Getting "503 first byte timeout" errors trying to access my own profile and some other profiles (e.g. lowdefal). Just seems to be the profile page itself, can access lists and other pages just fine from the drop down menu / direct url.

I hate those type of categories. Takes me more time to think up the game than actually playing it, and I feel conflicted with myself as it almost feels like I'm cheating :)

Yeah it can feel like that a bit too.

For your question though, fighting games tend to be at the top of my list for diverse cast games since they typically have lots of characters representing different places, races, cultures etc.

I won’t lie when saying that this year list has lots of categories I don’t like. I prefer categories where it’s pratty clear what kind of games cover them, and that they also give you a wide range of options.

I actually came up with a list of 50 categories for next year – but I’m getting ahead of myself here. Instead, I’m going to make a series of individual posts, each focusing on one of categories I’m not 100% clued on.

I’ll start with “Games with a diverse cast”. I looked this one up have yet found an answer. Are we talking about diverse group of population? Different race, ethnicity, sexual orientations? Or maybe we are talking about characters that just are very different from one another.

How big should the cast be? Does having two characters that are different from one another consider diverse enough?

Can someone come up with examples of games that they consider diverse?

Typically with vague categories the solution really is just "up to you". Like if you think you can make an argument to yourself about something that constitutes diversity under any of those topics, go for it, the original ideas weren't to be excessively strict but just prompts to encourage you to play something from your backlog.

I agree some of the worst prompts tend to be prescriptive ones, i.e. you can't know ahead of time if it contains such elements, typically you won't know if a cast is diverse in any way until after you play it. You can choose to define diverse any way you like for the context of the goal. Maybe it is just a cast with couple of characters of different persuasions, or maybe it's a huge cast of varying attributes, doesn't really matter.

My favourite goals are usually the ones like "play a party game" or "a strange game" simply because of the myriad ways you can interpret that. Genre, game title, literally or subversively. It can be fun thinking outside the box on things like that.

First, I'd have to unlock the door to the time compressor that allowed me to reach such a fate. Second, I'd unlock the door to the time compressor that the time compressor was in. After that, who knows.

Sonic is great. I just finished 100%ing Sonic Rivals 2 (aside from the mutliplayer cards) this evening so that should say enough. Been playing through every Sonic game now over the last while, making good progress. Sonic 1 was the first game I ever played back in the 90's. S3K is in my top 3 favourite games of all time. Whole series means a lot to me even all these years later. Also "Shadow the Hedgehog" is a great game is a hill I'm willing to die on, and "Sonic 06" is actually surprisingly decent despite it's jankiness (aside from the story). :)

Nightmares from the Deep Series - Completed. Fairly standard hidden object games, but fun nonetheless. First one has some terrible video compression on the cutscenes that ruin it a bit but it's not too bad. I love the aesthetics from these games, just oozes charm.

Kingpin: Life of Crime - Completed. I probably would have enjoyed this significantly more had I not played on "Real" difficulty. They seem to just have cranked all the enemy attributes to 11 million, health, reaction speed, accuracy. Basically you are dealing with aim-bots while wielding nerf guns or so it feels like on this difficulty. It took so long to actually make it out of the first level alone I thought I was doing something wrong, but I was too prideful in thinking things would get better as it went along, shops hinted at all the new and exciting weapons, and all the mods for those I could only imagine all the other stuff that could get added. Sadly that never happens, what you see at the start in the store is all you ever get access too, half the time the stores don't even have what you want in stock, or worse they are use-limited items that don't really help. The one saving grace here was the ability to hire 2 goons that follow you around and having 2 aim-bot NPCs actually evens the odds.

It's not a bad game, just a product of its time, just wish it was balanced a bit better.

Sonic Rivals - Completed. Not as awful as I was expecting it to be. Honestly I rather enjoyed it, it's really annoying at times having to constantly race the A.I. and the rubber banding can lead to some truly unfair situations, but it adds a real adrenaline rush to otherwise standard Sonic gameplay that would be missing otherwise. Pros and cons really, not for everyone. Gonna try and 100% this over time, it's good in short bursts, but the challenges can get rather repetitive.



That Which Gave Chase - Completed. Was something I was hoping to play last year but couldn't get around to it. Fairly short, a bit vague in terms of storytelling, relatively "boring" yet still quite interesting. Not much in terms of gameplay but nails the atmosphere, mystery and I do like the aesthetics.

