Gaming Challenge 2024

I think the threequel bit is fine since it is trying to encourage checking out a specific part of a series' timeline, mostly because adding "spin-off game" as an alternate gives people a lot more leeway for what they can do.

How about "A game for your favorite console"? That could be interesting, encourage people to check out the deeper parts of the library of their favorite.

Hi! A bit of a progress update, as the list is nearly filled out. There’s 5 spots remaining for challenges, and we currently have 9 alternatives. Last year had 7 alternatives, and I’d like to keep alts at a cap of 10.

Here are a selection of challenges that’ve been suggested:
- A game with 4 or more difficulty options
- Beat a game with a metascore below 70
- A game from a series that hasn’t recieved a new installment in 15+ years
- A game featuring time travel
- A game that explores mental health themes
- A game with a perfect score from a major reviewer (The selection is 148 compared to Game of the Month’s 156, so I think it’s a managable number to pick from)

Also I put the “light and fluffy” suggestion down as “bright and cheerful” as I thought the latter was a more clear descriptor, I can use the former if people want that one.

Finally we also need to establish bonuses. The running idea is “four games from the four quarters of a chosen year” (Example: Q1 2011, Q2 2011, Q3 2011, Q4 2011) as well as a fifth bonus related somehow to your birthday. Maybe “a game released in your chosen year in the same month as your birthday” and it can be said that if you’re up to it, try the same week or the exact day.

Hi! A bit of a progress update, as the list is nearly filled out. There’s 5 spots remaining for challenges, and we currently have 9 alternatives. Last year had 7 alternatives, and I’d like to keep alts at a cap of 10.

Here are a selection of challenges that’ve been suggested:
- A game with 4 or more difficulty options
- Beat a game with a metascore below 70
- A game from a series that hasn’t recieved a new installment in 15+ years
- A game featuring time travel
- A game that explores mental health themes
- A game with a perfect score from a major reviewer (The selection is 148 compared to Game of the Month’s 156, so I think it’s a managable number to pick from)

Also I put the “light and fluffy” suggestion down as “bright and cheerful” as I thought the latter was a more clear descriptor, I can use the former if people want that one.

Finally we also need to establish bonuses. The running idea is “four games from the four quarters of a chosen year” (Example: Q1 2011, Q2 2011, Q3 2011, Q4 2011) as well as a fifth bonus related somehow to your birthday. Maybe “a game released in your chosen year in the same month as your birthday” and it can be said that if you’re up to it, try the same week or the exact day.

I like the 5 bonuses, I feel that they are definitely fun and way different from last year, look forward to seeing what games fit in it.

From the challenges that you showed, I think the time travel one shouldn't get in just to keep things fresh, try to differ from 2023.

And by curiosity, the "game from a series that hasnt recieved a new one in 15+ years". Are there that many games to choose from? There are some obvious ones, but 15 years might restrict the options a bit too much and lead to repetitions in entries. Although there probably are many obscure franchises I do not know about.

As a recommendation, if we are considering to play a "bad game", a metascore below 70, maybe we could use the retirement stat from HLTB such like:
* A game with a Red Retirement Rate on HLTB (Above 10%). / A game with a Very High or above retirement rate on HLTB (above 15%)

And also something that might be fun is a category (or alternative) envolving a speedrun attempt, not many people catalog speedruns here and it be fun to see the game of choice on the lists of something like:
* A Speedrun attempt on any game

I think it's fun because in my mind each person would choose a game they are good at and know how to finish it quickly, but I also understand how a person would not want to do it, so maybe it can be the last alternative, thrown as a 44-3 alternative? It fits the pattern.

Bright and cheerful is a perfectly good way to put it, so I think that descriptor for it is fine. I feel like the 15+ year one could either just say "a dead franchise" to give more leeway to people, although looking it up there's more 15+ year entries than I thought. Or maybe say "hasn't had a main installment" in case of games with like one random spinoff mobile game or w/e the past 15 years? Or maybe just not count mobile games, since a lot of dead franchises have random mobile games (IE Wild Arms hasn't had a new game since 2007...except for Wild Arms: Million Memories, a random mobile game that didn't even last two years and never left Japan).

I like the idea of Speedrun as an alternate category to something, but I don't know what. I kinda like the idea of birthday month as a main challenge (maybe over time travel?) but if not it being the fifth bonus works. Is there a way to search HLTB for retirement rates? If so then that over Metascore can work.

Bright and cheerful is a perfectly good way to put it, so I think that descriptor for it is fine. I feel like the 15+ year one could either just say "a dead franchise" to give more leeway to people, although looking it up there's more 15+ year entries than I thought. Or maybe say "hasn't had a main installment" in case of games with like one random spinoff mobile game or w/e the past 15 years? Or maybe just not count mobile games, since a lot of dead franchises have random mobile games (IE Wild Arms hasn't had a new game since 2007...except for Wild Arms: Million Memories, a random mobile game that didn't even last two years and never left Japan).

