Copy pasta of a copy pasta of a copy pasta of a copy pasta of a copy pasta of a copy pasta of a copy pasta of a copy pasta of a copy pasta of a copy pasta since I'm just that lazy :D.

Hello and welcome to the madness!
The challenge is simple: Play and beat any 6 games, starting today, that have been featured in any given Humble Monthly/Choice bundle in one month.

The prize: Yakuza: Like a Dragon


Note: For those who live in SEA, I messed up. I failed to realized that the game is not available in your region yet. Feel free to participate, but please be aware that it will take me a bit longer to deliver the game if you happen to win (expected release date is Feb 25). Sorry for the trouble :/.


Game length does not matter and I'm not looking for 100% achievement runs. So long as you play and beat 6 games, I'm happy. You can go easy mode and play a bunch of 1h games or go crazy and play 6 +30h games. So long as they were in a monthly at a given point, it is all good.

Just post a comment with either screenshots/ achievements showing that you fulfilled the criteria and I'll add on Steam and give you the link. Feel free to share your thoughts on the games you've played, but it is not required.

FAQ:

Why you doing this?

I hate money. That and I realized I've been subbed to the monthly for over five years (yes it has been that long, I checked) and it occurred to me that I've barely touched the games I've gotten from it, let alone played them. Figured the same would be true for a few others, so I figured this is a good way to change that. A sensible person would probably unsub in this situation, but please refer to the beginning as to why that will not happen.

I've played the first X minutes of a game, can I pick it for the event?

No. You cannot have any play time or achievements prior to the start of the event. The only exception is idle time from farming Steam cards.

Why six games?

The first few monthlies had 6/7 games in them so I went with that.

How long are you going to do this?

Until my credit card statements gives me nightmares.

This event "ends" on February 5th when the next HB Choice releases, though the giveaway itself will end the next day. If you manage to finish game number six in between that time, feel free to post, but know that I cannot guarantee that I'll be able to give you the link in time.

Good luck, have fun and stay safe.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to require a signature for your packages.

List of eligible games: https://barter.vg/bundles/3/3/
https://barter.vg/bundles/3/161/
Credit goes to PapaSmok

I'll make the giveaway next week since I can't make it end past January at the moment.
Edit: Giveaway made! :D

View attached image.
3 years ago*

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I just realized a few days ago that I had played 5 monthly games, so I decided to finish a sixth. I hope I'm still in time to participate:
The Uncertain: Last Quiet Day
RIVE
Minit
Tsioque
Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard
HIVESWAP: ACT 1

3 years ago
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Sounds silly, but can you reply to this comment here. Just makes it easier for me when checking entries.

3 years ago
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Game Achievements Status Monthly/Choice
Sherlock Holmes The Devil's Daughter 25/25 Completed July 2017
Mr Shifty 11/14 Beaten January 2018
Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth 41/41 Completed June 2018
Old Man's Journey Ending Screenshots: 1, 2, 3, 4 Beaten October 2018
Basement 17/21 Beaten October 2020
The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game 6/6 Completed December 2020

  • Achievements weren't registering for Mr Shifty even though conditions were met, restarted and 3 achievements popped up on game start then achievements worked normally afterwards. :D
  • Basement doesn't have an achievement tied to beating the game (the sole achievement in the final level is missable, I think) so here are ending screenshots as well: 1, 2, 3, 4
3 years ago
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Hi there. I did not participate this month (unless I did the requirement by chance lol), but I might next month. I had two questions: Do the games need to be played on Steam? ie if I bought Slay the Spire on GOG, can I use a screenshot for proof? Second, how would a rougelike/lite work for this?

3 years ago
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Do the games need to be played on Steam?

Yes. I need to verify and this is the easiest way to do it, sorry.

Second, how would a rougelike/lite work for this?

Would not recommend, but if they have a story ending, it would be reaching that. For Slay the Spire, I would say beating all 3 levels. I know there is a more to it after that, but reaching the true ending can be a grind, and I don't want peeps to hate me XD.

3 years ago
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Thanks for the info. I definitely have some unplayed games on Steam that were previously in Humbles that I'll dig up for next month. :D
I just started StS on GOG because I had a coupon to make it a price I could afford. If that counted, I could make a run for it. I beat two others this month incidentally D:
Just checked and I have enough eligible games on Steam to do at least two months of these Looking forward to them. :D

3 years ago*
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I haven't played any Yakuza games before, but the trailers for Like A Dragon look pretty hilarious.
I think I actually might have finished 3 in the past month, so I might actually be able to get in.

Though if I were going to enter, I should have gotten to work on it earlier, haha, not much time left and I figure I should probably focus on my schoolwork instead. ;P

Are the other Yakuza games similar to this? I feel like I always picture them more serious, but this one seems more like the goofy-ness of Saint's Row (At least the ones I've played)?

EDIT: Actually, I think I'm almost at 4, I forgot that Heave Ho was in Choice before, and it seems like the first achievements on the other 3 games were all Jan 1 or later...

3 years ago*
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This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

3 years ago
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I think I did it?
Heave Ho - Beated
One Step From Eden - Completen
Frog Detective 1 - Completen
Frog Detective 2 - Completen
Path of Giants - Beated
The Ambassador - Beated

Probably won't try to 100% The Ambassador, but for sure will Path of Giants. Heave Ho I wanted to until I hit the "Hard" version levels, collecting the coins from those in co-op might be too much work, haha.

3 years ago*
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Game Status Monthly
Crying Suns Beaten (A Frozen Lady) November 2020
Yakuza Kiwami 2 Beaten (Thank You!) November 2020
HITMAN™ 2016 Beaten (A Long Time Coming) November 2018
Frog Detective Beaten (Answered the Call) December 2020
Monster Prom Beaten (Casanova) May 2019
Etherborn Beaten (End) March 2020

..
Thoughts about the games
sorted from least favorite to favorite

Frog Detective - For a short game it's okay and almost funny, but the artstyle is uncomfortably unfitting for a big screen.

