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Re: "Lovecraft prejudice...POS." First of all the personality/mindset of an author that doesn't subtract from the quality of the stories (GRRM for instance is a horrible man, rude to his faithful readers who've been patiently waiting over a decade for him to finish ASOIAF, which he's promised is "nearly done" 3+ times a year, telling fans to "f*#@ off" who asked a fair question (since he's overweight and old "what if you fall ill have you thought about passing to a ghost writer?"). He's since released a PREQUEL chronology set in the same universe, which is a mockery because why should anyone invest in more stories he may never finish, aside from it being hard to care about history we have a vague idea about, while future events of far greater intrigue & significance remain unanswered?! Secondly, Lovecraft is from a time of segregation, not a liberal utopia of tolerance & multiculturalism, and so this mindset was quite natural for ppl of all backgrounds at the time. The prejudice in his stories is more from the perspective of protagonists experiencing the otherworldly & noting people from unknown lands (AND locals) are directly involved using ancient old world occultist books like the Necronomicon, so it's natural that the occultists be from other cultures just as a negative view of them is natural (the prejudice exhibited from the characters adds to the feeling of paranoia, and logical fear of the unknown/unknowable). Lovecraft uses language less offensive than certain Tarantino movies (Pulp Fiction for one "dead ****** storage..." or how about the scene from True Romance with Dennis Hopper & Christopher Walken "Sicilians were spawned by ******"? Which BTW is a great scenes and I see no one calling Dennis Hopper or Tarantino "POS", and that's because ppl understand it's acting for one, but mainly because Hopper's character is actually playing on the Mafia's prejudice to make them angry enough to kill him so they don't torture him to find his son's location). You cannot apply modern standards to people from wildly different eras where such concepts didn't exist, nor was it indictive of a person's morality, decency, but especially judging someone based on fictional writing, where characters are no representation of the authors mindset, or that of someone they know, at all, but such as this may be the case, it's bound to be a melodramatic caricature more than a carbon copy...
Incidentally i’m not excusing HPL’s racism. I agree, it’s disgusting. I just hate cynical choices in self-promotion. We’ve all heard the condemnation, and all of us who have read his works have an opinion of our own on the topic. We don’t need several minutes of you hating on HPL, then using his name to gain eyeballs on your essay.
One of the things that really drove home the sheer existential horror of Signalis for me was the simple inclusion of notes about the space-faring nation it takes place in, and the sheer magnitude of the evil and callousness going on. I often found myself wondering "If these characters manage to get out of this, where are we even going? What does a happy ending look like?". And the more you realize about the Signalis universe, you realize that the only victory is just keeping hold of the one small happy story in the whole thing, after it's already been tragically cut off.
they created androids that are alive and capable of thought and feeling but they basically mass produce them, treat them like disposable utensils enmass. Its such a totalitarian space faring society thats collapsing from trying to fight just one capable rebellion. They dont treat their human citizens much better. Yet it has enough assets to just tell teams being sent into space "hey if the planet is not viable in terms of life support or profit from resources to gather, spare yourself a horrific prolonged death and accept that the mission has failed. Give up and permanently put yourself and your crew on ice until the ship falls apart."
One of the notes implies that over 700 years have passed..it makes me wonder if the empire that sent them off on a suicide mission even stands anymore..their story transcends the evil that sent them to hell.
You see, that's because real cosmic horror genre is not experienced in visual arts. It's only experienced in READING. Where the only graphical processor is YOUR MIND. There are no cosmic horror films or games, they are fanfics, some of them are quite successful, yes, but stil they are a visual reflection of the true form: text. That's why you can't really make a film or a game adaptation of Lovecraft, Laird Barron, Ligotti, Ballingrud, M John Harrison. You can't. Only your own reading experience is what builds that immense, unfathomable depth.
@@elektroskeptic481 How vivid is your imagination? My reading experience is ass because I have near aphantasia. There is no immense unfathomable depth for me.
"The Old Ones are hungry." "If it looks older, it's scarier." - when you can't tell if Otter is reviewing video games or boyfriends (it me, a hungry old one)
Being a writer myself; Lovecraftean horror is one of those things you can't _really_ comprehend, until it just...clicks. Your not _Supposed_ to understand it, and that's what makes it terrifying. Before it was arguably my weakest subject material to write about. But after about 5 years of writing, reading, and researching, Its now one of my strongest genres. Simply put, its not about big tentacles of Eldritch origins and forthfilling cultists chanting Cthulu's Name. Its about the _Subtle_ peeks behind the fragile veil of reality. Like pulling back the curtain of a stage play and seeing the crew move the gears. Its about the influence they have on people and their incomprehensible agendas, forms, and even profane knowledge they impart. For how can you describe, the indescribable?
@@mobilestreamer9040 I've not actually published a book yet (I am still in the process of writing one), but I have spent the last 5 years worldbuilding up a Cthulu mythos of my own making. To give a few details; There are four cosmic elders who created the universe, The Elder, Um'breth, Arsh' 't 'Val, and Urochar (otherwise called, The Watcher). However, there are two other gods that are lesser known; Hadar, the Cosmic Hunger, and Spadra, The Eldritch Truth. The Four Cosmic Elders looked at Spadra and said "Nah fam," and threw her into the abyss, where the demons said "Nah Fam," and threw her into the void. The watcher locked Spadra away in there by bequeathing twelve dragonmarks to twelve bloodlines which contain small portions of the Cosmic Elders Power. But the Monarch, King Novak Made a deal with Spadra where for every person he killed he'd get their years added on to his life, and wants to extinguish the twelve dragon marks so when the day of the Red Moon rises, he can call forth Spadra from her cage. Confusing, or otherwise very hard to understand? That's quite literally the point of Lovecraftian horror. Something you don't really understand until it just clicks.
@@ardynamberglow3124These cosmic beings are unknowable and beyond our comprehension, so here's a handy chart detailing their names, what they look like, where they come from, what they can do, and even a family tree. Touché.
(Spoiler) Honestly, I didn't find Signalis that scary. It was stressful, oppressive, disturbing, and had an insane atmosphere, but it never really scared me. The strongest emotion it made me fell was sadness and hopelessness. After reading theories about the story, the fate of Ariane, Elster and everyone involved was heartbreaking. Being forced into this situation against ones will, being forced into endless pain, doing everything in your power to change something only to repeat everything again. Learning about Ariane and reading notes on her excruciatingly slow and painful fate as she longs for Elster and relief. Playing as Elster, trying to hopelessly help Ariane knowing that killing her will most likely not end her suffering. Even if the best outcome (for me) was the Artifact ending, we don't know what it really achieved. Did they finally reunite or will a loop start again ? For me, Signalis wasn't just an incredibly good atmospheric game with stunning visuals and ambiance. It was the most heartbreaking love story I've ever experienced !
I'm right there with you. There was something so cold and heartbreaking about the story. Loved every second. Except MAYBE the water level puzzle because I was bad at it lmao
And that right there is the heart of lovecraftian/cosmic horror. Helplessness. Meaninglessness. Hopelessness. And the creeping knowledge that even if you were to have hope, none if it even matters anyway in the grand scale of all existence.
Yeah, there's lots of different kinds of horror, that elicit different sensations: - shock - tension/dread - body horror (making you feel similar, like with bugs, or making you feel ill) - psychological - existentialism (Both those last two touch on the feelings of helplessness in different ways) The shock of being attacked or immediate threat of being chased are definitely ways of being scared from a horror game or show. But the atmospheric tension, or psychological situations, or questioning your existence can be just as horrific without making you feel directly "scared". Some of my favorite games are those that made me think about them for a long time afterwards. While I was already inured to the concepts, SOMA was one such game that hit my wife with that. I would suggest SOMA was actually quite cosmic horror, without treading into overplaying that part of it, actually.
@@filmotter the water level puzzle is very common in entrance exams or IQ tests, so Im guessing the game expects you to have experience with it. (Also the correct solution is right next to it lol)
The reason Cosmic horror is almost impossible to replicate in gaming is simple : in writing you never have to SHOW. Describing an eldritch abomination that splinters the mind is evocative, because its something the human mind cant fathom. So whatever disturbing visual a game can think of will always fall short.
This is a great point! The written word can truly capture the feeling of the indescribable, and your mind can imagine it in its most terrifying form even without that description. VIsual media has a much tougher time of it lol
I love both Bloodborne and Signalis, but what I realized from you talking about how you can't actually recall all the details of the enemies you encounter in Signalis actually harkens back to how I actually saw bosses or mobs in Bloodborne like Blood Starved Beast, Ludwig the Accursed, Moon Presence, and especially the Winter Lanterns to name a few. The fact that Miyazaki's team put so much detail in those bosses/mobs to the point that it feels overwhelming actually kinda works on its favour as well on giving you the uncanny valley.
You know, that's a good point that I hadn't thought of! Especially for the enemies with lots of fur, the details do give off that unsettling feeling visually.
@@filmotter yep, it's why I was actually even more horrified once I finally got a look into the boss designs in idle forms on TH-cam, the game still hides alot of things from you in motion.
@@filmotter Winter Lanterns is a very good example of that, since you'd be usually too focused seeing the overall shape of the enemy to realize that something is just even more fucked up the more you look at it.
What scared me with Signalis is its story and the fact that it kinda makes you feel comfortable with its horror and despair. I wasn't so used to that, so it made me feel quite creeped out. I personally feel that Signalis is more of a psychological journey than an outright cosmological horror terms it just uses Lovecraft. Yet of course, as the story inches closer to the personal depths of its characters, whether this is an eldritch event is not quite the point anymore, and the reminder of the Promise is what's harrowing. I think this is one of the few horror games that really scared me to this level, so, until I get over that form of fear, I think I won't pick it up again.
Do you know the meaning of the "comfort zone"? Sounds really comfy but actually, it's not always a good thing. It's just a psychological state you familiar with and perceive it as a controllable and predictable. Despair could be quite comfortable, as people tend to find a solace in a thought that nothing could be done, therefore - nothing SHOULD be done. No need to go through a stress of active struggling, better to leave the arrow in a wound than to try and pull it out, dealing with pain and extra blood loss. It is a well-known psychological phenomena.
@@jsmith6599 That is exactly why I feel Signalis is one of the scariest games I have ever played and experienced. To turn comfort into vulnerability was something that never happened to me. It was the darkest journey I have ever been through because of how empty it really felt. It wasn't the gore or the imagery that disturbed me, it was that emptiness. I would say, this is genius horror, up there with maybe Spec Ops The Line. Both games made me test what I can truly stomach, and I am proud to say, I lose.
@@danielgeronimo5538 To me, the game wasn't really scary. Silent Hill series was scary. Signalis is different - full of sadness and despair, but somehow beautiful. Spec Ops the Line was good, plot twist was really unexpected. Again, not so scary, but it's my experience anyway - different people could react differently.
@@jsmith6599 Silent Hill series was scary for me until Homecoming rolled along. I react to horror a bit more if it makes me feel rather than just see, and Silent Hill does have its moments on that. Spec Ops the Line is horror for me because of the way it shows war and similarly how Signalis shows its visuals as it hacks the main screen and everything. There are other games I have in mind on this but, Signalis was the one that left such an impression
Love the video, I do have to say that Bloodborne needs to be taken into context. It was entirely advertised as a werewolf game, and the lovecraftian second half was a major twist. Players themselves literally acted out the "pulling at the strings" plot you described so well. Figured that needed to be mentioned.
Signalis and darkwood are definitely the best cosmic horror games of all time. I wish there were more because its definitely a genre that can be elivated through gaming. I hope more people get inspired and try to make their own cosmic horror game, as there is a market for it. Just look at bloodborne and dead space lol. Great video bro, watching stuff about signalis never gets old.