Shenmue 2 - Completed. Ended up taking an extended break from playing stuff since November. I had this game on the Dreamcast and I legitimately refused to play it after realising it didn't have an English dub, for some reason I just couldn't accept Ryo with a different voice, mostly because most of his lines are just so hilariously delivered in English. The stilted delivery is almost part of the charm. It actually annoyed me a lot back then when I learned that the Xbox port got the English dub after Sega went third party lol.

Glad to have played it but it is a pretty strange game overall, really weird pacing, loses a lot of the charm of the first game by trying to expand it's scope but still ends up feeling pretty limited. Maybe too many cutscenes, too limited meaningful gameplay, too much focus on things like the lucky hit and gambling stuff. And the entire third act is just unbelievably boring, it's fascinating in ways but it's like being stuck in a corridor watching two chatbots awkwardly converse.

I'm being harsh on it, it's a weird game and I'm glad it exists. I do think that these are the kinds of games that might benefit greatly from a remake or something, just to properly realise the ideas being put forward here. They are in ways ahead of their time and just struggling to really execute on it, though the lacklustre response to Shenmue 3 suggests to me that they perhaps tried that and still managed to fail, I will see eventually. Even expanding into a different medium might help, a tight trilogy of movies or something that cuts out all the extraneous gameplay, hits the main story beats and maybe manages to tell the full 7 instalment story that was apparently planned would be cool. edit: apparently an anime was made. I might have to check that out.



edit: and a nice new 100%

Here's my completed Gaming Challenge of 2023! That makes three years in a row that I've completed the challenge :) Let's see if I can continue to do so next year, too.

2023 Challenge List:

✅ 1. A new game (released within the past year) - Young Souls from March 2022
✅ 2. An old game (released 10+ years ago) - Atelier Rorona Plus: The Alchemist of Arland originally from 2009, the "Plus" version released November 21, 2013 so it still fits.
✅ 3. A really old game (released 20+ years ago) - Quest for Camelot
✅ 4. An ancient game (released 30+ years ago) - Donkey Kong 3 from 1983
✅ 5. A time sink (50+ hours) - Final Fantasy XVI finished in 58 hours
✅ 6. A quick completion (less than an hour) - Neon Mine completed in 35 minutes
✅ 7-1. An IGF award winning game (any year) - The Forest Quartet 2023 Excellent in Audio
✅ 7-2. A Golden Joystick award winner (any year) - OutRun
✅ 7-3. A Steam Awards nominee (any year) - Townscaper 2021 nominee
✅ 8. A game made during a game jam - Friendly Fire
✅ 9. A crowdfunded game - Chained Echoes
✅ 10. A game you got for free - Charm Studies It's free on itchio
✅ 11. A game you watched someone else play first (partially or in full) - Road 96
✅ 12. An open world game - Final Fantasy XV: Royal Edition
✅ 13. A game that went through development hell - Storyteller
✅ 14-1. A sequel that is a different genre than the original - Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair
✅ 14-2. A "threequel" (Third part of a series) - Baldur's Gate 3
✅ 15. A spin-off game - 96 - Another Story
✅ 16. A game without humans - Bound By Blades
✅ 17. A game with 6+ endings - Growing Up
✅ 18. A cornerstone to gaming culture - Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
✅ 19. A game with a long title (8+ words or a word containing 13+ letters) - My name is You and it's the only unusual thing in my life
✅ 20. A game with a short title (4 letters or less) - Hoa
✅ 21. A game with a strange title - Chuchel
✅ 22. A tie-in to a licensed movie or TV show - PAW Patrol The Movie: Adventure City Calls
✅ 23. A game with no dialogue - Pixross
✅ 24. A game themed around or heavily inspired by music - Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory
✅ 25. A game that's scary - The Quarry
✅ 26. A parody game (parodying a specific game, genre, or games in general) - The Looker
✅ 27. A game featuring time travel - Alt-Frequencies
✅ 28. A post-apocalyptic game - FAR: Lone Sails
✅ 29. A game with a diverse cast - Fire Emblem Engage
✅ 30. A game developed by a single person - Astronarch made by Dale Turner
✅ 31. A tabletop or card videogame - Foretales
✅ 32. A collection of games - Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
✅ 33. A game that includes a co-op mode - Kirby's Avalanche
✅ 34. A game whose title could describe your life - How To Cope With Boredom and Loneliness
✅ 35. A cel-shaded game - Dredge
✅ 36. A game that takes place in a dystopia or utopia - Machinarium
✅ 37. A party game - The Wolf's Bite
✅ 38-1. A sports game - Golf Peaks
✅ 38-2. A racing game - Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
✅ 39. A game where you play as an antihero or a villain - Bloodstream
✅ 40. A game you've been wishing and waiting for - A Plague Tale: Requiem
✅ 41. A game from a genre you rarely play - Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition
✅ 42-1. A relaxing 'feel-good' game - Beasts of Maravilla Island
✅ 42-2. A dark, gritty, or violent game - This War of Mine: The Little Ones
✅ 43. A game recommended to you by someone else (friend, family, youtuber, etc.) - Vampire Survivors
✅ 44. A game with a character creator - Hogwarts Legacy
✅ 45-1. A game made in RPG Maker - Red Trees
✅ 45-2. A game made in Unreal Engine - The Dark Pictures: Little Hope
✅ 46. A game where you play as a robot or an alien - Re:Fresh
✅ 47. A visual novel - Off Day
✅ 48. A game that was not originally in your native language, but was localized later - Frogger Returns
✅ 49-1. A game from one of your favorite developers/companies - Mario Kart: Super Circuit
✅ 49-2. A game from a developer/company you haven't played a game from before - Sudocats
✅ 50. A game chosen by the HLTB randomizer - A Date in the Park

