Completing my Steam library
The challenge
Recently whilst browsing Reddit I found someone who had decided he was going to “try” and complete his entire Steam collection of games, which to some might not mean anything whilst it makes others guffaw with laughter because they know that is probably an impossible task. However for several months now I’ve remembered I have literally dozens of games in my Steam library which haven’t even been installed, let alone played. Many have been acquired in sales, but even then I’ve spent the money so should get my entertainment value from them. So I’ve decided I’m going to do it as well!
Defining completion of a game
Obviously not all games are the same. Some have a campaign mode, others have storylines which vary based on your choice of character, others simply have no plot. Many few have an achievements system where you are awarded for particular actions or progress, some of which are extremely hard to gain. Here is how I decided to define when a game is complete without creating a full time job for myself.
Campaign / single plot storyline
With a clear and obvious goal which for the most part isn’t influenced by your choices the classic campaign driven game is easy to say when you are done. Once I have gone through the campaign of a game I will consider it “complete”, so for example Half Life, Test Drive Unlimited 2 or Portal 2 fall into this category. Whilst there may be multiplayer element that is for that ability to come back and play again, rather than “completing” the game.
RPG / multiple thread storyline
Very similar to the campaign if a game has a storyline I will consider it complete once I have played that through to its ending and not when I have done every permutation. So for example the Mass Effect series is something I could play through a few times and make different decisions to get a different experience, but in essence that first time of reaching the end of the storyline would be completion.
Leveller
Games like Osmos, Toki Tori or the original Portal are essentially just the classic leveling game where once you have completed a puzzle you move to the next more complex one and eventually complete them all.
Multiplayer / unlimited scope
There are some games which simply have no single player option or the single player isn’t constrained by storyline or campaign modes. For instance Counter-strike: Source has absolutely no campaign or storyline and is simply multiplayer, but it does have an achievement system. Minecraft is a sandbox world building game which could go on forever, and Audiosurf is only limited by your music collection. With these I think I am going to say a game is complete when I have spent over 10 hours on them, or managed to complete all the achievements. For most I probably won’t get all of the achievements, but by that point I will have my money’s worth from the game!
Already completed
Obviously I’ve been playing games for years, so here’s the list of games I am already marking off.
- Counter-Strike : Source
- Diablo III (yes, I know it isn’t a steam game but its in my library anyway)
- Left 4 Dead
- Left 4 Dead 2
- Minecraft
- Monday Night Combat
- Portal
- Portal 2
- The Settlers 7
- Starcraft II
- Synergy
- Test Drive Unlimited 2
- H.A.W.X.
- Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II
The plan
In that Reddit thread the originator said what he does is set 3 favourite games (one he likes, another he is interested in and one which he’s not so fussed about) and won’t play anything else in the meantime which is great because when you have over a hundred games just choosing one can seem daunting! I figure since I play Starcraft II multiplayer so much it’ll stay in my favourites but I’ll be adding 3 others along with it and sticking to them for now. To start with I’m going to go with Batman: Arkham Asylum, Osmos and Dragon Age: Origins.
That’s it for now, will post my progress periodically in future updates. Might even make a dedicated page for it …
