I use another gaming forum but not as much as I used to.

I actually like the format and have found it unfortunate that Social Media & Discord now dominate the market.

Discord is a great product and I enjoy using it but I prefer the more long-form, nuanced discussion that happens on forums. Discord communities are hard to keep up with, especially when you are a member of multiple. I'm not on social media at all so its nice to have Discord and Forums as a way to talk about topics you love with a known community, something you don't get on something like Reddit.

I'm also almost 40, so some of it is nostalgia.

I have a small piece of feedback for HLTB: The Game. It would be great if there was a way to catch up on rounds from the past few days in case someone couldn’t play on a specific day. Maybe this could be done with an arrow next to the games to switch between days, or something similar to the Random Challenge using the URL.
Edit - You could also add the date to the URL to access previous games. I tested it with 2025-01-02, but then the custom challenge with the games of that ID appears.

Alternatively, I also have a small request: It would be nice if players could add three games themselves – for example, to create personalized rounds with friends. Or for those who want to create a small special challenge, like selecting three games from the same publisher.
(According to the instructions, this mode should already exist, but either it's not there or I'm just too blind)
Edit - I just tested it by adding the ID of selected games to the URL, and then it worked. I'm not sure if this is the only way, but I find it cumbersome but it works.

I also have an idea for two new power-ups that could either make the rounds longer or give players more options, which could add more variety and excitement, especially in comparison to other players.

1. Hint
- Function:
Provides an automatically calculated range for the total game duration (from the main story to 100% completion). This range is based on actual values but is designed so that both the start and end of the range are somewhat exaggerated, making it harder to guess the exact time. It’s similar to Spreed but reveals a bit more since Spreed is often hard to estimate.

- Mechanics:
- The lowest value of the range is based on the main story duration but is reduced by about 1–25%.
- The highest value of the range is based on the completionist duration but is increased by about 1–25%.

- Example:
- Main Story: 40 hours.
- Completionist: 100 hours.
- Calculated Range: 34 hours (14% below main story) to 125 hours (25% above completionist).
- Player sees: "This game takes between 34 and 125 hours."

- Benefit:
This power-up gives a rough estimate without directly revealing the answer. It remains challenging to estimate the exact length, as the range is both generous and strategically set.

- Strategy:
Especially helpful for games that are unknown or hard to estimate. At the same time, the range is broad enough to maintain the competitive nature.

2. Trend
- Function:
Shows the average duration of similar games (same genre and similar release window). The displayed number gives you an estimate of how long a typical game of this type takes.

- Mechanics:
- The system analyzes games with similar genres (e.g., RPG, action, adventure) and a similar release year (+/- 5 years).
- It calculates the average playtime of these titles in the main story category.

- Example:
- You need to estimate the duration of an action-adventure from 2018.
- The power-up shows: "Similar games in this genre and time frame take an average of 20 hours (main story)."

- Benefit:
- This power-up provides a rough estimate without revealing the exact values of the game. It helps especially with games that are unknown by referencing the genre and era.
- The average duration of similar games can serve as a reference, but it remains vague enough to keep the competition exciting.

- Strategy:
Optimal for games where the player has no idea. It still requires an estimate, as the given average value does not cover all aspects of the game (e.g., linear vs. open-world).

This power-up isn’t too strong, as it only gives a rough idea, and not too weak, as it can be strategically used when little information is available.
‐
Thanks for all the updates on the site! You're doing a great job Everdred :3

I never got a chance to reply but this is great feedback, thank you. I like the hint ideas and experimented with your first one when developing the game. It was pretty good but got cut because I decided on 3 rounds. I think it could be interesting to have a 5 round version with these extra hints.

As far as custom games, editing the URL is currently the only way to do it. I built a lot of the functionality on backend to support custom games but haven't gotten around to building the interface.

Thanks everyone!

I've added the game now.

There is a system in place to surface new games to me, it requires multiple people request the same game. This is to make it manageable for a single person (me).

Popular games are added when announced but older titles like this can take a bit to filter up.

Free Games General no longer works

It was attempting to go 1 page ahead of where it actually was, it has been fixed.

Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery free on Epic

I'm looking for this feature. Was the option to edit the "added" tag implemented? I can't find it.

No, I recently added "Start Date". There is no way to edit your "added" date.

Everdred are Amstrad CPC games supposed to show up under the PC platform filter? That doesn't seem correct to me. I'm searching 80s PC games and I've found too many CPC games that don't have PC versions for me to think it's a coincidence.

Yes, it is. I'll fix that.

Minor Site Update:

Year-In-Review
- Fixed a minor bug that defaulted to 2025 when possible.

A little thing I just noticed while looking at the year in review - apologies if this has already been highlighted...

Baldur's Gate III is displayed with 290h 44m, however my real completion time is half that - it looks like it's adding the "current progress" time to the completion time. Not sure if that's actually it, but there's definitely something wrong in the calculation somewhere =)

EDIT: I think I found the culprit - I also had it in the "co-op" time... which solves the previous question, but raises a new one....