Bonus: Up to five games, each developed in a different country (other than the country you live in)
✅ 1. FAR: Changing Tides made by Okomotive, based in Switzerland
✅ 2. PictoQuest made by NanoPiko, based in France
✅ 3. LoveChoice made by Akaba Studio, based in China
✅ 4. League Of Enthusiastic Losers made by yookond., based in Russia
✅ 5. Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising made by Rabbit & Bear Studios, based in Japan

That's amazing :D well played. Keep the streak alive, good luck completing the 2024 challenge!

Had to tap out, just too little time and too many games left to play, or the few I have are just too long. Shame really I had some nice games lined up for the remaining categories, but I'll get to them in due time. Life just managed to get in the way too often this year but "c'est la vie".

Since it's December though, I recommend y'all start planning for a 2024 challenge if it's something yous want to keep going. Last year cut close to the wire since no-one wanted to pick up the reins. Especially if any new gimmicks or ideas want to be discussed.

I didn't complete anything this month :(

I did put nearly 400 hours into Elite Dangerous though which I still can not believe (shoutout to letstalkaboutdune for the recommendation too btw). Been slowly working at the Parasite Eve Ex Mode in the background here and there too. The Chrysler Building dungeon has been such a chore that I've been hesitating putting effort into it. Just the real last boss to go now though when I can be bothered to do it.

October was a decent month.

03 - Underground Blossom
08 - Homeworld Remastered
14 - Parasite Eve
16 - Master of Darkness
23 - Condemned: Criminal Origins
29 - Titan Chaser

The Best - It's nearly impossible to choose. I think Parasite Eve takes it though, I just absolutely loved it.

The Worst - No worst.

The Rest - Underground Blossom is a worthy continuation of the Rusty Lake series in all its macabre glory. Fascinating at all times.

I got some flak for playing the remastered version of Homeworld before playing the original which I was instructed to do but I still enjoyed it quite a bit. The story, units, factions are all very interesting and the way the game is structured really surprised me since I'm usually not too fond of RTS games.

Master of Darkness is just an old blast from the past, something I had played before but never completed, to my knowledge. Solid game.

Condemned: Criminal Origins was really cool as well, a bit janky with how the combat operates but it felt really immersive and tense for those reasons too. I was expecting a stealth kind of game similar to Manhunt but finding it to be a kind of first person brawler was a nice surprise.

and finally, Titan Chaser. Not a game for everyone, looks like a horror game based on things like "The Mist" and while it manages to share a very similar kind of atmosphere this is actually a very chill and relaxing game. It's a bit like a puzzle game where you lurk through the fog in a creepy environment trying to figure out how to corral giant creatures to safety. It's janky, weird, charming. Maybe a bit boring and lacklustre, underwhelming but I liked it for what it was :)

Titan Chaser - Completed. I rewatched "The Mist" recently and was hoping this was going to be a fitting "adaptation", albeit a rather low budget on. Interestingly, this really isn't a horror game, for the aesthetics, it completely nails the atmosphere but manages to be a rather chill and relaxing game. That might be a bit disappointing to some people but I found it to be alright. It is a bit annoying yeah that the world feels so devoid of threat, but at the same time it allows you just to just get immersed in this situation where other games would go mad trying to oppress you with game mechanics etc. It's a weird thing but still interesting.

