For all the people mentioning Fear & Hunger. I played it in like 2019 before it was cool and was planning to do a video on it around the time I did La Mulana, but then it got popular and now I'm not so interested in covering something several others have already.
@@Ribbons0121R121 Why not both. An art director can also only model or create the assets so much and will need both the dev and graphics team, but they may still be brimming with creativity to head the game direction as he/she needs
Arkhouse needs a team, in my opinion. He has a very clear vision of what he wants the world to be, what it sounds and looks like, but he struggles in implimentation. I feel like if he had collaborators to bounce off his shortcomings with their strengths, say a level designer or someone with a mechanics focus, I think he'd be an absolute powerhouse of visionary indie games.
Brother that's the problem with game development. A few visionaries surrounded by fickle people who boast about talent and dedication, but without MONEY, you quickly find out they really don't care. Without money poured down their throats, most would simply refuse to breathe, and leave this world in search of another.
@@FiggsNeughton nah man,i shouldve been more clear. he needs to be surrounded by fellow creators, who are just as passionate and stubborn about the creative vision as he is. take arcane kids for example. eventually they all left to do their own things (like neon white if you can beleive it), but during the time they were active they created all kinds of elaborate, uncompromising creative endeavors. surrounding yourself with people who share your passions is the best way to improve, in my opinion
@@nobodyfornow One hundred percent agree, I just thinking finding people like that is impossible. I'll look into those names you mentioned though. Sorry I'm just blackpilled to hell brother.
So the reason for the "giant flying satan duck" at 25:20 is I'm guessing it's an obtuse reference to the "Graveyard Duck", which is inexplicably mentioned in a line of dialogue from a random villager in the original Simon's Quest who says "Get a silk bag from the graveyard duck to live longer." Nobody knows what the hell this is referring to and it's not a mistranslation because the original japanese line uses a word that unambiguously means "duck (waterfowl)"
Nobody knows /definitively/ what it means, but theres a lot of very valid and complete explanations. one: its missing punctuation, Get a silk bag from the graveyard. Duck to live longer. two: graveyard guy is named duck three: duck in various forms in japanese is slang for things notably recluse. four: the villagers tend to flat out lie.
@@sidfan42 if what he said /is/ true, that it absolutely only refers to the bird and noone would ever use it in a different way, yes, it would be impossible, but were talking regional slang here, those things are incredibly difficult to pin down, and if multiple forms of duck are used in one way, someone could use a method not normally linked to that usage to make it less obvious whats going to happen prior to reaching that point. on the regional slang side of things, "ratchet" is a synonym for "wretched" here among children and teens too stupid to self reflect on their language choices.
@@rjwaters3 I'm not fluent in Japanese, and I haven't played Castlevania so I had to look up the original screen in Japanese. While there is some creative license in how it was translated, the actual sentence in Japanese just tells you to go get a silk bag from a duck at the graveyard, after which you'll live a long life. I don't know whether アヒル can be something else in some obscure slang, but it most definitely won't be that option 1 without some extreme editing by the translator. Googling the Japanese statement just leads to Reddit discussion of this same issue.
God the contrast from art to gameplay is insane. All the art is insanely good, it almost feels like the games are only there to advertise how good of an artist this guy is.
the gameplay uses simple basis to actually work, but what it does with it is really really creative, it uses simple jumps and atacks to communicate various feelings and different challenges and often get *very* hard, dark dreams rhn for example(a free arkhouse game), is one of the most cruelly difficult games I've ever played, and it actually uses this for thematic and narrative reasons. Basicaly pushing the really simple mechanics to their limit in what they can do. It's also fascinating to just see what they throw at you, so progressing is *always* rewarding. It's extremely artsy view of games, and they are really appreciable
It's like how the Touhou franchise started as an outlet for one guy's musical talent and now there's enough homages to his songs that it constitutes a whole subgenre
These games may be a trip but man this guy is a really talented artist. The character portraits in mirage of dragon and d1896 look straight out of H. R. Gigers work and his pixel art looks solid too
Would probably be a great artist to have on a project, though I may prefer someone else be in charge of game design. _(Though there were still some interesting ideas there on display here, too.)_ May be an interesting writer, but get a cowriter, just in case
Reminds me of the art style of Fear and Hunger. Realistic visuals mixed with slightly weird movement and game mechanics, combining to make a very uncanny experience.
It's how I found Dosh. His video on Marrow ended up in my recommended videos, and while that video was playing, I noticed his Factorio video where he took on the Rampant Death World (with Armored Biters) challenge.
I absolutely died at the name "Abirvalg" because it's likely a reference to Bulgakov's "Heart of a dog", where a dog gets transplanted human organs and transforms into a human for a time. And this was his first word, a fish shop sign, read backwards.
Mirage of Dragon feels like the King in Yellow. An esoteric story that's incomprehensible to mortal minds and drives you insane. (I actually think the connection is deeper than that though, the silence memory screen almost reminds me of the yellow sign)
In reference to killing death in Castlevania games, I like the show's interpretation that "death" or the grim reaper is actually just a parasite that feeds off of the souls of the dead; so in killing death, you don't like, remove the concept of entropy or death literally. You just free the souls of the dead from torment or something similar.
I generally accepted that in Castlevania games, despite the European aesthetic, you're working under Japanese media rules, in which "Death" is not archetypal death, but just one of many shinigami. You defeat him, he goes off to lick his wounds and sulk, and then he becomes the next Belmont's problem. Pretty cool about the show making the grim reaper specifically a parasitic entity, though!
@@marley7868 From what I remember, it's less that Death doesn't reap Dracula but rather can't and was mentioned that Dracula has beaten death and thus commands him. It's why by the time of the Sorrow games that neither he or Dracula are technically 'dead'/gone.
I gotta say, the artwork in most of these games is as breathtaking as it is grotesque, especially the "dragons" in the first one. There was a lot of care and passion put into every single detail of these creations. And to hear this dev made their own music to boot? They were definitely an artist first when making these games.
What I mean by grotesque and breathtaking at the same time: Imagine if H.R. Giger decided to design the Eifel Tower. It's like that, it's an alien design at an impressive scale compared to the diminutive nature of humanity. It's grotesque, massive, but breathtaking and awe inspiring at the same time.
I actually laughed out loud when H.A.L. 9000 showed up on screen, the juxtaposition of Dosh having no idea what is happening mixed with the insanity on screen is hilarious
1:02:32 - 1:04:40 Leaving this timestamp, because I love your musings and this is the best stretch of them yet. There are a handful of feelings I couldn't quite convey that you put into words for me there. Thanks Dosh. Keep doing what you do.
There was actually another paragraph I wrote for that section in the original script that I scrapped because it sounded way too sappy and felt out of place, but here it is if you like that sort of thing. "To close this discussion, with our modern lives becoming increasingly isolated - especially considering the size of the demographic that would get this far into a video about some dude discussing incredibly niche video games - it's easy to feel occluded from society as a whole. You may feel distant, detached, an observer of things rather than a participant. Though you know that rationally it cannot be true, you may feel that you're the only real human, standing amongst a field of human flowers; each unique in its own right, but evidently lacking the cerebral complexity you possess. And sometimes, rare as it may seem, you may sense something else in that field that doesn't quite seem to fit, something as strange as it is familiar. And as your solipsistic shell is shattered, you look up and think, "Ah... There's another human here." That's how I feel about these heterodox developers. But of course, sharing your heartfelt thoughts and feelings is cringe. I'm sorry. It won't happen again."