@@filmotter See, here's the difference. I feel like Signalis masters the 'Creepy' AND 'Disturbing' aspects great, I've yet to play it, and I will buy it for My Birthday solely because of this videp. Though, people have to understand there's a difference between something unnerving you and being scary upfront - even if they can do both. Darkwood, however... I stayed in the first house for 20 Days. I don't know if any, and I mean ANY other game could replicate the same amount of dread and terror, *horror* I felt while defending the House at night. I don't know if I can bring myself to play it again.
@@Spino-hx2mryeah, Darkwood goes beyond what other lovecraftian games often do. It makes you fear the unknown so much that you refuse to leave your house, that you know for a fact isn't safe, just because you have this feeling that whatever lies beyond is incompressibly worse. You dont understand the world around you, everything looks off, people are strange and you are surrounded by creatures beyond your comprehension. All those lovecraftian boxes are ticked while also nailing the morbid curiosity and horror that is associated with his work. What a gem.
The two people behind Rose Engine are true artists. They took inspiration from lots of different avenues, not for the sake of making references for the sake of being referential, but because they actively help to make the game and tell the story that they want to make and tell. The reasons why other Eldritch-style games don’t get the themes right involve lots of things. Some artists just assume it’s an aesthetic that hinges on the existence of kaiju gods and alien body horror, while other artists attempt to understand the themes Lovecraft wrote but simply failed to imagine how to portray it. It’s human nature in order to simplify concepts in or stamp our foot down to control things we don’t understand. People want to have a tight grip on the idea of Eldritch horror, and that’s exactly why modern depictions fail. When you simplify ideas into tangible worldbuilding ideas like monster designs, those things immediately become a source of comfort because they become tangible. Monsters are appealing. Powerful beings, human or otherwise, are a idolized source of worship, no matter what form it takes. The strongest part of this idolization comes from a tangible appearance. If you are able to define something visually, it becomes “known”. The horror that Lovecraft wrote hinges on the idea of the “unknowable”, the exact opposite of what people attempt to create today. Familiarity, knowledge, light, sight, control, these are all human concepts and tools we use to fight against horrors. It is ingrained into our biological evolution that the darkness is our enemy, it’s why when we go around the house to turn off the lights people feel a sense of urgency as they rush from light switch to light switch. It’s funny. For such an ingrained fear that is universally applicable to every human person, it is somehow incredibly difficult for us to depict this concept in art. But it is something Rose Engine managed to accomplish with Signalis. The non-linear story. The information we are given about the real-world. The lack of information regarding the external conflict. The sense of safety and familiarity we are given at certain points before they are coldly stripped away. Even save rooms feel hostile what with the sharp red light and unnerving sound cue when you open your files. Using your guns doesn’t feel cathartic in the same way they do in games say from the Call of Duty franchise or in games like Fortnite and Counter-Strike. Guns in Signalis are loud. They emulate the sound of genuine gunfire. They feel like real dangerous weapons as apposed to a laser blaster and toys. You don’t even feel rewarded every time you defeat an enemy since they might wake up at any time when you revisit a room. The abilities you get that let you control your surroundings are limited. Strict. Thermites are not an abundant resource. Flare gun ammo is also scarce. Ammo is used up surprisingly quickly. You need to leave behind important items like your flashlight and some weapons in order to make room for key items needed to progress a puzzle. The puzzles themselves require you to actually think, and force you to be immersed in the story so you can pick up on details that’ll help you in a potential puzzle. Signalis could have had a straightforward easy to understand story and it’d still be a fantastic game because of the gameplay. The gameplay of Signalis is Resident Evil / Silent Hill survival horror perfected. In fact, I think the game would have been even better if you were given a smaller weapon variety, or if your inventory was limited to 5 slots. 6 still feels too forgiving in my personal opinion. If Signalis had a generic zombie outbreak story it’d still be one of the best games to come out this decade. But no. The Signalis we got is so much more better than just a perfected gameplay loop. The gameplay isn’t even the main selling point of this game to me. The crowning jewel for this game is it’s narrative. Well, narrative isn’t the right term to use if we are going by the word’s traditional meaning. Yes, Signalis does have a story with themes and characters and an order of events that the audience can in fact figure out. Signalis does not make the mistake of leaving everything up to interpretation. The reason why Eldritch horror is terrifying is because we get hints but never the full picture. Lovecraft describes his monstrosities with some tangible descriptions, but the important details we need to interpret for ourselves. Signalis does the exact same thing, but refined to modern writing standards. The game presents a lot of familiar ideas that gives the audience a base understanding to work with, but slowly over time twists the audience’s understanding and knowledge that they have been given without contradicting / retconning mid-story what the game has established, which is the reason why lots of dream sequence parts of stories tend to fail miserably. Tricking your audience without a sense of elegance or tact in your methods is a surefire way of guaranteeing your story will be as uninteresting and unnecessarily convoluted as possible. Signalis is not that. Signalis is a fucking masterpiece of the current generation, and probably for many many years to come. If people like Yuri Stern and Barbara Wittmann are given the right opportunities to make the things that they want, humanity’s future will be very bright. I am confident in that idea.
Also random aside, it's a breath of fresh air to read a comment on this video not focused on proving Lovecraft wasn't awful. Thank you for spreading some positivity in this comment section LMAO
@@filmotter Firstly, thank you for making a great video on this game I discovered very recently and almost as quickly fell in love with. Secondly, I did not expect you to find my comment section essay so quickly since this video was uploaded over half a year ago, so thank you again for being in-touch with your community. You’re an inspiration on this platform.
I just finished signalis and got the “Memory” ending, and I realized something during the credits. It made me tear up Spoilers! As you might know, The last scene is where the player “Elster” stays besides Ariane “the white haired girl” And then Elster says that she wants to stay by Ariane’s side for a bit longer. If you play with a controller, you can actually feel the controller vibrates like a heartbeat. The heartbeats are active during credits, even during the results screen. I believe this is intentional. You the player are the one who decides to end her cycle, thus ending her life. To continue you must hold any button, they don’t want you to ACCIDENTALLY press a button and end the cycle. This made me feel so much guilt knowing that I’m the one who will end her cycle. So I turned off the game without skipping the RESULTS screen
This video is why i picked up this game and how i discovered this channel. Both have been incredible so far never stop making these videos theyre what i love most about TH-cam right now
HP Lovecraft was certainly racist and no one can argue this. But he also lived in a time where racism was not considered a big thing. His most egregious tales, Herbert West: Reanimator and the Horror at Red Hook are two of the most notorious tales with negative reference to African American people. But I will go a little further, in the Case of Charles Dexter Ward he treats very positively an African American couple who have a Painting of Joseph Curwen on the wall of their rented apartment. Lovecraft was anti Semitic but he married a Jew called Sonya, and was forced by his family to divorce her because she didn’t fit the WASP profile of a well to do American family. Lovecraft’s father was suffering from late stage syphilis which Lovecraft inherited, and his father was admitted to an asylum while Lovecraft was very young. But the largest elephant in the room was that the majority of his tales featured not black people but degenerate white folk, Shadow over Innsmouth, The Dunwich Horror amongst the most notable. If anything Lovecraft was a misanthropist. He was fearful of folk he didn’t know, wondering in acute paranoia whether they were secretly hatching malevolent plots. In today’s world he would be considered a racist but I believe much of his work came from his syphiltic inherited madness and fear. But in being this way he created a genre of horror that folk imitate today because it broke the mould.
Absolutely. He was far more critical of "hicks" than anything else. He was a sheltered, mentally ill man who was scared of everything he wasnt familiar with
Yeah so often I find that some of the wildest claims about Lovecraft sound like they are not actually that familiar with his works or they're projecting their own assumptions like the "orcs are a caricature of black people omg" people. Also trying turn him into he-who-must-not-be-named is just another annoying form of canceling. Also Lovecraft made efforts to chill out as he got older and out from under his mother's influence.
@@zerrodefex Yes and the orcs were corrupted pale northern Elves who probably originally had features more akin to Scandinavians. But through torture and dark sorcery Morgoth bred a demonic monster, the orc.
Dude I agree with the idea that we really shouldn’t discredit him, but we don’t need to defend him THAT much Ight? Like he was a bad person who made something amazing, we should stick with that.
@@noahboes5585 I don’t believe I defended Lovecraft’s views on race and on the contrary in I stated that these were repellent and that he was more than racist but truly misanthropic (a selective xenophobe, disliking anyone he didn’t know and was not of his social circle). But I also put it into the perspective of his time and his pathology brought on no doubt by his social shielding as a child and his general Paresis, inherited by birth from the syphilis that destroyed his father. If we go by your ‘looking with today’s mores’ in judgment of historical figures then we can equally castigate Churchill, St. Thomas Aquinas, George Washington etc., because none of these folks, though doing great things in their time, were guiltless by today’s moral standards. But who knows, people a hundred years from now might judge us to be sick or evil by their own future human outlook. One must always profoundly examine one’s own attitudes and ideas, before we pass judgment on anyone in the past.
Honestly, my #1 Survival Horror game will always be Darkwood, even though I love The Evil Within more. Darkwood just has this... atmosphere which is generally unnerving and more often than not missing in other Survival Horror games.
@@sybrenvanmalderen Your mileage my vary of course, but I loved it. Although there is no mushroom grandmother to consume in Signalis unfortunately. LMAO
I do not believe that Lovecraft's work would be as effective as it was had he not been the broken man that he was. I sincerely think that, whether he realized it or not, his fiction was an outlet for his own fears (for which there were many). A lot of great artists throughout the ages would be regarded as abhorrent by today's standards, yet we enjoy their works nonetheless.
Signalis reminded me a lot of Returnal, one of the games featured in the montage you had of other games in the genre. While I feel like Signalis is MORE of a horror game than Returnal, Returnal definitely hits that feeling of eldritch horror and unknowable, alien design, both in the look and feel of the world and the gameplay loop as well as the storyline.
I one thing I despise is, modern writers and creators exploiting an existing work, loved on its own merit, and claiming they created or ‘perfected’ something. It’s derivative work. HP Lovecraft perfected Lovecraftian horror, he was who he was, so you have to deal with it, not gaslight yourself with the idea you can retroactively attribute merit to people you ‘feel deserve it’. Be it in any genre or medium, I’m sick of unimaginative ‘creatives’ trying to imagine they are coming up with some iconic, original, history defining art when they’re really just cosplaying as real creatives whose body of work never needed their help, never needed ‘fixing’.
Ah sweet!.... unknowable, incomprehensible horrors beyond my wildest imagining, uwu!!! Signalis looks really great, I hear nothing but good things about that game, and your video just pushed me over the edge to getting it in my library, thank you!
Awesome video! Also in Lovecraft's defence, his mother was significantly overprotective while he was growing up, so he didn't leave the house too much and much of his resources for learning abt the world around him were dusty old books from the previous century. Considering he was born in 1890 anyway, it's hardly surprising that those books contained plenty of wildly racist and intolerant ideas... Strangely tho, despite his blatant xenophobia, one documentary I watched stated he actually had some friends who were black during his life, and a shift in mentality was evidenced in his later works (eg. At The Mountains of Madness)... I truly believe that had his life not been cut short by disease, he probably would've gone on to re-evaluate and renounce his intolerance entirely following an amassing of life experience
Thank you, someone else who gets it! Not only was she smotheringly protective, her death in an insane asylum likely scarred young Howard for life. Lovecraft's grandfather likely wasn't a very accepting person either, wealthy aristocrats tend not to be. And I like how you said xenophobia and not racism, which is far more accurate.