Condemned: Criminal Origins - Completed. I liked this game but it has a lot of poor execution. Feels like a victim of the "consolisation" era, leaves the game feeling somewhat bare-bones when you can't even do things like jump or crouch. I thought this was going to be a kind of stealth focused game like Manhunt but it turned out to be a more straight forward brawler thing which was actually quite refreshing. It's just a shame the combat, while impressive, I found to be really difficult to adjust to. You just feel so sluggish all the time, melee range is hard to gauge, block and kicking can feel slow and ineffective at times. Meanwhile enemies can feint attacks and what not making judging the timing from their telegraphing really hard at times. And the game is brutal on the highest difficulty, a few mistimed blocks and you're loading from a checkpoint. Ends up creating a kind of uneven experience where you might just walk up and ace a few battles without taking a hit then mistime a few attacks and get wrecked and sent back to the last checkpoint. Still it was a fun experience.

Parasite Eve - Completed. Amazing game, I absolutely loved it. Barring a few small things that bothered me, it's right up there with some of my favourite games. Just the feel of games from this era, there's nothing like it and it's so unique. It's like the best of Final Fantasy 8 and Panzer Dragoon Saga in looks and music, it's great. I'll keep playing to see what this Ex Mode is all about. I'm stunned this game just hasn't been made available to modern platforms because it's an absolute classic.



edit: Master of Darkness - Completed. I love this game. I had a friend who owned it when I was younger so I got to play a lot of it but I don't recall us ever actually managing to complete it. Well, I righted that wrong. It's still a fairly solid game, looks, sounds, plays pretty good.

Homeworld Remastered - Completed. I usually play the original first but I just wanted to play it at 1080p resolution and not deal with any problems. I'll have to play the original version at some point because my understanding is that changes have been made, subtle but experience altering and that has pros and cons. Either way, the remastered version is not what I would consider bad by any means and I definitely enjoyed my time with it. It was actually really refreshing to see an RTS style of game that isn't focused on twitch-style APM gameplay and instead comes down to just decision making and fleet management. Has flaws but a lot of strengths and a fantastic atmosphere.

Underground Blossom - Completed. More Rusty Lake, what's not to love. Short but tricky at times, if you liked the others you will love this no doubt :)

Haven't reported since May, lost quite a bit of time in the last few months, no completions for the entirety of July sadly.

Originally Posted by: June, July & August Completions = +6, Bonus = +1

43. A game recommended to you by someone else (friend, family, youtuber, etc.)
   - The Talos Principle - Recommended by a friend
 7. An IGF award winning game (any year) / A Golden Joystick award winner (any year) / A Steam Awards nominee (any year)
   - Firewatch - Golden Joystick: Best Indie Game (2016)
30. A game developed by a single person
   - Baba is You - by Finnish Developer Arvi Teikari a.k.a. Hempuli
47. A visual novel
   - Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk - is a self-referential visual novel
   Bonus. 4
    - Milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk - Nikita Kryukov = Russia
18. A cornerstone to gaming culture
   - Shenmue - Once the most expensive game ever made, popularised QTEs, has an enduring legacy
50. A game chosen by the HLTB randomizer
   - Voidigo - Nightmare Grotto [S]> Fantasy Grounds [S]> Aritana and the Harpy's Feather [23]> Threads of Destiny [45]> Pixeljunk Monsters Ultimate [R]> Westboro [36]> Voidigo

