I’ve put this elsewhere in the comments, but I kid you not, Seth’s VA also did voice work for Sonic the Hedgehog in a comic dub by Adrenaline Dubs. When I realized this, I was cackling internally, and my fears of Seth were only heightened.
@@DaltonIsaacs-fn3bb I'm everywhere. Adrenaline Dubs, Postal 4, Free4Me, Sonic Forces Overclocked, Bogos Binted... jesus christ it's too much to list LOL
Better ending for the Salvation Project. You gain control as the ritual begins and Seth gives his rant. The demon is summoned after some time and starts running after you. Slowly, but they're too wide to get around if you try to backtrack. You can run, but there is nowhere to escape. You boarded everything up.
@@matshbocks I'm not patenting the idea or anything! (With the whole Palworld drama going on, that might be less of a joke than I think.) Inadvertently trapping yourself inside with a monster is something I tend to see in sci-fi a lot, you could argue like half of horror does it, it's mostly just tapping into claustrophobia. If you want to capture this specific feel, though, the parts you definitely want to focus on are the process of inadvertently trapping yourself inside, in this case, the player putting up the boards themselves, the familiarity with the space, you run around the house most of the game, and a combination of monster and house layout that makes it painfully obvious you could've escaped if you hadn't done what you did but now can't. If you want a more labyrinthine or complex layout, consider having more than one monster work together to close in on you, or just have some other means by which the monster catches you. A visual medium would be the most logical, but good, detailed writing could pull it off too. From there, and completely optionally, if you want some deeper meaning or message, you've got a pretty obvious starting point with the psychology of a person isolating themselves, closing off family and friends, etc. For my final comment, I do think this has some potential as a gameplay mechanic. Some kind of horror game where you permanently lop off parts of the map, slowly constricting your remaining area to survive in, forcing you into ever smaller environments closer to your enemy. Maybe your character is finding themselves going crazy trying to trap the monster outside only to find themselves still trapped inside with them every attempt they make.
@TheMagicDragon-mm5dr while I'm nowhere near a game dev, these are very interesting ideas to use. I'm more considering the psychological portion, creating this as a written work. Sure it'd be relatively brief but it's an interesting idea I want to tap into.
I aways felt that death cutscenes in horror games ironically diminish the horror a bit. Like, how many TH-camrs have you seen that just sigh when the monster catches them and the death cutscene plays? It made me realize that death in horror games is only really scary when the player has some level a agency in it and the moment you take that agency away, the horror greatly weakened. It made me think about the idea of a horror game with a _playable_ death cutscene. Like, let the player squirm in the monster's grasp as it's about to kill them. You can even make it so that squirming delays the kill or even make it so there's a small chance that the player can squirm free as the monster tries to kill them. That way, the player should feel invested and terrified all the way up to the moment the screen turns black. Like, imagine how terrifying it would be to get caught by the monster and it seems like you're going to die until you just manage to squirm free and keep running?
The scariest scare in the Salvation Project happens when you’re boarding the windows. You board the last window, you hear the hammer hitting the nails three times, then you hear a door knock, which changes direction depending on where you stand in game. I heard it in my left ear the first playthrough. My bedroom door was to my left. And I was home alone. It took me several seconds frozen in place to realize what had happened. It nearly gave me a heart attack
Thats why i absolutely LOVE psychological horror games. its honestly better than those repetitive jumpscare games that give u a mini fright for like 3 seconds. psychological horror has that lingering scary-ness that stays with you the entire game😭
Squirrel Stapler being here when the most popular stream of Squirrel Stapler has the streamer miss the jumpscare because of God getting stuck on a rock will be the funniest thing to me
there is a reference to squirrel stapeler in a roblox game caled pressure that is literaly the corpse of my beuteful wife... she is skinles. and a full document explainig my wife
@@est.daddademartini.nahuel ye true They prob did get permission to do that cuz they asked ,,could we take that model from Iron Lung?" Aka Frogger, so ig they also wanted to refference their other game
@@est.daddademartini.nahuel Pressure is absolutely crammed full of indie game references from Ultrakill (clearly the creators favorite game) to Garten of BanBan,
I've noticed in psychological horror that fear of the unknown has a counterpart; morbid curiosity. The viewer knows something will happen, and they can stop playing/watching at any time, but the urge to keep going overpowers their fear to stop. Slide in the woods is a good example of this, you know things are getting scarier every time you go down, but you keep going to see what happens next, even when a creepy hand becons you in, you still keep going because you NEED to know how far the rabbit hole goes.
16:05 the reason the flashlight makes things even scarier is that you now have tunnel vision. You aren’t able to focus on the entire playground, but what is illuminated by the flashlight. It’s your only sense of safety, so you cling to it. And that’s terrifying. It’s fear of the unknown in a unique way
Not sure I'd call it unique when it's pretty much the standard, bordering on cliche, for how horror games (especially cheap ones) have tried to force a scary atmosphere. These days, it's more unique if a horror game doesn't forcibly restrict what the player can see with a tiny flashlight circle in the middle of a black screen.
There's a horror fps called "space beast terror fright" that uses the muzzle flash to do the opposite and block most of your vision. So in order to defend yourself you have to sacrifice the ability to see where the aliens you have to shoot are.
@@NightwolfRainbow6Siege It's fear of the unknown with player agency. You have the ability to try to see what's happening. You aren't powerless and blind. If you were, you'd either get frustrated fumbling around blindly, figure it's a cutscene, that you're meant to auto win/lose, or something along those lines where your actions don't matter. That removes the horror and defeats the purpose of a horror game. This can be worked around if you use sound, memory, or some other method to navigate without getting frustrated, but that's a whole other thing. Put simply, player agency is important for good horror games.
I think a way to make The Salvation Project more narratively satisfying is keeping the same core element of Seth getting increasingly erratic and you having to do tasks for him, but instead, at the end, he tells you the evil is coming and prepares you for battle. Before this point, the demon would moreso be lurking, never fully in sight, and this is when the demon actually comes forward. You have to kill the demon. The ending frame should be the only third person shot in the game, allowing the player to see past the woman's perspective and realize the demon was actually her son, whom she murdered due to her delusions and paranoia. As this screen lingers, there should be whispering, which is the woman murmuring that the "evil is gone" and "the Lord has won".
That would actually make more sense, considering she took her sons stuff, she might as well take his life as well. It felt incomplete knowing she has a son, interacted with his things, but not him directly. This would do it.
So... the first time I played Slide in the Woods I only actually caught a glimpse of the monster and it looked somewhat like it was hanging off the pyramid's entrance instead of walking through it. I noped out of there and my imagination honestly did the rest of the work. It looked a lot more terrifying in my mind than it actually looks.
