2.2 was a very special day, Groundhog Day!! I have prepared a special Maru-style puzzle for you, all drawn by me. Enjoy!! And yeah, Maru-style puzzle is an official term from now on, it means a puzzle involving crazy and time-consuming artwork as the major aspect.

Here's the story:

Did you know there are no games about groundhogs in Steam?? Just one DLC. Well, there is this evil groundhog warlock who isn't happy about that. So he's put a curse of groundhoggification on Steam on 2.2. All the characters in Steam games are slowly turning into groundhogs. All is not lost though, it will take one week for the curse to take full effect. This is your chance. To prevent the curse from taking permanent effect you must recognize the games that have already suffered the fate of groundhoggification. Shout out the names (or write them in the puzzle, that should also work) of all of these games to break the curse. You shall be rewarded if you succeed. You have one week, until 9.2.

tl;dr: name the games these groundhoggified (I'm sure that is an official term), characters are from. The games, not the characters themselves.

Here's the puzzle. Go for it, save Steam!!

The usual puzzle rules: no hints (here or in other sites), no answer sharing, no giveaway link sharing. Come on, I've worked on this puzzle for months, the least you can do is follow my rules. I will be giving out hints if I deem it necessary. Some questions have multiple correct answers, if those characters have been in many games.

Hint 1: all the games are available in Steam

Hint 2: there will be no more hints. There are already over 200 solvers so I guess my puzzle was pretty easy for most of you. My next puzzle will be a lot harder and multi-staged (I'm even considering including an "impossible" stage to it, that none of you will be able to solve :P).

Good luck everyone!! Break the groundhog's curse before it's too late!!

SOLUTION (sorry, I forgot to post this D:)

  1. Bastion
  2. Super Meat Boy
  3. Team Fortress 2, Garry's Mod
  4. Dungeon Defenders
  5. Cave Story+
  6. Assassin's Creed
  7. Half-Life
  8. Sequence
  9. Ys I, Ys II, Ys: The Oath in Felghana, Ys Origin
  10. The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, Skyrim
  11. Devil May Cry 4
  12. King's Bounty: Armored Princess

Thank you for participating in my puzzle. More Maru-style puzzles will be coming in the future!! ^^

11 years ago*

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Question: Are all the games on Steam?

11 years ago
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Yes.

11 years ago
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stuck on 5 :/

11 years ago
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stuck with Q8 and Q9...

Amazing drawing as always!! Nice work Maru :)

11 years ago
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Nice drawings :3 But I'm stuck on 5 and 8. :s

11 years ago
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NUMBER 9 WHY YOU SO HARD

11 years ago
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Q8 and Q9 both look really familiar but I think I should just give up and wait for the solution to be posted.

It's going to be real embarrassing if I own either of them...

11 years ago
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welp got em all except 8 spent hours looking for it but just aint happenin =/

11 years ago
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Bump for solved

11 years ago
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I got them all except 5, 8 and 9. It would probably be easier if I'd ever seen these characters, before, but I don't think I ever have. Number 9 looks just like the Avatar in Ultima IV, but that isn't on Steam.

11 years ago
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stucked on 5, 8 and 12

11 years ago
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found 5. still not sure about 8 and 12.

11 years ago
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solved, but cant enter since I've already owned more than 2 games in the pack. Good luck to everyone :)

11 years ago
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whats the pack anyway? i don't want to waste 6 hours on this only to find out i already own the games -.-

11 years ago
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The reward shall be a surprise. Though I just checked your Steam profile and it seems you don't have the games in this collection. So yeah, feel free to try my puzzle, you may enter for the prize if you manage to solve it. ^^

11 years ago
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I opened the puzzle and instantly fell in love. This is gonna be amazing xD Thanks for the work Maru! :D

11 years ago
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thanks marumisu :)

11 years ago
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Yep, 8 and 12 did it for me :P I've been stumped on them for a while, though they both look familiar!

11 years ago
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You've definitely seen 12, and more than once. Unless you've been under a rock for some years.

11 years ago
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Yeah I was so sure I had seen it before :P I got it. Only 8 left now :D

11 years ago
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Argh, stuck on 9. I don't think I've ever seen this character.

