This atmosphere or garry's mod... You always hear wind, birds that doesn't exists. You walking on map and you doesn't see any life, all feels so empty and even dead. This is creeps me out always while i was playing alone on some sandbox standart maps.
There is a psychological phenomena that describes this feeling, often known as "kenopsia" or "kenophobia". It's the stressful feeling you get when you enter empty spaces, typically a location that you would expect to be bustling with people, only to find the area empty and abandoned. These are sometimes known as Liminal Spaces. For example, entering public areas after closing time, like a park or a school late at night, long after everyone has left. Another example would be spelunking through decrepit abandoned buildings. I would figure that this applies to abandoned servers on video games too. When I was young, I would sometimes leave important school materials behind at my elementary school, and would have to go back after closing time. It's very eerie, because I am so used to seeing the place bustling with people, but late at night, there is usually nobody there. Sometimes there might be one janitor, but that isn't a guarantee. Most of the lights are also turned off. I can't help but get this feeling that I am being watched when I am there.
Yeah I was thinking about it. It happened in winter evening. When I was studying at school there was a parents meeting. I stayed for the extra lessons and after finishing it I was forced to wait for my mom. I was sitting at the hall and I felt that I need to go to restroom. It was late so most of the places were dark and mostly there wasnt any light. Walking through hallway with half of the lights off was so unnerving and the constant buzzing sound of light add up to it. When I was going back to hall I felt that something or someone is watching. My instincts kicked in so I felt like I should get away fast as I could. When I saw parents leaving have never been so happy to see people
I get that feeling whenever I play on commonly played online maps in gmod or TF2 mixed with nostalgia as I've been playing those games for about a decade.
I think the creepyness comes from the 3D realistic art style. STALKER does this to a lesser extent, the rusted, lowres filtered textures make everything appear "realistic" but it's also not.
the feeling that you get in STALKER is unmatched, especially in Anomaly. It's a combination of ambience and the fact that you might be stalked as well by people or monsters that don't show up until the very end and jumpscare you. It puts me on edge every time.
@@COHOFSohamSengupta Slava Monolita! You infidels wont be our match when our glorious warriors in their eternal union with the Monolith march into the rest of the zone!
@@quakeIVrealespecially after you've checked the clock and it's closer to 3am, everyone is sleeping, you're not sure if you want to keep playing alone since everyone has left already but you don't quite feel like going to sleep. Fuck man this videos comment section is bringin up emotions and I'm not sure if I like these emotions :D
It’s the atmosphere. There are sounds of life and people around you, but there’s nobody there. the droning background hum, the police cars, the creak of seesaws, it’s filled with life, but nobodies home
It's probably comparable to that episode of the Twilight Zone where the soldier finds himself in an empty town, but little things keep happening like food appearing and vehicles running.
Yeah, that's basically how I was thinking of it. Not only that, but the fact that these maps are meant to be multiplayer. A place full of other people around you, with something always happening, yet when no one else is there it's just... off. Edit: I realize now that the video continues on to say pretty much exactly what I just commented
the thing is, whoever made those assets back at valve knew what they are doing, the whole idea of halflife and portal was to make you feel uncomfortable, in a way to immerse you in that world full of depression and despair not to mention the feeling of "big brother always watching". I'd say the primary driving force are the textures and assets (premade buildings and stuff) of this creepy yet familiar feeling of depressed, scared and being watched
Yes exactly. Everything feels... abandoned, disposed of. Like nobody has been there for years. And yet you hear ambient sounds. Everything feels empty. Like something bad just waiting to happen. You're in a maze that you can't escape. No matter where you go it feels like that.
I think the combination of photorealistic textures with a lowpoly, flat and motionlessly dead world. The light and shadows doesn't feel right. It's kinda reminiscent of the scariest show from my childhood: Courage the Cowardly Dog. It also applied photorealistic textures to surfaces, and it was really really creepy.
For me it was creepy due to hearing sounds that should indicate human activity but getting conflicting information due to seeing nobody. I think this confuses and causes this feeling of creepiness. Also, seeing things that indicate people were there (ex: lights being on everywhere - why, if there are no people anywhere ?) not so long ago but not seeing anybody anywhere at any point. These kind of conflicting information raises an alarm in the brain and probably expresses itself as this feeling of something being wrong with the environment.
Sfx can also be creepy, even if you reverse them, you can hear some scary noises or messages thats hard to understand, but there actaully creepy that, you'll actaully get a feeling like fr, your feeling that your not alone in your reality or your game, in the game you think someone is watching you, and making these sounds, in the half life 2 sfx, there's a few sound effect which are also creepy, also you might not believe me the witch sound effect from both l4d is really creepy like fr, i can't stand to long.
My thoughts exactly. I think the constraints of the game engine (clean lines, lack of scenery movement, smooth player movement) also contribute to that feeling although it might just be me
For me it’s, an area that feels like it should have people, but doesn’t. It’s unnerving, like you might just turn around and see something, or someone.
I think part of the reason is also the fact that you can hear a lot of city noises, especially when they're in sort of a reasonable distance for you to eventually see what's causing it, but you never do. Like police sirens, you'd expect to eventually either see the car, or hear the sirens stop, right?
What makes it so creepy is the liminal aspect of these games. The feeling like there should be people in these places where you hear city sounds, cars, and metros but have yet to see anyone is what gives you the creeps that you might not quite be so alone as you thought you were. Another thing that adds onto this is the layer of nostalgia. Many of these maps were played by many people as kids and teens then. But now, many sit empty, giving it an eerie feeling.
A few other thoughts, or musings rather: - A generally desaturated color palette. - Stark, right angles, few curves. - Mostly run-down assets. - Mostly tall buildings, which, together with the angular, blocky feel creates large, sheer surfaces and consequently a feeling of being small.
Yeah, all half life assets and textures are quite depressing. That's because to make a convincing atmosphere of living under aliens rule they used some post-soviet country architecture as reference. It's all either a blocky cheap soviet housing or withered older buildings.
It’s just............so still, there is no wind, the leave or grass don’t sway. You hear ambience and sirens. But everything is completely still and motionless.
The presence of background noise implies a bustling world nearby, yet no matter where you go, it is empty. It’s as if you are trapped a few seconds out of time, either in the future or the past.
Ever watch the twilight zone episode where the rift in time is filled by construction workers assembling time before it happens? Reminds me of source maps
i get that feeling a lot more with beta content, like the maps of test_citadel of half life 2, though half finished and completely different to the retail concept, the vibes it gives are really unnerving, specially the tiles covering the walls.
I have another thing to add: (Speaking for the older, hl2-type maps, since the video talks about those.) These (older) source maps are very often incredibly stationary; nothing or very little is moving (Other engines seem to care more to give plants, or other things affected by things like wind, at least some kind of movement). The movement comes from the players on it and when they aren't there, only a frozen world (often with post-apocalyptic assets from hl2) remains. When you add a soundscape that hints at activity, you get a situation where you have two regions in the world you're in: an empty one, where you are now, and an active one, somewhere out there. The scary part is that you do not know where the border between these two regions lies, you might cross it around the next corner and rationally we all know that in a source game, you will most likely not encounter it. Emotionally though, our brain does not know that and so, it needs to find out where this border lies to be at peace. Humans inherently do not like suprises like this. We don't nessecarily dislike being in either environment (active or empty), because we can adapt our state of mind to it, but we DO dislike being in one of them while we are in the state of mind of the other type. --> Example: You're been walking alone, no one in sight for a while, and you turn a corner and suddenly you see a person just a few meters ahead facing/walking into your direction. (Slightly) scary? What if this happened while walking in a crowded city? --> Example 2: You've been walking in said city, enough people around. You walk into a narrow side street. No one there. Not a big deal, you expected that, why would there be a lot of people in this connecting street? You reach the end but there is STILL no one there, same with the next few streets you wander into. Feel uneasy? You were in a social state, but you're being suprised because the way your brain prepared itself did not match the state you needed to be in. Please excuse grammar mistakes I made, I am not good at explaining things in English. TLDR; Humans have learned to trust their instincts. If it says "There must be people here" and there are none, the human becomes weary/alert (which is very closely related to fear, arguably the same)
Something I've noticed is that these maps are usually big, or at least look very big... but then you go to all the rooms, apartments... and you can't even see some chairs or boxes, or something destroyable or interactive. It's like the world it's extremely big but there's nothing there, really. Like if you were living in a movie set.
My theory is that the blocky style of the architecture in source games falls in a kind of a uncanny valley, you can identify the basic shapes and forms of a city, a very familiar landscape, but at the same time it's not realistic enough so your body rejects it, maybe because it feels in a strange fake world, it feels like something is off and that translates into danger so your sub consciousness tries to warn you; the loneliness doesn't help with that feeling of danger since we are more vulnerable alone and since this feeling is more noticeable while you are not having fun with other people doing random stuff.
i know this comment is ancient, but i would like to add to it. because of the way the hammer map editor is, blocky buildings, tight corridors, and uncommonly steep ramps are all commonplace on source maps. the corridors are usually claustrophobic. the ramps are unnatural, and because open areas are not hammer's strong suit, something does feel off about them
The relatively low poly architecture of source compared to the likes of ue4 and the default textures of hl2 and css deliberately create this feeling the color palettes are not vibrant as well. It gives the feeling of an abandonned soviet city. Nothing new tbf
There are many reasons: 1. The feeling of not being alone when you think you are. 2. The blandness of colors 3. The ambient noises 4. Nothing is moving.
Above all, the reason its creepy watching this video is PRIMING. Everything in this video was set up so we feel uneasy from the nostalgic start, to unnerving music, to the suicide story. I felt weird watching this video, but I played on this map just yesterday and I had absolutely no creepy affects on me.
Crazy to think this is the first video of yours I've ever seen and I'm still here binging literally every video you make and I'm loving every single minute of it!
@@sunlight941 You're right even gm_construct is creepy. Since other people feel the same it makes you think this was deliberate and there's something sinister behind a lot of it.
The feeling hasn't been creepiness for me but a sence of dreadful loneliness, going through rooms meant for furnishing and people but there is absolutely nothing.
100% agree,, it's like the unsettling feeling of seeing something once so full of life now abandoned. You expect to see someone pop out from a doorway, but instead there's only yourself and the silence.
The thing which disturbed me is that the soundtrack is that of a bustling city but u can find nowhere there and it creates a feeling that you are being watched
@@keeoh5815 the thing is, I never played multiplayer. I would constantly build little scenes to avoid the bitter loneliness, I never felt watched. 7 years go by still playing and it is only now that I have played multiplayer, it feels like I'm in a room with mannequins, strangely I had grown an attraction to my little scenes than to being with people.
That's pretty much what Normal Maps are, though. They're just alot more common and noticable in Source games. I think it's more the grimy, rundown nature of most HL2/CS:S textures that contributes to that uneasy feeling.
@@randomcatdude true their just normal maps, but I think he means the level of the detail on these normal maps really contrast with the flatness of the model itself, and source games have particularly flat models
This is a very interesting video, as someone who was 13-15 at the time playing gmod on rp downtown V2 with so many other players and very fond memorable experiences I took the time tonight to revisit the map alone wondering it for 20 minutes. As maps have updated and progressed on and me being a 25 years old now it was a surreal experience, it was like walking through the remnants of the past, forgotten personal memories which no one else in my social circle can relate to or understand. The eerie noises in the background, the abandoned sewers for where i used to base with multiple other people and be filled with voice coms, only to be replaced by the sound of dripping or running water with faint sirens in the background. Simply chilling.
Yeah I fear that the very specific emotional association with the resolution and texture detail of Half Life 2 and gmod can't be recreated with future and higher res games. Maybe its just nostalgia.
I think it’s the fact that all these places are empty, and without people. It feels like a horror game without the proper lighting. Reminds me of the Backrooms concept in a weird way.
One of the Backrooms, a lower level is basically an abandoned Town so it made me think of that. Like you can hear signs of Life but youre never able to reach it.
Cities, and more succinctly, buildings are made exclusively by people, for their use. When there's no people in a building, in a city... we subconsciously think, "Something must be wrong with this place." I think it's a survival instinct. The reason it's common in Source games is because of the same freedom that people have used to mod the engine to hell and back. You're free to just wander around on an empty map, and it's easy to do. How many games let you do this without tons of modding know-how? It's practically the default for Source. I bet doing this with a Fallout game would make it just as creepy and unnerving.