I think salvation project is much more, symbolic. Entirely made of paranoia, shutting the world out as she believes everyone to be the demons, coming to destroy her. And in the end, she meets her own end, making herself one of the demons she believes are outside. The broadcast never did exist, and was simply thought of in her head. And her sons metallica merch is a great example of this paranoia which already existed
@BraidensWorldProductions yeah but half the time it's for show, like slayer, the lead singer and bassist Tom araya is catholic but slayer has very satanic imagery and lyrics. It's more for shock factor
@@koi_no_yokan_ I know it is just for show and they aren‘t actually satanist, it is rather obvious if you look at their life styles (Cannibal corpse literally collects stuffed animals from arcade machines for fun) but I don‘t think most people who think rock and metal are satanic do their research on that
Imagine that last game, but instead of starting empty, it starts with a bunch of other players (bots) but after each game more and more leave, ending up with you being alone after like 3 or 4 games, and then the creepy stuff starts happening. Since suddenly you got used to having people around you, and now they're gone
Oh god I thought I was the only one with an extreme fear of countdowns as a child. I couldn't get past the first bit of Metroid Prime because the timer kept counting down while I got lost and I panicked and shut the game off. It was so bad that I'd even avoid games with "time" in the title.
I had the same with Majora's Mask, lmao. Running out of time in that game spooked the shit out of me. Only about 4 years ago have I managed to overcome that spook enough to play Fallout 1.
A cool thing I noticed about the salvation project is that his tactics are the polar opposite of what Jesus says, whereas Jesus says He's coming back so be hopeful and be on alert because he can come back at any point, but Seth is saying Satan is coming at x time so you should be afraid and hide
A game i NEVER see mentioned in videos like these is Presentable Liberty, which in my opinion is the best psychological horror game ive ever seen. You play as a person who's stuck in a jail cell, with absolutely no contact with anyone, and no way of escaping. No guards, no other inmates, just you by yourself. You find out what's happening in the outside world only by receiving letters and gifts from different enigmatic characters over the span of 5 days. it sounds like such a simple concept, but its genuinely one of the most impactful games ive ever ever played. I wont go into detail, but you start to get closer to these characters who youve never met, you dont even know if they exist. its a short game, just an hour or 2 long max. the most tragic part is that the creator committed suicide in 2018 due to depression, and no one really talked about it, at all.
I remember playing that one! I played it on Roblox, dunno if it was a port or not. But I remember being heartbroken when my favorite characters died. I think it should be talked about more too.
The second that Seth the frog screamed "SATAN SHALL NOT PASS" i immediately got an ad for condoms. My guts are now on the floor because i laughed too hard
Something about horror I love the most, and something I'm teaching my friend that previously disliked horror: horror can be many things, not just scares. He thought it was boring because most of his exposure to it was cheap jumpscares and tryhard bs. But the great thing is, it can make you uncomfortable, disgusted, angry, sad, tense, insane, alone... and it seems like many horror creators have forgotten that. I'm glad to see there are people bringing the variety of horror to light again, and I hope to see more games like this in the future.
I saw "God Is Coming" in the title and got SO excited because I just KNEW Squirell Stapler was going to be in this video. I cannot express how much I love Squirell Stapler. The atmosphere, the humour, the terror, the squirells... I ADORE this game. There is nothing quite like the laughs over something so stupid and random it's funny and utter horror that disturbs the blood an absurdest can create.
Honestly, one of the best horror moments I've had was in a non-horror game; The Stanley Parable 2. The game is a narrated walking simulator that is meant to be funny, but one of the "endings" you end up in an empty room with a button that makes more and more time go by instantly for you with each press, but the narrator waits the entire time while your character just stands motionless. The games lulls you into this sense of complacency with the narrator being absent for a few presses, then eventually he comes back with an odd, crazy chant. Super creepy and made me instantly press the button again lol.
The Stanley parable has always given me a bit of the creeps. A quiet office with nobody around, just you and that voice. It's funny, sure, but some sections are so eerie
I think the thing that truly disturbs me about the Salvation Project is how real it is because I think a theory someone had is that Karen isn't actually being accosted by a demon. She has schizophrenia and is not on meds. It explains her paranoia, and hallucinations.
Yeah, definitely happens. I don't have schizophrenia but when I'm off my meds I genuinely get TERRIFIED of temples and start crying even when they're MILES away
that doesn't really work as a theory because that's the obvious red herring the game is signaling to you the whole time. you're supposed to assume "oh, okay, i'm playing a schizophrenic woman who thinks her tv is telling her things". and then, plot twist, it's real satan. the problem is that the reveal is disappointing compared to the lie
Honestly if I had made the Salvation Project I would have ended it with Karen killing the "demon" only to reveal that she has killed her son and in a psychotic episode revealing that the Salvation project never existed and that Karen was mentally unwell
I really enjoy The Salvation Project, because to me, it kinda symbolizes how over-religious parents can ultimately bring harm to those around them, and especially their own children despite doing what they thing is right.
Back when I was a kid, I didnt always have an online membership, so I often would load into multiplayer games by myself just to see the maps. It never actually felt scary to me, because it was empty from the beginning. It actually felt kind of nostalgic
I disagree about psychological horror games. Psychological horror games aren't that scary. I miss when games were dot EXE games with unsettling imagery. Big example is the fan game called "the luna game". Its still scary to this day. These Psychological horror games just don't cut it as something scary
@@Mrs.Jekyllreally? Id like to hear more about your opinion. Can you explain why one is scarier than the other? It sounds like an interesting opinion, I haven't heard that one before.
Jim’s computer is the psychological horror game that most distressed me, the way the monster simply doesn’t appear throughout the 4 nights made me uncontrollably afraid during the last night. As the sound of the buffering from the TV and the constant slamming on the door continued, I couldn’t help but sweat, that was the first and only horror game to make me sweat out of fear. Then Jim pointed the gun at himself and the screen went black, after that i stared at the wall for 2 minutes processing everything that happened. 10/10 game.
The thing is, jumpscares aren't bad. Its just that they aren't utilized properly. The thing is, five nights at Freddy's started the jumpscare trend, but people didn't understand why those jump scares worked. Fnaf plays off of the fear of uncertainty, you don't know *when* you'll be jumpscared. It creates an unsettling feeling, especially in conjunction with the power mechanic, it creates an underlying tension and fear that is either flushed out with relief, or panic when you are killed. Most horror games don't do this. They use jumpscares thinking that it's whats needed without realizing that proper build up and foreshadowing is needed. Sure, something surprising happening without warning is scary, but, that type of fear is weaker and tends to end with the player feeling irritated at how cheap it was. Whereas a jumpscare you knew was coming, but didn't quite know *when* is better. Comedy and horror are way closer than either genre wants to be. Both require the element of surprise. You come to both with an expectation, its subverting and surprising them in a satisfying way that makes it good comedy/horror. At a comedy show, if they tell a joke with a punchline you saw coming it oftentimes is weak, and if its disconnected from the setup, or makes little sense, it also feels weak. Horror is the same way, but, instead of a setup and punchline, its build up, and release. Comedy needs setups, and horror needs build up. Jumpscares are just like any other literary or game design choice, its a tool, not a solution, or an answer. Misusing these tools leads to an unrewarding experience for players. Edit: fixed some spelling.