I haven't seen it brought up, and I wouldn't expect you to go into depth on him just for the intro of your video, but there's a real tragedy to Lovecraft's legacy being his racism. Not that he wasn't racist, infact this was a man that could make a Klan member go 'Hey, ease up a bit man', but all that racism was really just a mentally ill man lashing out. If you look into his upbringing, he was horribly coddled, rarely being allowed outside of his home, and there's a pretty clear line of mental health issues running through his family. He was able to portray fear of the unknown so well because he was afraid of so much, from people to places to new technology. But probably the worst part is that later in life, after one of his few friends died, he was forced to interact with the world more and finally began to widen his view. There are letters in which he expresses his regrets at being like that for so long, and that he intended to be a better person going forward. Unfortunately he died shorts after, so the man he could have been will never be.
Thank you for adding this. Because yes, you're right! However, personally, I'm not going to give someone a pass just due to their mental illness or upbringing. I know plenty of people who were dealt a bad hand who are lovely. But yeah we're pretty much on the same page! (Also apologies if I seem defensive, this comment is just... something LMAO)
That first scare really got me. Accidentally wasted my entire magazine due to it😅. even the saving sound gave me chills. really enjoyed this video. I’m looking forward to explore what more of this game has to offer. I might check out those other games you mention.
I know people love to invoke the name of Lovecraft and highlight him because he is THE titular cosmic horror author, but especially in regards to Signalis the complete and total failure to mention Robert W. Chambers, the actual author of The King in Yellow and who inspired Lovecraft in the first place just saddens me.
No problem, your video is great and you make some really good points that I myself have felt and had many discussions about with my friends. Just as a fan of cosmic horror in general I like to make sure people know who actually made the work which so heavily influenced and plays a role in Signalis' story. Even the Kolibris can't stop singing that banger Cassilda's song from Act 2 of the play The King in Yellow when you are in their presence, it's all over your screen.@@filmotter
World of Horror is definitely this year's contender for best Lovecraftian horror. the way it uses Junji Ito style art to tell its story just looks impeccable
Came back to this video cuz i completely forgot to finish watching it. This game got me to play Signalis after considering it since it launched and it's easily top 3 of all games i played
The "didn't you know it's the current year" standard "dIDnt u KnO hE WAz RaCIsT" really had nothing to do with the rest of the video, but it was still a good one on a great game regardless On your next playthrough you should try the superb first/third person mod for Signalis, it definitely gives a whole new perspective!
One of the big flaws of Eldtritch/Lovecraftian games is the ability to fight the horrors. It may be ok to be able to fight and defeat cultists and mutants, even half-human/half-demons. But too many games allow for the outright defeating of actual monsters, some even allow for killing one of the eldritch gods at the final battle. They really are just a combat arena/bullet hell/puzzle surival. They don't leave any of the unknowns unknown, they offer a definite placement and a beakon of hope to human's place in the cosmos.
This was an excellent essay! You are right in so many things, and many aspects you describe about the game are what kept me so invested in what's going on: the sort of visceral, raw atmosphere, with industrial sounds, the false sense of security, the limited inventory, the scarce amount of ammunition... you named it all. It's what made for a tense survival Horror. And on top of that, I agree to the notion, that a proper lovecraftian (cosmic) horror game doesn't need tentacles and cults, it just became so synonymous with lovecraftian horror that it is widely considered a staple of the "franchise", while you correctly explained that the horror is about imagination, filling blanks with your own fantasies. And that's where I think Signalis shined the most. It gave you distorted visuals, scattered notes, but ultimately what you made of everything that transpired is left ambiguous and up to the player to decide. There is an overall story told, but the grand scheme of things keeps hidden from our mortal eyes... and that is the big beauty about the story. And that is what in my opinion is missing from many modern cosmic horror games. We are in a day and age where video gaming runs low on limitations and has all the capabilities to show us everything, and while we can always opt to make pixelated games to convey the player from perfect visual representations, we should rather embrace the fact that we can immerse ourselves in a perfectly visualised world and rather focus on the conceptual blurring of the narrative. Giving bits and pieces of added knowledge to observant players, while following a cohesive beaten path, so they can look beyond the veil and piece together the greater idea is a much more enticing way of telling a lovecraftian story, at least in my opinion. That's what makes Fromsoft games great, you find bits and pieces of lore all over the world as long as you are observant, and it leaves you with chilling conclusions without the game ever even being a horror game in the first place. The paragraph not meaning "show me Cthulhu!" *cough* The Shore *cough*, but mixing a AAA esthetic with your aformentioned AI generated craziness may just be a way to not show us a monster in its full detail. I was showing Jinzee a clip of an AI altered Rob Ross clip, where something was constantly changing form, patterns and colors, so after watching the same video dozens of times, I still can't tell you what the original object was. Something like that could still make for an undescribable Horror that will drive the player insane, while still giving us a realistic surrounding. And that's only one possibility that could be transfered into gaming. Your point about the PS1 style and mimicking its technical limitations to craft obscure creatures and environments is certainly true and a major visual driving point that made Signalis great. But what made it stand out compared to many other games is, that it metamorphacises its classic graphical influences into a slightly more modern aesthetic. Signalis was certainly the best horror game I played last year, most likely even in the past few years, and did all the things right that most cosmic horror games do wrong nowadays. Moving away from Signalis as a topic, cosmic horror has to try things, be experimental about its approach. Make new visuals happen, use the strength of modern hardware, while shifting the focus on an eerie, unnatural, inexplicable story telling, like written above. Again, top essay!
I used to think Bloodborne and Pathologic 2 were peak lovecraftian and psychological horror games respectively. Then I played Signalis. Now I regret playing Signalis because I am terrified of the unknowable, and need some call of duty to wash out the existential crisis out with some dumb fun.
bro makes a whole video about Lovecraftian horror and monetizes it to pay the bills but calls the creator of the genre so easily a "piece of shit". So easy to speak 15 seconds of Loveracft and criticize him without taking the time to explain the historical context of all of it. Nicely done bro, what a "piece of shit" analysis and kid-level essay really.
great video! glad it showed up in my recommended. sorry to see your comments are filled with people that think you're cancelling lovecraft or whatever lol
i wish we could talk about lovecraft's literary legacy, without every other video bringing up that he said/wrote some pretty stupid racist shit (but never acted on it), for the sake of political correctness. it's a deep can of worms to dig in to, but he really mellowed out over time, and was an incredibly troubled, neurodivergent guy, deserving of empathy, as much as you and me. let's just remember him for his wonderful horror stories. De mortuis nil nisi bene! (only tell good about the dead)
This game looks way more terrifying than anything I could ever possibly stomach but thank you for playing it and putting together this video essay so I can just appreciate its pixel art / PS1 visual stylings.
He was not racist but xenophobic. He didn't like people outside of his culture, I heard someone say that in his letters he really didn't have a good opinion of italian immigrants. Something else that I've heard is that what he really didn't like was "the uncivilized" or a lack of culture and /or care for traditions, order and high ideas/philosophies. And one can get that vibe by reading between the lines of his stories, most of his human antagonist were uncivilized creeps with hedonistic lifestyles (Call of chthulhu) or people who use esoteric/high knowledge for their own personal and/or nihilistic gains( Reanimator, Herbert west was a blondie btw), like summoning and old one to just end it all, or sometimes both (Dunwich Horror). The thing is that he most likely got this ideas from his upbringing and kept harping on said opinions as a coping mechanism to deal with his crappy life, like a bullied kid that bullies others to feel better. And something that most of his detractors never point out is that his prejudices went away almost as as soon as he got to know someone of said "other groups" specially when his friends help him out in opening up his worldview, the fact that he fell in love with a Jw-ish woman and married her is a testament to that. By the end of his life his prejudices were almost gone, also shown by the change in his stories that went from the cosmic horror of the chthul mythos to the aspiring and surreal fantasy of his Dream Cycle. He's story of overcoming his beliefs that he's got since childhood should be a positive one but most of his detractors ignore that because they just want a witch to burn so they can call/present themselves as (self)righteous crusaders.
Yeah most countries don't like living with people outside of their culture. It's pretty common. No need to cry about it in 2023. I don't like people on my own culture let alone in others. I would hate living in middle eastern cultures for example. Doesn't make someone evil children lol
To be honest I do not like Islam because I think it is a barbaric religion that covers their women in rags like many religions, I am not being intollerant but I just do not want mullahs near my family for the persian genocide they committed but I do mind middle eastern people near me but I just do not like Islam or the islamic culture near my family due to the problems happening in Iran right now.
its not green, its emerald. He did make racist comments about his partner's community but they had a rather good relatinship, she would admonish him for it and it seems to have changed him for the better. somewhat.
I really appreciate the non spoiler analysis of the game. I guess TH-cam's algo knows I'm interested in horror and this was great. Wishlisted the game based on this vid. Thanks!
I managed to play Signalis for the first time completely blind last month. It was one of, if not THE most engaging survival horror games I've ever played. By the end of it AND getting the Promise Ending, i gave up on trying to understand what was happening around me, all I knew was I had one last thing to do. I was exhausted in the best ways and the ending I got left me feeling empty. In the end, though, I kept my promise. I just want the space lesbians to be happy ;w;
We LOVE the space lesbians!! And I feel very similarly about the game BTW. Such an angering experience, especially when compared to other survival horrors!
An interesting thing about eldritch horror is that the cosmic deities so grand that you people go insane just by seeing then is more of a modern day interpretation. In actuality the reason people go crazy is more of after they've encountered it they start to think about the implications of what they've seen and discovered and the fact they're probably the only person who'd know what they've learnt and no one would ever believe them
Love craft also dialed back his bigotry when he got to know more people from other groups. I’m getting really tired of everyone calling him a horrible person yet straight up stealing his sauce to make their own creations cool. If you hate him so much leave the genre he created alone then.
You can enjoy someone's works while being critical of them as a person. And, of how their faults come through in their works. You'd be dumber for not doing that, & just ignoring the unsavoury & putting it out of your mind.
Though there is one thing I often see people get wrong about Lovecraftian horror. Far to many times I just see people reduce it to just tentacles and eldritch entities and the like. But if you have actually read Lovecraft, you know that his style was so much more than that. (I think we can thank the likes of August Derleth for a lot of the modern misperceptions of his work.) Though I have to say that you don't give Lovecraft enough credit. While he was racist even by the standards of his time, towards the end of his life when he wrote some of his most prolific work, he started to adopt more progressive mindsets and even reject some of his past ideals. Let's just say that he did "not" have kind things to say about how he had been acting in his youth. While he was never quite able to fully rid himself of it all, as he died before he really had a chance, the difference between early Lovecraft, middle especially, and late Lovecraft is quite noticeable. Also, while Lovecraft was racist as all get out, sexist he was not. If anything, his own racism made him reject sexism as he viewed it as "oriental" superstitions or something to that effect. I have to say though that what truly courses through Signalis' veins is not really Lovecraft, but rather Robert W. Chambers and his famous book, the King in Yellow. Not the version we all think we know from Lovecraftian works, but the original.
The latest story arc of warframe surprisingly nailed the lovecraftian horror vibe actually. Upfront the game isn't really about eldritch horrors, but if you dig deep enough into the lore then it becomes clear the story is exactly about cosmic horrors. That does make it inaccessible to casual or new players, but that's one aspect of why the horror works.
As soon as you said qweer I was out bro.. I mean I watched the video but damn I was excited and then completely let down.. thanks for the vid really helped me out
I'm trying to enjoy the video about Signalis (which, like others are probably new to) not hear about how Lovecraft was a "racist, sexist and intolerant." I figured you'd go the route of summarizing who or what Lovecraft is when I saw the "Timestamp" I was wrong 💀. EDIT: Yeaaah... Nvm, just looking at the way this creator responds to people (Granted some of them are warranted, others not so much) , Imma call it here and bounce.
I mean you can bounce without commenting. I'm really not sure what people expect. A brief mention of something makes people upset beyond belief. It's baffling tbh.