What is the thinking behind putting in completions and co-op time?

My original thinking for BG3 (which I played through the campaign entirely in a co-op game), was that I have completed the game, and completed it in co-op, but if I just put in co-op time, it doesn't appear to act as a completion... or does it?

The completion page is a bit unclear on this =)

Additionally, I'd like to see a comment field for the multiplayer times, if these are actually meant to be used for completions.

The most played section isn't displaying your completion times but the totally amount of time played. It uses progress if it's the highest value, otherwise it adds single player and co-op.

Anyway, only the categories that appear when checking completed (main, plus, 100 & speed runs) count towards HowLongToBeat times. It's a bit awkward because more games are fully co-op but I would put your time in single player and note that it was done in co-op. Maybe I could improve messaging, like Story/Campaign instead of single player but this was all designed 14 years ago when co-op and vs were extras to a single player campaign.

Co-op and Multi are really just to track optional time outside of campaigns. They are only prominently displayed when single player is toggled off. In that case, the data isn't even used to compare against your game list, only displayed on search and game pages to give a general idea how long players invest in those modes.

All that being said, I could also not include multiplayer in the calculations or only choose the highest one, everyone uses their fields differently.

It's a simple question but it requires a detailed answer.

Full disclaimer: I've owned a Steam Deck and currently own a Rog Ally I'm using to play older/simpler games on. I have a PC with a 4090 for more demanding titles.

I don't think anything has changed with regards to Steam Deck, so probably not. For the following reasons:

Hardware and software
- It's a PC. Valve call it a PC and functionally it is a PC that just happens to run Steam OS.
- Steam OS is a customised Linux install that runs the linux version of Steam. however it's "just" Steam it's the same as any other version of Steam. You could install the same thing onto a PC if you wanted.
- Other handheld gaming PC's can also run Steam and ultimately perform mostly the same way (two button presses on a Rog Ally effectively turn it into an overclocked Steam Deck in terms of user experience)
- Steam Deck doesn't do anything different in regards to running games, yes some games are Linux versions but Steam Deck also runs Windows games through simultaneous conversion of runtime code.

None of these provide a compelling reason to treat Steam Deck differently from any other PC based platform with regards to the site:

- No exclusives. Since there is no such thing as a title that requires a Steam Deck and even the "introductory" games can be played on any PC, and you can play any Linux or Windows game, there is no reason to catalog these games separately from a site perspective because they are still PC/Linux games.
- The site does not list "compatible" hardware, only hardware with a distinct line of exclusive software. This means no hardware variants that don't offer anything new (revised console versions) or emulator boxes ("Mini" consoles, modern replica's or FPGA based devices).
- Steam Deck falls into both of these categories. It's a variant of a format that has thousands of variants and multiple operating systems over 40 years but also plays the same games as a lot of them.

Ultimately if there was a Steam Deck category, there would need to be a Handheld Gaming PC category. And then there would be calls to merge them for being the same thing. And then there would be calls to merge them with PC because they do the same thing. From both a practicality perspective (not filling up an already long platform list with variants) and from existing site policy, no one has ever made a persuasive argument to ignore all of the above.

We have separate Linux and Mac platforms because both of them have their own very long and very separate histories filled with exclusive games. So a need to separate them, even for search purposes alone has a lot of benefit. The PC category is already a group that takes into account the 40 year history of the platform through t's rise from Booter games, through Dos, and Windows 95,98, XP and beyond. It can even include Linux games, BeOS games, OS/2 Warp games, and other non-ibm Compatible computer lines that made minor contributions to the gaming scape. Therefore the PC (or Linux) category already accommodates Steam Deck and the offshoots of that concept.

Now while a lot of this is my opinion, it's grounded in the way the site operates so feel free to debate any of the points above. I think you would have your work cut out though. If you really wish to separate your Deck played games, you can always file them under Linux.

I appreciate this detailed response and I may point users to it in the future. I get this question a lot, especially through the feedback form, and give a very similar but less nuanced response.

"PC VR" is a platform you can choose when you add a playthrough, but you can't set it as an approved platform for the game entry itself (for VR-exclusive games, specifically). Is that intended?

Also, for games that are VR, does the first person tag still apply? There's third person VR games, so

PC VR is just for user categorization. The platform is PC, just like PlayStation VR is PS4 and PS5.

I wouldn't put first person when tagging VR games, it's implied. If the VR title is third person then it's worth noting. I wouldn't pick real-time for the flow on every single game because it's implied. Real-time is meant to be a descriptor on Strategy games or similar when it's worth noting.

My games are also public and I'm also having issues: https://steamcommunity.com/id/Snailed_lt/

As mentioned above this often happens during major Steam sales. You'll have to try again later as it does appear your profile is set up correctly for import.