@@DoshDoshington As someone with schizophrenia, I definitely feel that part about nobody around me having the same cerebral complexity. But, the bad kind of complexity, rather than "nobody is on my level", just that I experience a lot of things that may as well be incommunicable.
@@DoshDoshington Personally I'd cut everything after 'hereodox developers'. It's a good paragraph, and to be beholden by what other people call 'cringe' is a good way to start boxing away thoughts and feelings that are perfectly legitimate and should be expressed.
Oh, I think I remember one of these! It was a random Alpha Beta Gamer longplay I clicked on because the art style was interesting. Then it got to the end, and revealed it was a fan prequel/retelling of Castlevania 1! Wildest thing ever, and it was during Konami's period of separation from gaming so I had a ton of respect for it. Let's see if I'm remembering the right game here. EDIT: Yup, it's Cube Gothic. There might be video evidence of an older version of the game that had explicit references to Castlevania in it, which (if real) were removed in case Konami was paying attention again. Absolute madlad developer to hide that at the end of a paid game, and the "dedicated to old Konami" is still intact.
Came for the Factorio, stayed for the incredible coverage of games I never even knew existed. I hope you keep this going for a good long time, Dosh. This is absolute gold.
All of these games were super cool in skrunkly ways, but... oh my god. A bullet hell game where your only method of attacking is TOUCHING the enemies? I can't decide if that's genius or horrifying. It's evil, certainly.
There was a bullet hell game where bullet colors alternate between black and white, your ship is immune if getting hit by the same color, and also the game recognizes if you beat the game without firing a single shot
The man's attention to detail is great. That first maze segment in Cube Gothic was a Castlevania map graphic, with the colored squares being the traditional markers for special rooms like Save, Teleport, and Reverse. Love seeing that kind of stuff. What a great use of a simple visual element to catch fans of the franchise.
asthetically the graphics are beautiful. Functionality wise, I can see why they could potentially be seen as not functional enough, specially in the clarity department. So to summarize, they are A+ grade graphics beauty wise. But C or F (in some cases) Functionality wise.
@@DominikaHareThe major problem these games have is the color palette being too muted in everything including the PC, so it makes it very hard to see what's going. If the dev made the PC have more vivid colors or just hardlined it more, it wouldn't be such a problem, tho it would clash with the artstyle a bit. It's a hard problem to solve with the artstyle most of these games have, probably why he switched to pure pixel art, makes it easier to separate the PC with the rest of the enviroment
I really hope the dev for these games ends up finding someone who is actually good at designing and implementing the gameplay aspect without sacrificing too much of the art and the spectacle that he attempts to portray. I would love to play games with artstyle like this, as you say, there is an amount of soul of them you just don't see in cashgrabs these days, but the gameplay would be enough to put me away. Hopefully this blows up enough that he ends up seeing this video, what he does has potential and it would be great for him to get more recognition, and in turn, more criticism to improve if he so wants. Thanks for yet another good video Dosh, watched from start to end without realizing how long it was.
What this developer really needs, is a Catholic nun with a wooden ruler. Whenever he plays a new game and is suddenly inspired to implement a completely new gameplay style into his current game, the nun smacks his hand with the ruler and tells him to go refine the core gameplay loop. She also needs to be able to fully understand and explain the complex and conflicting theological lore of the Bible. So whenever she playtests the game and can't understand what's going on, that means it's definitely too indecipherable.
@@CheshireCad "She also needs to be able to fully understand and explain the complex and conflicting theological lore of the Bible." Asking the seemingly impossible here....has ANYONE pulled that off?
@@Bloodlyshivathe bible is a collection of books that were written across many many years, and even then there are the apocrypha. I really dont think its possible to fully understand the bible at all
Most other TH-camrs would release reviews of these games as separate videos. So it's interesting to see that Dosh always groups them together, resulting in a somewhat intimidating length (it's basically a feature-length film by this point)
My favourite part of Cube Gothic was when the first vampire, a being so powerful it can seemingly transcend time, got so mad that he can't look at his own ass, that he built several planet destroying nukes. Truly one of the Arkhouse moments of all time
The visuals and narrative style of Mirage Of Dragon feel like something that could be adapted into a game about The King In Yellow and the city of Carcosa.
Doshdoshington is my favorite TH-camr. Heck my favorite content creator. Theres something about the way his videos are structured that allows you to endlessly rewatch every single masterpiece over and over. I watched the Seablock video over 6 times in a single month. The way he speaks is relaxing yet extremely clear at the same time. I would sub to Patreon, but my income isn’t good enough for that. Especially on a platform full of short 10-20 minute videos, channels like Dosh who make these 1 hour marathons are truly fantastic. I hope to see more of your amazing content in the future, thank you for making these videos. You are appreciated
I'm flattered. A lot of people say there's something oddly compelling about the way I explain things, and it's not like it's something I'm doing intentionally so I suppose I should just thank whatever deity is watching over me
Wow, you're right. I've rewatched the Marrow, TowerClimb and the La Mulana video several times. And now this one. I almost never do this to any video or even any sort of media except music (of course). Dosh does something unique but can't put my finger on it.
Arkhouse's art style is something I really enjoy, the surreal horror designs of many of the bosses is the exact type of aesthetic I like to see. I really hope you make more videos like this, I find myself quite excited to see these none-Factorio uploads.
These are my favorite videos of yours. Not that your factorio videos are bad by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm not a factorio person, and you're a great content creator, so it's nice to see your skills put to use in stuff that's more interesting to me.
dude...how have I never heard this developer before. This is like THE surrealistic art I love. It's looks like walking through some frankenstein's monster of H. R. Giger, Zdzislaw Beksinski, and Tool music videos. And idk I personally really like esoteric nonsense stories. Kinda like how silent hill can be left up to so much interpretation. I need to check these out!
I love the batshit crazy artstyle this dude consistently pumps out, reminds me a lot of Darkwood or Fear & Hunger, gotta love questionably sane outsider devs.
This was by far one of the most interesting videos ive watched in a long time. Ive never been so invested in trying to understand an individual through their artwork.
As someone who has watched youtube content covering all kinds of games, including those generally considered as unknown or nieche your channel really is the one where I really never heard anything about those games from anywhere else before. I think considering you as a pioneer is really pretty fair tbh
I often get back to these kinds of videos you did bc they're so good. Playing Seal of the Curse again (first time I didn't get that far) and the aesthetic truly carries the game
Oh my god i have all of this guys games, i was so sad that nobody was making video's on his amazing stuff. His art style is so unique and his games so creative.
This video kept my full attention from start to end. Hearing about these esoteric games does not cease to amaze me. And as an aspiring game designer, it sure helps me gain a lot of perspective. Thank you dosh for making these kinds of videos, and I'm always excited to hop on in to each new release.
I absolutely love this. It's incredible to see someone strive to find these weird and hidden games and try to piece together what the hell they mean. I look forward to hopefully seeing more in the future.
I would love to see this guy work in a small team, where his vision remains undiluted, but the game mechanics are punched up and stories made more approachable. I watched this video over a few days, and I keep thinking about the dragon game, it's such a haunting concept
The art is pretty insane, give this guy a proper programmer, translator and let him be the lead developer and art director and you got an awesome combo... kind of like Edmund made Isaac, this might fit in the same niche tbh with the same work dynamic as well. Nonetheless, I'm impressed and I really like the last game. Tbh he isn't even bad at programming, just not great at gameplay part of game design.
these games are exactly my style! I absolutely adore the art!! and I love supporting other creators from Lithuania!! I hope wherever they are now, they continue to make these incredibly amazing games !!