Originally Posted by: Total = 30/50 | Bonus = 4/5

1. A new game (released within the past year)
   - The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog - Release Date: Apr. 01 2023 - This Year
 2. An old game (released 10+ years ago)
   - Halo Wars - Release Date: Feb. 2009 - 14 Years Ago
 3. A really old game (released 20+ years ago)
   - Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge - Released Sept. 2003 - 20 Years Ago
 4. An ancient game (released 30+ years ago)
   -
 5. A time sink (50+ hours)
   - Spellforce: Platinum Edition - Completion Time: 176h 54m
 6. A quick completion (less than an hour)
   - TIMEframe - Completion Time: 0h 43m
 7. An IGF award winning game (any year) / A Golden Joystick award winner (any year) / A Steam Awards nominee (any year)
   - Firewatch - Golden Joystick: Best Indie Game (2016)
 8. A game made during a game jam
   -
 9. A crowdfunded game
   -
10. A game you got for free
   -
11. A game you watched someone else play first (partially or in full)
   -
12. An open world game (or otherwise a game with a large world to explore)
   -
13. A game that went through development hell
   -
14. A sequel that is a different genre than the original / A "threequel"
   - Time Mysteries 3: The Final Enigma - Part 3 of the Time Mysteries Series.
15. A spin-off game
   - Halo: Spartan Assault - Isometric Twin-Stick Spin-off from FPS Series
16. A game without humans
   - Akin - Abstract puzzle game with no humans
17. A game with 6+ endings
   -
18. A cornerstone to gaming culture
   - Shenmue - Once the most expensive game ever made, popularised QTEs, has an enduring legacy
19. A game with a long title (has 8+ words or a word containing 13+ letters)
   - Chronostation - 13 letters
20. A game with a short title (4 letters or less)
   - HEVN - 4 letters
21. A game with a strange title
   -
22. A tie-in to a licensed movie or TV show
   - Back to the Future: The Game - References and ties into the film franchise.
23. A game with no dialogue
   - Aritana and the Harpy's Feather - Story conveyed entirely via silent animation
24. A game themed around or heavily inspired by music
   - Dominique Pamplemousse - Adventure game where characters sing
25. A game that's scary
   -
26. A parody game
   - Conker's Bad Fur Day - Parodies various other media
27. A game featuring time travel
   - Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) - Time travel to the past and future occurs multiple times
28. A post-apocalyptic game
   -
29. A game with a diverse cast
   - Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity - 18 playable characters
30. A game developed by a single person
   - Baba is You - by Finnish Developer Arvi Teikari a.k.a. Hempuli
31. A tabletop or card videogame
   -
32. A collection of games
   -
33. A game that includes a co-op mode
   -
34. A game whose title could describe your life
   -
35. A cel-shaded game
   - Stonefly - I think it's cel-shaded. If it's a different technique please correct me.
36. A game that takes place in a dystopia or utopia
   - Westboro - Cyberpunk Dystopia where a Megacorp controls all the pure water.
37. A party game
   - Total Party Kill - it's in the name
38. A sports game / A racing game
   - Banjo-Pilot - Airplane "Kart" Racer
39. A game where you play as an antihero or a villain
   -
40. A game you've been wishing and waiting for
   -
41. A game from a genre you rarely play
   - Time Mysteries: Inheritance - Remastered - Hidden Object Game, 3 years since I've played one
42. A relaxing 'feel-good' game / A dark, gritty, or violent game
   -
43. A game recommended to you by someone else (friend, family, youtuber, etc.)
   - The Talos Principle - Recommended by a friend
44. A game with a character creator
   -
45. A game made in RPG Maker / A game made in Unreal Engine
   - Threads of Destiny - RPG Maker Game
46. A game where you play as a robot or an alien
   - Creature in the Well - You play as Engineer BOT-C [robot]
47. A visual novel
   - Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk - is a self-referential visual novel
48. A game that was not originally in your native language, but was localized later
   -
49. A game from one of your favorite developers/companies / A game from a developer/company you haven't played a game from before
   - Sonic and the Black Knight - Sonic Team, one of my favourites since childhood.
50. A game chosen by the HLTB randomizer
   - Voidigo - Nightmare Grotto [S]> Fantasy Grounds [S]> Aritana and the Harpy's Feather [23]> Threads of Destiny [45]> Pixeljunk Monsters Ultimate [R]> Westboro [36]> Voidigo

Bonus: Up to five games, each developed in a different country (other than the country you live in)
1. Halo: Spartan Strike - Vanguard Games = Netherlands
2. Time Mysteries 2: The Ancient Spectres - Artifex Mundi = Poland
3. Heroes of Might and Magic (GBC) - KnowWonder = USA
4. Milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk - Nikita Kryukov = Russia
5.

10 - Baba is You
12 - Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk
14 - Milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk
21 - Shenmue
25 - Voidigo

The Best - I feel like Milk outside a bag of milk was the best. The improvements in quality, character, themes etc. they just nailed it so well. It found it to be fascinating.

The Worst - None of them were particularly bad, but it's between Baba is You and Voidigo. Baba just overstays its welcome by dozens upon dozens of hours, and despite the premise being simple the puzzle solutions can involve hours of just trial and error or involve some never-mentioned mechanic or interaction making it very exhausting to play through. When you get to a point where just loading up the game feels tiresome that's an issue I feel.

Voidigo is somewhat better and much more engaging, but I feel very early on that this is one of those games that because its opted for the roguelite genre that that justifies some of the worst and most frustrating design choices for the sake of challenge. There's just not enough variety in the moment to moment gameplay to really justify how punishing and restrictive it is. Combined with knowing there are several difficulties beyond what I played I can already foresee it becoming a real problem so I just retired it.