@@StarlitNova12it’s kinda funny looking at it now that the original FNAF had people jumping from a png image zooming in with a loud sound attached to it
There’s a pretty significant amount horror games where you have a monster chasing you and then when you get caught, you’re jumpscared i.e. Hello Neighbor, Poppy Playtime, Security Breach, Whatever other mascot horror fits the bill and it’s so lame every single time because if you can actively look back and see the scary monster get closer then the jumpscare isn’t unexpected or surprising anymore, you know for a fact that you’re getting jumpscared as soon as the monster you’re looking at touches you so it’s just a loud and obnoxious noise that serves zero purpose. Just one time I want the screen to cut to black or something when the dumb stupid monster catches me It also detracts from the horror because in a system like that, you know for a fact that you’re safe until the monster is introduced via cutscene or sound queue and are allowed the liberty to be bored and careless.
Yeah. I feel like the reason why earlier FNaF works so well, is because it's less of a horror, and more of a stress simulator. Also I feel like FNaF doesn't take itself too seriously, which also helps in it's favor
The scariest thing about salvation project is how close to home it hits. I've seen many family members listen to evangelist and conspiracy talk shows and fall deeper into hate and paranoia. It's a sad thing to witness.
5:52 This game was literally my childhood. I was obsessed with it, and have so many memories of playing it with my mom and dad everyday after school for literal hours. I was not prepared for you to mention Dungeon Defenders out of nowhere like that lmao.
Funny enough, I recognized the name but not the gameplay, which confused me. Then I remembered why: in third grade, I was friends with a kid who loved this game and talked about it all the time, but he didn't know how to pronounce the name. He would say it as "Dune-gan Defenders", and it was only later on into the year that I realized he just didn't know how to say "dungeon."
Sometimes I forget how unique indie games are and how creative some people can be. Great video! Also “perish you naive wench!” Was really funny to me 😂
I have a soft spot for these games with old-school graphics, and I think you really nailed one thing that makes them so special - that liminality. The world's seeming not quite right, just by the nature of their design. Analog horror plays sometimes more subtly on the "fear of the unknown" just by the lack of clarity in the graphics alone. I also appreciate ambiguity, and I think some horror games/stories/movies retain cult status by not going too in depth with explanations either. Leaving more things open to interpretation or leaving gaps for our own minds to fill in the blanks. Good stuff.
Kinda disapointed how Dawid Szymański is now mostly recognized for Iron Lung instead of DUSK As mych as both games are good, but being recognized for the quickly made short story that got popular on the benefits similar to mascot horror- it's just disapointing that his current legacy is a "zoomie game" instead of the longer work. Yes, I am quite miffed by the "brainrot popular" game being Szymański's legacy now
I had actually never seen the creature in slide in the woods, neither knew it could actually get you, since every youtuber would just go "WOAH WHAT IS THAT???" and run away without looking back.
2:18 lmao I almost missed the fourth one Considering the wife does start haunting you partway through the game this definitely applies Side note: I love that your avatar changes clothes to fit the game you’re talking about. Such a fun little detail :)
You have no idea how long I’ve waited for someone to mention the avatar changing. Changing the clothes is literally my favorite part of making a video.
Honestly I feel like half the horror games today aren't made because the creator is genuinely passionate about horror but because people want the same mascot indie horror game for kids success that Fnaf had
I’d argue a huge reason why FNAF is still massively popular to this day and the classic games are still extremely repayable is because of two major reasons with reason one being because the jumpscares are heavily enhanced by the phenomal sound design and visual design rather than the jumpscare being the only remotely scary thing in the entire game, like jumpscares can work extremely well if they are used in tandem with other important horror elements rather it being the literal center focus which most FNAF like games fail to understand and is why they usually don’t hit the same as FNAF. The second reason and more important reason I’d say is because the jumpscares are very RNG dependent where you are very likely not to be hit with the exact same jumpscare twice in a row which keeps the player on their toes since the player can die in several different ways which encourages them to be very careful with the moves, which is something that most FNAF like horror games fail to accomplish where instead the jumpscares are extremely predictable and can be seen coming from a mile away compared to the OG FNAF games and even many of the modern ones too where you have to focus on a bunch of different things to where your guard can slip and you get scared by one of the many possible ways of dying. Like usually it’s a good sign a horror game has great replay value when it comes to scares when literally Scott himself has gone on record saying that he scared himself when playtesting the first game because the jumpscares would catch him off guard due to the RNG of the jumpscares being of course, random, even though he himself literally made the jumpscares lmao. But yeah sorry for the long paragraph I just can very passionate about things I like to talk about. But regardless this was an absolutely phenomenal video and you are definitely going places for sure. Keep up the great work my dude. You’ve definitely earned a sub from me and many many others.
I worked at a movie theater for two years and sure especially during the day it's not that bad in terms of scary-ness. But at night. It's different. We need to watch out and make sure there's no one in the theaters staying over night or under the screens and those movie theater rooms are dark. A different kind of dark. Like if the moon was gone kind of dark. And it just being you. No Co workers and maybe two managers but usually just one. But seeing smth where your conditioned to always hear a movie, a person, popcorn popping, a door, a worker, someone complaining, etc. it's just quite. Silent. Dead. And its you and the potential person with you in the dark hiding.
"No Players Online" reminds me a lot of Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, which was the failed attempt to make a Myst MMO, so the devs redesigned the game to be "the player is following in the steps of a former survey team entering other worlds". There is no co-op available, and every world you go to is this empty, desolate set of various biomes from giant shroom forests to hollowed-out ruins of old libraries. While Uru leans more into the sense of pure isolation and loneliness rather than existential dread "No Players Online" does, I love this modern horror concept of an empty server. This was a really fun video I stumbled over, thank you for showing off these cool little horror games, I'll definitely be checking them out! I hate jumpscares in horror games so it's nice to find horror that doesn't do that instead.
I think Squirrel Stappler has a perfect beginning and ending. You start the game basically AS the horror game villain. You have a gun, live in the woods, you're utterly delusional and your wife is a rotting corpse you sleep right next to. You then establish that GOD is coming, inevitably, in 5 days. The entire game is like a reflection of how a lot of life is just trying to forget about the favt that you're gonna die. You do the meaningless task of killing and gathering squirrels and trying to push the timer away, only for your day of end to come all the same. And the ending is just as you mentioned, pure fear of an unstoppable, unknowable force.