I like the idea of Speedrun as an alternate category to something, but I don't know what. I kinda like the idea of birthday month as a main challenge (maybe over time travel?) but if not it being the fifth bonus works. Is there a way to search HLTB for retirement rates? If so then that over Metascore can work.

I agree with everything said!!

A Dead Franchise is a great way of giving freedom on the choice. And I also do like the birthday challenge enough to see it being on the main 50, although I understand that it fits perfectly as the 5th bonus.

And about the retirement rates, I got the idea from a HLTB post on twitter which showed the highest rates for 2023.

Maybe shift speedrun to a bonus? In the same way that speedrunning is a bit of a "bonus challenge" to a game.

My goal is to not level up on steam and focus on very cheap game collecting.

Not sure if it is too late to suggest much but it came to my mind that "A game with a subtitle" would be a really fun category. After all, who thinks about if a game has a subtitle? Just enough of a little twist.

The list is challenge filled out, and I've updated the first post in the thread to reflect it. You can start putting together your lists if you'd like.

The list is challenge filled out, and I've updated the first post in the thread to reflect it. You can start putting together your lists if you'd like.

Thank you so much for organizing the event!!

theres absolutely no chance i get anywhere near "completing" this, but im excited to put together my own list and try for the first time! thank you to everyone who put together and contributed to the challenge!

My Master List for this year's challenge.

If showing in curly brackets, those are possible options I'm thinking about for that category.

33 out of 50 done.

✅ 01. A new game (released within the past year) - Invincible Presents: Atom Eve
✅ 02. An old game (released 10+ years ago) - Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
✅ 03. A really old game (released 20+ years ago) - Legacy of Kain: Defiance
✅ 04. An ancient game (released 30+ years ago) - The Secret Island of Dr. Quandary
✅ 05. A time sink (50+ hours) - Yakuza 0
✅ 06. A quick completion (less than an hour) - Bunflower
✅ 07. A game you got for free - Human Resource Machine
❌ 08. A game you've been wishing and waiting for - {Journey}
✅ 09-1. A remake or remaster of a game - Metro: Last Light Redux
❌ 09-2. A game that wasn't translated into your language until some time after its initial release
❌ 10. A game with 6+ endings - {Wheels of Aurelia}
❌ 11. A collection of games
✅ 12. A game recommended to you by someone else - Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
✅ 13. A game whose title could describe your life - We Happy Few
❌ 14-1. A game with an alliterative title
✅ 14-2. A game whose title contains the name of a colour - The Stalin Subway 2: Red Veil
❌ 14-3. A game whose title starts with a number
✅ 15. A game that heavily focuses on flight - AER: Memories of Old
✅ 16. A game from a genre you don't usually play - Momodora II
✅ 17. A game that is themed around dogs or cats - Cats are Liquid - A Light in the Shadows
❌ 18-1. A game that features multiple genres, or is a mashup of different genres
✅ 18-2. A visual novel or text-based game - State of Mind
✅ 19. A game where you play as an antihero or a villain - Thief (2014)
✅ 20-1. A game set in a historical time period - Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30
❌ 20-2. A game set in the far future
✅ 21. A game with a female protagonist - Anna's Quest
✅ 22. A game without any humans - The Talos Principle
✅ 23. A game where you play as a robot or an alien - SteamWorld Dig
❌ 24. An arcade-style high score game
❌ 25-1. A game set in a world you would like living in
❌ 25-2. A game whose protagonist you would want to be friends with
❌ 26. A game where you play as a bug or an aquatic creature - {Freddy Fish 3}
❌ 27. A game that was adapted from another medium (book, movie, etc.) or a game that has been adapted into another medium - {Gold and Glory: The Road to El Dorado}
✅ 28. A game you watched someone else play first (partially or in full) - Bright Memory
❌ 29. Another person’s favourite game
❌ 30. A game with a diverse cast
❌ 31. A cornerstone to gaming culture - {Undertale}
❌ 32. A game that starts with the same first letter as in your username (if your username doesn’t contain letters, pick a random letter) - {BioShock Infinite, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons}
❌ 33-1. A “threequel” (third part of a series) - {Far Cry 3, Saints Row: The Third}
✅ 33-2. A spin-off game - Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales
✅ 34. A bright and cheerful game - Yoku's Island Express
❌ 35. A game containing a real or fictional religion - {Bioshock Infinite - "The Founders"}
✅ 36. A game that heavily features either fire or ice - Epistory: Typing Chronicles
❌ 37. A game that heavily features money, gold, or economics
✅ 38. A game with a subtitle - Condemned: Criminal Origins
✅ 39. A game that surprised you - Unravel
❌ 40. A post-apocalyptic game - {Metro: Last light Redux}
✅ 41. A game with a short title (4 letters or less) - IGEO
✅ 42. A game that had a red retirement rating on HLTB when you started playing it (10% or higher) - Just Cause 2
❌ 43. A game that one of your favourite artists worked on (artist, developer, musician, voice actor/actress, etc.)
✅ 44-1. A game you previously retired or put on hold - Crysis
❌ 44-2. A game that you have beaten before and are replaying
❌ 45. A game that is on someone else’s HLTB 2024 Gaming Challenge List - {
✅ 46-1. A studio's very first game - Wolfenstein: The New Order
❌ 46-2. A studio's most recent game (at the time when you started playing the game)
✅ 47. A game that had its HLTB times on a purple/red/grey background at the time you started playing it (colour indicates the amount of submitted playtimes, red = low amount, grey = zero) - Captain Backwater
✅ 48. A game that has been a HLTB Game of the Month - GRIS
❌ 49. A game listed on the HLTB stats page, or the stats page filtered for a single platform - {Batman: Arkham City GOTY, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, }
✅ 50. A game chosen by the HLTB randomizer - Rusty Lake: Roots
❌✅