Something that might interest you. The fight with the duck in Cube Gothic where it's split in the middle with some kind of machinery inside, the one you can see at 57:45 - That machinery is absolutely taken from Gradius bosses. I don't believe it's a straight-up rip of sprites, but it seems to be sort of kit-bashed from multiple different bosses, and probably from different Gradius games, too. It immediately reminded me of Big Core MK III from Gradius 3 but it has similarities with a few of the different Core bosses. This is supported by the mention in the credits "In memory of the old Konami" - Gradius 3, which I believe is where most, if not all of those sprites are taken from, was released in Japanese arcades by Konami in 1989 and ported to the SNES in 1991. There are A LOT of games in the Gradius series, but Gradius 3 remains, to this day, one of the most popular.
You talking about how humans build a mental map to existence and become complacent was very odd to hear out loud from someone else, because it's something I've had on my mind a lot lately. My S.O. started having a PTSD induced psychosis episode about two months ago. It's as if she's almost completely lost that mental model to fall back on. She takes nothing for granted now, as if she's lost all context of the world from the time she was a child, which has made me realize exactly what you're talking about. And it's also made the world terrifying and confusing to her. Every literally thoughtless action like a quick face scratch, every coincidence where somebody used an uncommon word in the same week that she's heard it somewhere else, every misplaced sock, she's looking for the connection. She's racing explanation, trying to understand it like there's some greater narrative connecting everything around her in a way she can't see. The crazy thing is that, when you stop and think about it, she's right. It's just basic causality. Nothing happens for no reason, and all of existence down to the tiniest subatomic interactions is just one long chain of cause and effect that began with the beginning of the universe. Maybe before, somehow. But like you said, as we get older, we just tend to rest on our presumptions based on the context we already have. But the other thing I've realized is that there's a reason for that. She's looking to contextualize things she never possibly could. None of us could. When someone itches their face, we don't even have to think about why, we just rest back on "because their face itches." In reality, maybe it itches because there's a tiny buildup of dead skin there. Maybe that dead skin built up because their job is stressing them out and they missed a shower. But their job is stressing them out because they're short staffed and the workload is heavy right now. But they're short staffed because the company doesn't pay enough. But the company doesn't pay enough because the company isn't doing well. But the company isn't doing well because another industry leader overtook them with a new product. But that new product only came about because they happened to hire a very specific handful of people who came up with the idea and executed on it, and it may never have existed if even one of them hadn't come on. But those people applied for different reasons; maybe one of them had their job close down during the pandemic and were at risk of losing their home. And with enough context, you could follow that right back to the beginning of everything. This is exactly what she's doing right now. She's trying to contextualize and extrapolate. Every. Little. Bit. Of information happening around her. All the little stories we take for granted every second of every day, happy to understand only a tiny fraction of the whole truth. She's unwittingly trying to piece together "The Narrative of Everything." And it's overwhelming her and driving her insane. Sorry for the tirade, but it was just very interesting to hear someone else touch on something that's kind of consuming my mind right now, and I guess I just had to get it off my chest where somebody else has finally acknowledged it.
This guy has an incredible art style and some pretty neat concepts. It would be cool to see what kind of game he'd put out if he had some collaborators to reign him in and flesh out his weak areas. I feel like it would make something pretty amazing. Also hello, first time viewer!
hey man, just wanted to say that I've really enjoyed watching your channel grow and change over the past year and some change, really feels like you came into your element as a creator, and I've deeply enjoyed every one of your videos.
Great diction, great writing, no boring or skippable segments, good rewatch potential, great as both first and second monitor content. I've played factorio less than ten minutes but still watched all ur videos, some are even twice or more times. But i feel like with this kind of content and this kind of execution you may be the only creator capable of making it. Insta smashing that like button, hitting subscribe and clicking that bell under every single one of the videos. P.S. While Fear and hunger may have gone kinda mainstream it's still a good game and not that much people know about it. Also, Black souls, perchance? P.P.S. Sorry for bad english, not using translator coz im not a bitch
@@DoshDoshington I don't think people are ready to experience the schizophrenic roller coaster that is the Black Souls series, along with it's prequel, Red Riding Woods. I honestly recommend against making a review on this, not only because of the abundance of """cute and funny""" content in those game that I could see people giving you a lot of shit for, but also because I think that Black Souls is best experienced first-hand, rather than through the lens of another's perspective. This is the kind of game that one either discovers while browsing mongolian basketweaving forums late at night, or through word of mouth. The best kind of review for the black souls series would be a simple statement which goes "It's good shit, go play it if you enjoy schizophrenic plots mixed with Lovecraftian horror themes". Oh, before I go- The next series spin-off "RED DEAD HOOD" is currently in development.
@@ethangnasher3848 Sure 9/10 scenes are some mild personality quirks at best, but there's tidbits of lore hidden in them. Of course, those can be fairly trivial in the big picture. However you miss out on 90% of the ending of Black Souls 1 and all of the lorebombs it drops. Similar to Fear & Hunger 1, you miss out on the slight horror and unnervingness that sexual content can bring. I can scarcely recall a game that has fearboners that are more fear than boner.
@@TheAppleloaf As much as I agree with you, this is TH-cam we're talking about, dude can't risk getting dropped onto the shadow realm by the higher ups.
You have incredibly interesting takes on things that put them in a new light, like the reason why some people enjoy games like these is because of how their creators traits shine through. Honestly, you're one of the better reviewers/summarizers I've seen because rather than just crack a few jokes and say how YOU felt about it, you talk about things like why the mechanics might be the way they are, why the developer did something a certain way, and even the occasional philosophical musing. Excellent videos, I'm always thoroughly engaged the whole way through.
Ok you earned a sub, you covered a bizarre collection of games that few creators even considered touching and your voice has a vocal tone that is damn near incredible to listen to.
I found your channel thru your marrow video, and I really love your work on these obscure indie games. They're so cool to watch and I appreciate that you make their stories and gameplay accessible in some way to people like me who don't have the reflexes or skill to make i through these bad boys. Thanks for all the work you do!
Saturn Quest's only being able to say "Ku" and "Kiu" is actually a reference to a soviet movie called "Kin-dza-dza". It's a movie about a man accidentally being teleported to a distant desert planet located who knows where. Its inhabitants (look like people in the live action movie, more alien in a cartoon adaptation) can read minds and that is a primary form of communication. "Ku" is just any word. "Kiu" is a swear word. The movie itself shows a world where class discrimination and racism (not visual even) is taken to an insane degree.
I rarely comment but just wanted to say I adore videos like this where you cover lesser known videogames in an intricate way like this, and would be happy to see you cover more in the future, well known or not.
For Saturn Quest, especially while you were talking about expanding land tiles I could not help but think of the Creeper World series, and more specifically my favorite entry Particle Fleet. You have different types of ships that take different times to deploy, and they can be upgraded with limited hard to get crystals. It is also a mix of projectile based slogging in space and creeper based on land/asteroids. You have to manage the creeper, particles, and ship health until you can nullify all the emitters. Would 100% recommend if you like RTS.
I'm genuinely surprised that I indeed have never heard of this developer despite myself also being a Lithuanian, a weird game enthusiast, an aspiring game developer and an artist with fairly similar tastes. Thank you for introducing me to this absolute madlad!
I really enjoy these videos, because I'd never have known about these games otherwise. I probably wouldn't be able to power through the gameplay on some of them, but I appreciate you showcasing them so I can enjoy the positives they have. Also, you write well, and it makes me feel smarter.
I've never played Factorio, I've only watched a few different people play it now and then. I have watched a couple of your Factorio videos but what I'm really here for is these kinds of videos, I love them so much! Marrow, TowerClimb, La Mulana, Potion Games, and now the Arkhouse Tour video - these are just SO good. I appreciate how thorough you are and how long it must take to go through these games and then make videos on them. Great job, truly!