The Rest - Shenmue is a classic, I have a lot of nostalgia for this game having played it at release. I feel it holds up remarkably well but without the nostalgia I imagine it just comes across as a very weird, idiosyncratic game from that era.

Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk, like "outside", is fascinating. Nothing wrong with it, it's just a bit shorter, sets up the premise. I suppose the oppressive looking visuals can be a bit difficult to parse at times which is why I feel Outside just did a much better job of handling the idea.

Probably gonna retire Voidigo, it's not a bad game but at the same time I just don't like it. Everything in it just feels...off, like a game that's been strangled to death by the overbearing pressure to balance everything. None of the weapons feel particularly fun to use, the game is so unbearably punishing, but also so short and not varied enough to really warrant that, since you're just going to be plodding through the same basic stuff over and over if you just happen to make a few mistakes. And it becomes so needlessly chaotic at times that it becomes genuinely unfun. Like, a million boss attacks and no time to react, or attacks landing within milliseconds. And this is just on one of the medium difficulties, there's like 2 or 3 more on top which I honestly can not foresee being anything close to being fun when I'm this lukewarm on the game already.

I also used the site all day Friday with Firefox, no issues. I believe I had it set to strict for everything.

Tested on mobile and desktop.

Does it work in a private tab?

Same thing in a private window / tab and in the safe mode, blocking either "main" or "framework" scripts allows the site to load again but both running together crashes it.

Just to reiterate, this probably is just an outdated browser issue, there's probably been an update along the line that changed how some variable or method outputs are handled. If you are using up-to-date software you probably won't be encountering it. Not expecting you to fix it at all, it's just a bit of a curiosity in how this bug is manifesting itself. The mystery is intriguing lol.

I'll mess around with no script next week.

For context, I use the Brave Browser with everything set to strict. That includes cross-site cookies and fingerprinting (tracking garbo) so essentially all scripts are blocked unless they come from howlongtobeat.com. I have no issues with this config except charts don't have labels (they show up when switching to regular fingerprint blocking, instead of strict).

I'll save you the bother of messing around with Noscript. I did a bit more poking. The previous scripts I mentioned; main and framework that were erroring with "typeError e is undefined" seem to be the cause.

By just using the browser console to target those specific scripts, the site only crashes if both are unblocked at the same time. Blocking either one causes the site to load and doesn't cause the typeError. Blocking either one though still prevents login etc. (error 405: method not allowed). Seems like some conflict between those two scripts.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll poke around. Not sure what it could be at the moment but I have done a lot of software package updates recently.

Just wanted to add some additional info that I just discovered. Using the Noscript extension to block all javascript sources on the site, the two base domains are "howlongtobeat.com" (or hl2b.com) and "ziffstatic.com". Blocking all scripts from these sources actually causes the site to load properly, it's only when I unblock the "howlongtobeat.com" domain that causes the site to disappear. When unblocking all the other scripts sources that load behind the "howlongtobeat.com" domain (amazon-ads, cookielaw, googletags etc) it still crashes so I imagine it's isolated within the site code itself and not something else like amazon ad services or whatever.

Still can't log in though since the login scripts, hcaptcha etc. are behind in the howlongtobeat.com domain. Sorry it's not more informative, just found it interesting that it loaded properly suggesting it's not entirely a my browser issue, site still works otherwise.

Been having some trouble with the site recently, just in the last few days clicking any page on the site causes it to briefly flash up before it completely disappears to a blank white screen. I was asking on the discord and it seems to be an isolated problem to me.

I am using a slightly outdated firefox browser so it's quite likely the issue, but in hesitation to update it (I got things just how I like em) I just want to make sure there's nothing on the back end of the site that might have gone awry and unnoticed in the last few days.

Just to preface, this issue occurs even with all extensions and addons disabled, and only on firefox, I'm posting via Edge atm.

The console, when running in troubleshooting mode only projects two errors; both are "TypeError: e is undefined", located in "framework-f570b424fd8349c2.js:9:69810" and "main-06bfa755272e85d8.js:1:11213" respectively

I understand that it probably isn't the source of the issue, and that even if it was it might not be worth addressing given the scope of the rest of the site especially since no-one else is encountering issues. But I figured I'd ask just incase, maybe it's something simple or someone else is aware of how to fix this kind of issue otherwise.

If it's completely unrelated and there's nothing else at fault then I'll just bit the bullet and update...maybe.