For me there is a problem when I clicking "2024 In Review" link in the site header. Instead of something that should be here it just displays "Something went wrong! Please try again later." and then the no matter which pages i'm trying to open it will display this message until I completely reboot the page. Problem persists between different devices and IPs so I guess this is something related to my data.
There are some error in the console, which can or can not be related to the problem:

framework-c2373564c69ff406.js:1 Error: "category" is not a registered scale.
at tS._get (ee8b1517-626715587eb6927c.js:1:71892)
at tS.getScale (ee8b1517-626715587eb6927c.js:1:71124)
at ee8b1517-626715587eb6927c.js:1:81759
at H (3545-efed479ac0b1ee68.js:1:22600)
at tG.buildOrUpdateScales (ee8b1517-626715587eb6927c.js:1:81549)
at tG._updateScales (ee8b1517-626715587eb6927c.js:1:84260)
at tG.update (ee8b1517-626715587eb6927c.js:1:83422)
at new tG (ee8b1517-626715587eb6927c.js:1:80045)
at v (3545-efed479ac0b1ee68.js:1:51363)
at 3545-efed479ac0b1ee68.js:1:52189

Site Update:

Year In Review
- Fix Error: "category" is not a registered scale. On accounts with no reviews.

Thanks for reporting. Fix should be out in about 10 minutes!

For me there is a problem when I clicking "2024 In Review" link in the site header. Instead of something that should be here it just displays "Something went wrong! Please try again later." and then the no matter which pages i'm trying to open it will display this message until I completely reboot the page. Problem persists between different devices and IPs so I guess this is something related to my data.
There are some error in the console, which can or can not be related to the problem:

framework-c2373564c69ff406.js:1 Error: "category" is not a registered scale.
at tS._get (ee8b1517-626715587eb6927c.js:1:71892)
at tS.getScale (ee8b1517-626715587eb6927c.js:1:71124)
at ee8b1517-626715587eb6927c.js:1:81759
at H (3545-efed479ac0b1ee68.js:1:22600)
at tG.buildOrUpdateScales (ee8b1517-626715587eb6927c.js:1:81549)
at tG._updateScales (ee8b1517-626715587eb6927c.js:1:84260)
at tG.update (ee8b1517-626715587eb6927c.js:1:83422)
at new tG (ee8b1517-626715587eb6927c.js:1:80045)
at v (3545-efed479ac0b1ee68.js:1:51363)
at 3545-efed479ac0b1ee68.js:1:52189

Thanks for reporting. I'll look into it.

It's especially interesting because your stats page works just fine and it's 95% the same code.

https://howlongtobeat.com/user/ZidaneTri/stats

I noticed that on the stats page, the text for how long it took you to beat a game is white, which blends in with the background. Selected half of it to show that it's still there.

Site Update:

Stats
- Year charts will only abbreviate year when 5 or more years are displayed.
- Fixed white theme time displays blending with background.
- Moved chart next to a larger total playthroughs display.

A fix for this and some more minor tweaks.

Site Update:

Year In Review / User Stats
- Total number of completions and cataloged now displayed in the top summary.

User Games
- Expanding a playthroughs details will now show you when it was added.

Please provide all feedback in the official thread.

Site Update:

Year In Review / User Stats
- Total number of completions and cataloged now displayed in the top summary.

User Games
- Expanding a playthroughs details will now show you when it was added.

Are the catalogued year in review stats a little off? My total completions seem lower than if you change the filter to “completions” and then check the chart. The most played on catalogued seems off as well, with the section on the completions filter looking more accurate. Or I could be interpreting it wrong, not sure!

That's because 20 or so of your completions were added before 2024. Cataloged looks at games that you added in 2024.

Dredge is free on Epic today.

https://howlongtobeat.com/year-in-review/ThyReen

Really interesting rated section. Nobody Wants to Die has been on my wishlist for a while and AfterDream seems up my alley.

I'm currently playing Rebirth and this game just keeps going and going. Enjoying the ride.

Here's Mine:
https://howlongtobeat.com/year-in-review/Everdred

FYI: There will be a Christmas themed one in the coming days!

Site Update:

Year In Review
- New standalone page to share with your friends or enemies.
- Automatically selects 2024 or latest year by default.
- Promote Year In Review on main user profile page.
- Promote Year In Review on homepage.

User Stats
- Switch "Most Played" stats display to Hours and Minutes
- Randomize "Highest Review" games when there are multiple of the same score.
- The boring theme is back now that Year In Review exists.

Please provide all feedback in the official thread.

Site Update:

Year In Review
- New standalone page to share with your friends or enemies.
- Automatically selects 2024 or latest year by default.
- Promote Year In Review on main user profile page.
- Promote Year In Review on homepage.

User Stats
- Switch "Most Played" stats display to Hours and Minutes
- Randomize "Highest Review" games when there are multiple of the same score.
- The boring theme is back now that Year In Review exists.

Dark and Darker Legendary Status is free on Epic today. It requires the free base game.