Steam Library
My Steam library is relatively small by gamer standards, especially given the twelve years that I’ve had it. But it still has sixty-three games in it: way more than I can keep track of in my head. Anke asked me about how I managed to amass this many, and now I want to categorize them.
Games I got for Multiplayer and Actually Played: 29
ARK: Survival Evolved; ARK: Survival of the Fittest: Lut and I played this during its open beta. I think we stopped before the actual release, which I think is the second title. You could tame and ride dinosaurs in it. That was pretty much the selling point. (Lut points out there was also a lot of building and farming, which is 100% true and also not the reason I got this specific game).
Ascension; Cthulhu Realms; Splendor; Star Realms: Computer adaptations of card-based board games. I got these to play with Terrycloth. The Steam version of Splendor doesn’t let you do online multiplayer in the same game with AI players, which is annoying.
Blood Bowl: Legendary Edition; Blood Bowl: Dark Elves Edition; Catan; D&D Lords of Waterdeep; Small World; Ticket To Ride: Computer adaptations of board games. Played them with Terrycloth.
Card Hunter: Card-based RPG sort of thing, a lot like playing very old-school D&D without a GM. Got it to play with Terrycloth, played it a few times.
Dungeon Defenders; Dungeon Defenders II: Tower defense games. Lut, Terry and I all used to play the first one together, extensively. Lut burned out on it by the time the new version came out. Terry and I played it a little but not much.
Dungeonland: Dungeon stomp. Terry, Lut and I played this together, a few times.
FireFall: This wasn’t an actual Steam game; I must have added it to Steam for some reason, or downloaded a Steam copy after we’d stopped playing it. Anyway, I played a fair amount of this and Steam only says I played it for 30 minutes. Lut and I used to play it together, it was an FPS with MMO elements.
Gauntlet: Dungeon stomp.Terry, Alinsa and I played this together, a few times.
Left 4 Dead: One of Lut’s favorite-ever FPS for team-based PvP. Zombies & survivors game. I played it once with him but my FPS days were already well in the past.
Magic the Gathering (five different versions): These were MtG games where you played a flat fee to buy the game and then unlocked decks and cards to customize the deck with. Much more limited than standard MtG. Terry and I used to play them.
Magicka: Dungeon stomp with weird combo powers. I played it for a while with Terry, Alinsa, Lut, and Octantis, but I never really got the hang of it.
Sanctum; Sanctum 2: Lut, Terry and I all used to play the first one together, extensively. Lut burned out on it by the time the new version came out. Terry and I played it a little but not much. Yes, I had the exact same game experience with this as with Dungeon Defenders, and no, I don’t know why.
SolForge: A card-based game like MtG, but it’s online only and the gameplay would not adapt to physical cards. Lut, Terry and I all used to play this.
Tricky Tower: A tetris-y style game I play with Terrycloth.
Games I got for multiplayer and launched once: 6
Armello: A board game I bought to play with Terrycloth. I installed it and it tried to take me through a tutorial of some kind. I didn’t want to wade through it while Terry was around, so I exited out and never opened it again.
Forced: not sure. I played it for 48 minutes, and Alinsa and Terry also have copies, so I’m guessing it was a dungeon-stomp-style game that we played together for a bit and then I noped out.
Guns of Icarus: FPS where you play the crew on a flying ship. Terry, Alinsa, Lut and I played this briefly. I recall not liking the controls/gameplay much, which was a shame because the premise was pretty great.
Hammerwatch: I played this with once or twice in 2014 and have no memory of it, but I’m pretty confident I played it with Terry. I’m putting it in the “opened once” category even though Steam says I played for 2.8 hours, because it is too forgettable.
Talisman: Digital Edition; Talisman: Prologue: I don’t know why I have two Talisman versions. One was bad enough. I remember loving Talisman in the late 80s/early 90s, and wow, those were Dark Times for gaming. DARK TIMES. “Back in my day, we played Talisman and we LIKED IT. No, I can’t tell you why, I have no idea.” Terry and I played the first title for 38 minutes, but it felt like so much longer.