@@filmotter It wasn't necessarily your brief mention, like stated above (and others have also commented on it as well) but overall direction of said mention. Your making a video on Lovecraftian elements in another franchise which people are curious about and whether true or not (which you didn't bring up anything new under the sun regarding Lovecraft) that overall direction, clearly left a soured taste in many mouths.
I honestly have been recommending this one to everyone I know. And I feel like you'd dig it, especially since I know Survival Horror is your thing. (There's an affiliate link in the description if you do end up wanting to grab it at some point.)
He was a product of his time. Calling him a piece of shit is pretty flippant. We arnt different from him because we are better, we are different because the world around us has changed. For most of us, our views are down to mere circumstance.
Comparing Signalis to Bloodborne is pretty brave... I'll go give it a go and come back when I'm done since Bloodborne is one of my favourite games ever.
Ok, you did not do your research correctly. We don't call it Eldritch horror because or that. He wasn't the only one who put it on the map, it was a various colabs who did that. So to say it's all Lovecraftian, would be in the wrong. Seeing there numerus people who made the whole thing. Lovecraft was only 2% of the whole Cthulhu mythos.
I'm against racism and xenophobia, but no matter how much of an asshole Lovecraft was, he inspires us to this day, and for that I just let it slide. I also think that talking shit about someone who died almost a hundred years ago is a bit pathetic, but everyone does it so... 🤷♂
Please explain to me how bringing up someone's racism, which highly influenced his work, falls under "talking shit". Lmao. And good luck convincing anyone who studies history to stop talking shit about bad people just because they're dead LMAO
@@filmotter first of all, I like your video, despite my opinion on how you handled your critique. Secondly, we've all done it (that's what I meant by everyone does it), and it's an important to analyze history to some degree of present day morality to learn from it. Having said that, I do think you're talking shit (specially because you literally say he's a piece of shit), which is easy when you live in present day society where we receive an education that's build on moral grounds, but who's to say you wouldn't have been a racist too, had you been born in his time? Also, I don't think art should be judged based on the artist, which is something the west is particularly good at. It saddens me to see how artworks are censored or sent to oblivion just because the artists views don't fit into today's expectations. MJ was probably a pedo, but I'll never stop singing along Billy Jean when it plays on the radio. John Lennon was an asshole, but I still love him for the magic he brought to my life. There are innumerable examples of terrible people who moved and inspired millions, even decades after their deaths. So I do get a bit offended when I hear people reducing them to their flaws. Of course I would condemn Lovecraft's views if he were alive today, but he isn't. Also, thanks for replying so quickly, I wasn't even expecting you to read my comment, looking forward to more of your videos. If I insult you again, I hope to hear your comeback! 😁
You're absolutely right and I agree even more so than usual. Honestly it's surprising to see the cringe manchild video creator dismissed any comments with actual substance and resorted to childish taunts instead of an actual rebuttal. Embarrassing honestly
another reason why signalis perfects lovecraftian horror because you tell a sapphic that there's women kissing in a game and they would play it not knowing it's a survival horror game. The fear of the unknown.
I don’t get it with these people, “lovecraft was a bad person” you’re right? But aren’t we talking about signalis? Not the life history of HP Lovecraft? Mentioning Lovecraftian horror doesn’t need a “hey the guy who made this didn’t like black folks” disclaimer. If it did, then every time we mentioned any wealthy person from the 1700-1800s we’d likely have to say “but don’t forget, they kept slaves and do not deserve you to think of them positively” If you don’t want to cover “Lovecraftian” horror, then don’t. Using his name for clicks when you could simply have started this video calling it eldritch horror and not spend 3 minutes shitting on a dead guy is kind of misleading.
You're not entirely wrong. But here we are, with over 70k views on my most viewed video. (And I will say, judging by the comment section, a lot of people are not willing to believe that Lovecraft being racist was a thing, which is strange. So while you are correct that it should be common unsaid knowledge, apparently it is not for a shockingly large number of people.)
@@filmotter I’m not really wrong at all though. Clearly “Lovecraftian” has gotten you more traffic than “Eldrich” or “Cosmic” would have, and then instead of just speaking on the game you intended, you spend the first 3 minutes talking about the guy. Kinda feels like “screw that guy! Unless he can get me clicks.” It’s your video, do what you like; just hearing “that guy from the 1890s was racist” in every piece of media related to his kind of horror when I just want to hear about scary things gets to feel like a lecture and turns me, personally, off. Cool of you to reply, have a good day.
Bro uses a trigger word in his title, but then virtue signals to get the rage addicts to keep watching. Get likes to get paid. Gotta blend with the herd or get culled. It's not that he's wrong, he's just blatantly pandering.
Yea, talking about signalis in relation to lovecraftian horror, right? He spells out the relationship between lovecrafts xenophobia/racism as the framework or at least under tone for which the genre even exists. Understanding that better helps understand signalis and how it “perfects lovecraftian horror.” Either that flew over your head or you’re ironically the one pushing an agenda. I’d like to know how using the term Lovecraftian has “clearly [garnered] more traffic” than Eldritch or cosmic? The views on this alone is can’t serve as its own proof. I took the time to go on google trends and “Lovecraftian” is actually the least popular of the 3. You’re legit just completely wrong.
scary game make you go ahh and maybe pause the game or sprint away to another room. horror games will make you ponder your existence and your place in this universe.
Have to immediately denounce Lovecraft. People you know we can't catch racism or shifty behavior. We like his art, world building, and all its inspired. We aren't dating the guy. Wtf 😂😂
This is one of the best games I have ever played. Been gaming for like 30 years. There's something beautiful about it. It has influences from like every good game ever. Just a masterpiece. I haven't even beat Elden Ring and I got it on launch day. I went through this twice in 3 days. I've just been so over everything lately. Nothing really blows me away, and it's so hard to keep up even just playing every new "important" game, let alone having PS Plus Premium and the Xbox Pass on PC on top. Every time I put a few hours on something , there's something else everyone is talking about. I'm a completionist too, which is a nightmare. I have to pick and choose for the sake of what's left of my mental health. It's nice when a surprise comes along. Game is really concise, even if it can be a bit artsy and nonsensical. It's an amazing ride.
At the edn it was so cool to see the dream world avatar of nyarlathotep . The mask. Cool to see how Cthulhu knew a deal with Nyarlathotep always end bad one way or another.
You would love the manga BLAME! It has a lot of these elements, sci fi, cosmic and body horror, endless landscape and a load of corridors. i think solar sands talks about it in his monumentality video.
love love LOVE this video! I've been weird and resistant to the internet's obsession with the term "Lovecraftian" lately as it seems like everyone thinks it starts and ends with tendrils. I've always known Eldritch horror as the tentacles and weird monsters and hidden cities under the crust of the earth. Lovecraftian horror is suddenly realizing that there might be hidden cities under the crust of the earth and not knowing what to know anymore. Anyways, I should really give Signalis another go around.
Came here on Jinzee's recommendation, and dang, what a great video! Glad to see a few more analysis points on Signalis' story and themes. I still adore the whole aspect of Bioresonance and how little not only we, but also the people in the setting know about how it works. Imagining how Ariane possible cancer and deterioration influences the rest of the world is fascinating and still next to impossible to grasp.
Great vid! This is a cool perspective i hadn't considered, but i totally agree, the lo-fi look contributes so much to the eldrich horror feeling. I got that same feeling playing system shock 2 for the first time a few years back and seeing those old thief-engine character models was terrifying due to their misshapen paper-doll look, and it really contributed to the atmosphere!
I'm glad you enjoyed the video! I haven't played System Shock 2 myself, but I did that same experience with Half-Life as well. That era's visual style was just kind of great for creating horror.
There's no tentacles, but bodily viscera fits the bill (or perhaps the archetype) just as well, and there _is_ a cult in the game staring you in the face. In fact there's two of them and they are both cults of personality: the Eusan Empire and the Eusan Nation.
i am making a coraline sort of game, that takes it into cosmic horror, not sure how to do it. the monsters and such are super etheral, and way largerthan you, you don't know who they are, no one does. but i don't know how to make it more mysterious, help please?
H.P.L. had one great and unique gift and because he was a creature of his time embodying an egregious but not uncommon vice of his time we need to cancel him and rob him post mortem and rob him of his contribution? No.
Heya! If you enjoy the videos and want to support, become a monthly supporter on Ko-Fi ko-fi.com/filmotter
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Such a scumbag calling Lovecraft a POS , why even speak on him then ??
Re: "Lovecraft prejudice...POS."
First of all the personality/mindset of an author that doesn't subtract from the quality of the stories (GRRM for instance is a horrible man, rude to his faithful readers who've been patiently waiting over a decade for him to finish ASOIAF, which he's promised is "nearly done" 3+ times a year, telling fans to "f*#@ off" who asked a fair question (since he's overweight and old "what if you fall ill have you thought about passing to a ghost writer?"). He's since released a PREQUEL chronology set in the same universe, which is a mockery because why should anyone invest in more stories he may never finish, aside from it being hard to care about history we have a vague idea about, while future events of far greater intrigue & significance remain unanswered?!
Secondly, Lovecraft is from a time of segregation, not a liberal utopia of tolerance & multiculturalism, and so this mindset was quite natural for ppl of all backgrounds at the time. The prejudice in his stories is more from the perspective of protagonists experiencing the otherworldly & noting people from unknown lands (AND locals) are directly involved using ancient old world occultist books like the Necronomicon, so it's natural that the occultists be from other cultures just as a negative view of them is natural (the prejudice exhibited from the characters adds to the feeling of paranoia, and logical fear of the unknown/unknowable).
Lovecraft uses language less offensive than certain Tarantino movies (Pulp Fiction for one "dead ****** storage..." or how about the scene from True Romance with Dennis Hopper & Christopher Walken "Sicilians were spawned by ******"? Which BTW is a great scenes and I see no one calling Dennis Hopper or Tarantino "POS", and that's because ppl understand it's acting for one, but mainly because Hopper's character is actually playing on the Mafia's prejudice to make them angry enough to kill him so they don't torture him to find his son's location).
You cannot apply modern standards to people from wildly different eras where such concepts didn't exist, nor was it indictive of a person's morality, decency, but especially judging someone based on fictional writing, where characters are no representation of the authors mindset, or that of someone they know, at all, but such as this may be the case, it's bound to be a melodramatic caricature more than a carbon copy...
Not even subscribing because your use of HPL’s name is clickbait when viewed in context of the first few minutes of your video.
Incidentally i’m not excusing HPL’s racism. I agree, it’s disgusting. I just hate cynical choices in self-promotion. We’ve all heard the condemnation, and all of us who have read his works have an opinion of our own on the topic. We don’t need several minutes of you hating on HPL, then using his name to gain eyeballs on your essay.
And Soma makes this game look basic by comparison, in terms of next-level scifi cosmic horror.
One of the things that really drove home the sheer existential horror of Signalis for me was the simple inclusion of notes about the space-faring nation it takes place in, and the sheer magnitude of the evil and callousness going on. I often found myself wondering "If these characters manage to get out of this, where are we even going? What does a happy ending look like?". And the more you realize about the Signalis universe, you realize that the only victory is just keeping hold of the one small happy story in the whole thing, after it's already been tragically cut off.
they created androids that are alive and capable of thought and feeling but they basically mass produce them, treat them like disposable utensils enmass. Its such a totalitarian space faring society thats collapsing from trying to fight just one capable rebellion. They dont treat their human citizens much better.
Yet it has enough assets to just tell teams being sent into space "hey if the planet is not viable in terms of life support or profit from resources to gather, spare yourself a horrific prolonged death and accept that the mission has failed. Give up and permanently put yourself and your crew on ice until the ship falls apart."
One of the notes implies that over 700 years have passed..it makes me wonder if the empire that sent them off on a suicide mission even stands anymore..their story transcends the evil that sent them to hell.
