well as the music.

the bosses were sometimes difficult, sometime a bit too easy. not sure if I could call it a good mix but both are present. I went through most bosses without getting the lamp and realized at least a couple fights I struggled with could have been made WAY easier if I'd had the lamp, but kind of cool that I beat them without it.

the ending was a little strange and short, but I think it ties the story together in a nice little know. you are the last human after all.

my initial gripes about the game were that the map was not super helpful (even after I got some kind of map upgrade?) and that oftentimes it was hard to see elements on the screen that could harm you and I would run right into them, although this seemed more intentional than anything, and after I learned certain enemy patterns they became easier to spot. sometimes I found the game unresponsive, the submarine refused to move a certain way until I switched weapons? but I'm unsure if that's the game itself or something to do with steam or my monitor setup.

I really recommend this game as a little hidden gem! I would say to reference a map and don't just do bosses in any order willy-nilly or you might have a really hard time (can't count how much I died to the parasite- most other bosses were satisfyingly difficult though!).

3 games down!

next up: 'dragon quest 1'

[palmsalcove]

playing every game in my steam library in alphabetical order until i finish them all challenge: amnesia: the dark descent

amnesia: the dark descent: FINISHED

total time: 7.6 hours

achievements unlocked: 10/18

overall rating: 8/10

well finally finished amnesia! fun fact, I've had this game since about 2010 on pc; I remember going to gamestop to purchase a copy of it, and eventually gifting it to a friend because my shitty laptop couldn't run it at all. so this was a game play 13 years in the making, just about.

what to say? it's a great introduction survival horror game. it still holds up in atmosphere (especially played with a headset and in a dark room!) and graphics. It kept me on edge for a decent bit, although I feel like the last third of the game was less dreadful. maybe the more I found out about daniel's story and alexander, the less I felt I had to fear?

I was expecting a FAR scarier game going into it. I was disappointed that the brutes would despawn once you hid from them, although I played on normal difficulty, so I'm not sure if that does not occur in the harder version. I think the game has had so many instances of people streaming themselves playing it to play up the scare factor that it gave me an inflated sense of just how scary it was going to be. For someone who doesn't play horror games, this game is creepy for sure- for someone with more horror experience, the actual fear factor is more minimal than anything.

final thoughts: great game that holds up in every way. perhaps not as scary as one might think, but it draws you into its atmosphere regardless. I enjoyed the voice acting a lot, although I disliked how a memory would pop up and take most control away from the player, essentially pausing the scene for an unskippable, albeit short, cutscene. all in all, very few flaws and I highly recommend this to anyone interested.

holy shit, I found a bag of milky ways!

2 games finished!

next up: ‘the aquatic adventure of the last human'

[palmsalcove]

3 episodes down, 3?? episode and 2 dlc to go on alan wake. I can't express how badly I want to be finished with this game

[palmsalcove]

playing every game in my steam library in alphabetical order until i finish them all challenge: alan wake

pleasantly surprised to find this game is episodic, so i have a good indication of how much i can play every night til i finish it.

finished episode 1, thoughts so far:

good- the light mechanic is good and really good at guiding you to where you need to go (what's that called, uhhhh like a really dynamic mechanic. u know), environments are beautiful

bad- controls BAD. can't use a ps4 controller so sticking with mouse and keyboard, and alan controls terribly in movement (i try to move forward but the camera is at a strange angle and moving forward means alan moves sideways idk), sometimes i try to make him run and it seems he loses stamina or something? i don't see any indication of it tho and i'm just stuck with alan kinda limping along pathetically, also he fucking sucks and is an asshole (intentional obviously but not enjoyable)

less enjoying the game and more enjoying getting closer to finishing it so i don't have to play it anymore

[palmsalcove]

playing every game in my steam library in alphabetical order until i finish them all challenge

yes i'm doing this. this particular challenge was inspired by my bf, because his ability to sit down and play game after game and finish game after game (i'm talking like, jrpg length and type games here) both impresses and astounds me.

rules:

challenge will be done alphabetically

if the next game is a game i have already finished, i can skip that one

certain games can be skipped too if i have played them multiple times or they are super lengthy (ie tes games or like subnautica. might amend this)

can't move onto the next game until i finish the one i'm on

games that don't have an end or require multiplayer etc don't count

review the game when you're done!

first up: alan wake. not looking forward to this tbh, there's a reason i never finished that one when i first played. but let's give it a go