Damn… I really figured the Salvation Project was gonna end with you destroying your life as you fall deeper into the idea that the world is attacking you. Like it turns out the “demon” walking in your house was just your son that likes metal music, but you can’t tell the difference anymore from your pov. The house slowly falling into more and more disrepair. Police knocking on your door for a wellness check but the puppet yelling at you that those are demons. My first thought when you were describing some stuff was that it would be cool to have a game that is directly about the danger and evil of certain collectives taking advantage of the mentally ill. Like how super churches or conspiracy theory groups sometimes prey on the fears of the mentally unwell for their own profit. Turns out I think this idea has more potential for psychological horror than the muppet yelling an evil monologue at you before a generic demon appears… 😅
Salvation project is such a cool idea, and i kinda called it that Seth was actually a devil/demon because: His name is similar to satan He fear mongers and explolts Karen, telling her to do bad things under the guise of "getting rid of evil" Complimenting himself, this may be a stretch but the devil was cast out of heaven for being prideful And before the reveal, "summoning a guardian angel" Telling her to board up windows, which is a escape route Afterall, it is taught that the devil isn't obvious, he can be ANYONE, and will hide himself, pretending to have good intentions but in reality only wants the worst, he knows Karen and others are scared of evil and therefore pretends to be a cute mascot to explolt them, like a corrupt televangelist irl,
"The devil is in the details" "The worst part abuut betrayal is that it never comes from the enemy" "The path to hell is paved with good intentions" "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer"
Seth wasn’t chosen as his name for no reason as far as I can tell either. I think the name refers to something else though. Or maybe both of our answers…. Coincidently, I watched an episode of stargate sg1 just the other day and Seth is the name of a character with a cult in the show. Seth, otherwise known as…Set, god of violence and disorder.
And on the note- well Not all of these are psychological horror, but what matters in all of them is that the devs who made them understand that built up terror is far better than a quick jump of horror. They also, what you pointed out, utilize lack of clear answers very well- not as a resolution that never comes, but as another building block of the whole, the suspicious dead pixel you notice in the corner and wonder why it's there
"Instead of Relying on a Spooky Ending to save the game." *Proceeds to show a vampire spin kicking a werewolf in a game that ends with you and the vampire winning from the power of friendship*
9:03 This physiological horror seems to project how people can be deceived while watching the news or other broadcasts. Sometimes making people think the wrong things and make them do things they shouldn’t. This game seems to reflect how directors and executives find ways to deceive viewers.
You should try Mouthwashing! It's blown up very recently and it's the silent hill-type psychological horror where you're left trying to grasp the implications of why what's happening IS happening. Also cool unreliable narrator thing i guess.
Respect for this so much. Cheap jumpscares aren't scary. They make me flinch. Omg wow good job, you made my human reflexes kick in. Same with movies. No, I want psychological horror. Show me something super basic, in an open field, no noise, minimal music, broad daylight, but make my stomach drop off of pure context. Beautiful. Creative. I also believe it's higher effort content and is far more fulfilling from a consumer standpoint.
idea: a game that acsesses your photos, and if they recognize any faces more than one time, the faces will be put onto a d*ad body. because the body has the face of someone you know, it messes with the players head, and empathy.
(Sorry, I'm a paragraph texter) ...The Salvation Project hits close to home for me, and watching this is honestly helping me cope with what I've dealt with. The sudden shadows of the demons and the image of one approaching you without actually harming you makes me remember that it's not actual demons that are the threat, but instead instead it's the monster in your mind that a cult or cult-like environment will create for you so that you comply with what they want, even if it is not good for you. The demons in the game don't hurt you because they are your imagination of the worst case scenario that Seth makes you afraid of. I can heavily relate to this. I often walk in dark hallways paranoid that some demon will hurt me if I let my guard down, bc fear was used to keep me from thinking for myself, and small mistakes were seen as mortal sins in the environment I grew up in. As a result, I walked in the dark praying obsessive compulsively (called scrupulosity OCD) out of fear instead of love, begging God for forgiveness and mercy when I was having those bad thoughts and flashbacks that I couldn't control, and compulsively praying hundreds of times afraid to make a mistake and summon the boogeyman or a flashback, and starting over if i screw up the prayer. I'm doing a lot better now after a over a decade of help and some time away from my church and with good people of all faiths, so I can at least maintain a connection with God (though, I'm more of a pantheist than a monotheist), though church environments are still a bit triggering for me. Fortunately, God should understand my situation if he is omniscient. I'm glad games like this exist, it captures the experiences of religious trauma really well imo. Comforts the disturbed and disturbs the comfortable.
I'm certain God forgives you, as you've done nothing wrong. I'm certain He'll have some choice words for those who put you in such a position, however. ❤ Happy yer doing better! ^_^
@cyphlone3306 Jesus is wonderful. I know it was man and not God who hurt me. It's hard when the word of God is misused to shame you for your imperfections or make you tolerate abuse turning the other cheek for everything, but maybe one day I can go back to church without having panic attacks or flashbacks. Thank you for your kindness, God bless you ❤️
Most psychologycal horror is when you show your favourite movie to your bros. Its either they like it and peace. Or they hate it, then it gets complicated from there
18:13 “and the way this creature is designed is pretty spooky” I’m sorry man but the creature just looks like you but frowning when I saw the side by side comparison 😭😭
Thanks for playing! I do kinda find it flattering that you find TSP your favourite 😅
Thank you for making my favorite horror game ever 😉
You made a great game man!
U Sound Like a White Person 👍@@KaleTheLeaf
the metallica disrespect was kinda wild but other than that holy crap this is amazing
@@LjxCyn its not really disrespectful. Its supposed to be a commentary on the "satan panic." which is a real thing that i find to be crazy.
I love how satan just punches you when he awakens, no soul absorbing, no demon magic, just the good ol' Ali styled left hook
Wow, rude
He had to do it all old school
@@akiradkcn how?
@@pyke6855 guy just comes in and punches you? Where sre his manners,m
@@akiradkcn totally agree, tought it was something i sayd that was rude
I love how everyone gets scared for a second by "god" in squirrel stapler before IMMEDIATELY trying send some hot lead strait into its dome 😂
Horror game instincts make you trigger happy
Humans attack what they don’t understand.
“So anyway, I started blasting.”
bro really snuck in fear of women and thought we wouldn't notice
I mean it is relatable 😭😭
Real
The most effective and common horror element. Extremely underutilized imo.
i mean its normal
they are really scary the power they hold over everyone because of their body
Seths voice actor is hilarious. The manic delivery cracks me the hell up. Thanks for putting me onto it!
I’ve put this elsewhere in the comments, but I kid you not, Seth’s VA also did voice work for Sonic the Hedgehog in a comic dub by Adrenaline Dubs. When I realized this, I was cackling internally, and my fears of Seth were only heightened.
@@DaltonIsaacs-fn3bb i knew i recognized the voice from somewhere!
@@DaltonIsaacs-fn3bb I'm everywhere. Adrenaline Dubs, Postal 4, Free4Me, Sonic Forces Overclocked, Bogos Binted... jesus christ it's too much to list LOL
@DaltonIsaacs-fn3bb I KNEW IT WAS LANDY I KNEW IT
Better ending for the Salvation Project. You gain control as the ritual begins and Seth gives his rant. The demon is summoned after some time and starts running after you. Slowly, but they're too wide to get around if you try to backtrack. You can run, but there is nowhere to escape. You boarded everything up.
better ending: Seth invites you to his podcast to talk about weed
Wow that's actually dark as hell and I love it... I might borrow this for a short story prompt
@@matshbocks I'm not patenting the idea or anything! (With the whole Palworld drama going on, that might be less of a joke than I think.) Inadvertently trapping yourself inside with a monster is something I tend to see in sci-fi a lot, you could argue like half of horror does it, it's mostly just tapping into claustrophobia.