It is most definitely a survival instinct. Think how weird it would be to live in a forest as a caveman only to one day wake up and not see any small animals or chirping birds. Your first thought would be "Why did the animals leave? What where they running from?". Thus making you feel threatened. It's an incredibly interesting phenomenon.
I think that wouldn't work so much in Fallout. The World in Bethesda Games already is pretty empty and eventless most of the time. When you wander from one town to another you would encounter maybe two or three enemies ant that's it.
I have that feeling for Minecraft even though technically there are supposed to be no humans except you (excluding villagers) and it feels.. sad and a bit creepy at times
@@StabYourBrain I think it's also the fact that Fallout has clearely gone through an apocalypse. The fact that you can see how everything has been destroyed is oddly reassuring in its own way. Empty Source maps are usually in this uncanny, clean, pristine condition. As if all the people there suddently vanished into thin air mere moments ago. It's more unnerving since you really don't know just what happened there.
Bro that zombie in cs_office just as you said 'See someone around the corner' really got me. That was genius. I had to replay to check if what I saw was there.
I honestly think it’s with every game mostly multiplayer ones I always got that same feeling when playing Halo 3 alone the idea that I could see something always terrified me because it wasn’t possible I wasn’t online so how could someone join.
I agree, I think this is a big part of it! The textures are all taken from photographs so they look real enough, but the geometry is always flat and blocky. Look at the buildings in the Gmod map - none of them have the imperfections and overhangs and details you see on real-life buildings. The chipped paint is there, but there's no difference in height between the paint and the wall. The bricks have cracks in them, but it's all on the same surface level. All the physical imperfections are there, without any of the physicality lol. This was before normal maps were as common as they are in video games today so even though the textures are of real objects, the textures you'd see in an amateur source map lack the depth you would expect; the bricks on walls are completely flat and don't have any parallaxing as you walk past them, the walls have moulding but it's just projected onto the geometry and looks the same from every angle, and it just looks _weird_. Also, the textures are just slightly blurry/pixelated, which again clashes with the fact that they're photos of real life. All that to say that it's just a lot of different things all coming together to make an object feel not quite right.
really? cause for me when I saw him zipping around using No clip I was suddenly taken out of the creepiness and was mentally singing Sonic Adventure 2's City Escape theme XD
Man that's true! I have always felt that since my childhood when playing Counter Strike 1.6 without any BOTS or players. But never gave much time to think why? Knowing that you felt it too gives me chills.
Same, it just feels oddly... right, like it always fascinated me how these games could promote uncannynes just by their simple graphics, im looking foward to getting more in depth into this.
@@victordarkreapewr444 I think it has to do more with the Ambient sound effects and the level of detail put in the environment rather than the graphics
i never really got to feel that empty feeling on gmod mostly due to me immediately spawning a gazillion kermit npcs every time a map loaded most of the time
Yeah, although some maps have like places like sewers and caves which are Dark as fuck. And combining with some dark ambience with those 2 places, it starts to get creepy immediately once you set in
The whole backroom meme thing was definitely inspired by these feelings. It’s quite funny because I feel like not many people have made the link. Most people jumped on the whole SCP bandwagon, adding monsters and other things. I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one who has this weird feeling when playing Source games.
yeah when i first heard of the backrooms i 100% imagined the same feeling of noclipping in a source game and finding a strange room hidden beneath the map
I understand how people might few uneasy in an empty source map, but honestly, I think is very comfy. I love the concept of a place that is usually full of people that is now empty, with just me there. It feels like im in a secrete haven and the whole place is just mine. I had a similar comfy and relaxed feeling whenever I got too early on school, or stayed in the school after everyone left, because there wouldn't be anyone
While I do get that eerieness on source maps, I have mixed feeling when experiencing what you are saying irl. I've always felt both comforted and creeped out when being somewhere alone. For instance, I work on my family cafe, and sometimes I leave very late in the evening (3-4 am) and the cafe is in the town square, which is almost always lively, but when leaving that late and walking home, I always have that weird feeling of both calm and uneasiness, I can't quite explain it
I agree, I love occasionally going into empty servers and just walking around. Sometimes noclipping around surf maps in cs:s just to appreciate the map architecture.
Thats not the problem. I dont mind being alone. The thing that most are scared about is, *not really being alone but you think you are*. Some entity or being, stalking you out of every corner. You have this feeling of being watched. Sometimes you can almost see it! But you most likely never will. It might not exist. But it definetly feels like it does. In the corner of your eye. Something. You dont know what though.
I can relate to that as to when I used to commute early to work 4am to be in office by 5am. There was close to Noone on road and very few people about. I found peace in that. The night shift folks were still around and I was the only person that early.
i tried it out and i could only stand it by pretending theres zombies out there, far away in the map, and that they just havent seen me yet. otherwise, i'd just leave or turn the director on.
I think a big part of the feeling is the fact that Source manages to be a relatively realistic engine while still having the jank of 3D games created in that era. Everything is nice, but slightly off, creating an uncanny valley effect that combines great with a sense of loneliness to create unease and dread.
Great way for it to be put. I think it's that era's slightly off-ness, the liminal space people are mentioning and for me the lighting. everything is sort of too well lit / unlit. Which again is how it was in that era but especially so in Source. Daytime lighting is pretty flat so it just feels... wrong
The saturation of the buildings is probably a factor, but for the most part, I think it’s because you’re not supposed to be alone, but you are. These maps are built to be filled with NPC’s and players so seeing them in an environment like GMod Singleplayer makes it feel like something’s missing. There’s usually music and sounds or voices and players, but the feeling of being alone in a place that you remember being populated is so strange and unnerving. Imagine you went to a bunker for 5-15 years and came back to your home town where people laughed and walked, and seeing it as a ghost town. You’d feel creeped out and unnerved too
I remember that happening in Fallout New Vegas when I booted the game up it crashed at and I had to restart then it played as normal but there where no npcs at all
One of my favorite things to do in Garry's Mod is to load a really big map, then spawn a invincible monster/killer on a random spot around the map that will go around hunting me down (there's a great addon called "zombie invasion+" that randomly spawns entities on the map so you don't have to place them yourself), preferably at 3 AM. Being completely alone in a huge map, in complete silence, that air of dread permeating the air, until that absolute silence is suddenly broken by the sound of a door opening in the distance, the sound of footsteps getting louder, accompanied by threatening, inhuman sounds is more terrifying than most horror games i've played in my life...
@@TeaDrinker-eq3md same, it's not bdcause of zombies it's because My brain:"hey you know herobrjne was said to be notch's brother but debunked right? Ofc you wouldn't be scared" Me:"how about no?"
I felt like this when playing Mirror's Edge. It was really eerie and depressing tbh. Got the same feeling when I played CS Source alone with bots after playing it every weekend with friends. It was a nostalgic loneliness. Or when you log onto Steam (for whatever reason) and see your friend "last online 5 years ago"...
I create maps and play in those maps alone, i like the feeling in them, the textures the props they are all giving some kind of abandoned feeling, i make awesome rooms under ground places and then i decorate those rooms with garbage, oildrums, a pushcart, i like all those old looking props, with the half life 2 assets and stuf(the textures, props...) and with a good lighting night time map when u make a city map in garrys mod it feels like u are in gothom city, all those decals, grafities i love the source engine so much i would like to live in it
The thing that makes source games creepy is that they're just so still. There's nothing moving, no wind blowing, nobody's talking. It's a dead world and it feels unnatural
yess. Ive been palying source games since 2017 bec my PC was trash and I wondered why this shit is running in like 100 fps. Then I discovered everything looks dead and nothing is moving or doing anything. also every source game looks the exact same. The shit im talking for 3 years now.
Dead and empty world but with everything quite recent. Not like a post apocalyptic world with everything destroyed justifying who no ones there. Just no one with recent and not destroyed buildings. Also other stuff that gives the weird feeling : everything is flat. There are almost no 3d volume, just flat surface with HD textures, and also the scale of everything seems a bit off but not too much
It's a bit like that old Stephen King story, where a couple of people somehow get removed from the real world while on a flight from LAX to Boston. After they manage to land the plane they realize that they're trapped in this static, leftover version of reality where nothing ever changes and everything feels stale and dead.
I def agree. Loading up a map and walking around by yourself does have an unnerving feeling. It’s almost like there is so little going on, it feels like something, somewhere is moving around watching you. I really miss that feeling to be honest. Games are so advanced and busy now, I miss that seclusion old games had.
Playing games like those actually helped me create complex areas in my dreams, with the noclip mode on, Inception style. Kinda more difficult now as game maps are becoming more open and detailed. So yes, I do feel like in a dream.
It's probably the fact that the soundscape sounds like the hustle and bustle of a busy city, however you being in the middle of a seemingly empty neighbourhood or district of the city. It makes you feel alone and isolated from all the police sirens.
Pointing out two things that I think also contribute to the uneasiness: 1. The gray color scheme makes it look more realistic and dangerous, making you feel that the map shouldn't be empty. 2. The slow movement of the weapon/arms, your brain instinctively tries to empathize to what your player model should be feeling to be moving like that. In my case, I feel the character is moving with caution.
Agreed - especially regarding the color scheme. I think there's also something with the source engine's lighting that is particularly unsettling. I can't quite describe it, but there's just something off-putting about it.
if i can add to your second point, regarding empathizing with your guy in game. maybe it's just me, but it feels a bit alarming to run/sprint in there. there's nothing there in the emptiness to threaten you, but beginning to sprint, abandoning the cautious movement you mentioned, makes it seem as if you're being watched or even chased. you're completely alone, but that feeling is just there when you begin to run. almost like your guy in there knows something you don't. even if you initiated the sprint on nothing but a whim
@@eamonjames8496 I think its because the source engine doesn't have indirect shadows and stuff like that so lighting its just different enough to look unnatural and weird.
This is the video that kicked off your success, Librarian, and drew many new people to your channel, myself included, four to five years ago. Still a Librarian enjoyer to this day. Even looking back, I can tell you understood the feelings, and it's so good.
I've never been a PC guy (ok, maybe I was around 2011, but only played RPGs) and always played on console, and mostly platform/adventure games, and it if was a shooter it would be COD or Killzone. So I never grew up with Steam games or anything related to Half Life etc. I never liked them. But god damn, I always found the engine's graphics to be really disturbing to me. I can't pinpoint why, but they gave me a feeling that something was off. Kinda like the Uncanny Valley effect. I had watched lots of those GMod videos back in the day, and I guarantee you that I've never laughed with them. I always felt kinda stressed.
I don’t think I could stomach gmod horror, I can only do Ravenholm when I’m in a certain mindset, and I’m not super immersed or invested. Usually play it in a small window, with 80-to early 2000s hip hop music in the background.
Even tho im 17, i just cant play singleplayer normaly, im just mining in one direction and then all of a sudden the herobrine memories of 2013 kick in and im scared to turn around and just leave the game
The feeling you're having is called kenopsia. "Kenopsia n. the eerie, forlorn atmosphere of a place that’s usually bustling with people but is now abandoned and quiet.." All these places looks like they would be full of people, but they aren't. You just cannot trust that they are empty.
I think it’s just the general emptiness. The world looks realistic enough but lacks emotion or presence. It just feels like the regular world but wrong
@@brodriguez11000 I feel like its different there as we spend the most of the game on top of roofs and construction sites where it's kind of expected to have few ppl while in this we are in houses and in livable environments expecting to see people, but we don't and that is unsettling us
I’m not sure if anybody remembers this, but who remembers the GMan sightings on gmod maps like big city? Edit: my friend was on at the time when we found it out, the gman said something like “doctor freeman” in that creepy way through the ENTIRE map, so I don’t think it was my friend spawning him in
As a photographer, it has a lot to do with the negative space. I had the same sensation in Texas. There is so much negative space in Texas haha. When you have a lot of space and room between things there is a sense of isolation. When I compose frames and I want to intensify that feeling, I purposefully add a ton of negative space between the canvas edges and subject matter and make the background devoid of much distraction. Design wise it also creates attention. There’s a sense of vulnerability with a lot of room. You subtract additional subjects and pair it with melancholic color palettes and you have a prime foundation for pushing those feelings of isolation, melancholy, and/ vulnerability. These are things that I definitely resonate with, but I take it as a calling that 1) Others feel the same way so I’m not alone in that respect, 2) an acknowledgment that what I’m feeling is not unique or special 3) that feeling of discomfort points out an inherent issue I maybe am dealing with 4) awareness of the issue means I can also glean the awareness of the solution to the issue. If you ask me, there’s one thing that the digital world has shown us is our need for the real genuine connections in our lives. Maybe somebody is attracted to scenes like this because they feel strangled by people around them and maybe others are repulsed or scared of scenes like this because they reinforce a feeling they wish to escape. That’s the beauty of Art, it acts a microcosm of what’s happening between the surface for both the Artist and the Audience. Too often, I think, we focus on the Art itself versus how the Art impacts us personally. There’s insight to glean from our response to things. Edit: you also get this feeling with Liminal spaces, or really anything that is uncanny. The unfamiliar is uncomfortable, we have a tendency to look for parallels in the unfamiliar to what we can know. So recognizable things arranged in unfamiliar ways can create a lot of mixed emotions that take a while to unpack. The more you study Art and create Art the more you start to realize it’s just people sharing ideas and emotions just to be understood better. Art is it’s own language and even Great Artists miss the message of other artist for the message they need to tell themselves. At the end of the day, it’s just people trying to connect with people, that’s what’s important.
