Steam Library A-Z Challenge

The challenge: To play through each of the games on my Steam library. The rules: I have to play at least 1 hour of each game, in alphabetical order. Elven Legacy: Magic is another campaign for Elven Legacy. Sadly, Steam lists it as a separate game so to be strictly true to my challenge I'm going to have to play it. And its two extra campaign friends... This is the front cover for this campaign. The game plays exactly the same as Elven Legacy, although this particular campaign seems more hero based - at least in the first mission I didn't recruit any other units. The hex-grid etc. is back, although I did discover (after dying to the first mission on easy mode three or four times) that there's a rest button that lets your hero recuperate their health. I'm not sure if this was in the original game (and I'm not going to check, sorry!). The plot for this campaign seems way more interesting - for some lore reason, magic has gotten all tainted Wheel of Time ...

The challenge: To play through each of the games on my Steam library. The rules: I have to play at least 1 hour of each game, in alphabetical order. Elves in fantasy are often pretty boring, in my opinion. Aloof, magic-infused folk who are excellent at everything just aren't super interesting. There have been some great attempts at making Elves interesting (Terry Pratchett's take being one I really enjoyed) but in general they're not one of my favourite fantasy races. Elven Legacy takes the above stereotype and dials it up to eleven. The intro cut scene tells me that Elves used to share their knowledge and phenomenal cosmic power with everyone until someone messed it all up, causing them to go into hiding. Also they caused Dwarves to get buried in the ground? You play as an Elf with a superiority complex (gasp!) who seems to like murdering his way through every problem. At least, that's what I guess happens - I only caught bits of the plot as for some reason th...

The challenge: To play through each of the games on my Steam library. The rules: I have to play at least 1 hour of each game, in alphabetical order. I just cannot play horror games. I wasn't super worried about having to play any scary games during this challenge, as I'm the wimpiest person in the world when it comes to terror so I never buy them. So why is this game on my Steam list!? Eldritch is a first person exploration game, set over a few worlds inspired by the Lovecraft Mythos. You start off in a creepy library and progress to a creepy temple and then a creepy temple. There's definitely more levels than that but that's as far as I got. I'd be annoyed too if some rando came through a magic book and took all my artifacts The aim of the game is to find your way to the exit of each level, and when you've cleared enough levels you'll find the soul of an elder god, which enables you to unlock the next area. Of course there are all manner of ...

The challenge: To play through each of the games on my Steam library. The rules: I have to play at least 1 hour of each game, in alphabetical order. East India Company is an innovative and excitin......no, actually it's another Paradox map game. But read on, because I actually almost liked this one. Set during olde worlde times, this is another game about how awesome conquest and exploitation is (ugh). This is a problem with an awful lot of these types of game, so I thought I'd get this big negative out of the way first. It just feels gross to be gleefully conquering ports like this game encourages you to - in fact to beat the game you *have* to do so as it's part of the main campaign's objectives. Obligatory map screen shot Anyway, East India Company is a naval-based 4X game, and is an awful lot like Commander: Conquest of the Americas. Which makes sense as it's by the same people and is almost certainly using the same engine. There are some differ...

The challenge: To play through each of the games on my Steam library. The rules: I have to play at least 1 hour of each game, in alphabetical order. Made by Amplitude Studios, Dungeon of the Endless is another entry into their seemingly....endless...Endless games. I think I'm going to be unable to look at the word endless for a while after this. You play as crew members of a spaceship which has crash landed on a strange and hostile creature-infested planet. Your goal is to get your big yellow diamond from one end of the dungeon to another. Sounds pretty par-for-the-course but Dungeon of the Endless is one of the more unique games I've seen whilst doing my Steam challenge. This is like 1/3 the enemies you'll normally see The game is somewhere between a rogue-like and a tower defense game - in the first half of each floor you'll be exploring a dungeon, discovering equipment, leveling up your characters and researching new tech. You'll also be discover...

The challenge: To play through each of the games on my Steam library. The rules: I have to play at least 1 hour of each game, in alphabetical order. I'm developing a Pavlovian response to the Paradox Interactive logo now. My eyes glaze over, my finger starts just clicking compulsively... anyway, here's another Paradox map game! Darkest Hour: A Hearts of Iron Game is a real-time military simulator. Set in the First or Second World Wars (your choice, woo!), you pick a side and try and get as many victory points as possible. Being a huge board game nerd I'm no stranger to the allure of VPs but I just could not work this one out. 'Welcome to the tutorial!' it says cheerily, flanked by Iron Crosses I think my main frustration with these types of game is that the entry level to them is so high. I've been known to play a map game or two, Civ and Stellaris and such, but Darkest Hour is just so hard to learn. The game does acknowledge this though - repeat...

The challenge: To play through each of the games on my Steam library. The rules: I have to play at least 1 hour of each game, in alphabetical order. According to my super brief research, The Culling of the Cows was released in 2014 by a publisher called DL Softworks. The reason I checked this is because I'm certain this is an early noughties Newgrounds Flash game, come to haunt my Steam list with its inexplicable presence. You play as Sammy, a problematically stereotyped character, and your job is to shoot a lot of zombie cows. You do this by moving around a single screen, shooting right. You can move around this screen freely (although you won't because only upwards and downwards motion is useful) but you can't turn around so if a zombie cow gets past you too bad. It's hard to find a screenshot with no mushed up animals in it :( To add a little variety to this tedium there's a couple of types of upgrades which make your gun better, an airdrop which...