Been a big fan of Arkhouse for a while and I think the guy behind it did get asked about his obtuse way of handling gameplay in an interview once. They look at games in general more as art, which is why it's emphasized so much more than the gameplay mechanics in their games. He makes sure people can complete them, but it seems like optimization and game feel is something they've been learning over each game they make.
I like these videos, I really appreciate the artistry and passion behind these bizarre games and I do play them when the gameplay it's not actively hostile (like a lot of rpg maker games or walking simulators), but I just can't deal with extremely obtuse mechanics and puzzles so having someone just show them to me it's nice, thanks
I god damn Love the vibe of Saturn Quest and the series as a whole looks like an absolutely bizarre rabbit hole to teeter on the edge of. I found you from the La-Mulana and Marrow vids first and foremost, so seeing your dives into the work of small-scale and solo creatives is always a treat. Another Banger of a Vid, King.
God, I love this video. This feels like old TH-cam videos, someone calmly covering some obscure, and slightly disturbing game you've never heard of, and despite the runtime being long, you sit down and watch it anyway. Please make more of these!
love your videos, and i guess as i've already watched them all, i'll have to start rewatching them until you upload again, kind of the same i do with LEMMiNO. Please don't stop. S2
Yes please, as a starving indie dev, we all could use some support. Also, Arkhouse's artstyle is extremely bold and expressive in ways what you scarcely see these days. Extremely highly detailed, beautiful, yet grotesque at times. I hardly notice the muted color palettes, as it seems like he puts his soul into how the games look regardless. Legion 52 is a joy to look at. Lore-wise, yeah it seems like he could use a bit more of a through-line in places. Relying on piecing the story together can work line in Mirage of Dragon, but a lot of the mechanics don't tie in with the rest of the gameplay, which is part of what gives his games a strangeness to them. I'd love to work with him/her as a systems/tech designer just to help express his strangeness even moreso through his gameplay, while also keeping the gameplay engaging and/or enjoyable.
two things i want to say: #1: big appreciation to the fact that you subtitle your videos. i know you're probably just copy-pasting your script into youtube and either having a bot line up the captions right or timing it yourself, but i still really do appreciate it. #2: i feel like you would enjoy playing corru dot observer; not as a thing to review necessarily, just something to get into on your own time.
This was a really fun video to watch, as great as it can be to watch a hyper produced review with over the top personalities, this level headed and straight forward approach to reviews is infinitely more useful for someone trying to understand the player experience more than how much you enjoyed it.
I'm blown away at the artistry on show by one person. I have no idea how long the art took to make but it's clear the creator was not only skilled but incredibly passionate with the art of these games.
the "I found and defeated a mirage of dragon." is probably just a typo since the lithuanian language doesnt have a direct translation for the word "the"
Peak TH-cam content for me are videos of people exploring dead servers from mmos or multiplayer games that have been forgotten. This feels like that in a single player setting. I love this.
I love your content dosh and maybe i am reapeating myself but thank you for your videos i really hope you're keep on coming with these, you're one of very few content creators which content i actually look forwards to watch. Anyway thanks dosh once again. (Also seablock when)
this has honestly given me alot of inspiration for a game series i've wanted to start for along time. i really love stories or worlds that are practically the incoherent mad ramblings of a person who just has alot of really cool idea's.
If he only cared about the art his gameplay wouldn't be constantly improving from game to game. Through this progression of games, I get the feel that he's someone who is coming in with no idea what they're doing in regards to game design of fundamentals, but he's learning as he goes, and this is especially hard to do when you are solo, It's much harder to learn without constant feedback. His art is amazing though. I actually really loved the visuals in mirage of Dragon, that one was probably my favorite, but they all are visually stunning.
I really appreciate the boldness to make a stealth continuation on your own for a piece of media you love. Them being janky games is part of the appeal but I do wonder what kinda stuff would make in more traditional interactable type of games like say a point and click
The action RTS concept really reminds me of the game Airmech. Used to love that game. Would be interesting to see someone really flesh out those concepts in the future.
Thank you so much for making this video. I saw a video about Cube Gothic a couple years back when I was sick with the flu, and my brain trying to parse everything in my impaired state is a memory that's remained really vivid ever since.
For all the people mentioning Fear & Hunger. I played it in like 2019 before it was cool and was planning to do a video on it around the time I did La Mulana, but then it got popular and now I'm not so interested in covering something several others have already.
dangerous levels of baseity
Perfectly understandable.
Fine
i can respect that, but I'd watch it nonetheless
Not sure if you're an archivist or hipster, but fine.
This is an art director in desperate need of an actual dev team
I was going to say something similar.
i feel that but in reverse
can code? yes
can make models or something? no
cant hardly make something in block bench, let alone 2d sprites
@@Ribbons0121R121 Why not both. An art director can also only model or create the assets so much and will need both the dev and graphics team, but they may still be brimming with creativity to head the game direction as he/she needs
Arkhouse needs a team, in my opinion. He has a very clear vision of what he wants the world to be, what it sounds and looks like, but he struggles in implimentation. I feel like if he had collaborators to bounce off his shortcomings with their strengths, say a level designer or someone with a mechanics focus, I think he'd be an absolute powerhouse of visionary indie games.
And considering he doesnt have any of that and his stuff is this decent, id give him a couple more years before he really shakes the industry.
Brother that's the problem with game development. A few visionaries surrounded by fickle people who boast about talent and dedication, but without MONEY, you quickly find out they really don't care. Without money poured down their throats, most would simply refuse to breathe, and leave this world in search of another.
@@FiggsNeughton nah man,i shouldve been more clear. he needs to be surrounded by fellow creators, who are just as passionate and stubborn about the creative vision as he is. take arcane kids for example. eventually they all left to do their own things (like neon white if you can beleive it), but during the time they were active they created all kinds of elaborate, uncompromising creative endeavors. surrounding yourself with people who share your passions is the best way to improve, in my opinion
@@nobodyfornow One hundred percent agree, I just thinking finding people like that is impossible. I'll look into those names you mentioned though. Sorry I'm just blackpilled to hell brother.
@@FiggsNeughton sall good, hard not to be nowadays
So the reason for the "giant flying satan duck" at 25:20 is I'm guessing it's an obtuse reference to the "Graveyard Duck", which is inexplicably mentioned in a line of dialogue from a random villager in the original Simon's Quest who says "Get a silk bag from the graveyard duck to live longer." Nobody knows what the hell this is referring to and it's not a mistranslation because the original japanese line uses a word that unambiguously means "duck (waterfowl)"
Judging from all the gravestones on it I’d say you’re correct
Nobody knows /definitively/ what it means, but theres a lot of very valid and complete explanations.
one: its missing punctuation, Get a silk bag from the graveyard. Duck to live longer.
two: graveyard guy is named duck
three: duck in various forms in japanese is slang for things notably recluse.
four: the villagers tend to flat out lie.
@@rjwaters3 isnt the first one imposible since the original japanese word was specifically about the bird? if what preza said is true
@@sidfan42 if what he said /is/ true, that it absolutely only refers to the bird and noone would ever use it in a different way, yes, it would be impossible, but were talking regional slang here, those things are incredibly difficult to pin down, and if multiple forms of duck are used in one way, someone could use a method not normally linked to that usage to make it less obvious whats going to happen prior to reaching that point.
on the regional slang side of things, "ratchet" is a synonym for "wretched" here among children and teens too stupid to self reflect on their language choices.