Part of the effect is that the interiors don't look lived-in. They look like they were designed by an unemotional AI to emulate human society, but completely missing the point of what makes a society feel alive.
@lunes feriado I think I saw that on release but It must not have stuck so I'm due a rewatch. My counter recommendation is th-cam.com/video/Zkv6rVcKKg8/w-d-xo.html
The biggest reason for me feeling creeped out is the noise of the town. You still hear the traffic and sirens, the town *sounds* alive. But there's noone around. You're all on your own. If the town was completely quiet, it would have been better for me at least.
@@someoneelse128 The main reason you feel uneasy is gmods use of real life photos for most of their textures which makes you feel immersed as well as the 1990-2000s feel in the game whilst the map being totally empty by yourself
I had a nightmare as a kid that was very similar where I was in a classroom and I could hear children talking and playing, but nobody was there. I soon found the sound coming from a hidden tape recorder, but it still unnerved me
easy answer: source games are 3d liminal spaces. The maps are usually believable as real urban places, so when servers are empty or there's no AI to take up the space, you feel this sensation like someone's going to pop around the next corner any second because your brain is trained to associate the terrain with crowds.
I thought the exact same thing. Source game levels are all meant to be moved through and bustling with activity, like a subway station, or a town center. Visit those place at night, or after closing and you get the same weird feeling. HL2, where most of the source art direction comes from, intentionally played with this feeling to give the sense that the world was this lonely dystopian place; so that caries over to everything else.
You know? I have other explaination. Empty servers bring loneliness, feeling of something that was once great, but fell. People where having fun there, but party is over and you are alone. It's a grim omen of humanity's future and memento of game's past. People link games with reality. If you have ever seen an MMO shutting down you know what I mean. It's like they were really dying, some people go insane, do worst shit they can, because they can avoid the punishment, have mental breakdowns, speak with the other, forget about their differences and speak waiting for the end or even sit with their enemies, forgiving them. It's somewhat exciting. Facing the end. Together with people who feel like your family. And Source games just look like you were late for the shutdown, but somehow you are still able to see locations you loved, but without people, empty. It's the very definiton of eerie for me. Loneliness, hellesness and realization that nobody will help them. Ever.
@@DehydratedDarkness I have witnessed Club Penguin shutting down...and other games like NFS World, Skill Special Force 2, soon all the flash games too...
@@DehydratedDarkness Well I play gmod since 2011, I NEVER played it online or with friends, but I still have this feeling. It's not because we had good memories, but for another reason I can't explain
Don't you ever go onto gm_bigcity and just walk around, listen to the background ambiance and get this feeling that you're being watched, especially with the big open space knowing anything can be anywhere and you wouldn't realize it? Edit: POV. You spawn into gm_bigcity and you look around wondering what to do, as you're exploring you notice the deafening silence, there's nobody around and you walk as your footsteps echo through the empty area. You begin to get an unnerving feeling like you're being watched you check the tab menu to see if anyone has joined but like always, it's empty. You continue to walk through the empty city getting even more paranoid, you see something in the corner of your eye but there's nothing there, finally, you give up and leave joining a multiplayer server.
Many years ago after hurricane katrina I first felt this feeling when returning home after receiving 8-9ft of water throughout my entire neighborhood. All the wildlife was gone, and nobody was around. The neighborhood was silent, with no one else there but us. A once bustling neighborhood, full of energy and life, empty, silent, and unlit. No sounds of birds, workers, or kids playing. Looking around, all I could see was empty, boarded up or broken windows, with dark interiors and destroyed furniture. The once lovely and lively place I knew, was now empty and desolate, remaining only in it's uncanny glory. I couldn't help but feel the longer I stayed there, the uncomfortable feeling of something missing all the time. Really truly a devastating emotional feeling to experience something like this in real life, but the feeling is almost addicting, just because it's so foreign and bizzare.
@@justvincentf dude, I swear that was fucking scary. but also sad like, a place where you hang out with friends, neighbor and family filled with children playing and people passing by, now just a ghost town filled with nothing but remains of houses and your house. I also have an aunt that live on a house in the middle of a dead neighborhood, literally every house beside her house was just a debris of house filled with vine with no one want's to live there, luckily, she has so many children which makes her house a big family
The colour pallet has a lot to do with the tone as well. Personally, Source feels like home. It's like that favourite pair of shoes or old bike you loved to ride.
I think its because the game has really dystopian textures, everything is ”roughed up & dirty” also the textures have really good graphics and many seem 3d but the geometry does’nt match the graphics... everything is so hd where you think the shapes dont match the textures... its all pretty square-ish, boxy it makes you feel closed in like a laberynth. The sound fx is also very wide and open, everything you interact with has eco and it further makes you feel like inside a big box
The ambience in general is what makes me feel uncomfortable, no music, only cars sometimes, doors opening, metal footsteps, and the fact you're playing alone, also has anyone ever felt uncomfortable to the point of leaving when you get into the limbo/ out of bounds area? It's just silent, dark, jeez
I don't know what to call it but when I was a bit younger and even a bit now, I always had a fear that I wasn't Alone in games and always had a feeling someone else was there with me, even in a fun game like minecraft. Because I never knew how to do multiplayer mode in GMOD I always had to make scenes and fun rps with Npcs so then I felt like there was someone there with me and not hiding and watching me.
God, I have a real fear to getting out of bounds in any game, I start feeling like a little fish on the ocean. I almost can't play any big map game because I always end up in that "limbo"
Meanwhile me playing TF2 with loud people raging in their mics, chat full of colorful slurs and memes, everyone screaming medic, and heavy eating his sandvich like it’s made out of cardboard.
It got this "artificial" feel, like you know everything is fake, and just a facade inside an unknown world, even the BG sound are so generic that you wonder whats really happening outside this empty map
The charm of the source engine is also what's responsible for it's ability to induce fear. All of the visuals contained in the maps are pretty photorealistic, and all of the main games use various themes of science to further push that sense of normality, but the way it does it is horrifying. It feels TOO correct, like there should be more going on but there isn't, and it gives you all sorts of messed-up thoughts. That's why encountering glitches like missing textures is so offputting, it feels like the comforting, or daresay unsettling sense of safety in the world is collapsing before your eyes.
I remember feeling like this when I played assassin's Creed 2. If you took your horse and walked through the Alpes to get to one location, there was literally nothing in the surroundings except you, your horse and the landscape. I remember feeling that uncomfortable feeling of being alone, and who knows if I was being watched... Anyway I was a kid, but that feeling is stuck with me
I remember a few years ago, while being caught up in all that FNaF craze, I downloaded a Gmod remake of the Pizzeria from the first game. I specifically downloaded the "No Scripts" version because I just wanted to explore it in peace without any chases and jumpscares. It was still creepy, being all empty and lifeless, but I was comforted by a thought that this is still a completely empty map and there are no threaths whatsoever. Right until I wandered in some kind of basement, opened a door, and the Purple Guy NPC murdered me in one hit, scaring the shit out of me. After that I was "fuck it" and never touched that map ever again.
I had the exact same thing happen to me with the SCP Containment Breach map. I was super into that game, so I downloaded the map for me and my best friend to mess around on. Walking down the corridors alone scared the shit out of me, because I had never played a horror game before, or watched any horror movies, I had just watched a lot of SCP:CB videos. One script that the map used to have, which I'm glad they removed, was the SCP-173 encounter in the room where you find the Level-2 Keycard and he busts through the window. Back then I was so scared that I instantly turned off the game, and it had a lasting effect on me whenever I played gmod over the next few months, and especially on that map.
I never played multiplayer GMod. I have no fond memories of other people in those old maps. Yet, there’s still something off about them all. The dark room in gm_construct always terrified me as a kid. I really don’t know what it is about source games, but this video really brought back that feeling I used to get when I was younger, playing Garry’s Mod alone, when the fun died down for a moment and really let the emptiness settle on.
i remeber when i was little and for the first time played gmod i loaded gm_construct for the first time. I was sooo scared of that basement with thoose white rooms and that mirror and even now that place still gives me chills.
I remember the first time I played the game and I always wondered what that one room no one went to in videos so when I played it I went there saw the dark stairs and immediately just went "no" and left. It took me like 3 years to finally go there and I am never going there unless I can fill it with the brightest lights imaginable. To be frank, every room in gm_construct that's underground is unsettling even though they're brightly lit, there's just something about them that's just uncanny. Plus creepy points for that one yellow apartment building in the far back of the map next to the pool.
The experience is scary because the world is unnaturally still, and inexplicably abandoned. Why does this place exist? Where is everyone? Silence doesn't belong in environments like this. It feels unnatural. Imagine going outside (especially if you live in a city) and hearing nothing. Zero. No people, barely any wind, nothing. Ever read those creepypastas where a guy wakes up and finds the world is completely devoid of people for some reason? Another good movie to watch is Vanishing on 7th Street.
I would also recommend a movie called The Quiet Earth, from 1985. It's premise is about a guy who one day wakes up to realize he is the only living being on earth, other than plants everything else just dissapeared. And an indie game called Saira by the developer Nifflas. It's about a woman who takes a teleporter to go from Earth to another planet and finds out on the other side that everybody dissapeared all over the galaxy after she went in. It's actually pretty beautiful and peaceful despite it's premise.
I literally had this same feeling when waiting for a bus and then the cars and people stopped coming. There was only silence for 5 seconds, but it is really noticeable.
I keep coming back to this topic and this video, it's such a fascinating feeling to be afraid of something so tame. I don't often get this feeling with other games, although the times I do, I usually get a little panicked and quit the game. It happened once in Fallout 3 when I accidentally entered a seemingly abandoned metro station. The world is intentionally devoid of life and nature, but I don't get that feeling when it is intentional. I thought the quest marker pointed me into the metro station, so I walked inside without a thought. After a few minutes of confusingly but comfortably trying to find my way to the quest I realized the marker was pointing behind me now and that I was walking completely alone with no actual mission ahead of me in the tunnels. This was for some reason terrifying. It felt like I didn't belong there somehow, like I wasn't supposed to be there and that I had to get out quickly. So I quit the game and never played it again. I compare that feeling a lot to the feeling I get in Garry's Mod, like I'm not supposed to be there, not alone anyway. It's really creepy.
Simple answer: source maps are liminal spaces that you can walk around. We're so used to these places being filled with npcs, players, music, sounds, interactions etc. To walk around them alone is unnerving. additionally, soundscapes in certain maps such as cities play cars, people talking, distant sirens, aeroplanes etc in a distant echoey muffle - and yet you are completely alone.
"[...] additionally, soundscapes in certain maps such as cities play cars, people talking, distant sirens, aeroplanes etc in a distant echoey muffle - and yet you are completely alone." It's like you're trapped on a paralel yet same reality. As if they (or you) were ghosts unable to interact directly with you. But they are still there.
The one that scared me the most as a kid was gm_bigcity, i think a lot of people feel the same way about that map, it's so fucking huge but there's no one. Also the city17 soundscape doesn't help at all, you hear sirens and weird stuff but the place is completely empty
gm_bigcity didnt scare me a lot when i was younger. Infact i had a lot of fun on it despite i was alone and have no one else to play on it. But thats just me though.