If you want to capture this specific feel, though, the parts you definitely want to focus on are the process of inadvertently trapping yourself inside, in this case, the player putting up the boards themselves, the familiarity with the space, you run around the house most of the game, and a combination of monster and house layout that makes it painfully obvious you could've escaped if you hadn't done what you did but now can't. If you want a more labyrinthine or complex layout, consider having more than one monster work together to close in on you, or just have some other means by which the monster catches you. A visual medium would be the most logical, but good, detailed writing could pull it off too.
From there, and completely optionally, if you want some deeper meaning or message, you've got a pretty obvious starting point with the psychology of a person isolating themselves, closing off family and friends, etc.
For my final comment, I do think this has some potential as a gameplay mechanic. Some kind of horror game where you permanently lop off parts of the map, slowly constricting your remaining area to survive in, forcing you into ever smaller environments closer to your enemy. Maybe your character is finding themselves going crazy trying to trap the monster outside only to find themselves still trapped inside with them every attempt they make.
@TheMagicDragon-mm5dr while I'm nowhere near a game dev, these are very interesting ideas to use. I'm more considering the psychological portion, creating this as a written work. Sure it'd be relatively brief but it's an interesting idea I want to tap into.
I aways felt that death cutscenes in horror games ironically diminish the horror a bit. Like, how many TH-camrs have you seen that just sigh when the monster catches them and the death cutscene plays? It made me realize that death in horror games is only really scary when the player has some level a agency in it and the moment you take that agency away, the horror greatly weakened. It made me think about the idea of a horror game with a _playable_ death cutscene. Like, let the player squirm in the monster's grasp as it's about to kill them. You can even make it so that squirming delays the kill or even make it so there's a small chance that the player can squirm free as the monster tries to kill them. That way, the player should feel invested and terrified all the way up to the moment the screen turns black. Like, imagine how terrifying it would be to get caught by the monster and it seems like you're going to die until you just manage to squirm free and keep running?
The scariest scare in the Salvation Project happens when you’re boarding the windows. You board the last window, you hear the hammer hitting the nails three times, then you hear a door knock, which changes direction depending on where you stand in game. I heard it in my left ear the first playthrough. My bedroom door was to my left. And I was home alone. It took me several seconds frozen in place to realize what had happened. It nearly gave me a heart attack
Thats why i absolutely LOVE psychological horror games. its honestly better than those repetitive jumpscare games that give u a mini fright for like 3 seconds. psychological horror has that lingering scary-ness that stays with you the entire game😭
Squirrel Stapler being here when the most popular stream of Squirrel Stapler has the streamer miss the jumpscare because of God getting stuck on a rock will be the funniest thing to me
Vinny Vinesauce mentioned
Which stream is it?
there is a reference to squirrel stapeler in a roblox game caled pressure that is literaly the corpse of my beuteful wife... she is skinles. and a full document explainig my wife
@@est.daddademartini.nahuel ye true
They prob did get permission to do that cuz they asked ,,could we take that model from Iron Lung?" Aka Frogger, so ig they also wanted to refference their other game
@@est.daddademartini.nahuel Pressure is absolutely crammed full of indie game references from Ultrakill (clearly the creators favorite game) to Garten of BanBan,
I've noticed in psychological horror that fear of the unknown has a counterpart; morbid curiosity. The viewer knows something will happen, and they can stop playing/watching at any time, but the urge to keep going overpowers their fear to stop. Slide in the woods is a good example of this, you know things are getting scarier every time you go down, but you keep going to see what happens next, even when a creepy hand becons you in, you still keep going because you NEED to know how far the rabbit hole goes.
16:05 the reason the flashlight makes things even scarier is that you now have tunnel vision. You aren’t able to focus on the entire playground, but what is illuminated by the flashlight. It’s your only sense of safety, so you cling to it. And that’s terrifying. It’s fear of the unknown in a unique way
Not sure I'd call it unique when it's pretty much the standard, bordering on cliche, for how horror games (especially cheap ones) have tried to force a scary atmosphere. These days, it's more unique if a horror game doesn't forcibly restrict what the player can see with a tiny flashlight circle in the middle of a black screen.
@ I meant unique more like “it’s a unique form of fear of the unknown”, and not “you don’t know what this is” type fear of unknown
There's a horror fps called "space beast terror fright" that uses the muzzle flash to do the opposite and block most of your vision. So in order to defend yourself you have to sacrifice the ability to see where the aliens you have to shoot are.
@ oh I love that
@@NightwolfRainbow6Siege It's fear of the unknown with player agency. You have the ability to try to see what's happening. You aren't powerless and blind. If you were, you'd either get frustrated fumbling around blindly, figure it's a cutscene, that you're meant to auto win/lose, or something along those lines where your actions don't matter. That removes the horror and defeats the purpose of a horror game. This can be worked around if you use sound, memory, or some other method to navigate without getting frustrated, but that's a whole other thing.
Put simply, player agency is important for good horror games.
I think a way to make The Salvation Project more narratively satisfying is keeping the same core element of Seth getting increasingly erratic and you having to do tasks for him, but instead, at the end, he tells you the evil is coming and prepares you for battle. Before this point, the demon would moreso be lurking, never fully in sight, and this is when the demon actually comes forward. You have to kill the demon. The ending frame should be the only third person shot in the game, allowing the player to see past the woman's perspective and realize the demon was actually her son, whom she murdered due to her delusions and paranoia. As this screen lingers, there should be whispering, which is the woman murmuring that the "evil is gone" and "the Lord has won".
Cool
That would actually make more sense, considering she took her sons stuff, she might as well take his life as well. It felt incomplete knowing she has a son, interacted with his things, but not him directly. This would do it.
I thought that this was the way the story would develop. Kinda wasted potential
Yeah that ending is underwhelming af
Convincing myself that this was the real ending
So... the first time I played Slide in the Woods I only actually caught a glimpse of the monster and it looked somewhat like it was hanging off the pyramid's entrance instead of walking through it. I noped out of there and my imagination honestly did the rest of the work. It looked a lot more terrifying in my mind than it actually looks.
That's why the best horror doesn't show it all immediately. Your imagination knows how to scare you better.
I think salvation project is much more, symbolic. Entirely made of paranoia, shutting the world out as she believes everyone to be the demons, coming to destroy her. And in the end, she meets her own end, making herself one of the demons she believes are outside. The broadcast never did exist, and was simply thought of in her head. And her sons metallica merch is a great example of this paranoia which already existed
The satanic objects being rock albums was pretty funny
That’s what Christians think. There is/was plenty of paranoia and fake satanism panic in the US
religious mfs destroyed my sublime dual albums and ill never recover
Is „accurate“ with how demonized rock is (which manes somewhat sense because of slipknot and other things)
@BraidensWorldProductions yeah but half the time it's for show, like slayer, the lead singer and bassist Tom araya is catholic but slayer has very satanic imagery and lyrics. It's more for shock factor
@@koi_no_yokan_ I know it is just for show and they aren‘t actually satanist, it is rather obvious if you look at their life styles (Cannibal corpse literally collects stuffed animals from arcade machines for fun) but I don‘t think most people who think rock and metal are satanic do their research on that
Imagine that last game, but instead of starting empty, it starts with a bunch of other players (bots) but after each game more and more leave, ending up with you being alone after like 3 or 4 games, and then the creepy stuff starts happening. Since suddenly you got used to having people around you, and now they're gone
Gta V servers be like that minus the npc civies and cops.