@@rjwaters3 I'm not fluent in Japanese, and I haven't played Castlevania so I had to look up the original screen in Japanese. While there is some creative license in how it was translated, the actual sentence in Japanese just tells you to go get a silk bag from a duck at the graveyard, after which you'll live a long life. I don't know whether アヒル can be something else in some obscure slang, but it most definitely won't be that option 1 without some extreme editing by the translator.
Googling the Japanese statement just leads to Reddit discussion of this same issue.
God the contrast from art to gameplay is insane. All the art is insanely good, it almost feels like the games are only there to advertise how good of an artist this guy is.
it's the reverse indie game dev: the gameplay is from the unity workshop, but the (assets) art isn't
the gameplay uses simple basis to actually work, but what it does with it is really really creative, it uses simple jumps and atacks to communicate various feelings and different challenges and often get *very* hard, dark dreams rhn for example(a free arkhouse game), is one of the most cruelly difficult games I've ever played, and it actually uses this for thematic and narrative reasons.
Basicaly pushing the really simple mechanics to their limit in what they can do. It's also fascinating to just see what they throw at you, so progressing is *always* rewarding. It's extremely artsy view of games, and they are really appreciable
It's like how the Touhou franchise started as an outlet for one guy's musical talent and now there's enough homages to his songs that it constitutes a whole subgenre
Proves games are Art
@@bloodmachine6049 The problem is that the basic jumping and attacking mechanics always feel kinda bad.
These games may be a trip but man this guy is a really talented artist. The character portraits in mirage of dragon and d1896 look straight out of H. R. Gigers work and his pixel art looks solid too
Would probably be a great artist to have on a project, though I may prefer someone else be in charge of game design. _(Though there were still some interesting ideas there on display here, too.)_
May be an interesting writer, but get a cowriter, just in case
I agree, I’m an environment designer but I wonder who they hired for mirage of dragon. The art direction is strong & looks like Amano fused with Giger
Reminds me of the art style of Fear and Hunger. Realistic visuals mixed with slightly weird movement and game mechanics, combining to make a very uncanny experience.
Agreed, this guy needs to be hired as art director for something. Really inspired stuff
It remembers me about darkwood a little bit
I love Factorio as much as the next guy but please never stop this kind of content, basically nobody does videos like this.
They're so good
it's actually pretty similar to channels like AccursedFarms. Highly recommended.
It's how I found Dosh. His video on Marrow ended up in my recommended videos, and while that video was playing, I noticed his Factorio video where he took on the Rampant Death World (with Armored Biters) challenge.
@@Forakus L take
Actually your wrong for this
I absolutely died at the name "Abirvalg" because it's likely a reference to Bulgakov's "Heart of a dog", where a dog gets transplanted human organs and transforms into a human for a time. And this was his first word, a fish shop sign, read backwards.
glavriba??
@@graygravity3856 Yep. Glav is short for main, and Ryba means fish, so GlavRyba is "Fish-Main". as if FishCorp or FishDept
I was looking for this comment ❤
@@ingvarsuigin609 main-fish but yes. Pretty funny honestly
never stop making videos about weird/obscure games
The dev is a super talented artist, like the character portraits and their animations are fantastic
I am going to rip apart their art style just to improve my own art
Its so good!
The animation is pretty basic
Simplicity can be used to great effect.
Mirage of Dragon feels like the King in Yellow. An esoteric story that's incomprehensible to mortal minds and drives you insane.
(I actually think the connection is deeper than that though, the silence memory screen almost reminds me of the yellow sign)
In reference to killing death in Castlevania games, I like the show's interpretation that "death" or the grim reaper is actually just a parasite that feeds off of the souls of the dead; so in killing death, you don't like, remove the concept of entropy or death literally. You just free the souls of the dead from torment or something similar.
I generally accepted that in Castlevania games, despite the European aesthetic, you're working under Japanese media rules, in which "Death" is not archetypal death, but just one of many shinigami. You defeat him, he goes off to lick his wounds and sulk, and then he becomes the next Belmont's problem.
Pretty cool about the show making the grim reaper specifically a parasitic entity, though!
@@QuantumWaltz yes and no as it's stated death doesn't reap dracula thus why he can ressurect so easily
@@marley7868 From what I remember, it's less that Death doesn't reap Dracula but rather can't and was mentioned that Dracula has beaten death and thus commands him. It's why by the time of the Sorrow games that neither he or Dracula are technically 'dead'/gone.
@@kaitoshigure9085 I know the reason death comes back is just doesn't reap himself but yeah his relationship with drac is complicated
I gotta say, the artwork in most of these games is as breathtaking as it is grotesque, especially the "dragons" in the first one. There was a lot of care and passion put into every single detail of these creations. And to hear this dev made their own music to boot? They were definitely an artist first when making these games.
What I mean by grotesque and breathtaking at the same time: Imagine if H.R. Giger decided to design the Eifel Tower. It's like that, it's an alien design at an impressive scale compared to the diminutive nature of humanity. It's grotesque, massive, but breathtaking and awe inspiring at the same time.
I actually laughed out loud when H.A.L. 9000 showed up on screen, the juxtaposition of Dosh having no idea what is happening mixed with the insanity on screen is hilarious
It was super strange, like, why?
Fun fact, HAL had a counterpart on earth called SAL.
1:02:32 - 1:04:40 Leaving this timestamp, because I love your musings and this is the best stretch of them yet. There are a handful of feelings I couldn't quite convey that you put into words for me there. Thanks Dosh. Keep doing what you do.
There was actually another paragraph I wrote for that section in the original script that I scrapped because it sounded way too sappy and felt out of place, but here it is if you like that sort of thing.
"To close this discussion, with our modern lives becoming increasingly isolated - especially considering the size of the demographic that would get this far into a video about some dude discussing incredibly niche video games - it's easy to feel occluded from society as a whole. You may feel distant, detached, an observer of things rather than a participant. Though you know that rationally it cannot be true, you may feel that you're the only real human, standing amongst a field of human flowers; each unique in its own right, but evidently lacking the cerebral complexity you possess. And sometimes, rare as it may seem, you may sense something else in that field that doesn't quite seem to fit, something as strange as it is familiar. And as your solipsistic shell is shattered, you look up and think, "Ah... There's another human here." That's how I feel about these heterodox developers. But of course, sharing your heartfelt thoughts and feelings is cringe. I'm sorry. It won't happen again."
@@DoshDoshington I appreciate the reply. Cheers!
@@DoshDoshington As someone with schizophrenia, I definitely feel that part about nobody around me having the same cerebral complexity. But, the bad kind of complexity, rather than "nobody is on my level", just that I experience a lot of things that may as well be incommunicable.
@@Coreagrus And I appreciate you, random viewer
@@DoshDoshington Personally I'd cut everything after 'hereodox developers'. It's a good paragraph, and to be beholden by what other people call 'cringe' is a good way to start boxing away thoughts and feelings that are perfectly legitimate and should be expressed.
Oh, I think I remember one of these! It was a random Alpha Beta Gamer longplay I clicked on because the art style was interesting. Then it got to the end, and revealed it was a fan prequel/retelling of Castlevania 1! Wildest thing ever, and it was during Konami's period of separation from gaming so I had a ton of respect for it. Let's see if I'm remembering the right game here.
EDIT: Yup, it's Cube Gothic. There might be video evidence of an older version of the game that had explicit references to Castlevania in it, which (if real) were removed in case Konami was paying attention again. Absolute madlad developer to hide that at the end of a paid game, and the "dedicated to old Konami" is still intact.
I remember D1896 also being covered by ABG. Just as nonsensical as I remember it.