Which note is that?
You see, that's because real cosmic horror genre is not experienced in visual arts. It's only experienced in READING. Where the only graphical processor is YOUR MIND.
There are no cosmic horror films or games, they are fanfics, some of them are quite successful, yes, but stil they are a visual reflection of the true form: text.
That's why you can't really make a film or a game adaptation of Lovecraft, Laird Barron, Ligotti, Ballingrud, M John Harrison. You can't. Only your own reading experience is what builds that immense, unfathomable depth.
@@elektroskeptic481 How vivid is your imagination? My reading experience is ass because I have near aphantasia. There is no immense unfathomable depth for me.
"The Old Ones are hungry." "If it looks older, it's scarier." - when you can't tell if Otter is reviewing video games or boyfriends (it me, a hungry old one)
LMAO Listen here, you scary hungry old one. LOL.
Monkey wins today
To be fair, Monkey ALWAYS wins.
hungry? is this a fear and hunger II termina refrence
Being a writer myself; Lovecraftean horror is one of those things you can't _really_ comprehend, until it just...clicks. Your not _Supposed_ to understand it, and that's what makes it terrifying. Before it was arguably my weakest subject material to write about.
But after about 5 years of writing, reading, and researching, Its now one of my strongest genres.
Simply put, its not about big tentacles of Eldritch origins and forthfilling cultists chanting Cthulu's Name. Its about the _Subtle_ peeks behind the fragile veil of reality. Like pulling back the curtain of a stage play and seeing the crew move the gears. Its about the influence they have on people and their incomprehensible agendas, forms, and even profane knowledge they impart. For how can you describe, the indescribable?
I really enjoy how you put this. Totally agree with ya!
What books did you write?
@@mobilestreamer9040 I've not actually published a book yet (I am still in the process of writing one), but I have spent the last 5 years worldbuilding up a Cthulu mythos of my own making.
To give a few details;
There are four cosmic elders who created the universe, The Elder, Um'breth, Arsh' 't 'Val, and Urochar (otherwise called, The Watcher). However, there are two other gods that are lesser known; Hadar, the Cosmic Hunger, and Spadra, The Eldritch Truth.
The Four Cosmic Elders looked at Spadra and said "Nah fam," and threw her into the abyss, where the demons said "Nah Fam," and threw her into the void.
The watcher locked Spadra away in there by bequeathing twelve dragonmarks to twelve bloodlines which contain small portions of the Cosmic Elders Power.
But the Monarch, King Novak Made a deal with Spadra where for every person he killed he'd get their years added on to his life, and wants to extinguish the twelve dragon marks so when the day of the Red Moon rises, he can call forth Spadra from her cage.
Confusing, or otherwise very hard to understand?
That's quite literally the point of Lovecraftian horror. Something you don't really understand until it just clicks.
@@ardynamberglow3124 I like. I buy. Simple. Now tell me the name when it's done
@@ardynamberglow3124These cosmic beings are unknowable and
beyond our comprehension, so here's a handy
chart detailing their names, what they look like,
where they come from, what they can do, and
even a family tree. Touché.
(Spoiler)
Honestly, I didn't find Signalis that scary. It was stressful, oppressive, disturbing, and had an insane atmosphere, but it never really scared me. The strongest emotion it made me fell was sadness and hopelessness. After reading theories about the story, the fate of Ariane, Elster and everyone involved was heartbreaking. Being forced into this situation against ones will, being forced into endless pain, doing everything in your power to change something only to repeat everything again.
Learning about Ariane and reading notes on her excruciatingly slow and painful fate as she longs for Elster and relief.
Playing as Elster, trying to hopelessly help Ariane knowing that killing her will most likely not end her suffering.
Even if the best outcome (for me) was the Artifact ending, we don't know what it really achieved. Did they finally reunite or will a loop start again ?
For me, Signalis wasn't just an incredibly good atmospheric game with stunning visuals and ambiance.
It was the most heartbreaking love story I've ever experienced !
I'm right there with you. There was something so cold and heartbreaking about the story. Loved every second. Except MAYBE the water level puzzle because I was bad at it lmao
And that right there is the heart of lovecraftian/cosmic horror. Helplessness. Meaninglessness. Hopelessness. And the creeping knowledge that even if you were to have hope, none if it even matters anyway in the grand scale of all existence.
Yeah, there's lots of different kinds of horror, that elicit different sensations:
- shock
- tension/dread
- body horror (making you feel similar, like with bugs, or making you feel ill)
- psychological
- existentialism
(Both those last two touch on the feelings of helplessness in different ways)
The shock of being attacked or immediate threat of being chased are definitely ways of being scared from a horror game or show.
But the atmospheric tension, or psychological situations, or questioning your existence can be just as horrific without making you feel directly "scared".
Some of my favorite games are those that made me think about them for a long time afterwards.
While I was already inured to the concepts, SOMA was one such game that hit my wife with that.
I would suggest SOMA was actually quite cosmic horror, without treading into overplaying that part of it, actually.
@@filmotter the water level puzzle is very common in entrance exams or IQ tests, so Im guessing the game expects you to have experience with it. (Also the correct solution is right next to it lol)
The reason Cosmic horror is almost impossible to replicate in gaming is simple : in writing you never have to SHOW. Describing an eldritch abomination that splinters the mind is evocative, because its something the human mind cant fathom. So whatever disturbing visual a game can think of will always fall short.
But if you just describe that it's not describeable, that's also not enough info to be scary.
@@janisir4529the unimaginable and unspeakable horror scares me man
True true , all story telling mediums have different strengths and weaknesses
@@runeaeik I can't imagine it.
This is a great point! The written word can truly capture the feeling of the indescribable, and your mind can imagine it in its most terrifying form even without that description. VIsual media has a much tougher time of it lol
I love both Bloodborne and Signalis, but what I realized from you talking about how you can't actually recall all the details of the enemies you encounter in Signalis actually harkens back to how I actually saw bosses or mobs in Bloodborne like Blood Starved Beast, Ludwig the Accursed, Moon Presence, and especially the Winter Lanterns to name a few. The fact that Miyazaki's team put so much detail in those bosses/mobs to the point that it feels overwhelming actually kinda works on its favour as well on giving you the uncanny valley.
You know, that's a good point that I hadn't thought of! Especially for the enemies with lots of fur, the details do give off that unsettling feeling visually.
@@filmotter yep, it's why I was actually even more horrified once I finally got a look into the boss designs in idle forms on TH-cam, the game still hides alot of things from you in motion.
@@CptSourcebird I need to definitely take a look into that!
@@filmotter Winter Lanterns is a very good example of that, since you'd be usually too focused seeing the overall shape of the enemy to realize that something is just even more fucked up the more you look at it.
What scared me with Signalis is its story and the fact that it kinda makes you feel comfortable with its horror and despair. I wasn't so used to that, so it made me feel quite creeped out. I personally feel that Signalis is more of a psychological journey than an outright cosmological horror terms it just uses Lovecraft. Yet of course, as the story inches closer to the personal depths of its characters, whether this is an eldritch event is not quite the point anymore, and the reminder of the Promise is what's harrowing.
I think this is one of the few horror games that really scared me to this level, so, until I get over that form of fear, I think I won't pick it up again.
Do you know the meaning of the "comfort zone"? Sounds really comfy but actually, it's not always a good thing. It's just a psychological state you familiar with and perceive it as a controllable and predictable. Despair could be quite comfortable, as people tend to find a solace in a thought that nothing could be done, therefore - nothing SHOULD be done. No need to go through a stress of active struggling, better to leave the arrow in a wound than to try and pull it out, dealing with pain and extra blood loss. It is a well-known psychological phenomena.
@@jsmith6599 That is exactly why I feel Signalis is one of the scariest games I have ever played and experienced. To turn comfort into vulnerability was something that never happened to me. It was the darkest journey I have ever been through because of how empty it really felt. It wasn't the gore or the imagery that disturbed me, it was that emptiness.
I would say, this is genius horror, up there with maybe Spec Ops The Line. Both games made me test what I can truly stomach, and I am proud to say, I lose.
@@danielgeronimo5538 To me, the game wasn't really scary. Silent Hill series was scary. Signalis is different - full of sadness and despair, but somehow beautiful. Spec Ops the Line was good, plot twist was really unexpected. Again, not so scary, but it's my experience anyway - different people could react differently.
@@jsmith6599 Silent Hill series was scary for me until Homecoming rolled along. I react to horror a bit more if it makes me feel rather than just see, and Silent Hill does have its moments on that. Spec Ops the Line is horror for me because of the way it shows war and similarly how Signalis shows its visuals as it hacks the main screen and everything. There are other games I have in mind on this but, Signalis was the one that left such an impression
@@danielgeronimo5538 Without Team Silent the franchise is just not Silent Hill anymore. I personally prefer to think that it's ended on 4th game.
Love the video, I do have to say that Bloodborne needs to be taken into context. It was entirely advertised as a werewolf game, and the lovecraftian second half was a major twist. Players themselves literally acted out the "pulling at the strings" plot you described so well. Figured that needed to be mentioned.
That's true! It's one of my favorite games, so it is quite easy to forget that that was a twist. Thanks for reminding me!
Signalis and darkwood are definitely the best cosmic horror games of all time. I wish there were more because its definitely a genre that can be elivated through gaming. I hope more people get inspired and try to make their own cosmic horror game, as there is a market for it. Just look at bloodborne and dead space lol. Great video bro, watching stuff about signalis never gets old.
Glad you enjoyed the video! And I agree, Signalis and Darkwood are both incredible. I would love more where that came from.
@@filmotter See, here's the difference. I feel like Signalis masters the 'Creepy' AND 'Disturbing' aspects great, I've yet to play it, and I will buy it for My Birthday solely because of this videp. Though, people have to understand there's a difference between something unnerving you and being scary upfront - even if they can do both.
Darkwood, however...
I stayed in the first house for 20 Days. I don't know if any, and I mean ANY other game could replicate the same amount of dread and terror, *horror* I felt while defending the House at night. I don't know if I can bring myself to play it again.
@@Spino-hx2mryeah, Darkwood goes beyond what other lovecraftian games often do. It makes you fear the unknown so much that you refuse to leave your house, that you know for a fact isn't safe, just because you have this feeling that whatever lies beyond is incompressibly worse.
You dont understand the world around you, everything looks off, people are strange and you are surrounded by creatures beyond your comprehension. All those lovecraftian boxes are ticked while also nailing the morbid curiosity and horror that is associated with his work. What a gem.
The two people behind Rose Engine are true artists. They took inspiration from lots of different avenues, not for the sake of making references for the sake of being referential, but because they actively help to make the game and tell the story that they want to make and tell. The reasons why other Eldritch-style games don’t get the themes right involve lots of things. Some artists just assume it’s an aesthetic that hinges on the existence of kaiju gods and alien body horror, while other artists attempt to understand the themes Lovecraft wrote but simply failed to imagine how to portray it. It’s human nature in order to simplify concepts in or stamp our foot down to control things we don’t understand. People want to have a tight grip on the idea of Eldritch horror, and that’s exactly why modern depictions fail. When you simplify ideas into tangible worldbuilding ideas like monster designs, those things immediately become a source of comfort because they become tangible. Monsters are appealing. Powerful beings, human or otherwise, are a idolized source of worship, no matter what form it takes. The strongest part of this idolization comes from a tangible appearance. If you are able to define something visually, it becomes “known”. The horror that Lovecraft wrote hinges on the idea of the “unknowable”, the exact opposite of what people attempt to create today. Familiarity, knowledge, light, sight, control, these are all human concepts and tools we use to fight against horrors. It is ingrained into our biological evolution that the darkness is our enemy, it’s why when we go around the house to turn off the lights people feel a sense of urgency as they rush from light switch to light switch. It’s funny. For such an ingrained fear that is universally applicable to every human person, it is somehow incredibly difficult for us to depict this concept in art. But it is something Rose Engine managed to accomplish with Signalis. The non-linear story. The information we are given about the real-world. The lack of information regarding the external conflict. The sense of safety and familiarity we are given at certain points before they are coldly stripped away. Even save rooms feel hostile what with the sharp red light and unnerving sound cue when you open your files. Using your guns doesn’t feel cathartic in the same way they do in games say from the Call of Duty franchise or in games like Fortnite and Counter-Strike. Guns in Signalis are loud. They emulate the sound of genuine gunfire. They feel like real dangerous weapons as apposed to a laser blaster and toys. You don’t even feel rewarded every time you defeat an enemy since they might wake up at any time when you revisit a room. The abilities you get that let you control your surroundings are limited. Strict. Thermites are not an abundant resource. Flare gun ammo is also scarce. Ammo is used up surprisingly quickly. You need to leave behind important items like your flashlight and some weapons in order to make room for key items needed to progress a puzzle. The puzzles themselves require you to actually think, and force you to be immersed in the story so you can pick up on details that’ll help you in a potential puzzle.