@@melc311 YES, CAFE BALTIC, I VIVIDLY REMEMBER THAT SIGN. Oh my god i remember playing with a friend and coming up with theories. We hadn't played Half life at the time, only Gmod, so we had no context on what a Stalker or who Father Grigori is, so the jumpscares were worse. We always tried to catch ghosts and paranormal stuff. There's also a room in one of the tall buildings that the only way to get into is by no-cliping, i think it has a gnome in it. Really creepy stuff for a 11 y/o lmao. The scariest part of the map for me is that garage door and some alleyway between some tall buildings that for some reason made me uncomfortable, it was near one of the elevated roads iirc. But my biggest fear when playing alone in that map, is that I always felt like something was chasing me, like if something, in some place of that huge map, was slowly closing in on me all the time, so i had to be constantly moving. I would always run or noclip into one building and feared that if i look down to the streets i would see something walking down there. Slowly getting closer. Weirdly enough, i would feel safer if i spawned zombies or combine. I knew what the threat was and what it could and couldn't do. Is the stuff i couldn't see that freaked me out the most. Again, the sheer size of the map was probably the main reason why i was so paranoid. I gotta play that map again lmao
I've never realized it until now that I watched a Librarian video 3 years ago. I thought I first discovered The Librarian from his playthrough of The Long Drive. Never really made the connection as well because it was a different form of content and not to mention the difference in how the Librarian speaks.
This could be cause by the “uncanny valley” situation where it mimics and comes close to real life but you can still tell it’s not. This creates a feeling of being unnerved in most people
This reminds me of liminal spaces. The surroundings seem familiar, but everything is so barren. It's not just the lack of people, but the lack of anything. None of the interiors are furnished, the weather is too still, the sunlight feels off, the clouds don't move, there are no signs of nature or life at all. The sirens at the start sound close enough that you should be able to see the source when you turn the corner, but there's nothing there, yet it sounds like it's getting closer. It's like your frozen in time and can't perceive movement but things are somehow still shifting around you. It's either like being surrounded by ghosts, or not knowing you're a ghost. The layout of the map is also very strange, this is because it's designed as a play area, not a functioning worldspace where people would actually inhabit, so everything feels kind of mixed up - like a memory or a dream. The transition from the streets to the sewers is very jarring from bright and open to claustrophobic and dim.
This indeed ☝️ it’s like visiting a movie set alone and losing your awareness of where is north and south/exit and entry.. or if you go into the back corridors and rooms of a museum/shopping centre. There is an eerie and almost ominous feeling in those places. I usually get these feelings a lot more in spaces that were built without human utilisation in mind. Like walking in an elevated/enclosed highway or in a hill under a big bridge, or even going down a huge electrical dam. Half life 2’s final alien tower levels triggered this feeling in me completely. There was a particular uneasiness around playing them.. some creepy loneliness. And it didn’t help that in the background they were showing how the Combine kept their ranks full..
I agree. I’ve always enjoyed half-life and portal for that inherently creepy vibe that fits so well with the post apocalyptic setting. Didn’t think about it that way though. It does have that back rooms vibe too it.
This atmosphere or garry's mod... You always hear wind, birds that doesn't exists. You walking on map and you doesn't see any life, all feels so empty and even dead. This is creeps me out always while i was playing alone on some sandbox standart maps.
i always play on neon construct and neon flatgrass because it feels less dead
i don't know why, but it does
gm_construct more than gm_flatgrass
Just put a few silly models in there an you'll get rid of it
The weird thing is though is you get this feeling even in TF2 when nobody is in the server
I actually like the dead atmosphere. I dunno why but It almost makes me cry from nostalgia.
There is a psychological phenomena that describes this feeling, often known as "kenopsia" or "kenophobia". It's the stressful feeling you get when you enter empty spaces, typically a location that you would expect to be bustling with people, only to find the area empty and abandoned. These are sometimes known as Liminal Spaces. For example, entering public areas after closing time, like a park or a school late at night, long after everyone has left. Another example would be spelunking through decrepit abandoned buildings. I would figure that this applies to abandoned servers on video games too.
When I was young, I would sometimes leave important school materials behind at my elementary school, and would have to go back after closing time. It's very eerie, because I am so used to seeing the place bustling with people, but late at night, there is usually nobody there. Sometimes there might be one janitor, but that isn't a guarantee. Most of the lights are also turned off. I can't help but get this feeling that I am being watched when I am there.
Thanks for explanation. I was thinking about that too.
Yeah I was thinking about it. It happened in winter evening. When I was studying at school there was a parents meeting. I stayed for the extra lessons and after finishing it I was forced to wait for my mom. I was sitting at the hall and I felt that I need to go to restroom. It was late so most of the places were dark and mostly there wasnt any light. Walking through hallway with half of the lights off was so unnerving and the constant buzzing sound of light add up to it. When I was going back to hall I felt that something or someone is watching. My instincts kicked in so I felt like I should get away fast as I could. When I saw parents leaving have never been so happy to see people
Probably i have kenospia
I get that feeling whenever I play on commonly played online maps in gmod or TF2 mixed with nostalgia as I've been playing those games for about a decade.
The comment I was looking for
I think the creepyness comes from the 3D realistic art style. STALKER does this to a lesser extent, the rusted, lowres filtered textures make everything appear "realistic" but it's also not.
the feeling that you get in STALKER is unmatched, especially in Anomaly. It's a combination of ambience and the fact that you might be stalked as well by people or monsters that don't show up until the very end and jumpscare you. It puts me on edge every time.
It's something called a slavic setting bro. They're usually depressing and eerie.
@@communistbabushka9038 STALKER 2 coming..anu Cheeki breeki iv damke comrade
@̣ chernoby veterans join Duty on its triumphing march towards victory
@@COHOFSohamSengupta Slava Monolita! You infidels wont be our match when our glorious warriors in their eternal union with the Monolith march into the rest of the zone!
This is probably how a kid that stayed up late feels. When you were with other people it was fine but when you’re alone, it becomes scary.
I never felt that way and stayed up late tons of times as kid, I have always felt at peace alone.
it’s kinda wierd, but that’s sorta how I feel being the last person in a discord call after everyone leaves
@@quakeIVrealreal af, lol 23mins ago
@@quakeIVrealespecially after you've checked the clock and it's closer to 3am, everyone is sleeping, you're not sure if you want to keep playing alone since everyone has left already but you don't quite feel like going to sleep. Fuck man this videos comment section is bringin up emotions and I'm not sure if I like these emotions :D
@@quakeIVrealI understand exactly what you mean.
Maybe it's how true loneliness feels?
It’s the atmosphere. There are sounds of life and people around you, but there’s nobody there. the droning background hum, the police cars, the creak of seesaws, it’s filled with life, but nobodies home
It's probably comparable to that episode of the Twilight Zone where the soldier finds himself in an empty town, but little things keep happening like food appearing and vehicles running.
@@chiefr9627 now THAT'S creepy
Yeah, that's basically how I was thinking of it. Not only that, but the fact that these maps are meant to be multiplayer. A place full of other people around you, with something always happening, yet when no one else is there it's just... off.
Edit: I realize now that the video continues on to say pretty much exactly what I just commented
Yeah, I do believe you're correct
Yea indeed
I think part of the reason is the pseudo-realism of the source engine. Everything looks real but it doesn’t at the same time
It's like the uncanny valley of architecture.
Uncanny valley x kenopsia/liminal space
yess and the bland repetetive textures on most big objects and lighting on default is like in a hospital
+1
the lighting is all really flat and it's hard to identify light sources in most cases. there also aren't really any shadows
the thing is, whoever made those assets back at valve knew what they are doing, the whole idea of halflife and portal was to make you feel uncomfortable, in a way to immerse you in that world full of depression and despair not to mention the feeling of "big brother always watching". I'd say the primary driving force are the textures and assets (premade buildings and stuff) of this creepy yet familiar feeling of depressed, scared and being watched
Nice to see people still actually knowing George Orwell
That's what I also thought and because of that Valve amazes me yet again.
@@colbyboucher6391 no wonder, 1984 is an amazing book
To add up, with TF2 and Counter Strike, those two are deliberately made to ensure that you are still aware that an enemy is nearby at all times.
Yes exactly. Everything feels... abandoned, disposed of. Like nobody has been there for years. And yet you hear ambient sounds. Everything feels empty. Like something bad just waiting to happen. You're in a maze that you can't escape. No matter where you go it feels like that.
I think the combination of photorealistic textures with a lowpoly, flat and motionlessly dead world. The light and shadows doesn't feel right. It's kinda reminiscent of the scariest show from my childhood: Courage the Cowardly Dog. It also applied photorealistic textures to surfaces, and it was really really creepy.
the corpses didnt need to be as graphic but they are
Lol if i remember right the corpse textures are actual dead bodies
And then comes the orthodox alternative ending with child trauma
the worst thing isn't that you're scared of being alone, you're scared of *_not_* being alone and thinking you are.
That hit different, holy shit
Yeah I'm stealing this one.
im scared
@@Rickfernello ralsei no
@@Rickfernello RALSEI I'M FAKING PUTTING YOU IN RULE34 IF YOU DON'T STOP THIS ACTION
For me it was creepy due to hearing sounds that should indicate human activity but getting conflicting information due to seeing nobody. I think this confuses and causes this feeling of creepiness.
Also, seeing things that indicate people were there (ex: lights being on everywhere - why, if there are no people anywhere ?) not so long ago but not seeing anybody anywhere at any point. These kind of conflicting information raises an alarm in the brain and probably expresses itself as this feeling of something being wrong with the environment.
Yeah that’s what I was thinking and how the sound effects in some cases sound almost natural with just a hint of something being wrong
Sfx can also be creepy, even if you reverse them, you can hear some scary noises or messages thats hard to understand, but there actaully creepy that, you'll actaully get a feeling like fr, your feeling that your not alone in your reality or your game, in the game you think someone is watching you, and making these sounds, in the half life 2 sfx, there's a few sound effect which are also creepy, also you might not believe me the witch sound effect from both l4d is really creepy like fr, i can't stand to long.
My thoughts exactly. I think the constraints of the game engine (clean lines, lack of scenery movement, smooth player movement) also contribute to that feeling although it might just be me
True
It sounds like it's liminal spaces.
For me it’s, an area that feels like it should have people, but doesn’t. It’s unnerving, like you might just turn around and see something, or someone.
Don't worry just your nervous system is in alert mode when your alone
check out r/liminalspace, most gmod maps are very liminal feeling
basically the definition of a liminal space
Allthemore scarier when at one point you do encounter something animated.
I think part of the reason is also the fact that you can hear a lot of city noises, especially when they're in sort of a reasonable distance for you to eventually see what's causing it, but you never do. Like police sirens, you'd expect to eventually either see the car, or hear the sirens stop, right?
What makes it so creepy is the liminal aspect of these games. The feeling like there should be people in these places where you hear city sounds, cars, and metros but have yet to see anyone is what gives you the creeps that you might not quite be so alone as you thought you were. Another thing that adds onto this is the layer of nostalgia. Many of these maps were played by many people as kids and teens then. But now, many sit empty, giving it an eerie feeling.
Expecting someone to be around the corner and it never happens...that's the core horror, I think. The endless failed anticipation.
Yet Ive never played GMOD as a kid, yet it still gives me a creepy feeling.
It feels like you're walking around and not able to see anything happening around you.
I thought it was very relaxing to not have people attacking you left and right. You can just take a nice quiet stroll down the street.
right on point
A few other thoughts, or musings rather:
- A generally desaturated color palette.
- Stark, right angles, few curves.
- Mostly run-down assets.
- Mostly tall buildings, which, together with the angular, blocky feel creates large, sheer surfaces and consequently a feeling of being small.
Yeah, all half life assets and textures are quite depressing. That's because to make a convincing atmosphere of living under aliens rule they used some post-soviet country architecture as reference. It's all either a blocky cheap soviet housing or withered older buildings.
pl_upward
The lighting model is also quite soft. Which makes for a feeling of everything around looking like one big mass. No contrast.
No even colorful maps scare the shit out of me
This is so true! All of those things you’ve mentioned create this absence of warmth which most other games have.
It’s just............so still, there is no wind, the leave or grass don’t sway. You hear ambience and sirens. But everything is completely still and motionless.
I get the same feeling with minecraft
Purgatory
That's the first thing i noticed
The textures too as well, the mix or dirty realistic style and now oldschool textures
Console games that ask too much visually like anything before the 360/PS3 era had this issue. Like many PS2 games having poor colour range.
The presence of background noise implies a bustling world nearby, yet no matter where you go, it is empty. It’s as if you are trapped a few seconds out of time, either in the future or the past.