"Dedicated to the old Konami" goes unreasonably hard.
Came for the Factorio, stayed for the incredible coverage of games I never even knew existed.
I hope you keep this going for a good long time, Dosh. This is absolute gold.
Amazed this man didnt go insane after playing wild games for 12 years, unless he's already insane
He’s already insane.
@@DTinkerer Perhaps it's at a point he's so insane that it's gone full circle at this point.
Good god
Choose a section of youtube and stick to it >:(
I find it annoying how terms like "insane" are just thrown around, really trivializes mental health
All of these games were super cool in skrunkly ways, but... oh my god. A bullet hell game where your only method of attacking is TOUCHING the enemies? I can't decide if that's genius or horrifying. It's evil, certainly.
There was a bullet hell game where bullet colors alternate between black and white, your ship is immune if getting hit by the same color, and also the game recognizes if you beat the game without firing a single shot
@@meyers0781 ikaruga! It's great, but really hard!
Look up the Ys games, at least 1 and 2 are like that
@@juegojrYeah, but YS isn't a bullet hell and it sucked when it became that in that one boss.
it's certainly... different.
The man's attention to detail is great. That first maze segment in Cube Gothic was a Castlevania map graphic, with the colored squares being the traditional markers for special rooms like Save, Teleport, and Reverse. Love seeing that kind of stuff. What a great use of a simple visual element to catch fans of the franchise.
The graphics are "not bad" ?
I, for one, am astonished by how beautiful and inspired they are!
Thanks for getting through those cryptic jewels. ❤❤
asthetically the graphics are beautiful. Functionality wise, I can see why they could potentially be seen as not functional enough, specially in the clarity department.
So to summarize, they are A+ grade graphics beauty wise. But C or F (in some cases) Functionality wise.
@@DominikaHareThe major problem these games have is the color palette being too muted in everything including the PC, so it makes it very hard to see what's going. If the dev made the PC have more vivid colors or just hardlined it more, it wouldn't be such a problem, tho it would clash with the artstyle a bit. It's a hard problem to solve with the artstyle most of these games have, probably why he switched to pure pixel art, makes it easier to separate the PC with the rest of the enviroment
I really hope the dev for these games ends up finding someone who is actually good at designing and implementing the gameplay aspect without sacrificing too much of the art and the spectacle that he attempts to portray. I would love to play games with artstyle like this, as you say, there is an amount of soul of them you just don't see in cashgrabs these days, but the gameplay would be enough to put me away. Hopefully this blows up enough that he ends up seeing this video, what he does has potential and it would be great for him to get more recognition, and in turn, more criticism to improve if he so wants. Thanks for yet another good video Dosh, watched from start to end without realizing how long it was.
What this developer really needs, is a Catholic nun with a wooden ruler.
Whenever he plays a new game and is suddenly inspired to implement a completely new gameplay style into his current game, the nun smacks his hand with the ruler and tells him to go refine the core gameplay loop.
She also needs to be able to fully understand and explain the complex and conflicting theological lore of the Bible. So whenever she playtests the game and can't understand what's going on, that means it's definitely too indecipherable.
@@CheshireCadlol what
@@CheshireCad "She also needs to be able to fully understand and explain the complex and conflicting theological lore of the Bible." Asking the seemingly impossible here....has ANYONE pulled that off?
@@Bloodlyshiva I don't think so
@@Bloodlyshivathe bible is a collection of books that were written across many many years, and even then there are the apocrypha. I really dont think its possible to fully understand the bible at all
Most other TH-camrs would release reviews of these games as separate videos. So it's interesting to see that Dosh always groups them together, resulting in a somewhat intimidating length (it's basically a feature-length film by this point)
wait, you guys dont watch 2 hour long videos on a regular basis?
I've been eagerly saving it up for a sick day, which has finally struck.
My favourite part of Cube Gothic was when the first vampire, a being so powerful it can seemingly transcend time, got so mad that he can't look at his own ass, that he built several planet destroying nukes.
Truly one of the Arkhouse moments of all time
top 10 character motivations
unbelievably based
The art direction on the games is very strong. The dragons in particular look like Amano fused with Giger. Really impressive
The visuals and narrative style of Mirage Of Dragon feel like something that could be adapted into a game about The King In Yellow and the city of Carcosa.
Man this guy needs to do art for an accomplished game developer, the visuals in his games are amazing
would be interesting to include an interview with the creator after a series like this
you can really tell that dosh enjoyed R.U.N.E by how much he thought about how it could be improved.
Doshdoshington is my favorite TH-camr. Heck my favorite content creator. Theres something about the way his videos are structured that allows you to endlessly rewatch every single masterpiece over and over. I watched the Seablock video over 6 times in a single month. The way he speaks is relaxing yet extremely clear at the same time. I would sub to Patreon, but my income isn’t good enough for that. Especially on a platform full of short 10-20 minute videos, channels like Dosh who make these 1 hour marathons are truly fantastic. I hope to see more of your amazing content in the future, thank you for making these videos. You are appreciated
I'm flattered. A lot of people say there's something oddly compelling about the way I explain things, and it's not like it's something I'm doing intentionally so I suppose I should just thank whatever deity is watching over me
Wow, you're right. I've rewatched the Marrow, TowerClimb and the La Mulana video several times. And now this one. I almost never do this to any video or even any sort of media except music (of course). Dosh does something unique but can't put my finger on it.
Arkhouse's art style is something I really enjoy, the surreal horror designs of many of the bosses is the exact type of aesthetic I like to see.
I really hope you make more videos like this, I find myself quite excited to see these none-Factorio uploads.
As an apsiring gamedev i really appreciate this kind of content, most people might never play arkhouses games, but you gave them a legacy :D
These are my favorite videos of yours. Not that your factorio videos are bad by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm not a factorio person, and you're a great content creator, so it's nice to see your skills put to use in stuff that's more interesting to me.
dude...how have I never heard this developer before. This is like THE surrealistic art I love. It's looks like walking through some frankenstein's monster of H. R. Giger, Zdzislaw Beksinski, and Tool music videos. And idk I personally really like esoteric nonsense stories. Kinda like how silent hill can be left up to so much interpretation. I need to check these out!
I love the batshit crazy artstyle this dude consistently pumps out, reminds me a lot of Darkwood or Fear & Hunger, gotta love questionably sane outsider devs.
This was by far one of the most interesting videos ive watched in a long time. Ive never been so invested in trying to understand an individual through their artwork.
As someone who has watched youtube content covering all kinds of games, including those generally considered as unknown or nieche your channel really is the one where I really never heard anything about those games from anywhere else before. I think considering you as a pioneer is really pretty fair tbh
I often get back to these kinds of videos you did bc they're so good. Playing Seal of the Curse again (first time I didn't get that far) and the aesthetic truly carries the game
Your narration is absolutly phenomenal. I just find myself captivated and watched through the long video like it was an adventure. Great video
Oh my god i have all of this guys games, i was so sad that nobody was making video's on his amazing stuff. His art style is so unique and his games so creative.
This video kept my full attention from start to end. Hearing about these esoteric games does not cease to amaze me. And as an aspiring game designer, it sure helps me gain a lot of perspective. Thank you dosh for making these kinds of videos, and I'm always excited to hop on in to each new release.
I absolutely love this. It's incredible to see someone strive to find these weird and hidden games and try to piece together what the hell they mean. I look forward to hopefully seeing more in the future.