Etherborn - The level design and artstyle was relaxing, and the puzzles were pretty good but it was extremely annoying when having to backtrack when falling of a ledge or a narrow walkway.

Monster Prom - I highly enjoyed the colorful characters and the banter that goes on between them. It was a fun dating sim, and it seems to have great replayability so far.

Cry Suns - I loved the soft-blue neon pixel-art, and the combat was interesting and other gameplay mechanics were entertaining for the first few chapters. Unfortunately the story was underwhelming due to info dumps and lack of character development (and maybe I was expecting too much). I was quite sad that there was no story text for the final choices.

Hitman - Great game overall with entertaining one-liners and puns, and killer cutscenes. The best episode imo is Colorado since it gives you more freedom to roam around and there are more targets to interact with. Since I'm personally not a fan of waiting around for a whole minute, the Sapienza episode felt a bit like a chore. Will likely replay some eps to experience different dialogues and deaths, but I won't go for completion.

Yakuza Kiwami 2 - Best game I played in the past month. Great story overall and excellent humor and characters. I completed most of the side-stories, and I'll eventually 100% this game (I've played the Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami on PS4). Kaoru Sayama is my absolute favorite female companion in Yakuza series so far. Between the three Yakuza games, I think Yakuza 0 had the best overall stories, Kiwami 1 had the best mini-games, and Kiwami 2 had the best girl ;).

3 years ago*
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Done with the challenge

Game Monthly Status
Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter July 2017 Finished
Purrfect Date December 2018 Finished
Path of Giants December 2020 Finished
The Beast Inside December 2020 Finished
The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game December 2020 Finished
Vampire: The Masquerade - Shadows of New York January 2021 Finished
3 years ago
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Cut it close and needed some short games, but... it is done.

Hitman (2016) from November 2018 - achievements (A Long Time Coming)
Hitman 2 (2018) from April 2020- achievements (This is Maintenance)

Figured I would assess these games together.

The concept of carrying over the maps confused me at first. If I could do it over I might have played it all in Hitman 2 to get the mastery and experience to carry over to Hitman 3, but at least I got two games for the event.

As someone who habitually reloads when things go wrong, it can be hard to just let things go wrong and enjoy the chaos, but I managed to do so in a few missions. That's probably the best way to really appreciate the "World of Assassination trilogy" Hitman games, at least at first.

The final levels could feel annoying with the high guard density, but I generally enjoyed breaking down the sandboxes and finding my opportunity to strike. And of course there's all the bizarre approaches you can take, like (minor spoiler) using poisonous frogs or sleeping pills to make a fumigation machine kill or incapacitate people).

Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York from September 2020 - achievements (Damned if you do)

The game's imagery does a compelling job of making you feel uncomfortable with all the nitty-gritty violence of becoming a vampire and living in a criminal underworld. Surprisingly, the comparison I felt most strongly was the John Wick films, given the similarities in their secret society and politicking therein. One problem I felt that hurt the immersion was some of the backgrounds got reused too often and occasionally in ways that did not match up with the text.

I wish more visual novels adopted the standard Ren'Py way of skipping text so you don't accidentally select dialogue options, but at least this is playable with a controller to change things up for my wrist.

198X from March 2020 - achievements (Continue?)

I am not quite old enough to a child of the 1980s, but the aesthetic and music of the era really charm me. Some people complained about the slow pace of the unskippable cutscenes in this game, but I think they were at a fine enough pace because I had time to really take in the beautiful art and soundtrack. That said, considering some of the perfectionist nature of the achievements, it's a shame they're not skippable on subsequent playthroughs, and the main menu needs a 30-second slow-burn introduction to let you select an option.

If anything in the overall nostalgia package falls short, it's probably the actual gameplay of the individual faux-retro arcade games, which are generally acceptable and not much else. But that problem is hard to avoid, and the overall experience is worth the hour or so to see it for the first time. The ending is also rather inconclusive, and I'm guessing promised future installments of the game are in doubt.

Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard from December 2020 - achievements

Pretty similar to the first, but I did enjoy it. (Minor spoilers) I found the introduction of Lobster Cop and the description of "Evil Guy" to be funny. The notebook mechanic, while charming and making it feel more like a real detective game, could be a bit tedious and slow to resolve, but it was a fun enough game overall.

Kimmy from January 2017 - screenshot
(I unintentionally left the Unity launcher open for a few hours. Actual playtime is about one hour.)

It's not every day you get an unironic visual novel about being a babysitter, but this game does a good enough job at it. I felt the explanation of what was really happening was rather vague, but perhaps that is an intentional way to portray the feeling of being a child who is not allowed to learn about or intervene with "adult problems."

And some words about Ghostrunner, which I won from Monthly in a Month #10:

Like many people may have been, I was more interested in Hades than Ghostrunner. The jury's out on Hades, but it might end up being the opposite. I was pleasantly surprised by the overall gameplay and feel of Ghostrunner, having generally enjoyed Hotline Miami and being somewhat disappointed by Mirror's Edge. Although my deaths ran somewhere around 1,700 for my first complete run, I felt the game was forgiving enough in the abilities and ways to slow down time that none of it really felt like it was unfair. (Minor spoiler) Probably the most frustrating part for me was the first boss; the second and third bosses felt like a breeze in comparison.

The visuals and music are excellent, but unfortunately the story is rather boilerplate and never really offers much in the way of surprises. Still, I can appreciate a game that knows what it wants to be and does not let things get out of hand with feature creep or online connectivity.

3 years ago
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