Edit: And I was right, never seen this one before. But found it anyway.

11 years ago
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Dammit, I know I've seen the last one somewhere. That rose on her thong-thing is very familiar.

11 years ago
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Those "groundhogs" of yours are kinda freaky. With those exaggerated features, androgynous vibe and pervy empty-stare they remind me of a certain acquaintance of mine and let me tell you, it ain't no nice connection ^^'

They get the job done however, but I can't progress with 9. and 11. - there're tons upon tons of these two kinds of characters everywhere and I hardly can distinguish between them. [oh well, got these two already; please don't take offense but I feel the coat's colour might be a bit off]

I'm sure I caught a glimpse of 8. during the sale but don't remember the title. Oh, crap.

11 years ago
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Hahaa, you're the first one to call my groundhogs freaky and pervy!! Other people just called the sweet, cute, adorable etc. An opinion that is different from the rest, I like that. I tried to draw them as cute as possible with their huge eyes and all, it's really funny to hear someone say they have empty stares in their eyes. Those are just the eyes of cute and innocent critters. :3

11 years ago
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Well, I'll take your word for that unless they start acting suspicious ;p

I actually like your puzzle by the way. And again, no offense meant altogether.

11 years ago
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Hahaa, no offense taken at all. I understand why you would see their expressions as soulless and empty. Big eyes are difficult to draw so that they won't make the expression look blank. And if that is your real opinion, I respect that. I want to hear honest opinions about my drawings, how people personally see them, not sugarcoated over-compliments. Critique is also good, it helps an artist notice her flaws and encourages to improve oneself.

11 years ago
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Thanks for understanding. I also have no problems with critique myself. I do have some with people though and prefer to reassure involved that I really mean no harm ;p Indeed, I do feel weirded out by your groundhogs, but at the same time the observation was lighthearted and rather humorous. So peace to you.

P.S. Seriously consider registering on dA if you like to draw. There's no pressure at any point and if you in turn decide to finally upload something, it's still not much of a chore. And at the same time you'd have a tremendous opportunity to improve, compare and show your work to folks. I wholeheartedly recommend. [speaks who - I don't have time to do that also ;d ]

11 years ago
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First try only 8,9 and 12 left.

I'm pretty sure i've seen 9 and 12 somewhere (but 9 wasn't the one i thought) and 8 definetely i've not played it and doesn't look familiar to me.

11 years ago
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The public demands that you build additional hints! :P (especially for 8 & 9)

11 years ago
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8 plz :)

11 years ago
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Well, seeing as there are already over 200 solvers to my puzzle, I don't think any more hints will be necessary. I guess my puzzle was a bit too easy for most of you (sorry if you're not one of those people ^^').

11 years ago
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I am one of those peoples. cries xD

Eh, no matter. Gl to everyone who made it.

11 years ago
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I wouldnt say MOST .. theres over 15K guesses lol
But yea Im one of them
Awesome puzzle BTW.
And for the life of me, I can picture #8 but the face is greyed out.. Please post the answer in the end so I can kick myself VERY hard. ty

11 years ago
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Of course I will post a solution after the giveaway has ended. It might make you feel stupid for not having seen the most obvious things, but at least you learn from your mistakes. I hate it when a puzzle ends and no solution is given, people will never learn to solve these things if they aren't taught how to do it. Though this puzzle is just about recognizing characters, so there's not much to learn from the solution. But a solution there will be, I promise. ^^

11 years ago
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Finally found number 8 (:

11 years ago
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Gah! All but 9. I could swear I've seen that character somewhere but just can't place it. I knew the rest pretty much immediately.

11 years ago
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Bump for solve

But! not enough points to enter LOL

11 years ago
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I can't condone all this animosity towards groundhogs. We have feelings, you know ;__;

All the same, thanks for the puzzle, Marumisu. The artwork is adorable :D

11 years ago
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Finally got the last one.... and I already own the game. lol

Oh well, thanks for the puzzle and great drawings :)

11 years ago
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I've got every single one, except for number eight...

11 years ago
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Closed 11 years ago by Marumisu.