I would love to see this guy work in a small team, where his vision remains undiluted, but the game mechanics are punched up and stories made more approachable. I watched this video over a few days, and I keep thinking about the dragon game, it's such a haunting concept
The art is pretty insane, give this guy a proper programmer, translator and let him be the lead developer and art director and you got an awesome combo... kind of like Edmund made Isaac, this might fit in the same niche tbh with the same work dynamic as well. Nonetheless, I'm impressed and I really like the last game. Tbh he isn't even bad at programming, just not great at gameplay part of game design.
these games are exactly my style! I absolutely adore the art!! and I love supporting other creators from Lithuania!! I hope wherever they are now, they continue to make these incredibly amazing games !!
Something that might interest you. The fight with the duck in Cube Gothic where it's split in the middle with some kind of machinery inside, the one you can see at 57:45 - That machinery is absolutely taken from Gradius bosses. I don't believe it's a straight-up rip of sprites, but it seems to be sort of kit-bashed from multiple different bosses, and probably from different Gradius games, too. It immediately reminded me of Big Core MK III from Gradius 3 but it has similarities with a few of the different Core bosses.
This is supported by the mention in the credits "In memory of the old Konami" - Gradius 3, which I believe is where most, if not all of those sprites are taken from, was released in Japanese arcades by Konami in 1989 and ported to the SNES in 1991. There are A LOT of games in the Gradius series, but Gradius 3 remains, to this day, one of the most popular.
i will not let these non-factorio videos have less views.
i am going to watch this video seven hundred thousand times.
how much progress so far?
@@ultratheman well i've watched it about 4 times
@@mooj269 only 699,996 more times
You talking about how humans build a mental map to existence and become complacent was very odd to hear out loud from someone else, because it's something I've had on my mind a lot lately.
My S.O. started having a PTSD induced psychosis episode about two months ago. It's as if she's almost completely lost that mental model to fall back on. She takes nothing for granted now, as if she's lost all context of the world from the time she was a child, which has made me realize exactly what you're talking about. And it's also made the world terrifying and confusing to her.
Every literally thoughtless action like a quick face scratch, every coincidence where somebody used an uncommon word in the same week that she's heard it somewhere else, every misplaced sock, she's looking for the connection. She's racing explanation, trying to understand it like there's some greater narrative connecting everything around her in a way she can't see.
The crazy thing is that, when you stop and think about it, she's right. It's just basic causality. Nothing happens for no reason, and all of existence down to the tiniest subatomic interactions is just one long chain of cause and effect that began with the beginning of the universe. Maybe before, somehow.
But like you said, as we get older, we just tend to rest on our presumptions based on the context we already have. But the other thing I've realized is that there's a reason for that. She's looking to contextualize things she never possibly could. None of us could.
When someone itches their face, we don't even have to think about why, we just rest back on "because their face itches."
In reality, maybe it itches because there's a tiny buildup of dead skin there. Maybe that dead skin built up because their job is stressing them out and they missed a shower. But their job is stressing them out because they're short staffed and the workload is heavy right now. But they're short staffed because the company doesn't pay enough. But the company doesn't pay enough because the company isn't doing well. But the company isn't doing well because another industry leader overtook them with a new product. But that new product only came about because they happened to hire a very specific handful of people who came up with the idea and executed on it, and it may never have existed if even one of them hadn't come on. But those people applied for different reasons; maybe one of them had their job close down during the pandemic and were at risk of losing their home.
And with enough context, you could follow that right back to the beginning of everything.
This is exactly what she's doing right now. She's trying to contextualize and extrapolate. Every. Little. Bit. Of information happening around her.
All the little stories we take for granted every second of every day, happy to understand only a tiny fraction of the whole truth. She's unwittingly trying to piece together "The Narrative of Everything." And it's overwhelming her and driving her insane.
Sorry for the tirade, but it was just very interesting to hear someone else touch on something that's kind of consuming my mind right now, and I guess I just had to get it off my chest where somebody else has finally acknowledged it.
This guy has an incredible art style and some pretty neat concepts. It would be cool to see what kind of game he'd put out if he had some collaborators to reign him in and flesh out his weak areas. I feel like it would make something pretty amazing.
Also hello, first time viewer!
I played seal of the curse two years ago and I was surprised for the interesting art style
I like the fact that someone is talking about Arkhouse
hey man, just wanted to say that I've really enjoyed watching your channel grow and change over the past year and some change, really feels like you came into your element as a creator, and I've deeply enjoyed every one of your videos.
Great diction, great writing, no boring or skippable segments, good rewatch potential, great as both first and second monitor content. I've played factorio less than ten minutes but still watched all ur videos, some are even twice or more times. But i feel like with this kind of content and this kind of execution you may be the only creator capable of making it. Insta smashing that like button, hitting subscribe and clicking that bell under every single one of the videos.
P.S. While Fear and hunger may have gone kinda mainstream it's still a good game and not that much people know about it. Also, Black souls, perchance?
P.P.S. Sorry for bad english, not using translator coz im not a bitch
Oh god, Black Souls.
I'd need to work pretty hard to keep Daddy TH-cam happy if I wanted to talk about that one
@@DoshDoshington There is a vanilla version (no S E X) on both games, I think.
@@DoshDoshington I don't think people are ready to experience the schizophrenic roller coaster that is the Black Souls series, along with it's prequel, Red Riding Woods. I honestly recommend against making a review on this, not only because of the abundance of """cute and funny""" content in those game that I could see people giving you a lot of shit for, but also because I think that Black Souls is best experienced first-hand, rather than through the lens of another's perspective. This is the kind of game that one either discovers while browsing mongolian basketweaving forums late at night, or through word of mouth. The best kind of review for the black souls series would be a simple statement which goes "It's good shit, go play it if you enjoy schizophrenic plots mixed with Lovecraftian horror themes".
Oh, before I go- The next series spin-off "RED DEAD HOOD" is currently in development.
@@ethangnasher3848 Sure 9/10 scenes are some mild personality quirks at best, but there's tidbits of lore hidden in them. Of course, those can be fairly trivial in the big picture. However you miss out on 90% of the ending of Black Souls 1 and all of the lorebombs it drops. Similar to Fear & Hunger 1, you miss out on the slight horror and unnervingness that sexual content can bring. I can scarcely recall a game that has fearboners that are more fear than boner.
@@TheAppleloaf As much as I agree with you, this is TH-cam we're talking about, dude can't risk getting dropped onto the shadow realm by the higher ups.
You have incredibly interesting takes on things that put them in a new light, like the reason why some people enjoy games like these is because of how their creators traits shine through. Honestly, you're one of the better reviewers/summarizers I've seen because rather than just crack a few jokes and say how YOU felt about it, you talk about things like why the mechanics might be the way they are, why the developer did something a certain way, and even the occasional philosophical musing. Excellent videos, I'm always thoroughly engaged the whole way through.
Ok you earned a sub, you covered a bizarre collection of games that few creators even considered touching and your voice has a vocal tone that is damn near incredible to listen to.
Damn I am spoiled on this Sunday, nothing like a 2 hour Dosh video to end of the week.
I found your channel thru your marrow video, and I really love your work on these obscure indie games. They're so cool to watch and I appreciate that you make their stories and gameplay accessible in some way to people like me who don't have the reflexes or skill to make i through these bad boys. Thanks for all the work you do!
i think you would love "the void" - by the makers of pathologic, a crazy and difficult weird mysterious game
Saturn Quest's only being able to say "Ku" and "Kiu" is actually a reference to a soviet movie called "Kin-dza-dza". It's a movie about a man accidentally being teleported to a distant desert planet located who knows where. Its inhabitants (look like people in the live action movie, more alien in a cartoon adaptation) can read minds and that is a primary form of communication. "Ku" is just any word. "Kiu" is a swear word. The movie itself shows a world where class discrimination and racism (not visual even) is taken to an insane degree.