Signalis could have had a straightforward easy to understand story and it’d still be a fantastic game because of the gameplay. The gameplay of Signalis is Resident Evil / Silent Hill survival horror perfected. In fact, I think the game would have been even better if you were given a smaller weapon variety, or if your inventory was limited to 5 slots. 6 still feels too forgiving in my personal opinion. If Signalis had a generic zombie outbreak story it’d still be one of the best games to come out this decade. But no. The Signalis we got is so much more better than just a perfected gameplay loop. The gameplay isn’t even the main selling point of this game to me. The crowning jewel for this game is it’s narrative. Well, narrative isn’t the right term to use if we are going by the word’s traditional meaning. Yes, Signalis does have a story with themes and characters and an order of events that the audience can in fact figure out. Signalis does not make the mistake of leaving everything up to interpretation. The reason why Eldritch horror is terrifying is because we get hints but never the full picture. Lovecraft describes his monstrosities with some tangible descriptions, but the important details we need to interpret for ourselves. Signalis does the exact same thing, but refined to modern writing standards. The game presents a lot of familiar ideas that gives the audience a base understanding to work with, but slowly over time twists the audience’s understanding and knowledge that they have been given without contradicting / retconning mid-story what the game has established, which is the reason why lots of dream sequence parts of stories tend to fail miserably. Tricking your audience without a sense of elegance or tact in your methods is a surefire way of guaranteeing your story will be as uninteresting and unnecessarily convoluted as possible. Signalis is not that. Signalis is a fucking masterpiece of the current generation, and probably for many many years to come.
If people like Yuri Stern and Barbara Wittmann are given the right opportunities to make the things that they want, humanity’s future will be very bright. I am confident in that idea.
Yuri and Barbara are true inspirations!
Also random aside, it's a breath of fresh air to read a comment on this video not focused on proving Lovecraft wasn't awful. Thank you for spreading some positivity in this comment section LMAO
@@filmotter Firstly, thank you for making a great video on this game I discovered very recently and almost as quickly fell in love with. Secondly, I did not expect you to find my comment section essay so quickly since this video was uploaded over half a year ago, so thank you again for being in-touch with your community. You’re an inspiration on this platform.
I hope other devs come to them to make more games with the Engine.
@@tenjenk totally! That would be amazing
I just finished signalis and got the “Memory” ending, and I realized something during the credits. It made me tear up
Spoilers!
As you might know,
The last scene is where the player “Elster” stays besides Ariane “the white haired girl”
And then Elster says that she wants to stay by Ariane’s side for a bit longer. If you play with a controller, you can actually feel the controller vibrates like a heartbeat. The heartbeats are active during credits, even during the results screen. I believe this is intentional. You the player are the one who decides to end her cycle, thus ending her life. To continue you must hold any button, they don’t want you to ACCIDENTALLY press a button and end the cycle.
This made me feel so much guilt knowing that I’m the one who will end her cycle.
So I turned off the game without skipping the RESULTS screen
👀👀👀 Oh... somehow I didn't even catch that? Dang.
truly, this video is so on point- you really nailed every aspect that made it stand out
Oh gosh, thank you so much! I try my best, so I'm glad it came together for this one. :D
This video is why i picked up this game and how i discovered this channel. Both have been incredible so far never stop making these videos theyre what i love most about TH-cam right now
I'm glad you dig the videos! :)
HP Lovecraft was certainly racist and no one can argue this. But he also lived in a time where racism was not considered a big thing. His most egregious tales, Herbert West: Reanimator and the Horror at Red Hook are two of the most notorious tales with negative reference to African American people. But I will go a little further, in the Case of Charles Dexter Ward he treats very positively an African American couple who have a Painting of Joseph Curwen on the wall of their rented apartment. Lovecraft was anti Semitic but he married a Jew called Sonya, and was forced by his family to divorce her because she didn’t fit the WASP profile of a well to do American family. Lovecraft’s father was suffering from late stage syphilis which Lovecraft inherited, and his father was admitted to an asylum while Lovecraft was very young. But the largest elephant in the room was that the majority of his tales featured not black people but degenerate white folk, Shadow over Innsmouth, The Dunwich Horror amongst the most notable. If anything Lovecraft was a misanthropist. He was fearful of folk he didn’t know, wondering in acute paranoia whether they were secretly hatching malevolent plots. In today’s world he would be considered a racist but I believe much of his work came from his syphiltic inherited madness and fear. But in being this way he created a genre of horror that folk imitate today because it broke the mould.
Absolutely. He was far more critical of "hicks" than anything else. He was a sheltered, mentally ill man who was scared of everything he wasnt familiar with
Yeah so often I find that some of the wildest claims about Lovecraft sound like they are not actually that familiar with his works or they're projecting their own assumptions like the "orcs are a caricature of black people omg" people. Also trying turn him into he-who-must-not-be-named is just another annoying form of canceling. Also Lovecraft made efforts to chill out as he got older and out from under his mother's influence.
@@zerrodefex Yes and the orcs were corrupted pale northern Elves who probably originally had features more akin to Scandinavians. But through torture and dark sorcery Morgoth bred a demonic monster, the orc.
Dude I agree with the idea that we really shouldn’t discredit him, but we don’t need to defend him THAT much Ight? Like he was a bad person who made something amazing, we should stick with that.
@@noahboes5585 I don’t believe I defended Lovecraft’s views on race and on the contrary in I stated that these were repellent and that he was more than racist but truly misanthropic (a selective xenophobe, disliking anyone he didn’t know and was not of his social circle). But I also put it into the perspective of his time and his pathology brought on no doubt by his social shielding as a child and his general Paresis, inherited by birth from the syphilis that destroyed his father. If we go by your ‘looking with today’s mores’ in judgment of historical figures then we can equally castigate Churchill, St. Thomas Aquinas, George Washington etc., because none of these folks, though doing great things in their time, were guiltless by today’s moral standards. But who knows, people a hundred years from now might judge us to be sick or evil by their own future human outlook. One must always profoundly examine one’s own attitudes and ideas, before we pass judgment on anyone in the past.
Honestly, my #1 Survival Horror game will always be Darkwood, even though I love The Evil Within more. Darkwood just has this... atmosphere which is generally unnerving and more often than not missing in other Survival Horror games.
Oh god I LOOOOVE Darkwood. That was my number one for the longest time before I played Signalis.
@@filmotter Oh my, seems like I have to get Signalis when it goes on sale if that's the case!
@@sybrenvanmalderen Your mileage my vary of course, but I loved it. Although there is no mushroom grandmother to consume in Signalis unfortunately. LMAO
@@filmotter also no stealth killing enemies after having them staggered by a bottle throw headshot lol
@@sybrenvanmalderen Also true! Although there are some fun stealth options, tbh
Lovecraft is a genius
I do not believe that Lovecraft's work would be as effective as it was had he not been the broken man that he was. I sincerely think that, whether he realized it or not, his fiction was an outlet for his own fears (for which there were many). A lot of great artists throughout the ages would be regarded as abhorrent by today's standards, yet we enjoy their works nonetheless.
Amazing! Love this game, and your essay was wonderful. You've got a new fan! Can't wait to share your videos with my friends. Keep up the great work!
I'm glad you enjoyed it! Would love to hear what your friends think too!
Signalis reminded me a lot of Returnal, one of the games featured in the montage you had of other games in the genre. While I feel like Signalis is MORE of a horror game than Returnal, Returnal definitely hits that feeling of eldritch horror and unknowable, alien design, both in the look and feel of the world and the gameplay loop as well as the storyline.
Totally see that throughline actually!
I one thing I despise is, modern writers and creators exploiting an existing work, loved on its own merit, and claiming they created or ‘perfected’ something.
It’s derivative work.
HP Lovecraft perfected Lovecraftian horror, he was who he was, so you have to deal with it, not gaslight yourself with the idea you can retroactively attribute merit to people you ‘feel deserve it’.
Be it in any genre or medium, I’m sick of unimaginative ‘creatives’ trying to imagine they are coming up with some iconic, original, history defining art when they’re really just cosplaying as real creatives whose body of work never needed their help, never needed ‘fixing’.
Ah sweet!.... unknowable, incomprehensible horrors beyond my wildest imagining, uwu!!! Signalis looks really great, I hear nothing but good things about that game, and your video just pushed me over the edge to getting it in my library, thank you!
Yay! I hope you enjoy the pain and nightmares associated with our cosmic insignificance!!! 🥰
Awesome video! Also in Lovecraft's defence, his mother was significantly overprotective while he was growing up, so he didn't leave the house too much and much of his resources for learning abt the world around him were dusty old books from the previous century. Considering he was born in 1890 anyway, it's hardly surprising that those books contained plenty of wildly racist and intolerant ideas...
Strangely tho, despite his blatant xenophobia, one documentary I watched stated he actually had some friends who were black during his life, and a shift in mentality was evidenced in his later works (eg. At The Mountains of Madness)... I truly believe that had his life not been cut short by disease, he probably would've gone on to re-evaluate and renounce his intolerance entirely following an amassing of life experience
Thank you, someone else who gets it! Not only was she smotheringly protective, her death in an insane asylum likely scarred young Howard for life. Lovecraft's grandfather likely wasn't a very accepting person either, wealthy aristocrats tend not to be. And I like how you said xenophobia and not racism, which is far more accurate.
I haven't seen it brought up, and I wouldn't expect you to go into depth on him just for the intro of your video, but there's a real tragedy to Lovecraft's legacy being his racism. Not that he wasn't racist, infact this was a man that could make a Klan member go 'Hey, ease up a bit man', but all that racism was really just a mentally ill man lashing out. If you look into his upbringing, he was horribly coddled, rarely being allowed outside of his home, and there's a pretty clear line of mental health issues running through his family. He was able to portray fear of the unknown so well because he was afraid of so much, from people to places to new technology. But probably the worst part is that later in life, after one of his few friends died, he was forced to interact with the world more and finally began to widen his view. There are letters in which he expresses his regrets at being like that for so long, and that he intended to be a better person going forward. Unfortunately he died shorts after, so the man he could have been will never be.
Thank you for adding this. Because yes, you're right! However, personally, I'm not going to give someone a pass just due to their mental illness or upbringing. I know plenty of people who were dealt a bad hand who are lovely. But yeah we're pretty much on the same page! (Also apologies if I seem defensive, this comment is just... something LMAO)
That first scare really got me. Accidentally wasted my entire magazine due to it😅. even the saving sound gave me chills.
really enjoyed this video. I’m looking forward to explore what more of this game has to offer. I might check out those other games you mention.