Wow, well put thought.
State between future and past is where we live now
@@femboyelectronics6441 that's not what he said..
Ever watch the twilight zone episode where the rift in time is filled by construction workers assembling time before it happens? Reminds me of source maps
@@ultrabigfella know im just jokin
I remember spawning alot of NPCs just to keep myself company. But the eerie feeling is still not going away
the graphics and visuals also play a part
Britness really dark while you playing and texture.
I spent like 3000 hours on garrysmod, feeling was present everyday
Feels like you're being watched
DarkRP Admin is always watching
I spent about 200 hours on garry's mod
@@LucasAlvesMusic Feels like a post-apocalyptic city whenever people aren't there
@@Ramtomer2 it's a great game
Old empty source maps have a backroom kind of feeling.
exactly!
I knew I wasn’t only one to notice that
Yep yep yep
I designed a few maps and while walking through them, i still get unnerved by this
i get that feeling a lot more with beta content, like the maps of test_citadel of half life 2, though half finished and completely different to the retail concept, the vibes it gives are really unnerving, specially the tiles covering the walls.
this is like the feeling you walked through your old school, all the memories and fun activities youve done just to walk through an empty hall
Damn I actually expiereinced this when I visited my old school
Great comparison
@• 26 years ago facts
That's exactly how it feels
@Pandilleros Damn you were probably an introvert.
I have another thing to add:
(Speaking for the older, hl2-type maps, since the video talks about those.)
These (older) source maps are very often incredibly stationary; nothing or very little is moving (Other engines seem to care more to give plants, or other things affected by things like wind, at least some kind of movement).
The movement comes from the players on it and when they aren't there, only a frozen world (often with post-apocalyptic assets from hl2) remains. When you add a soundscape that hints at activity, you get a situation where you have two regions in the world you're in: an empty one, where you are now, and an active one, somewhere out there.
The scary part is that you do not know where the border between these two regions lies, you might cross it around the next corner and rationally we all know that in a source game, you will most likely not encounter it. Emotionally though, our brain does not know that and so, it needs to find out where this border lies to be at peace.
Humans inherently do not like suprises like this.
We don't nessecarily dislike being in either environment (active or empty), because we can adapt our state of mind to it, but we DO dislike being in one of them while we are in the state of mind of the other type.
--> Example: You're been walking alone, no one in sight for a while, and you turn a corner and suddenly you see a person just a few meters ahead facing/walking into your direction. (Slightly) scary? What if this happened while walking in a crowded city?
--> Example 2: You've been walking in said city, enough people around. You walk into a narrow side street. No one there. Not a big deal, you expected that, why would there be a lot of people in this connecting street? You reach the end but there is STILL no one there, same with the next few streets you wander into. Feel uneasy? You were in a social state, but you're being suprised because the way your brain prepared itself did not match the state you needed to be in.
Please excuse grammar mistakes I made, I am not good at explaining things in English.
TLDR;
Humans have learned to trust their instincts. If it says "There must be people here" and there are none, the human becomes weary/alert (which is very closely related to fear, arguably the same)
Ive experienced those things but didnt know it were supposed to be this creepy. 😅
Now I found out about why I was feeling like that when I was an 8 year old playing counterstrike 1.6
Underrated comment
Why this comment doesn't have more likes is BEYOND me
How to describe source games
“Things are quiet”
“Too quiet”
then there's TF2
@@throatychunk “LEEEEEEEEEETS DO ITTTTT.”
@@moraviancrusader3741 *"NO ONE OF YA WILL EVAH SURVAIV THISS*
@@TheDJBrojo *MEEEEEDIIIIIIC*
*HERE I COME!*
The color palette and Source's lighting are definitely contributing to the eerie feeling. They're dull, lifeless, nauseating even.
I love the color palette
Simple geometry, low contrast scenes, sharp lines and details... Etc.
Now we know where Kanye got inspiration for yeezy color palette
Did you guys play Team Fortress 2? Or do you mean _this map specifically_ and for some reason say "Source"?
true
"I didnt think about until he put a feeling to words" is very accurate.
Bro your profile pic damn 💀
EXACTLY
Pfp gave me a quick PTSD
Something I've noticed is that these maps are usually big, or at least look very big... but then you go to all the rooms, apartments... and you can't even see some chairs or boxes, or something destroyable or interactive.
It's like the world it's extremely big but there's nothing there, really. Like if you were living in a movie set.
My theory is that the blocky style of the architecture in source games falls in a kind of a uncanny valley, you can identify the basic shapes and forms of a city, a very familiar landscape, but at the same time it's not realistic enough so your body rejects it, maybe because it feels in a strange fake world, it feels like something is off and that translates into danger so your sub consciousness tries to warn you; the loneliness doesn't help with that feeling of danger since we are more vulnerable alone and since this feeling is more noticeable while you are not having fun with other people doing random stuff.
i know this comment is ancient, but i would like to add to it. because of the way the hammer map editor is, blocky buildings, tight corridors, and uncommonly steep ramps are all commonplace on source maps. the corridors are usually claustrophobic. the ramps are unnatural, and because open areas are not hammer's strong suit, something does feel off about them
The map he has shown in a city is very novice in its detail/scaling/texturing etc. aka babys first map-esque.
The relatively low poly architecture of source compared to the likes of ue4 and the default textures of hl2 and css deliberately create this feeling the color palettes are not vibrant as well. It gives the feeling of an abandonned soviet city. Nothing new tbf
Didn't know the uncanny valley also works on non-human objects.
Nailed it
There are many reasons:
1. The feeling of not being alone when you think you are.
2. The blandness of colors
3. The ambient noises
4. Nothing is moving.
True
Those are three reasons. The first one is literally because of the other three lol
@@mrflippy3578 iq has left the chat
Above all, the reason its creepy watching this video is PRIMING. Everything in this video was set up so we feel uneasy from the nostalgic start, to unnerving music, to the suicide story. I felt weird watching this video, but I played on this map just yesterday and I had absolutely no creepy affects on me.
i thought your pfp was the adobe logo
The fact u hear sirens going off in the background while ur in a empty city as if you missed an evacuation of the city or something
godzilla vibin
Ive had dreams like that... a very specific feeling.
either that or just siren head
Crazy to think this is the first video of yours I've ever seen and I'm still here binging literally every video you make and I'm loving every single minute of it!
The fact that _I'm not the only one having this kind of feelings_ only makes it worse
I think it makes it better because you're not insane lmaoo
nah dude, i felt relieved knowing there are a lot of us who also feel the same.
@@guren2904 I don't know man, knowing something is actually wrong about Source games kind of creeps me out a bit.
@@sunlight941 You're right even gm_construct is creepy. Since other people feel the same it makes you think this was deliberate and there's something sinister behind a lot of it.
Weird as shit man
The feeling hasn't been creepiness for me but a sence of dreadful loneliness, going through rooms meant for furnishing and people but there is absolutely nothing.
100% agree,, it's like the unsettling feeling of seeing something once so full of life now abandoned. You expect to see someone pop out from a doorway, but instead there's only yourself and the silence.
Yeah lol it’s just a feeling of dread and unnerving
The thing which disturbed me is that the soundtrack is that of a bustling city but u can find nowhere there and it creates a feeling that you are being watched
@@keeoh5815 the thing is, I never played multiplayer. I would constantly build little scenes to avoid the bitter loneliness, I never felt watched. 7 years go by still playing and it is only now that I have played multiplayer, it feels like I'm in a room with mannequins, strangely I had grown an attraction to my little scenes than to being with people.
It probably doesn't help that every single texture in Source is something that's meant to look 3d, but is just a completely flat surface.
That's pretty much what Normal Maps are, though. They're just alot more common and noticable in Source games. I think it's more the grimy, rundown nature of most HL2/CS:S textures that contributes to that uneasy feeling.
@@randomcatdude true their just normal maps, but I think he means the level of the detail on these normal maps really contrast with the flatness of the model itself, and source games have particularly flat models
To me, the textures are pretty unsettling because, although they might not be, they look dirty or old, and a bit weird
This is a very interesting video, as someone who was 13-15 at the time playing gmod on rp downtown V2 with so many other players and very fond memorable experiences I took the time tonight to revisit the map alone wondering it for 20 minutes. As maps have updated and progressed on and me being a 25 years old now it was a surreal experience, it was like walking through the remnants of the past, forgotten personal memories which no one else in my social circle can relate to or understand. The eerie noises in the background, the abandoned sewers for where i used to base with multiple other people and be filled with voice coms, only to be replaced by the sound of dripping or running water with faint sirens in the background. Simply chilling.
I feel that it's because the worlds are largely unanimated. There's no sense of time.
Exactly my thoughts. Like the entire planet has stagnated . If I went outside one day and everything was empty and still I'd be creeped out.
Deep.
Yeah it's just dead silence, nothing there feels alive. All empty, but with an ambience sound in the background? Weird, maybe that's why I'm uneasy.
It all looks old and grimy but like it doesn’t age or move at all
The background noise makes it seem like it should be populated but it’s unnerving since there’s no one ther
The scary thing for me is red glowing ERROR's or pink and black textures.
Idk why but the black & pink textures is nostalgic to me
I feel you
Ok good, I’m not the only one that got creeped out whenever I played Garry’s mod on my own.
I personally love the feeling. Made the game more interesting and expansive. Your own imagination is your limitation.
The video that started it all... Still lovin the videos 5 years on, how has it been so long already?!
The 90's - early 2000s textures and the colours, the sounds and just how everything is layed out.
Feels like I'm going back in time
Yeah I fear that the very specific emotional association with the resolution and texture detail of Half Life 2 and gmod can't be recreated with future and higher res games. Maybe its just nostalgia.
I think it’s the fact that all these places are empty, and without people. It feels like a horror game without the proper lighting. Reminds me of the Backrooms concept in a weird way.
Wow exactly! Well said
Yeah it's a liminal space. Solar Sands did a full video covering why we feel this way
well the backrooms have monsters in it
One of the Backrooms, a lower level is basically an abandoned Town so it made me think of that. Like you can hear signs of Life but youre never able to reach it.
Same feeling man.
Cities, and more succinctly, buildings are made exclusively by people, for their use. When there's no people in a building, in a city... we subconsciously think, "Something must be wrong with this place." I think it's a survival instinct. The reason it's common in Source games is because of the same freedom that people have used to mod the engine to hell and back. You're free to just wander around on an empty map, and it's easy to do.
How many games let you do this without tons of modding know-how? It's practically the default for Source. I bet doing this with a Fallout game would make it just as creepy and unnerving.
It is most definitely a survival instinct. Think how weird it would be to live in a forest as a caveman only to one day wake up and not see any small animals or chirping birds. Your first thought would be "Why did the animals leave? What where they running from?". Thus making you feel threatened.
It's an incredibly interesting phenomenon.
I think that wouldn't work so much in Fallout. The World in Bethesda Games already is pretty empty and eventless most of the time. When you wander from one town to another you would encounter maybe two or three enemies ant that's it.
The word you are looking for is 'Liminal Space'.
I have that feeling for Minecraft even though technically there are supposed to be no humans except you (excluding villagers) and it feels.. sad and a bit creepy at times
@@StabYourBrain
I think it's also the fact that Fallout has clearely gone through an apocalypse. The fact that you can see how everything has been destroyed is oddly reassuring in its own way. Empty Source maps are usually in this uncanny, clean, pristine condition. As if all the people there suddently vanished into thin air mere moments ago. It's more unnerving since you really don't know just what happened there.
Bro that zombie in cs_office just as you said 'See someone around the corner' really got me. That was genius. I had to replay to check if what I saw was there.
lol it was jimmy neutrons dad! i also saw it and was like wait a minute
Me too
My guess is "environmental uncanny valley" - It's realistic, but "off"
I honestly think it’s with every game mostly multiplayer ones I always got that same feeling when playing Halo 3 alone the idea that I could see something always terrified me because it wasn’t possible I wasn’t online so how could someone join.
I completely agree. It doesn't help that most of the graphics assets are from a dystopian setting, which furthers the "ghost town" vibes
I agree, I think this is a big part of it! The textures are all taken from photographs so they look real enough, but the geometry is always flat and blocky. Look at the buildings in the Gmod map - none of them have the imperfections and overhangs and details you see on real-life buildings. The chipped paint is there, but there's no difference in height between the paint and the wall. The bricks have cracks in them, but it's all on the same surface level. All the physical imperfections are there, without any of the physicality lol.