I rarely comment but just wanted to say I adore videos like this where you cover lesser known videogames in an intricate way like this, and would be happy to see you cover more in the future, well known or not.
Cube Gothic is visually stunning. I love the biomechanical body horror vibe so much.
For Saturn Quest, especially while you were talking about expanding land tiles I could not help but think of the Creeper World series, and more specifically my favorite entry Particle Fleet. You have different types of ships that take different times to deploy, and they can be upgraded with limited hard to get crystals. It is also a mix of projectile based slogging in space and creeper based on land/asteroids. You have to manage the creeper, particles, and ship health until you can nullify all the emitters. Would 100% recommend if you like RTS.
I'm genuinely surprised that I indeed have never heard of this developer despite myself also being a Lithuanian, a weird game enthusiast, an aspiring game developer and an artist with fairly similar tastes. Thank you for introducing me to this absolute madlad!
I really enjoy these videos, because I'd never have known about these games otherwise. I probably wouldn't be able to power through the gameplay on some of them, but I appreciate you showcasing them so I can enjoy the positives they have. Also, you write well, and it makes me feel smarter.
I've never played Factorio, I've only watched a few different people play it now and then. I have watched a couple of your Factorio videos but what I'm really here for is these kinds of videos, I love them so much! Marrow, TowerClimb, La Mulana, Potion Games, and now the Arkhouse Tour video - these are just SO good. I appreciate how thorough you are and how long it must take to go through these games and then make videos on them. Great job, truly!
- Plays 500 hour Factorio challenge runs
- "*If* I had that kind of tenacity [...]"
Been a big fan of Arkhouse for a while and I think the guy behind it did get asked about his obtuse way of handling gameplay in an interview once. They look at games in general more as art, which is why it's emphasized so much more than the gameplay mechanics in their games. He makes sure people can complete them, but it seems like optimization and game feel is something they've been learning over each game they make.
really hope a team hires this guy for a art lead position, really interesting stuff, reminds me of blasphemous
I like these videos, I really appreciate the artistry and passion behind these bizarre games and I do play them when the gameplay it's not actively hostile (like a lot of rpg maker games or walking simulators), but I just can't deal with extremely obtuse mechanics and puzzles so having someone just show them to me it's nice, thanks
It's not Factorio but you're such an enjoyable person to listen to
the dead-insideness catched me
@@hingewichsterfick fr
I god damn Love the vibe of Saturn Quest and the series as a whole looks like an absolutely bizarre rabbit hole to teeter on the edge of. I found you from the La-Mulana and Marrow vids first and foremost, so seeing your dives into the work of small-scale and solo creatives is always a treat.
Another Banger of a Vid, King.
OH! This is a treat. I've seen Castlevania: Seal of the Curse and Cube Gothic. Never looked more into the dev, but I couldn't forget the art.
God, I love this video. This feels like old TH-cam videos, someone calmly covering some obscure, and slightly disturbing game you've never heard of, and despite the runtime being long, you sit down and watch it anyway. Please make more of these!
These videos about niche subjects are great pallette cleansers, please dont stop making them!
I'd love to see more games with this bizzare artstyle. I find it really appealing and it sets the tone great.
love your videos, and i guess as i've already watched them all, i'll have to start rewatching them until you upload again, kind of the same i do with LEMMiNO. Please don't stop. S2
Thank you Dosh! for opening my eyes to new games that i have never heard nor will i touch because of the batter pass i need to complete on other games
I just wanna say that you helped me in stopping my addiction to league of legends with that random bit in the middle of this awosome video.
thank you.
Someone get this man a translator and a entire game development team. I wanna play games this man put 100% of his time and money into.
Been following the dev for a few years now, glad to see that he's getting the attention he deserved.
Thanks for the watch
and thank you again to @spaceysoundy for their video on him as well :)
Yes please, as a starving indie dev, we all could use some support.
Also, Arkhouse's artstyle is extremely bold and expressive in ways what you scarcely see these days. Extremely highly detailed, beautiful, yet grotesque at times. I hardly notice the muted color palettes, as it seems like he puts his soul into how the games look regardless. Legion 52 is a joy to look at.
Lore-wise, yeah it seems like he could use a bit more of a through-line in places. Relying on piecing the story together can work line in Mirage of Dragon, but a lot of the mechanics don't tie in with the rest of the gameplay, which is part of what gives his games a strangeness to them. I'd love to work with him/her as a systems/tech designer just to help express his strangeness even moreso through his gameplay, while also keeping the gameplay engaging and/or enjoyable.
two things i want to say:
#1: big appreciation to the fact that you subtitle your videos. i know you're probably just copy-pasting your script into youtube and either having a bot line up the captions right or timing it yourself, but i still really do appreciate it.
#2: i feel like you would enjoy playing corru dot observer; not as a thing to review necessarily, just something to get into on your own time.
Please do more Videos on Weird and Obtuse games. I love these Videos!
This was a really fun video to watch, as great as it can be to watch a hyper produced review with over the top personalities, this level headed and straight forward approach to reviews is infinitely more useful for someone trying to understand the player experience more than how much you enjoyed it.
Definitely more of an artist than a game designer, but damn those games are gorgeous. It's also cool to see the gameplay get progressively better
We need more of these kind of explorations. Also, appreciate the subtitles!
i love your factorio stuff but i also love your obscure game reviews even more
I'm blown away at the artistry on show by one person. I have no idea how long the art took to make but it's clear the creator was not only skilled but incredibly passionate with the art of these games.
the "I found and defeated a mirage of dragon." is probably just a typo since the lithuanian language doesnt have a direct translation for the word "the"
Peak TH-cam content for me are videos of people exploring dead servers from mmos or multiplayer games that have been forgotten. This feels like that in a single player setting. I love this.
No, Dosh- the schizophrenic ramblings are my favorite part
Please continue to make this kind of videos, your way of showing those obscure games is really entertaining and intetesting
I love your content dosh and maybe i am reapeating myself but thank you for your videos i really hope you're keep on coming with these, you're one of very few content creators which content i actually look forwards to watch. Anyway thanks dosh once again. (Also seablock when)
Next month
@@DoshDoshington More beans please
this has honestly given me alot of inspiration for a game series i've wanted to start for along time. i really love stories or worlds that are practically the incoherent mad ramblings of a person who just has alot of really cool idea's.
If he only cared about the art his gameplay wouldn't be constantly improving from game to game. Through this progression of games, I get the feel that he's someone who is coming in with no idea what they're doing in regards to game design of fundamentals, but he's learning as he goes, and this is especially hard to do when you are solo, It's much harder to learn without constant feedback.
His art is amazing though. I actually really loved the visuals in mirage of Dragon, that one was probably my favorite, but they all are visually stunning.
I really appreciate the boldness to make a stealth continuation on your own for a piece of media you love. Them being janky games is part of the appeal but I do wonder what kinda stuff would make in more traditional interactable type of games like say a point and click
I'll be real with you that I love these videos way more than the Factorio videos
The art style of Mirage of Dragon is absolutely gorgeous. May play it solely just for that.
The action RTS concept really reminds me of the game Airmech. Used to love that game. Would be interesting to see someone really flesh out those concepts in the future.
Thank you so much for making this video. I saw a video about Cube Gothic a couple years back when I was sick with the flu, and my brain trying to parse everything in my impaired state is a memory that's remained really vivid ever since.
Only thing better than surprise Dosh Factorio, is surprise Dosh philosophy lessons.