I can't help but laugh at the Kermit looking frog saying "THE SIGNS OF SATAN IN YOUR HOME 😃"
*Kermit flailing arms YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!*
th-cam.com/video/kAPSjt6TqCo/w-d-xo.htmlfeature=shared
KERMIT IS SATAN CONFIRMED NO FAKE NO FAKE 100% REAL (3AM) (GONE WRONG)
'YOU NAIVE WENCH'
A Kermit that kinda sounds like Sonic mixed with Goku lmao
Oh god I thought I was the only one with an extreme fear of countdowns as a child. I couldn't get past the first bit of Metroid Prime because the timer kept counting down while I got lost and I panicked and shut the game off. It was so bad that I'd even avoid games with "time" in the title.
Wait until you start getting old.
@@HerpusderpusHaha I’m already feeling that fear at 24 🥲
A Hat in Time
play quantum break, it has some kick ass time powers, no countdowns, and is canon to alan wake
I had the same with Majora's Mask, lmao. Running out of time in that game spooked the shit out of me. Only about 4 years ago have I managed to overcome that spook enough to play Fallout 1.
6:51 This is so funny to me. "Spiders! :D" "That's right, Satanism!" "Awh :("
Why is this bit so funny???
"The Nuclear War! :D"
"That's right, Satanism!"
"Awh :(" ahh moment
A cool thing I noticed about the salvation project is that his tactics are the polar opposite of what Jesus says, whereas Jesus says He's coming back so be hopeful and be on alert because he can come back at any point, but Seth is saying Satan is coming at x time so you should be afraid and hide
Man, you get it better than most Christians
There were exactly 666 likes when I saw this...
@@emperorpat2725…
A game i NEVER see mentioned in videos like these is Presentable Liberty, which in my opinion is the best psychological horror game ive ever seen. You play as a person who's stuck in a jail cell, with absolutely no contact with anyone, and no way of escaping. No guards, no other inmates, just you by yourself. You find out what's happening in the outside world only by receiving letters and gifts from different enigmatic characters over the span of 5 days. it sounds like such a simple concept, but its genuinely one of the most impactful games ive ever ever played.
I wont go into detail, but you start to get closer to these characters who youve never met, you dont even know if they exist. its a short game, just an hour or 2 long max. the most tragic part is that the creator committed suicide in 2018 due to depression, and no one really talked about it, at all.
I remember playing that one! I played it on Roblox, dunno if it was a port or not. But I remember being heartbroken when my favorite characters died. I think it should be talked about more too.
i think the creator of if died a while ago, RIP
The second that Seth the frog screamed "SATAN SHALL NOT PASS" i immediately got an ad for condoms. My guts are now on the floor because i laughed too hard
Seth is a big advocate against unplanned pregnancy
4:41 i love the random picture of an actual squirrel stapler
CHECK YOUR WINDOWS! CHECK YOUR WINDOWS!!! BOARD THEM UP! BOARD THEM UP!!
SATAN SHALL NOT PASS
Kermit always was a SAVAGE!
Try looking up the Wilkins Coffee commercials. Kermit becomes a whole nother beast.
HEYA THERE MISSUS!
I have to find out who Seth’s VA is cuz he sounds awesome ngl
Something about horror I love the most, and something I'm teaching my friend that previously disliked horror: horror can be many things, not just scares. He thought it was boring because most of his exposure to it was cheap jumpscares and tryhard bs. But the great thing is, it can make you uncomfortable, disgusted, angry, sad, tense, insane, alone... and it seems like many horror creators have forgotten that. I'm glad to see there are people bringing the variety of horror to light again, and I hope to see more games like this in the future.
I saw "God Is Coming" in the title and got SO excited because I just KNEW Squirell Stapler was going to be in this video. I cannot express how much I love Squirell Stapler. The atmosphere, the humour, the terror, the squirells... I ADORE this game. There is nothing quite like the laughs over something so stupid and random it's funny and utter horror that disturbs the blood an absurdest can create.
Squirel stapler is probably one if not my favorite horror game of all time
It's a STAPLE in the recent horror game community
@@FunnyValentineRE4L🗣️GET OUT!
Seth: and what fear are we going to discuss today?
Kale: SPIDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seth: Satanism!
Kale: aww :(
Was feeding my kid when the squirrel god thing showed up and I jumped so hard I spooked her…. Excellent video 10/10
Breastfeeding!?
@blahbleh5671 you weird asf bro
@@blahbleh5671 why do you care?
@@lighthousestudio15 my dp should explain it
The kid rocketing away, bottle in mouth as you throw them into space
Honestly, one of the best horror moments I've had was in a non-horror game; The Stanley Parable 2. The game is a narrated walking simulator that is meant to be funny, but one of the "endings" you end up in an empty room with a button that makes more and more time go by instantly for you with each press, but the narrator waits the entire time while your character just stands motionless. The games lulls you into this sense of complacency with the narrator being absent for a few presses, then eventually he comes back with an odd, crazy chant. Super creepy and made me instantly press the button again lol.
The Stanley parable has always given me a bit of the creeps. A quiet office with nobody around, just you and that voice. It's funny, sure, but some sections are so eerie
I think the thing that truly disturbs me about the Salvation Project is how real it is because I think a theory someone had is that Karen isn't actually being accosted by a demon.
She has schizophrenia and is not on meds. It explains her paranoia, and hallucinations.
Yeah, definitely happens. I don't have schizophrenia but when I'm off my meds I genuinely get TERRIFIED of temples and start crying even when they're MILES away
that doesn't really work as a theory because that's the obvious red herring the game is signaling to you the whole time. you're supposed to assume "oh, okay, i'm playing a schizophrenic woman who thinks her tv is telling her things". and then, plot twist, it's real satan. the problem is that the reveal is disappointing compared to the lie
Source: “yeah this is valid. I cry when I’m even near temples.”
Nah
Idk, that sounds like a theory to explain away directly stated fear.
Honestly if I had made the Salvation Project I would have ended it with Karen killing the "demon" only to reveal that she has killed her son and in a psychotic episode revealing that the Salvation project never existed and that Karen was mentally unwell
Jesus Christ
tboi in a nutshell lmfao
Thank god you didn't make it, cuz it would be a complete batshit
That would be too on the nose.
Jumpscares are only scary if the buildup to them is good enough. They have to earn the right to be frightening
I really enjoy The Salvation Project, because to me, it kinda symbolizes how over-religious parents can ultimately bring harm to those around them, and especially their own children despite doing what they thing is right.
it's think, not thing.