BTW for "Games With a Female Protagonist", does that include a game with multiple protagonists where one is a woman? For example Fire Emblem Echoes has Alm and Celica as the two main characters, one guy and one girl.

BTW for "Games With a Female Protagonist", does that include a game with multiple protagonists where one is a woman? For example Fire Emblem Echoes has Alm and Celica as the two main characters, one guy and one girl.

I think in that case yes!
Persona 3 (excluding portable), 4 and 5 wouldn't count though, since the girls are playable but aren't the "protagonist" imo.
Kotone from 3 portable counts though!

https://howlongtobeat.com/user/PNN_Legend/lists/26856/Gaming-Challenge-2024

Here's my current list so that people can start filling in their #45s. Not sure what to put for a game that surprised me yet. Guess I'll have to fill that in once i get there.

I think in that case yes!
Persona 3 (excluding portable), 4 and 5 wouldn't count though, since the girls are playable but aren't the "protagonist" imo.
Kotone from 3 portable counts though!

Alright so basically have to realistically feel like the playable / "main" protagonist, fits with what I figured. Thanks!

Great list! I like the challenges, and (subjectively) I think they're better and more diverse than last year.

However, can I have a last-minute request to remove task #9-2? It might seem fun for English speakers or whatnot, but it is extremely limiting for other, smaller nationalities and can be a real pain in the neck to find a suitable game for.

Great list! I like the challenges, and (subjectively) I think they're better and more diverse than last year.

However, can I have a last-minute request to remove task #9-2? It might seem fun for English speakers or whatnot, but it is extremely limiting for other, smaller nationalities and can be a real pain in the neck to find a suitable game for.

While there are fan translations into a lot of languages (Romhacking lists 30 other languages although clearly a fraction of the number of "common" languages) #9-2 is an alternate choice, It can be skipped if you do 9-1 which is far easier (any remake or remaster).

Nice challenge, I will try to complete it, because during these months I have started to enjoy single player games/story games, before I only used to play valorant/cs and the truth is that I felt a little burnt and I started to hate videogames a little bit but lately I have recovered the desire to play single player games!

pd, sorry for my bad english im spanish :b

Changed 09-2 to "A game that received new translations to other languages some time after its initial release" making it more general and approachable for speakers of many languages.

Changed 09-2 to "A game that received new translations to other languages some time after its initial release" making it more general and approachable for speakers of many languages.

Thank you for updating it, I appreciate it.

Looking forward to 2024!

https://howlongtobeat.com/user/PNN_Legend/lists/26856/Gaming-Challenge-2024

Here's my current list so that people can start filling in their #45s. Not sure what to put for a game that surprised me yet. Guess I'll have to fill that in once i get there.

i dont think your list is set to public

i dont think your list is set to public

Sorry about that. Should be fixed now.

I completed so many games last January cause i wanted to get started on the 2023 list.
I ended up with 111 Completions in 2023. 48/50 challenges, 5/5 bonus, 4/7 alternatives, 1 replay within year, 53 others.
Couldn't get myself to get through 2 final categories, but new challenge breathes new life.

Here is my 2024 collection.

Updates:
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August

Thank you for making one. Good luck to anyone participating

The ones with things like 'won in a prize in this' don't mean much to me as I don't follow this kinda stuff.

However, for myself, I'd like to add things like
"is set in a modern day city"
"is set in a European medieval style setting".
"has a cat that we know the name of" (so random cats in the background do not count).
"has a protagonist that is part of royalty".
"has a computer hacker that is playable".
"You travel in a space ship at some point".
"Has a playable character that is a functional alcoholic"
"Is higher than the number 6 in its series."
"Has a fandom that has weird shipping fanwars'

I wanted to say "Is set in Japan", but I am working on beating all the Yakuza games, so that would be too easy :D )