I know people love to invoke the name of Lovecraft and highlight him because he is THE titular cosmic horror author, but especially in regards to Signalis the complete and total failure to mention Robert W. Chambers, the actual author of The King in Yellow and who inspired Lovecraft in the first place just saddens me.
Thanks for adding that to the conversation. Much appreciated! I'll make sure to include him next time.
No problem, your video is great and you make some really good points that I myself have felt and had many discussions about with my friends. Just as a fan of cosmic horror in general I like to make sure people know who actually made the work which so heavily influenced and plays a role in Signalis' story. Even the Kolibris can't stop singing that banger Cassilda's song from Act 2 of the play The King in Yellow when you are in their presence, it's all over your screen.@@filmotter
World of Horror is definitely this year's contender for best Lovecraftian horror. the way it uses Junji Ito style art to tell its story just looks impeccable
Haven't played it yet, but it's on my Wishlist!
Came back to this video cuz i completely forgot to finish watching it. This game got me to play Signalis after considering it since it launched and it's easily top 3 of all games i played
Art style and atmosphere of Signalis reminds me the NOiSE from Tsutomu Nihei... I wonder if designers inspired by Nihei's work too?
Not sure! I'm totally unfamiliar but I should have a look
great video man i have a friend who used to talk about signalis a couple months back and now i regret not hearing him out
The "didn't you know it's the current year" standard "dIDnt u KnO hE WAz RaCIsT" really had nothing to do with the rest of the video, but it was still a good one on a great game regardless
On your next playthrough you should try the superb first/third person mod for Signalis, it definitely gives a whole new perspective!
SIGNALIS really manages to craft such a heavy atmosphere across the whole game! It is amazing. :)
Totally agree. One of my favorite things about the game.
There’s tons of good horror games out there, they all just happen to be indies.
One of the big flaws of Eldtritch/Lovecraftian games is the ability to fight the horrors. It may be ok to be able to fight and defeat cultists and mutants, even half-human/half-demons. But too many games allow for the outright defeating of actual monsters, some even allow for killing one of the eldritch gods at the final battle. They really are just a combat arena/bullet hell/puzzle surival. They don't leave any of the unknowns unknown, they offer a definite placement and a beakon of hope to human's place in the cosmos.
sometime i just sit on my floor and think about being in bed. then I go to bed and can't get out.
This was an excellent essay!
You are right in so many things, and many aspects you describe about the game are what kept me so invested in what's going on: the sort of visceral, raw atmosphere, with industrial sounds, the false sense of security, the limited inventory, the scarce amount of ammunition... you named it all. It's what made for a tense survival Horror.
And on top of that, I agree to the notion, that a proper lovecraftian (cosmic) horror game doesn't need tentacles and cults, it just became so synonymous with lovecraftian horror that it is widely considered a staple of the "franchise", while you correctly explained that the horror is about imagination, filling blanks with your own fantasies. And that's where I think Signalis shined the most. It gave you distorted visuals, scattered notes, but ultimately what you made of everything that transpired is left ambiguous and up to the player to decide. There is an overall story told, but the grand scheme of things keeps hidden from our mortal eyes... and that is the big beauty about the story. And that is what in my opinion is missing from many modern cosmic horror games. We are in a day and age where video gaming runs low on limitations and has all the capabilities to show us everything, and while we can always opt to make pixelated games to convey the player from perfect visual representations, we should rather embrace the fact that we can immerse ourselves in a perfectly visualised world and rather focus on the conceptual blurring of the narrative. Giving bits and pieces of added knowledge to observant players, while following a cohesive beaten path, so they can look beyond the veil and piece together the greater idea is a much more enticing way of telling a lovecraftian story, at least in my opinion. That's what makes Fromsoft games great, you find bits and pieces of lore all over the world as long as you are observant, and it leaves you with chilling conclusions without the game ever even being a horror game in the first place.
The paragraph not meaning "show me Cthulhu!" *cough* The Shore *cough*, but mixing a AAA esthetic with your aformentioned AI generated craziness may just be a way to not show us a monster in its full detail. I was showing Jinzee a clip of an AI altered Rob Ross clip, where something was constantly changing form, patterns and colors, so after watching the same video dozens of times, I still can't tell you what the original object was. Something like that could still make for an undescribable Horror that will drive the player insane, while still giving us a realistic surrounding. And that's only one possibility that could be transfered into gaming.
Your point about the PS1 style and mimicking its technical limitations to craft obscure creatures and environments is certainly true and a major visual driving point that made Signalis great. But what made it stand out compared to many other games is, that it metamorphacises its classic graphical influences into a slightly more modern aesthetic.
Signalis was certainly the best horror game I played last year, most likely even in the past few years, and did all the things right that most cosmic horror games do wrong nowadays. Moving away from Signalis as a topic, cosmic horror has to try things, be experimental about its approach. Make new visuals happen, use the strength of modern hardware, while shifting the focus on an eerie, unnatural, inexplicable story telling, like written above.
Again, top essay!
Glad you enjoyed it! And I'm glad we're on the same page.
I used to think Bloodborne and Pathologic 2 were peak lovecraftian and psychological horror games respectively.
Then I played Signalis.
Now I regret playing Signalis because I am terrified of the unknowable, and need some call of duty to wash out the existential crisis out with some dumb fun.
I know exactly what you mean! Right after I finished Signalis, I fired up Captain Toad's Treasure Tracker. LMAO
bro makes a whole video about Lovecraftian horror and monetizes it to pay the bills but calls the creator of the genre so easily a "piece of shit". So easy to speak 15 seconds of Loveracft and criticize him without taking the time to explain the historical context of all of it. Nicely done bro, what a "piece of shit" analysis and kid-level essay really.
great video! glad it showed up in my recommended. sorry to see your comments are filled with people that think you're cancelling lovecraft or whatever lol
LMAOOO thank you for being like... a normal person
i wish we could talk about lovecraft's literary legacy, without every other video bringing up that he said/wrote some pretty stupid racist shit (but never acted on it), for the sake of political correctness. it's a deep can of worms to dig in to, but he really mellowed out over time, and was an incredibly troubled, neurodivergent guy, deserving of empathy, as much as you and me. let's just remember him for his wonderful horror stories.
De mortuis nil nisi bene! (only tell good about the dead)
Nothing takes me out of a video faster than 'like and subscribe'.
Loved the Darkest Dungeon images
This game looks way more terrifying than anything I could ever possibly stomach but thank you for playing it and putting together this video essay so I can just appreciate its pixel art / PS1 visual stylings.
You're welcome, Rich! 😅 I'm just doing my part.
He was not racist but xenophobic. He didn't like people outside of his culture, I heard someone say that in his letters he really didn't have a good opinion of italian immigrants. Something else that I've heard is that what he really didn't like was "the uncivilized" or a lack of culture and /or care for traditions, order and high ideas/philosophies. And one can get that vibe by reading between the lines of his stories, most of his human antagonist were uncivilized creeps with hedonistic lifestyles (Call of chthulhu) or people who use esoteric/high knowledge for their own personal and/or nihilistic gains( Reanimator, Herbert west was a blondie btw), like summoning and old one to just end it all, or sometimes both (Dunwich Horror).
The thing is that he most likely got this ideas from his upbringing and kept harping on said opinions as a coping mechanism to deal with his crappy life, like a bullied kid that bullies others to feel better.
And something that most of his detractors never point out is that his prejudices went away almost as as soon as he got to know someone of said "other groups" specially when his friends help him out in opening up his worldview, the fact that he fell in love with a Jw-ish woman and married her is a testament to that. By the end of his life his prejudices were almost gone, also shown by the change in his stories that went from the cosmic horror of the chthul mythos to the aspiring and surreal fantasy of his Dream Cycle. He's story of overcoming his beliefs that he's got since childhood should be a positive one but most of his detractors ignore that because they just want a witch to burn so they can call/present themselves as (self)righteous crusaders.
Yeah most countries don't like living with people outside of their culture. It's pretty common. No need to cry about it in 2023. I don't like people on my own culture let alone in others. I would hate living in middle eastern cultures for example. Doesn't make someone evil children lol
To be honest I do not like Islam because I think it is a barbaric religion that covers their women in rags like many religions, I am not being intollerant but I just do not want mullahs near my family for the persian genocide they committed but I do mind middle eastern people near me but I just do not like Islam or the islamic culture near my family due to the problems happening in Iran right now.
its not green, its emerald. He did make racist comments about his partner's community but they had a rather good relatinship, she would admonish him for it and it seems to have changed him for the better. somewhat.
LOVE this video! im surprised ive never heard of this game, definitely gonna have to play it now
It was a pretty under-the-radar release from October of last year. Which was a pretty stacked month for game releases. 😅
I really appreciate the non spoiler analysis of the game. I guess TH-cam's algo knows I'm interested in horror and this was great. Wishlisted the game based on this vid. Thanks!
3:04 and don't forget the name of that cat!
I managed to play Signalis for the first time completely blind last month. It was one of, if not THE most engaging survival horror games I've ever played. By the end of it AND getting the Promise Ending, i gave up on trying to understand what was happening around me, all I knew was I had one last thing to do. I was exhausted in the best ways and the ending I got left me feeling empty.
In the end, though, I kept my promise.
I just want the space lesbians to be happy ;w;
We LOVE the space lesbians!! And I feel very similarly about the game BTW. Such an angering experience, especially when compared to other survival horrors!
@@filmotter It's criminal that this game is underrated. It was literally the best experience I've ever had ;w;
@@Raybro16 right? That's a big part of the reason I made the video.
Did you ever play "The Observer"? I think you'd like it! I for one gotta try out Signalis now!
Yeah! The Observer was a trip for sure.
Lovecraft doesn't unnerve you it _reveals_ you.
I'm still surprised Lovecraft is known for his tentacles. It should be penguins. It should really be penguins.
Don't forget the air conditioning
Que vídeo incrível, amo essa personalidade mais narrativa reflexiva ; mais um inscrito
Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoy my work. 💕
An interesting thing about eldritch horror is that the cosmic deities so grand that you people go insane just by seeing then is more of a modern day interpretation. In actuality the reason people go crazy is more of after they've encountered it they start to think about the implications of what they've seen and discovered and the fact they're probably the only person who'd know what they've learnt and no one would ever believe them
Love craft also dialed back his bigotry when he got to know more people from other groups. I’m getting really tired of everyone calling him a horrible person yet straight up stealing his sauce to make their own creations cool. If you hate him so much leave the genre he created alone then.
*burp* anyway
You can enjoy someone's works while being critical of them as a person. And, of how their faults come through in their works.
You'd be dumber for not doing that, & just ignoring the unsavoury & putting it out of your mind.
Cope
Still of the Deep is a spectacular exercise in lovecraft
Working on a video about that game right now
Though there is one thing I often see people get wrong about Lovecraftian horror. Far to many times I just see people reduce it to just tentacles and eldritch entities and the like. But if you have actually read Lovecraft, you know that his style was so much more than that. (I think we can thank the likes of August Derleth for a lot of the modern misperceptions of his work.)
Though I have to say that you don't give Lovecraft enough credit. While he was racist even by the standards of his time, towards the end of his life when he wrote some of his most prolific work, he started to adopt more progressive mindsets and even reject some of his past ideals. Let's just say that he did "not" have kind things to say about how he had been acting in his youth. While he was never quite able to fully rid himself of it all, as he died before he really had a chance, the difference between early Lovecraft, middle especially, and late Lovecraft is quite noticeable.
Also, while Lovecraft was racist as all get out, sexist he was not. If anything, his own racism made him reject sexism as he viewed it as "oriental" superstitions or something to that effect.
I have to say though that what truly courses through Signalis' veins is not really Lovecraft, but rather Robert W. Chambers and his famous book, the King in Yellow. Not the version we all think we know from Lovecraftian works, but the original.