@@wallace_blackmesa_scienceteamcry
@@zartexkrontaculys1097 ok im gonna do the best i can. ahem. WAAAAAASAAAAAAAAAAHH... ummm is that good
@@wallace_blackmesa_scienceteam Very good I'm so proud of you
@@zeeveestudios thanks
2:17 I saw fear of wemon
Back when I was a kid, I didnt always have an online membership, so I often would load into multiplayer games by myself just to see the maps. It never actually felt scary to me, because it was empty from the beginning. It actually felt kind of nostalgic
I was the same way until I started playing older halos
I disagree about psychological horror games. Psychological horror games aren't that scary. I miss when games were dot EXE games with unsettling imagery. Big example is the fan game called "the luna game". Its still scary to this day.
These Psychological horror games just don't cut it as something scary
@@Mrs.Jekyllreally? Id like to hear more about your opinion. Can you explain why one is scarier than the other? It sounds like an interesting opinion, I haven't heard that one before.
Jim’s computer is the psychological horror game that most distressed me, the way the monster simply doesn’t appear throughout the 4 nights made me uncontrollably afraid during the last night. As the sound of the buffering from the TV and the constant slamming on the door continued, I couldn’t help but sweat, that was the first and only horror game to make me sweat out of fear. Then Jim pointed the gun at himself and the screen went black, after that i stared at the wall for 2 minutes processing everything that happened. 10/10 game.
The thing is, jumpscares aren't bad. Its just that they aren't utilized properly. The thing is, five nights at Freddy's started the jumpscare trend, but people didn't understand why those jump scares worked. Fnaf plays off of the fear of uncertainty, you don't know *when* you'll be jumpscared. It creates an unsettling feeling, especially in conjunction with the power mechanic, it creates an underlying tension and fear that is either flushed out with relief, or panic when you are killed. Most horror games don't do this. They use jumpscares thinking that it's whats needed without realizing that proper build up and foreshadowing is needed. Sure, something surprising happening without warning is scary, but, that type of fear is weaker and tends to end with the player feeling irritated at how cheap it was. Whereas a jumpscare you knew was coming, but didn't quite know *when* is better. Comedy and horror are way closer than either genre wants to be. Both require the element of surprise. You come to both with an expectation, its subverting and surprising them in a satisfying way that makes it good comedy/horror. At a comedy show, if they tell a joke with a punchline you saw coming it oftentimes is weak, and if its disconnected from the setup, or makes little sense, it also feels weak. Horror is the same way, but, instead of a setup and punchline, its build up, and release. Comedy needs setups, and horror needs build up. Jumpscares are just like any other literary or game design choice, its a tool, not a solution, or an answer. Misusing these tools leads to an unrewarding experience for players.
Edit: fixed some spelling.
Uhhhhhh, jump scares have been around WAY before FNAF lol
@archiemisc Yes. I know. But FNAF is really the franchise that made them more widely popular
@@StarlitNova12it’s kinda funny looking at it now that the original FNAF had people jumping from a png image zooming in with a loud sound attached to it
There’s a pretty significant amount horror games where you have a monster chasing you and then when you get caught, you’re jumpscared i.e. Hello Neighbor, Poppy Playtime, Security Breach, Whatever other mascot horror fits the bill and it’s so lame every single time because if you can actively look back and see the scary monster get closer then the jumpscare isn’t unexpected or surprising anymore, you know for a fact that you’re getting jumpscared as soon as the monster you’re looking at touches you so it’s just a loud and obnoxious noise that serves zero purpose.
Just one time I want the screen to cut to black or something when the dumb stupid monster catches me
It also detracts from the horror because in a system like that, you know for a fact that you’re safe until the monster is introduced via cutscene or sound queue and are allowed the liberty to be bored and careless.
Yeah. I feel like the reason why earlier FNaF works so well, is because it's less of a horror, and more of a stress simulator. Also I feel like FNaF doesn't take itself too seriously, which also helps in it's favor
The scariest thing about salvation project is how close to home it hits. I've seen many family members listen to evangelist and conspiracy talk shows and fall deeper into hate and paranoia. It's a sad thing to witness.
Turns out Seth is Q
The Salvation Project is basically TBOI, but from Isaac's mother's perspective
I was thinking exactly that throuought the whole segment, lol
So im not the only one who thought that
Holy shit you're right
:0
Honestly I was expecting the ending to be Karen sacrificing her child or smth, very TBOI vibes
The feining of sigma
10:18 Ah, so *these* are the kinds of Christian broadcasts Isaac’s mother watched on the television.
in the little house on a hill
tboi reference
5:52 This game was literally my childhood. I was obsessed with it, and have so many memories of playing it with my mom and dad everyday after school for literal hours.
I was not prepared for you to mention Dungeon Defenders out of nowhere like that lmao.
I still love dungeon defenders lmao, any recognition is instant happiness
Funny enough, I recognized the name but not the gameplay, which confused me. Then I remembered why: in third grade, I was friends with a kid who loved this game and talked about it all the time, but he didn't know how to pronounce the name. He would say it as "Dune-gan Defenders", and it was only later on into the year that I realized he just didn't know how to say "dungeon."
It's still a great game, it recently got a new difficulty
The biggest jumpscare OF ALL TIME.. : 10:52
Keep going, with that level of quality and obvious passion, sooner or later youre just bound to get noticed.
This video got recommended through my algo and I love seeing horror games broken down because I hate playing them. Likin this guy already
Sometimes I forget how unique indie games are and how creative some people can be. Great video!
Also “perish you naive wench!” Was really funny to me 😂
slide in the woods made me doodie my pants
It tends to have that effect
Rip
Who's idea was it to put a slide in the middle of the woods with no benches around who designs such a stupid construction
@@fakeMcRibthis is so funny to me idek why
I have a soft spot for these games with old-school graphics, and I think you really nailed one thing that makes them so special - that liminality. The world's seeming not quite right, just by the nature of their design. Analog horror plays sometimes more subtly on the "fear of the unknown" just by the lack of clarity in the graphics alone. I also appreciate ambiguity, and I think some horror games/stories/movies retain cult status by not going too in depth with explanations either. Leaving more things open to interpretation or leaving gaps for our own minds to fill in the blanks. Good stuff.
I can never see kermit again without seeing him saying “Board up your windows :D”
3:29 "the spooky effect" I read 'I need to piss' instead of feed the pigs 😭😭
Kinda disapointed how Dawid Szymański is now mostly recognized for Iron Lung instead of DUSK
As mych as both games are good, but being recognized for the quickly made short story that got popular on the benefits similar to mascot horror- it's just disapointing that his current legacy is a "zoomie game" instead of the longer work.
Yes, I am quite miffed by the "brainrot popular" game being Szymański's legacy now
People still rave about Dusk. Maybe not reaction streamers, but gamers definitely do.
Like how Zeekerzz is only recognized for Lethal Company and not for The Upturned or It Steals.