This was before normal maps were as common as they are in video games today so even though the textures are of real objects, the textures you'd see in an amateur source map lack the depth you would expect; the bricks on walls are completely flat and don't have any parallaxing as you walk past them, the walls have moulding but it's just projected onto the geometry and looks the same from every angle, and it just looks _weird_. Also, the textures are just slightly blurry/pixelated, which again clashes with the fact that they're photos of real life.
All that to say that it's just a lot of different things all coming together to make an object feel not quite right.
It's like our dreams
hmmmm
“This game was creepy.”
_And then the video proceeds to freeze for me._
F
The monster behind you as you proceed to reading this: 👻
Creepiness was next level on CS Maps.
@@jwinners407 Now 669. Nice
Lol
@LI GUANXIU FPPS
💀
noclipping out of source maps to see you're just in an infinite void, in the middle of nowhere gets me too.
LIMINAL SPACE
THE BACKROOMS
AMENOIA
Gordon....THERE'S NOTHING THERE.
really? cause for me when I saw him zipping around using No clip I was suddenly taken out of the creepiness and was mentally singing Sonic Adventure 2's City Escape theme XD
Man that's true! I have always felt that since my childhood when playing Counter Strike 1.6 without any BOTS or players. But never gave much time to think why? Knowing that you felt it too gives me chills.
Same here...
It's just the feeling of Lord Gaben constantly looking over your shoulder.
Lord gaben breathing heavily on your shoulder while telling u to buy something on steam.
@@xyzxyzzyxzyx2155 Ninty... Percent... Off... *Lord Gaben smiles as you reach for your wallet.*
Thank now I don’t have to watch the video
Don’t anger him or he’ll erase your entire library...
His presence is real!!
An empty Source map is like a closed amusement park at night.
Or a cellar in a new house that you haven't filled with shit.
*oh my god don't say that*
600th anniversary of the most important things that are available
or a abandoned school
People: "this is so creepy, I feel like I'm being watched"
Me, chuckling as I watch you through the security camera: "Yes, yes you are"
Wait wha-
O-O
FEGELEIN!!!!
Where is it
*Laughs from the vent*
For some unknown reason this unnerving feeling of loneliness makes me more passionate and fascinated about source games, in gmod and hl2 in particular
Same, it just feels oddly... right, like it always fascinated me how these games could promote uncannynes just by their simple graphics, im looking foward to getting more in depth into this.
@@victordarkreapewr444 I think it has to do more with the Ambient sound effects and the level of detail put in the environment rather than the graphics
A Beginner's Guide, while it doesn't run on Unity, almost explicitly focuses upon this empty feeling. Fantastic play.
Would highly recommend also, takes a while for everything to settle in your own head after it
I felt like a genius for getting the tarot numbers puzzle without needing the solution. Loved that game.
i never really got to feel that empty feeling on gmod mostly due to me immediately spawning a gazillion kermit npcs every time a map loaded most of the time
Yeah, although some maps have like places like sewers and caves which are Dark as fuck. And combining with some dark ambience with those 2 places, it starts to get creepy immediately once you set in
And that’s not creepy at all 😂😂😂
It mostly comes to sound design
@@sadcookie7401 Kermit can make anything not creepy
@@magnamouse1384 Kermit 4 sewers and caves!!
The whole backroom meme thing was definitely inspired by these feelings. It’s quite funny because I feel like not many people have made the link. Most people jumped on the whole SCP bandwagon, adding monsters and other things.
I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one who has this weird feeling when playing Source games.
The original post even talks about noclip!
yeah when i first heard of the backrooms i 100% imagined the same feeling of noclipping in a source game and finding a strange room hidden beneath the map
Yeah I really do not like that whenever something strange or eerie like that happens on the internet everyone says “OMG this needs to be an SCP!!”
It immediately reminded me of the secret room on flatgrass
@Stimul yea that happens when you play lots of source games or put time into a source game
I understand how people might few uneasy in an empty source map, but honestly, I think is very comfy.
I love the concept of a place that is usually full of people that is now empty, with just me there. It feels like im in a secrete haven and the whole place is just mine. I had a similar comfy and relaxed feeling whenever I got too early on school, or stayed in the school after everyone left, because there wouldn't be anyone
Same here bro, when i was in highschool on class starts at 7am, and im already there at 4am. I dont know, i feel so comfortable alone before.
While I do get that eerieness on source maps, I have mixed feeling when experiencing what you are saying irl. I've always felt both comforted and creeped out when being somewhere alone. For instance, I work on my family cafe, and sometimes I leave very late in the evening (3-4 am) and the cafe is in the town square, which is almost always lively, but when leaving that late and walking home, I always have that weird feeling of both calm and uneasiness, I can't quite explain it
I agree, I love occasionally going into empty servers and just walking around. Sometimes noclipping around surf maps in cs:s just to appreciate the map architecture.
Thats not the problem. I dont mind being alone.
The thing that most are scared about is, *not really being alone but you think you are*. Some entity or being, stalking you out of every corner. You have this feeling of being watched. Sometimes you can almost see it! But you most likely never will. It might not exist. But it definetly feels like it does. In the corner of your eye. Something. You dont know what though.
I can relate to that as to when I used to commute early to work 4am to be in office by 5am. There was close to Noone on road and very few people about. I found peace in that. The night shift folks were still around and I was the only person that early.
Left 4 dead with no zombies is terrifying, it’s just quiet dark and creepy.
i tried it out and i could only stand it by pretending theres zombies out there, far away in the map, and that they just havent seen me yet. otherwise, i'd just leave or turn the director on.
it's sccary, when that happens I would have my brother play the game
Its not scary at all
especially the swamp map
With zombies it isn’t scary, but without them is horrifying
I always feel like im one step away from getting jumpscared
Boo!
@@SLENDAMANN *shits violently*
Dude same
@@Handkeliw Uhm.....
@@Handkeliw ANTI CITIZEN DETECTED SENDING UNIT 1969
I think a big part of the feeling is the fact that Source manages to be a relatively realistic engine while still having the jank of 3D games created in that era. Everything is nice, but slightly off, creating an uncanny valley effect that combines great with a sense of loneliness to create unease and dread.
Best comment I’ve read and I’ve been scrolling for a while
Great way for it to be put. I think it's that era's slightly off-ness, the liminal space people are mentioning and for me the lighting.
everything is sort of too well lit / unlit. Which again is how it was in that era but especially so in Source. Daytime lighting is pretty flat so it just feels... wrong
perfectly put!
No wonder why hl2 scares me
Thank you hentai girl, very cool
Never in my life have I thought Source engine games to be creepy. But that map's soundscape is made for horror.
The saturation of the buildings is probably a factor, but for the most part, I think it’s because you’re not supposed to be alone, but you are. These maps are built to be filled with NPC’s and players so seeing them in an environment like GMod Singleplayer makes it feel like something’s missing. There’s usually music and sounds or voices and players, but the feeling of being alone in a place that you remember being populated is so strange and unnerving. Imagine you went to a bunker for 5-15 years and came back to your home town where people laughed and walked, and seeing it as a ghost town. You’d feel creeped out and unnerved too
A stranger in a familiar land
It’s like looking at pictures of a place like pripyat
Imagine playing skyrim, but you're the only character. No npc's, no enemies, just you.
And I thought Doom without demons is already creepier than anything else
Holy shit
That would be boring asf
It would just be "hiking through the woods in 1450"
I remember that happening in Fallout New Vegas when I booted the game up it crashed at and I had to restart then it played as normal but there where no npcs at all
One of my favorite things to do in Garry's Mod is to load a really big map, then spawn a invincible monster/killer on a random spot around the map that will go around hunting me down (there's a great addon called "zombie invasion+" that randomly spawns entities on the map so you don't have to place them yourself), preferably at 3 AM. Being completely alone in a huge map, in complete silence, that air of dread permeating the air, until that absolute silence is suddenly broken by the sound of a door opening in the distance, the sound of footsteps getting louder, accompanied by threatening, inhuman sounds is more terrifying than most horror games i've played in my life...
Lmao my coward @ss could never lol. Bro, I even get scared playing Minecraft alone. Ahahaha.
@@TeaDrinker-eq3md
Lmao I thought I was the only one. I’m such a coward that even zombies jumpscared me when I played survival mode.
@@TheAurelianProject XD and the cave noises bruuuh
@@TeaDrinker-eq3md The cave noises are very creepy, actual paranomal feeling...Terror...Fear.
@@TeaDrinker-eq3md same, it's not bdcause of zombies it's because
My brain:"hey you know herobrjne was said to be notch's brother but debunked right? Ofc you wouldn't be scared"
Me:"how about no?"
I felt like this when playing Mirror's Edge. It was really eerie and depressing tbh. Got the same feeling when I played CS Source alone with bots after playing it every weekend with friends. It was a nostalgic loneliness. Or when you log onto Steam (for whatever reason) and see your friend "last online 5 years ago"...
EXACTLY.
this takes me back to 3 am playing on empty gmod maps alone. it always felt like someone was there, just in the distance or around the corner
I create maps and play in those maps alone, i like the feeling in them, the textures the props they are all giving some kind of abandoned feeling, i make awesome rooms under ground places and then i decorate those rooms with garbage, oildrums, a pushcart, i like all those old looking props, with the half life 2 assets and stuf(the textures, props...) and with a good lighting night time map when u make a city map in garrys mod it feels like u are in gothom city, all those decals, grafities i love the source engine so much i would like to live in it
@̣ i never had that feeling
I either play online or with bots or for gmod i just build stuff in flatgrass
I know right I add bots so I don't feel scared
God I feel this comment making the hairs on my back stand up..
@@aladontheinternet6363 flatgrass can never be creepy, maybe that secret room with a doll...
The thing that makes source games creepy is that they're just so still. There's nothing moving, no wind blowing, nobody's talking. It's a dead world and it feels unnatural
To add to this there's artificial noise, things like birds chirping that don't exist..
yess. Ive been palying source games since 2017 bec my PC was trash and I wondered why this shit is running in like 100 fps. Then I discovered everything looks dead and nothing is moving or doing anything. also every source game looks the exact same. The shit im talking for 3 years now.
Dead and empty world but with everything quite recent. Not like a post apocalyptic world with everything destroyed justifying who no ones there. Just no one with recent and not destroyed buildings.
Also other stuff that gives the weird feeling : everything is flat. There are almost no 3d volume, just flat surface with HD textures, and also the scale of everything seems a bit off but not too much
It's a bit like that old Stephen King story, where a couple of people somehow get removed from the real world while on a flight from LAX to Boston. After they manage to land the plane they realize that they're trapped in this static, leftover version of reality where nothing ever changes and everything feels stale and dead.
That, combined with socialist/brutalist architecture which gives you unsettling feelings of someone always watching you
OH MY GOD YES IM NOT THE ONLY ONE
Oh , salut ceapa! Nu m-as if gandit ca o sa te vad aici. Apropo , continuă cu video-urile. Sunt tare blană.
Sall
Seriously what the fuck... I've been having these creepy feelings my whole life when playing Source games. Absurd to see I'm not alone.
The only source game I don’t get that feeling from is tf2
@@Vantablack000 Salut Bogdan si Ceapa! Nu ma asteptam sa gasesc romani aici.
I def agree. Loading up a map and walking around by yourself does have an unnerving feeling. It’s almost like there is so little going on, it feels like something, somewhere is moving around watching you. I really miss that feeling to be honest. Games are so advanced and busy now, I miss that seclusion old games had.
It feels like ur in a nightmare, just without the scary shit
Kinda
so, a regular dream?
69th like ;)
Holy shit dude you're right
Playing games like those actually helped me create complex areas in my dreams, with the noclip mode on, Inception style. Kinda more difficult now as game maps are becoming more open and detailed. So yes, I do feel like in a dream.
It's probably the fact that the soundscape sounds like the hustle and bustle of a busy city, however you being in the middle of a seemingly empty neighbourhood or district of the city. It makes you feel alone and isolated from all the police sirens.
this was my thought as well, figured someone else would say this
06:22
I feel like if they had things like NPC’s or cars driving around like GTA or sum, it would make it so much better
Pointing out two things that I think also contribute to the uneasiness:
1. The gray color scheme makes it look more realistic and dangerous, making you feel that the map shouldn't be empty.
2. The slow movement of the weapon/arms, your brain instinctively tries to empathize to what your player model should be feeling to be moving like that.