Totally! Which is why I made this video. ☺️
The latest story arc of warframe surprisingly nailed the lovecraftian horror vibe actually. Upfront the game isn't really about eldritch horrors, but if you dig deep enough into the lore then it becomes clear the story is exactly about cosmic horrors. That does make it inaccessible to casual or new players, but that's one aspect of why the horror works.
Great video, think I'll pick this one up. The moody pixel art looks great.
As soon as you said qweer I was out bro.. I mean I watched the video but damn I was excited and then completely let down.. thanks for the vid really helped me out
Signalis, Returnal, and Bloodborne are three of my favorite video games. I never considered that they are all cosmic horror games until now.
All amazing pics! I really need to get around to finishing Returnal!
I'm trying to enjoy the video about Signalis (which, like others are probably new to) not hear about how Lovecraft was a "racist, sexist and intolerant." I figured you'd go the route of summarizing who or what Lovecraft is when I saw the "Timestamp" I was wrong 💀. EDIT: Yeaaah... Nvm, just looking at the way this creator responds to people (Granted some of them are warranted, others not so much) , Imma call it here and bounce.
I mean you can bounce without commenting. I'm really not sure what people expect. A brief mention of something makes people upset beyond belief. It's baffling tbh.
@@filmotter It wasn't necessarily your brief mention, like stated above (and others have also commented on it as well) but overall direction of said mention. Your making a video on Lovecraftian elements in another franchise which people are curious about and whether true or not (which you didn't bring up anything new under the sun regarding Lovecraft) that overall direction, clearly left a soured taste in many mouths.
@Ace01010 I guess. But the rest of the 30 minute video makes no mention of it. So eh.
@@filmotter unfortunate
Great video!
Thank you! I appreciate that
Now I really need to check this game out!
I honestly have been recommending this one to everyone I know. And I feel like you'd dig it, especially since I know Survival Horror is your thing.
(There's an affiliate link in the description if you do end up wanting to grab it at some point.)
"and most clearly"
SIlent Hill 2, yeah
"Lovecraft"
Oh.
I will not rest until you're the biggest essay channel in the game space 😤💖💖
Bravo! Loved the video, going to download the game, and now am subscribed 🤓
Glad you enjoyed it! Hope you like Signalis too. 💕
Anyone know what are the games at 1:54 and 4:50?
The Shore!
@@filmotter Thanks!
I guess now I have to go play Signalis. That's what summer is for, right?
Noone addressing Lovecraft's deconstruction of his own racial hate and biases check:
3:02 is hillarious 😂😂
how was callisto protocol being bad a surprise? did you not watch the reveal?
Bloodborne actually nailed it
I think you might like THE COLONY from Grotesk Comics
@@eddiemumford oh? Tell me more!
He was a product of his time. Calling him a piece of shit is pretty flippant.
We arnt different from him because we are better, we are different because the world around us has changed. For most of us, our views are down to mere circumstance.
And it still makes his work hard to read.
Comparing Signalis to Bloodborne is pretty brave...
I'll go give it a go and come back when I'm done since Bloodborne is one of my favourite games ever.
It's one of my favorites too! I hope you enjoy it. 😁
Low poly is such a bastard move, but effective
Gets me every time.
Ok, you did not do your research correctly. We don't call it Eldritch horror because or that. He wasn't the only one who put it on the map, it was a various colabs who did that. So to say it's all Lovecraftian, would be in the wrong. Seeing there numerus people who made the whole thing. Lovecraft was only 2% of the whole Cthulhu mythos.
What game is that at 4:05??? Looks awesome!!!!
That's "The Shore". Pretty wild game!
@@filmotter ohh thanks, I getting on that!!!
I'm against racism and xenophobia, but no matter how much of an asshole Lovecraft was, he inspires us to this day, and for that I just let it slide. I also think that talking shit about someone who died almost a hundred years ago is a bit pathetic, but everyone does it so... 🤷♂
Please explain to me how bringing up someone's racism, which highly influenced his work, falls under "talking shit". Lmao. And good luck convincing anyone who studies history to stop talking shit about bad people just because they're dead LMAO
@@filmotter first of all, I like your video, despite my opinion on how you handled your critique. Secondly, we've all done it (that's what I meant by everyone does it), and it's an important to analyze history to some degree of present day morality to learn from it. Having said that, I do think you're talking shit (specially because you literally say he's a piece of shit), which is easy when you live in present day society where we receive an education that's build on moral grounds, but who's to say you wouldn't have been a racist too, had you been born in his time? Also, I don't think art should be judged based on the artist, which is something the west is particularly good at. It saddens me to see how artworks are censored or sent to oblivion just because the artists views don't fit into today's expectations. MJ was probably a pedo, but I'll never stop singing along Billy Jean when it plays on the radio. John Lennon was an asshole, but I still love him for the magic he brought to my life. There are innumerable examples of terrible people who moved and inspired millions, even decades after their deaths. So I do get a bit offended when I hear people reducing them to their flaws. Of course I would condemn Lovecraft's views if he were alive today, but he isn't.
Also, thanks for replying so quickly, I wasn't even expecting you to read my comment, looking forward to more of your videos. If I insult you again, I hope to hear your comeback! 😁
You're absolutely right and I agree even more so than usual. Honestly it's surprising to see the cringe manchild video creator dismissed any comments with actual substance and resorted to childish taunts instead of an actual rebuttal.
Embarrassing honestly
another reason why signalis perfects lovecraftian horror because you tell a sapphic that there's women kissing in a game and they would play it not knowing it's a survival horror game. The fear of the unknown.
True enough, I was caught by this but the added fact that it's a survival horror on top of having women kissing only makes me enjoy it more!
I don’t get it with these people, “lovecraft was a bad person” you’re right? But aren’t we talking about signalis? Not the life history of HP Lovecraft? Mentioning Lovecraftian horror doesn’t need a “hey the guy who made this didn’t like black folks” disclaimer. If it did, then every time we mentioned any wealthy person from the 1700-1800s we’d likely have to say “but don’t forget, they kept slaves and do not deserve you to think of them positively”
If you don’t want to cover “Lovecraftian” horror, then don’t. Using his name for clicks when you could simply have started this video calling it eldritch horror and not spend 3 minutes shitting on a dead guy is kind of misleading.
You're not entirely wrong. But here we are, with over 70k views on my most viewed video. (And I will say, judging by the comment section, a lot of people are not willing to believe that Lovecraft being racist was a thing, which is strange. So while you are correct that it should be common unsaid knowledge, apparently it is not for a shockingly large number of people.)
@@filmotter I’m not really wrong at all though. Clearly “Lovecraftian” has gotten you more traffic than “Eldrich” or “Cosmic” would have, and then instead of just speaking on the game you intended, you spend the first 3 minutes talking about the guy. Kinda feels like “screw that guy! Unless he can get me clicks.” It’s your video, do what you like; just hearing “that guy from the 1890s was racist” in every piece of media related to his kind of horror when I just want to hear about scary things gets to feel like a lecture and turns me, personally, off. Cool of you to reply, have a good day.
Bro uses a trigger word in his title, but then virtue signals to get the rage addicts to keep watching. Get likes to get paid. Gotta blend with the herd or get culled. It's not that he's wrong, he's just blatantly pandering.
Yea, talking about signalis in relation to lovecraftian horror, right? He spells out the relationship between lovecrafts xenophobia/racism as the framework or at least under tone for which the genre even exists. Understanding that better helps understand signalis and how it “perfects lovecraftian horror.” Either that flew over your head or you’re ironically the one pushing an agenda.
I’d like to know how using the term Lovecraftian has “clearly [garnered] more traffic” than Eldritch or cosmic? The views on this alone is can’t serve as its own proof. I took the time to go on google trends and “Lovecraftian” is actually the least popular of the 3. You’re legit just completely wrong.
A good thing to point out such
I got reccomended this video today, and I cant help but ask: are you Canadian??
I'm not Canadian, but I actually do get that a lot. I'm originally from Germany and I currently live in California. 😌
scary game make you go ahh and maybe pause the game or sprint away to another room.
horror games will make you ponder your existence and your place in this universe.
Have to immediately denounce Lovecraft. People you know we can't catch racism or shifty behavior. We like his art, world building, and all its inspired. We aren't dating the guy. Wtf 😂😂
Thats why I love cosmic horror, if done well, it can be life changing
This is one of the best games I have ever played. Been gaming for like 30 years. There's something beautiful about it. It has influences from like every good game ever. Just a masterpiece. I haven't even beat Elden Ring and I got it on launch day. I went through this twice in 3 days. I've just been so over everything lately. Nothing really blows me away, and it's so hard to keep up even just playing every new "important" game, let alone having PS Plus Premium and the Xbox Pass on PC on top. Every time I put a few hours on something , there's something else everyone is talking about. I'm a completionist too, which is a nightmare. I have to pick and choose for the sake of what's left of my mental health. It's nice when a surprise comes along. Game is really concise, even if it can be a bit artsy and nonsensical. It's an amazing ride.
Totally agreed! It felt concise and just arty enough to keep me hooked for sure!
At the edn it was so cool to see the dream world avatar of nyarlathotep . The mask. Cool to see how Cthulhu knew a deal with Nyarlathotep always end bad one way or another.
I was just THINKING about how I loved this game this morning and TH-cam shows me this video now...
I am scared.
I highly recocommend the manga "BLAME" if you liked signalis.
You would love the manga BLAME! It has a lot of these elements, sci fi, cosmic and body horror, endless landscape and a load of corridors. i think solar sands talks about it in his monumentality video.
love love LOVE this video! I've been weird and resistant to the internet's obsession with the term "Lovecraftian" lately as it seems like everyone thinks it starts and ends with tendrils. I've always known Eldritch horror as the tentacles and weird monsters and hidden cities under the crust of the earth. Lovecraftian horror is suddenly realizing that there might be hidden cities under the crust of the earth and not knowing what to know anymore.
Anyways, I should really give Signalis another go around.
I'm glad the video connected with you! I'd be interested to hear what you end up thinking of Signalis if you do get back to it at some point!
I think you'll enjoy World of Horror. The notes and personal insanity ramp up quickly
this was a terrific video on one of my favorite games of last year!
So glad you enjoyed it! I hope I did the game justice in your eyes. :D
Came here on Jinzee's recommendation, and dang, what a great video! Glad to see a few more analysis points on Signalis' story and themes. I still adore the whole aspect of Bioresonance and how little not only we, but also the people in the setting know about how it works. Imagining how Ariane possible cancer and deterioration influences the rest of the world is fascinating and still next to impossible to grasp.
Wowzers this was a great video, bro
LMAO Thank you wowzers indeed!
Great vid! This is a cool perspective i hadn't considered, but i totally agree, the lo-fi look contributes so much to the eldrich horror feeling. I got that same feeling playing system shock 2 for the first time a few years back and seeing those old thief-engine character models was terrifying due to their misshapen paper-doll look, and it really contributed to the atmosphere!
I'm glad you enjoyed the video! I haven't played System Shock 2 myself, but I did that same experience with Half-Life as well. That era's visual style was just kind of great for creating horror.
What is your wallpaper on your desktop? the oil painting like texture, wth a boat, trees and stone.
There's no tentacles, but bodily viscera fits the bill (or perhaps the archetype) just as well, and there _is_ a cult in the game staring you in the face. In fact there's two of them and they are both cults of personality: the Eusan Empire and the Eusan Nation.
i am making a coraline sort of game, that takes it into cosmic horror, not sure how to do it. the monsters and such are super etheral, and way largerthan you, you don't know who they are, no one does. but i don't know how to make it more mysterious, help please?
H.P.L. had one great and unique gift and because he was a creature of his time embodying an egregious but not uncommon vice of his time we need to cancel him and rob him post mortem and rob him of his contribution? No.