Games I got for single-player and actually played: 9
Boyfriend Dungeon: dating sim + dungeon stomp
Divide by Sheep: A puzzle game Lyn recommended. Played it for a bit. Simultaneously cute and gory.
Dream Daddy: Dating sim. Played one of the routes but never went back to do any of the others.
Max Gentlemen: Sexy Business!: dating sim + ‘business’ sim. Whole game was very tongue-in-cheek and silly.
Puzzle Pirates: Dark Seas: Technically, this is a multiplayer game, but I hardly ever played the Steam version multiplayer. (Lut introduced me to the game in the pre-Steam era and we did play together back then). On Steam, I played so much distilling puzzle. SO MUCH.
Regency Solitaire: Rounds of solitaire games interspersed with a story. Entertaining.
Sid Meier’s Civilization V: I love Civ-style games, but they’re so addictive that I don’t often buy/play new ones for fear of losing months to them. Technically, this has a multiplayer mode and Terry and I did play it together on several occasions, but the vast majority of my play was solo.
Sunless Sea: I bought this because I loved Fallen London. I did not love Sunless Sea. It wanted to be a roguelike. I tried.
The Wolf Among Us: Interactive fiction game. Fun! Started Lut and I on reading the Fables graphic novels. I played it while Lut watched; it’s one of those games that’s fun to watch.
Games I got for single-player and launched once: 3
Calico: You run a cat cafe shop and acquire pets. Vicorva played this on their stream once, and it looked fun and was cheap. I played it once for twenty minutes, then sat down in-game and couldn’t figure out how to stand up again. Exited out, never played again.
Coffee Talk Demo: You run a coffee shop with supernatural patrons. I played the demo briefly but never bought the game.
Monster Prom: Dating sim. Played it for 15 minutes once, discovered it didn’t have a save, never played again. (It suggested game lengths of 30 or 60 minutes, so I guess the theory was that you would finish it in one sitting).
Games I never played at all: 14
AER Memories of Old: This is some kind of exploring/flying game that I heard of somewhere and thought sounded fun. I had it on my wishlist for a few years and eventually bought it on sale.
Card City Nights; Magnifico; Wakfu; Warlock - Master of the Arcane Demo; Windward; Ziggurat: No idea.
Hatoful Boyfriend: pigeon dating sim.
Monaco: Heist game. I think I got it to play with Terry and then never did.
Ninja Pizza Girl: Platformer. Backed it in Kickstarter.
Sentinels of the Multiverse: Computer adaptation of a board game. Got it to play with Terrycloth but never did.
Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: I think Terry had an extra code for this from a Humble Bundle and gave it to me.
SteamWorld Heist: I guess I got this to play with Terry? Never played, don’t know what it is.
Tabletop Simulator: This was either a freebie or cheap. I think Terry and I were going to try using it but never did.
Games I literally just bought yesterday: 2
Spiritfarer; Kind Words: I heard about these games a year or more ago and put them on my wishlist. I bought them today because of the Steam sale. Will I play them? WHO KNOWS.
So my general impression that, for the last decades plus, I mostly get games for multiplayer is born out: I have 35 definite “I got this for multiplayer” and 4 probable, vs 18 “I got this for single-player,” and 6 “I have no idea.” Since 2007 or so, Terry and I have played games together for a few hours Mon-Thurs, most nights. So I get a lot of gaming in that way.
I also have a much better track record of trying games if they’re multiplayer: 29 that I played for 2+ hours, 6 that I at least launched, and 4 to 10 that I never tried. Whereas single-player is 9/3/6-10.
I am also pleased that the majority of my Steam games are ones that I’ve played, too. Maybe someday I will launch the other games on the list! At least the ones that I have some recollection of why I got them. Ziggurat may be out of luck forever, whatever it is.
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