In my case, I feel the character is moving with caution.
Agreed - especially regarding the color scheme. I think there's also something with the source engine's lighting that is particularly unsettling. I can't quite describe it, but there's just something off-putting about it.
if i can add to your second point, regarding empathizing with your guy in game. maybe it's just me, but it feels a bit alarming to run/sprint in there.
there's nothing there in the emptiness to threaten you, but beginning to sprint, abandoning the cautious movement you mentioned, makes it seem as if you're being watched or even chased. you're completely alone, but that feeling is just there when you begin to run.
almost like your guy in there knows something you don't. even if you initiated the sprint on nothing but a whim
@@wilfredhamlet Ah thanks man, now i'm even more paranoid about playing Gmod alone :')
@@eamonjames8496 I think its because the source engine doesn't have indirect shadows and stuff like that so lighting its just different enough to look unnatural and weird.
@@Just_Ch4rles ah don't worry mate. as long as you never see it you're fine :D
This is the video that kicked off your success, Librarian, and drew many new people to your channel, myself included, four to five years ago. Still a Librarian enjoyer to this day. Even looking back, I can tell you understood the feelings, and it's so good.
I hate that I found this video. Because it’s true, there was always something so unsettling about source games, Gmod included.
yeah, it’s like you got a feeling that a random monster or jumpscare will appear out of nowhere.
I've never been a PC guy (ok, maybe I was around 2011, but only played RPGs) and always played on console, and mostly platform/adventure games, and it if was a shooter it would be COD or Killzone. So I never grew up with Steam games or anything related to Half Life etc. I never liked them. But god damn, I always found the engine's graphics to be really disturbing to me. I can't pinpoint why, but they gave me a feeling that something was off. Kinda like the Uncanny Valley effect. I had watched lots of those GMod videos back in the day, and I guarantee you that I've never laughed with them. I always felt kinda stressed.
Bro I’m gonna be honest:
Gmod horror maps scare the shit out of me
I don’t think I could stomach gmod horror, I can only do Ravenholm when I’m in a certain mindset, and I’m not super immersed or invested. Usually play it in a small window, with 80-to early 2000s hip hop music in the background.
GMod is the worst. That default sandbox map scared me since the day I bought the game those two dark buildings seem out of their place.
Older versions of minecraft give me an intense feeling just like this.
Even tho im 17, i just cant play singleplayer normaly, im just mining in one direction and then all of a sudden the herobrine memories of 2013 kick in and im scared to turn around and just leave the game
@@maximilianpetrov8176 And the cave noises are not helping either
yeah the older verson of minecraft had a simpler, emptier design to it. It was too simple, like anything could pop up anytime
Cave noises are one of the reasons I don't play minecraft alone, it scares me a lot !
Back then people thought herobrian was a thing which make it a lot more creepy
rp_downtown asmr - beats to relax/study to
Beats to stress/be paranoïd to
странный релакс под звуки сирены
@@vladtc5264 i dont like that enchantment, any more you got to offer? i got 30 levels of xp.
@Sean Canning nice
Ah the beautiful sound of “HE RDM’D ME” echoing through the street
You're not afraid to be alone in an empty house. You're afraid of not being alone in an empty house
The feeling you're having is called kenopsia. "Kenopsia
n. the eerie, forlorn atmosphere of a place that’s usually bustling with people but is now abandoned and quiet.." All these places looks like they would be full of people, but they aren't. You just cannot trust that they are empty.
I remember getting willies while playing Multiplayer maps alone just afraid that I may see someone
Goddamnit I was gonna say that. Good job. You have earned my like.
A museum at night after closing?
Would that count?
@@lucascoval828 Yeah that would work
@@lucascoval828 Hello Ben Stiller.
I think it’s just the general emptiness. The world looks realistic enough but lacks emotion or presence. It just feels like the regular world but wrong
Wouldn't the Mirrors Edge world feel like this?
@@brodriguez11000 I feel like its different there as we spend the most of the game on top of roofs and construction sites where it's kind of expected to have few ppl while in this we are in houses and in livable environments expecting to see people, but we don't and that is unsettling us
Yeaah no ambient noise either or wind. Just... still
Look up liminal spaces on TH-cam
@@brodriguez11000 It does a little bit, and that’s intentional. The stark white landscape symbolizes how Faith views the cold, lifelsss dystopia.
I’m not sure if anybody remembers this, but who remembers the GMan sightings on gmod maps like big city?
Edit: my friend was on at the time when we found it out, the gman said something like “doctor freeman” in that creepy way through the ENTIRE map, so I don’t think it was my friend spawning him in
What?
For real? Holy shit
damn
That happened?? holy shit im looking this up
HOLY FUCK
As a photographer, it has a lot to do with the negative space. I had the same sensation in Texas. There is so much negative space in Texas haha. When you have a lot of space and room between things there is a sense of isolation. When I compose frames and I want to intensify that feeling, I purposefully add a ton of negative space between the canvas edges and subject matter and make the background devoid of much distraction.
Design wise it also creates attention. There’s a sense of vulnerability with a lot of room. You subtract additional subjects and pair it with melancholic color palettes and you have a prime foundation for pushing those feelings of isolation, melancholy, and/ vulnerability. These are things that I definitely resonate with, but I take it as a calling that 1) Others feel the same way so I’m not alone in that respect, 2) an acknowledgment that what I’m feeling is not unique or special 3) that feeling of discomfort points out an inherent issue I maybe am dealing with 4) awareness of the issue means I can also glean the awareness of the solution to the issue.
If you ask me, there’s one thing that the digital world has shown us is our need for the real genuine connections in our lives. Maybe somebody is attracted to scenes like this because they feel strangled by people around them and maybe others are repulsed or scared of scenes like this because they reinforce a feeling they wish to escape. That’s the beauty of Art, it acts a microcosm of what’s happening between the surface for both the Artist and the Audience. Too often, I think, we focus on the Art itself versus how the Art impacts us personally. There’s insight to glean from our response to things.
Edit: you also get this feeling with Liminal spaces, or really anything that is uncanny. The unfamiliar is uncomfortable, we have a tendency to look for parallels in the unfamiliar to what we can know. So recognizable things arranged in unfamiliar ways can create a lot of mixed emotions that take a while to unpack. The more you study Art and create Art the more you start to realize it’s just people sharing ideas and emotions just to be understood better. Art is it’s own language and even Great Artists miss the message of other artist for the message they need to tell themselves. At the end of the day, it’s just people trying to connect with people, that’s what’s important.
Texas do that tho
Speak enlighs
Part of the effect is that the interiors don't look lived-in. They look like they were designed by an unemotional AI to emulate human society, but completely missing the point of what makes a society feel alive.
Sounds like you might like the manga "Blame!" Or the game NaissanceE
@@The_Noblest_Roman blame! Is badass
@lunes feriado I think I saw that on release but It must not have stuck so I'm due a rewatch. My counter recommendation is th-cam.com/video/Zkv6rVcKKg8/w-d-xo.html
3 years later but I know what you mean. There's no individuality, just bare minimum to sustain an unfeeling life
The biggest reason for me feeling creeped out is the noise of the town. You still hear the traffic and sirens, the town *sounds* alive. But there's noone around. You're all on your own.
If the town was completely quiet, it would have been better for me at least.
This is calms me down.
@@someoneelse128 The main reason you feel uneasy is gmods use of real life photos for most of their textures which makes you feel immersed as well as the 1990-2000s feel in the game whilst the map being totally empty by yourself
I had a nightmare as a kid that was very similar where I was in a classroom and I could hear children talking and playing, but nobody was there. I soon found the sound coming from a hidden tape recorder, but it still unnerved me
Then turn the audio off
Yo deadass so glad I’m not the only one. Gmod big city 💀
easy answer: source games are 3d liminal spaces. The maps are usually believable as real urban places, so when servers are empty or there's no AI to take up the space, you feel this sensation like someone's going to pop around the next corner any second because your brain is trained to associate the terrain with crowds.
I thought the exact same thing. Source game levels are all meant to be moved through and bustling with activity, like a subway station, or a town center. Visit those place at night, or after closing and you get the same weird feeling. HL2, where most of the source art direction comes from, intentionally played with this feeling to give the sense that the world was this lonely dystopian place; so that caries over to everything else.
You know? I have other explaination. Empty servers bring loneliness, feeling of something that was once great, but fell. People where having fun there, but party is over and you are alone. It's a grim omen of humanity's future and memento of game's past. People link games with reality. If you have ever seen an MMO shutting down you know what I mean. It's like they were really dying, some people go insane, do worst shit they can, because they can avoid the punishment, have mental breakdowns, speak with the other, forget about their differences and speak waiting for the end or even sit with their enemies, forgiving them. It's somewhat exciting. Facing the end. Together with people who feel like your family. And Source games just look like you were late for the shutdown, but somehow you are still able to see locations you loved, but without people, empty. It's the very definiton of eerie for me. Loneliness, hellesness and realization that nobody will help them. Ever.
@@DehydratedDarkness I have witnessed Club Penguin shutting down...and other games like NFS World, Skill Special Force 2, soon all the flash games too...
@@Andy_77799 Fortunately, there still ways to play alot of flash games, like BlueMaxima's Flashpoint.
@@DehydratedDarkness Well I play gmod since 2011, I NEVER played it online or with friends, but I still have this feeling. It's not because we had good memories, but for another reason I can't explain
It's crazy how the creepiness of the game isn't even trying to be scary, It's your own mind scaring itself.
Don't you ever go onto gm_bigcity and just walk around, listen to the background ambiance and get this feeling that you're being watched, especially with the big open space knowing anything can be anywhere and you wouldn't realize it?
Edit: POV. You spawn into gm_bigcity and you look around wondering what to do, as you're exploring you notice the deafening silence, there's nobody around and you walk as your footsteps echo through the empty area. You begin to get an unnerving feeling like you're being watched you check the tab menu to see if anyone has joined but like always, it's empty. You continue to walk through the empty city getting even more paranoid, you see something in the corner of your eye but there's nothing there, finally, you give up and leave joining a multiplayer server.
EVERYTIME I ENTER
thats because you lose track of the windows and you feel something is around but you are alone
IDK I played alone on it all the time, cruising around in cars or helis. was really fun
And there’s plenty of Gmod horror videos set in GM Bigcity.
I usually do NPC wars there so I don't really feel anything unnerving.
Many years ago after hurricane katrina I first felt this feeling when returning home after receiving 8-9ft of water throughout my entire neighborhood. All the wildlife was gone, and nobody was around. The neighborhood was silent, with no one else there but us. A once bustling neighborhood, full of energy and life, empty, silent, and unlit. No sounds of birds, workers, or kids playing. Looking around, all I could see was empty, boarded up or broken windows, with dark interiors and destroyed furniture. The once lovely and lively place I knew, was now empty and desolate, remaining only in it's uncanny glory. I couldn't help but feel the longer I stayed there, the uncomfortable feeling of something missing all the time. Really truly a devastating emotional feeling to experience something like this in real life, but the feeling is almost addicting, just because it's so foreign and bizzare.
I hope you're doing better, this must have been a hard experience mentally
Were you able to move out?
@@VincentViewer well, we had nothing to go back to, so ultimately we did have to find another place to live for a month or two
@@lorenzokrumm i
@@justvincentf dude, I swear that was fucking scary. but also sad like, a place where you hang out with friends, neighbor and family filled with children playing and people passing by, now just a ghost town filled with nothing but remains of houses and your house.
I also have an aunt that live on a house in the middle of a dead neighborhood, literally every house beside her house was just a debris of house filled with vine with no one want's to live there, luckily, she has so many children which makes her house a big family
Source Engine maps give me 2 feelings: “I am alone” and “ I am NOT alone.”
Yes - that perfectly describes that weird uncertainty the maps give you!
Very true.. it's got a cold, clinical atmosphere, which is unnerving as well
You are alone, yes. But you arent because Gman always watching
@@alango9152 Gman? More like Gary man, or Gary Newman.
@@thevisitor1032 No, Gman is from Half-Life.
The colour pallet has a lot to do with the tone as well. Personally, Source feels like home. It's like that favourite pair of shoes or old bike you loved to ride.
The engine places no restrictions on pallette though. It's just an engine. If you wanted to make a bright, over-saturated game in it then you can.
I think its because the game has really dystopian textures, everything is ”roughed up & dirty” also the textures have really good graphics and many seem 3d but the geometry does’nt match the graphics... everything is so hd where you think the shapes dont match the textures... its all pretty square-ish, boxy it makes you feel closed in like a laberynth.
The sound fx is also very wide and open, everything you interact with has eco and it further makes you feel like inside a big box
Yes, I was thinking the same thing, it seems to be a kind of "uncanny valley" effect
A big orange box
@@stephenmackinnon6452 I see what you did there
"Dystopian textures" Okay bud
Nah, even TF2 maps feel fundamentally wrong if you are the only one on them, and they are everything but "roughed up & dirty".
The ambience in general is what makes me feel uncomfortable, no music, only cars sometimes, doors opening, metal footsteps, and the fact you're playing alone, also has anyone ever felt uncomfortable to the point of leaving when you get into the limbo/ out of bounds area? It's just silent, dark, jeez
I don't know what to call it but when I was a bit younger and even a bit now, I always had a fear that I wasn't Alone in games and always had a feeling someone else was there with me, even in a fun game like minecraft. Because I never knew how to do multiplayer mode in GMOD I always had to make scenes and fun rps with Npcs so then I felt like there was someone there with me and not hiding and watching me.
@@tacticaltheaters1310 yea, i think that fear fuelled legends like Herobrine.
God, I have a real fear to getting out of bounds in any game, I start feeling like a little fish on the ocean. I almost can't play any big map game because I always end up in that "limbo"
@@tacticaltheaters1310 this is literally me
Meanwhile me playing TF2 with loud people raging in their mics, chat full of colorful slurs and memes, everyone screaming medic, and heavy eating his sandvich like it’s made out of cardboard.
It got this "artificial" feel, like you know everything is fake, and just a facade inside an unknown world, even the BG sound are so generic that you wonder whats really happening outside this empty map
Ohhh, really well put!
Yeah
The charm of the source engine is also what's responsible for it's ability to induce fear. All of the visuals contained in the maps are pretty photorealistic, and all of the main games use various themes of science to further push that sense of normality, but the way it does it is horrifying. It feels TOO correct, like there should be more going on but there isn't, and it gives you all sorts of messed-up thoughts. That's why encountering glitches like missing textures is so offputting, it feels like the comforting, or daresay unsettling sense of safety in the world is collapsing before your eyes.
mafia 1 tutorial map gives that feel!
I remember feeling like this when I played assassin's Creed 2. If you took your horse and walked through the Alpes to get to one location, there was literally nothing in the surroundings except you, your horse and the landscape. I remember feeling that uncomfortable feeling of being alone, and who knows if I was being watched... Anyway I was a kid, but that feeling is stuck with me
I remember a few years ago, while being caught up in all that FNaF craze, I downloaded a Gmod remake of the Pizzeria from the first game. I specifically downloaded the "No Scripts" version because I just wanted to explore it in peace without any chases and jumpscares.
It was still creepy, being all empty and lifeless, but I was comforted by a thought that this is still a completely empty map and there are no threaths whatsoever.
Right until I wandered in some kind of basement, opened a door, and the Purple Guy NPC murdered me in one hit, scaring the shit out of me. After that I was "fuck it" and never touched that map ever again.
That actually creepy as heck and I also had the same experience except no jumpscares or anything
So they left a script in the map JUST for the purple man to jumpscare the fuck out of you?? Lmao that's a good easteregg
Why did we have the EXACT same experience? That map gave me trust issues.
I had the exact same thing happen to me with the SCP Containment Breach map. I was super into that game, so I downloaded the map for me and my best friend to mess around on.
Walking down the corridors alone scared the shit out of me, because I had never played a horror game before, or watched any horror movies, I had just watched a lot of SCP:CB videos.
One script that the map used to have, which I'm glad they removed, was the SCP-173 encounter in the room where you find the Level-2 Keycard and he busts through the window.
Back then I was so scared that I instantly turned off the game, and it had a lasting effect on me whenever I played gmod over the next few months, and especially on that map.
purple guy was probably just an npc they left in, so i guess there were no scripts... you can never truly be sure that you're alone...
I never played multiplayer GMod. I have no fond memories of other people in those old maps. Yet, there’s still something off about them all. The dark room in gm_construct always terrified me as a kid. I really don’t know what it is about source games, but this video really brought back that feeling I used to get when I was younger, playing Garry’s Mod alone, when the fun died down for a moment and really let the emptiness settle on.
That damn dark room still scares me, even after all these years.
The room with just the teddybear in gm_flatgrass was awful too because you can only noclip into it
i still hate that room
i remeber when i was little and for the first time played gmod i loaded gm_construct for the first time. I was sooo scared of that basement with thoose white rooms and that mirror and even now that place still gives me chills.
I remember the first time I played the game and I always wondered what that one room no one went to in videos so when I played it I went there saw the dark stairs and immediately just went "no" and left.
It took me like 3 years to finally go there and I am never going there unless I can fill it with the brightest lights imaginable.
To be frank, every room in gm_construct that's underground is unsettling even though they're brightly lit, there's just something about them that's just uncanny. Plus creepy points for that one yellow apartment building in the far back of the map next to the pool.
The experience is scary because the world is unnaturally still, and inexplicably abandoned. Why does this place exist? Where is everyone? Silence doesn't belong in environments like this. It feels unnatural. Imagine going outside (especially if you live in a city) and hearing nothing. Zero. No people, barely any wind, nothing. Ever read those creepypastas where a guy wakes up and finds the world is completely devoid of people for some reason? Another good movie to watch is Vanishing on 7th Street.
I would also recommend a movie called The Quiet Earth, from 1985. It's premise is about a guy who one day wakes up to realize he is the only living being on earth, other than plants everything else just dissapeared. And an indie game called Saira by the developer Nifflas. It's about a woman who takes a teleporter to go from Earth to another planet and finds out on the other side that everybody dissapeared all over the galaxy after she went in. It's actually pretty beautiful and peaceful despite it's premise.
Twilight zone was so far ahead of its time man...
You say that there's no sound but... There's clearly cop cars and stuff like that happening in the background
@@funkwater8759 ...which, because of the utter stillness of the world, is clearly nothing but a shitty MP3 track playing over everything.
I literally had this same feeling when waiting for a bus and then the cars and people stopped coming. There was only silence for 5 seconds, but it is really noticeable.
I keep coming back to this topic and this video, it's such a fascinating feeling to be afraid of something so tame. I don't often get this feeling with other games, although the times I do, I usually get a little panicked and quit the game.
It happened once in Fallout 3 when I accidentally entered a seemingly abandoned metro station. The world is intentionally devoid of life and nature, but I don't get that feeling when it is intentional. I thought the quest marker pointed me into the metro station, so I walked inside without a thought.
After a few minutes of confusingly but comfortably trying to find my way to the quest I realized the marker was pointing behind me now and that I was walking completely alone with no actual mission ahead of me in the tunnels. This was for some reason terrifying. It felt like I didn't belong there somehow, like I wasn't supposed to be there and that I had to get out quickly. So I quit the game and never played it again.
I compare that feeling a lot to the feeling I get in Garry's Mod, like I'm not supposed to be there, not alone anyway. It's really creepy.
Simple answer: source maps are liminal spaces that you can walk around. We're so used to these places being filled with npcs, players, music, sounds, interactions etc. To walk around them alone is unnerving. additionally, soundscapes in certain maps such as cities play cars, people talking, distant sirens, aeroplanes etc in a distant echoey muffle - and yet you are completely alone.
I've spent more time playing Gmod by myself than doing anything else on any source games. That's probably why I'm not creeped out at all by that
"[...] additionally, soundscapes in certain maps such as cities play cars, people talking, distant sirens, aeroplanes etc in a distant echoey muffle - and yet you are completely alone."
It's like you're trapped on a paralel yet same reality. As if they (or you) were ghosts unable to interact directly with you. But they are still there.
Like a ghost in the machine
@Commander Graham Trust me I know about the child labour stage of half life two's beta
The one that scared me the most as a kid was gm_bigcity, i think a lot of people feel the same way about that map, it's so fucking huge but there's no one. Also the city17 soundscape doesn't help at all, you hear sirens and weird stuff but the place is completely empty
gm_bigcity didnt scare me a lot when i was younger. Infact i had a lot of fun on it despite i was alone and have no one else to play on it. But thats just me though.
I thought I was alone thinking that lmao
@@geometrywarrior4882 Yeah, it was more gm_construct for me
same lol
@@melc311 YES, CAFE BALTIC, I VIVIDLY REMEMBER THAT SIGN. Oh my god i remember playing with a friend and coming up with theories. We hadn't played Half life at the time, only Gmod, so we had no context on what a Stalker or who Father Grigori is, so the jumpscares were worse. We always tried to catch ghosts and paranormal stuff.
There's also a room in one of the tall buildings that the only way to get into is by no-cliping, i think it has a gnome in it. Really creepy stuff for a 11 y/o lmao.
The scariest part of the map for me is that garage door and some alleyway between some tall buildings that for some reason made me uncomfortable, it was near one of the elevated roads iirc.
But my biggest fear when playing alone in that map, is that I always felt like something was chasing me, like if something, in some place of that huge map, was slowly closing in on me all the time, so i had to be constantly moving. I would always run or noclip into one building and feared that if i look down to the streets i would see something walking down there. Slowly getting closer.
Weirdly enough, i would feel safer if i spawned zombies or combine. I knew what the threat was and what it could and couldn't do. Is the stuff i couldn't see that freaked me out the most. Again, the sheer size of the map was probably the main reason why i was so paranoid. I gotta play that map again lmao
I've never realized it until now that I watched a Librarian video 3 years ago. I thought I first discovered The Librarian from his playthrough of The Long Drive. Never really made the connection as well because it was a different form of content and not to mention the difference in how the Librarian speaks.
This could be cause by the “uncanny valley” situation where it mimics and comes close to real life but you can still tell it’s not. This creates a feeling of being unnerved in most people
But its just all in your mind
In the case of that map it was the background city sounds contrasted with the emptyness of the map
I think it is just a case of uncanny valley because personally I don't feel unsettled at all watching this video or playing on that map
I think you're close to the mark here, Source games usually keep the same 'boring' color scheme that real life has - not very vibrant and a bit hazy.
This reminds me of liminal spaces. The surroundings seem familiar, but everything is so barren. It's not just the lack of people, but the lack of anything. None of the interiors are furnished, the weather is too still, the sunlight feels off, the clouds don't move, there are no signs of nature or life at all. The sirens at the start sound close enough that you should be able to see the source when you turn the corner, but there's nothing there, yet it sounds like it's getting closer. It's like your frozen in time and can't perceive movement but things are somehow still shifting around you. It's either like being surrounded by ghosts, or not knowing you're a ghost.
The layout of the map is also very strange, this is because it's designed as a play area, not a functioning worldspace where people would actually inhabit, so everything feels kind of mixed up - like a memory or a dream. The transition from the streets to the sewers is very jarring from bright and open to claustrophobic and dim.
This indeed ☝️ it’s like visiting a movie set alone and losing your awareness of where is north and south/exit and entry.. or if you go into the back corridors and rooms of a museum/shopping centre. There is an eerie and almost ominous feeling in those places.
I usually get these feelings a lot more in spaces that were built without human utilisation in mind. Like walking in an elevated/enclosed highway or in a hill under a big bridge, or even going down a huge electrical dam.
Half life 2’s final alien tower levels triggered this feeling in me completely. There was a particular uneasiness around playing them.. some creepy loneliness. And it didn’t help that in the background they were showing how the Combine kept their ranks full..
I agree. I’ve always enjoyed half-life and portal for that inherently creepy vibe that fits so well with the post apocalyptic setting. Didn’t think about it that way though. It does have that back rooms vibe too it.
I completely agree, i couldn't remember the term.
Garry's Mod alone is the scariest thing ever.
yes, it’s the most uncomfortable thing
Well i just spawn alot of npc’s and stuff.
Ikr, you got that feeling that someone is watching you. 😣
@@Godsecution its like going into dark spot and random fire everywhere.
i used to spawn npcs so i wouldn’t be by myself lmao
What I love about Valve is almost each of their games is a flagship game. They reinvent the gaming industry over and over again.
This is why playing source games alone is either fun because you're never alone, or terrifying because you're never alone
Your never alone..until you turn around
@@junkoenoshima6756 what do you mean
@@Romilek5461 you look back
but there's no one there
But was there someone?
@@Fogolol im scared now thanks I hate it
i got goosebumps dam it