@@thisisastrobbery363 yeah, that too
It Steals is quite a good take on horror.
Dead Seater is also quite unnerving
@@thisisastrobbery363Upturned is so underrated it makes me mad lmao
@@SwizzleDrizzl i literally love Ik
2:12 HEY, HEY, HEY!!!!!!
I SAW THAT! I. SAW. THAT. 😤
I had actually never seen the creature in slide in the woods, neither knew it could actually get you, since every youtuber would just go "WOAH WHAT IS THAT???" and run away without looking back.
I love your different ways of saying you pooped your pants. Laughed out loud each time, great stuff
2:18 lmao I almost missed the fourth one
Considering the wife does start haunting you partway through the game this definitely applies
Side note: I love that your avatar changes clothes to fit the game you’re talking about. Such a fun little detail :)
"STOP. STAPPLING. SQUIRRELS."
- Wife, probably, before having more squirrels stapled to her body.
You have no idea how long I’ve waited for someone to mention the avatar changing. Changing the clothes is literally my favorite part of making a video.
@@artsyhoodies honestly you’re not far off 😂
@@KaleTheLeaf I noticed too, it was badass
@@artsyhoodies The masculine urge to make her beautiful again by covering her in the squirrels of the wood:
Honestly I feel like half the horror games today aren't made because the creator is genuinely passionate about horror but because people want the same mascot indie horror game for kids success that Fnaf had
9:51 who the fck turned sonic the hedgehog into a frog?
Kermit the the frog
Kromic the Hedgefrog
The salvation projects schizophrenic vibe is what makes is so scary, the intensification of the music over time was horrifying lol
I’d argue a huge reason why FNAF is still massively popular to this day and the classic games are still extremely repayable is because of two major reasons with reason one being because the jumpscares are heavily enhanced by the phenomal sound design and visual design rather than the jumpscare being the only remotely scary thing in the entire game, like jumpscares can work extremely well if they are used in tandem with other important horror elements rather it being the literal center focus which most FNAF like games fail to understand and is why they usually don’t hit the same as FNAF. The second reason and more important reason I’d say is because the jumpscares are very RNG dependent where you are very likely not to be hit with the exact same jumpscare twice in a row which keeps the player on their toes since the player can die in several different ways which encourages them to be very careful with the moves, which is something that most FNAF like horror games fail to accomplish where instead the jumpscares are extremely predictable and can be seen coming from a mile away compared to the OG FNAF games and even many of the modern ones too where you have to focus on a bunch of different things to where your guard can slip and you get scared by one of the many possible ways of dying. Like usually it’s a good sign a horror game has great replay value when it comes to scares when literally Scott himself has gone on record saying that he scared himself when playtesting the first game because the jumpscares would catch him off guard due to the RNG of the jumpscares being of course, random, even though he himself literally made the jumpscares lmao. But yeah sorry for the long paragraph I just can very passionate about things I like to talk about. But regardless this was an absolutely phenomenal video and you are definitely going places for sure. Keep up the great work my dude. You’ve definitely earned a sub from me and many many others.
Never apologise for writing a long comment if someone gets mad at that they're either mean, stupid or both
13:46 Fully expected the satan to eat Seth😭
As a Child of God AS soon I hear that frog got in the house I was like NAH he’s the devil XD
what you said about crawling in slide in the woods describes percisely why stamina systems in horror games are so commonly used
I worked at a movie theater for two years and sure especially during the day it's not that bad in terms of scary-ness. But at night. It's different. We need to watch out and make sure there's no one in the theaters staying over night or under the screens and those movie theater rooms are dark. A different kind of dark. Like if the moon was gone kind of dark. And it just being you. No Co workers and maybe two managers but usually just one. But seeing smth where your conditioned to always hear a movie, a person, popcorn popping, a door, a worker, someone complaining, etc. it's just quite. Silent. Dead. And its you and the potential person with you in the dark hiding.
thanks for the horror game idea
"No Players Online" reminds me a lot of Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, which was the failed attempt to make a Myst MMO, so the devs redesigned the game to be "the player is following in the steps of a former survey team entering other worlds". There is no co-op available, and every world you go to is this empty, desolate set of various biomes from giant shroom forests to hollowed-out ruins of old libraries. While Uru leans more into the sense of pure isolation and loneliness rather than existential dread "No Players Online" does, I love this modern horror concept of an empty server.
This was a really fun video I stumbled over, thank you for showing off these cool little horror games, I'll definitely be checking them out! I hate jumpscares in horror games so it's nice to find horror that doesn't do that instead.
The music getting more intense during Salvation Project was terrifying in itself
Agreed
Ngl you did a better video than most of the content creators there are on this plattaform, so this video is really underrated
Thank you!
I think Squirrel Stappler has a perfect beginning and ending.
You start the game basically AS the horror game villain. You have a gun, live in the woods, you're utterly delusional and your wife is a rotting corpse you sleep right next to. You then establish that GOD is coming, inevitably, in 5 days.
The entire game is like a reflection of how a lot of life is just trying to forget about the favt that you're gonna die. You do the meaningless task of killing and gathering squirrels and trying to push the timer away, only for your day of end to come all the same.
And the ending is just as you mentioned, pure fear of an unstoppable, unknowable force.
Man, I love esoteric physiological horror games and not enough people appreciate these games enough. Thank you for covering them :)
2:24 HELP I THOUGHT IT SAID FEED THE PISS 😭
LMAO SAME 😭
18:20 "If you look behind you will see it, but I was to scared to do that" fr same
Damn… I really figured the Salvation Project was gonna end with you destroying your life as you fall deeper into the idea that the world is attacking you. Like it turns out the “demon” walking in your house was just your son that likes metal music, but you can’t tell the difference anymore from your pov. The house slowly falling into more and more disrepair. Police knocking on your door for a wellness check but the puppet yelling at you that those are demons.
My first thought when you were describing some stuff was that it would be cool to have a game that is directly about the danger and evil of certain collectives taking advantage of the mentally ill. Like how super churches or conspiracy theory groups sometimes prey on the fears of the mentally unwell for their own profit. Turns out I think this idea has more potential for psychological horror than the muppet yelling an evil monologue at you before a generic demon appears… 😅
Salvation project is such a cool idea, and i kinda called it that Seth was actually a devil/demon because:
His name is similar to satan
He fear mongers and explolts Karen, telling her to do bad things under the guise of "getting rid of evil"
Complimenting himself, this may be a stretch but the devil was cast out of heaven for being prideful
And before the reveal, "summoning a guardian angel"
Telling her to board up windows, which is a escape route
Afterall, it is taught that the devil isn't obvious, he can be ANYONE, and will hide himself, pretending to have good intentions but in reality only wants the worst, he knows Karen and others are scared of evil and therefore pretends to be a cute mascot to explolt them, like a corrupt televangelist irl,
"The devil is in the details"
"The worst part abuut betrayal is that it never comes from the enemy"
"The path to hell is paved with good intentions"
"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer"
Seth wasn’t chosen as his name for no reason as far as I can tell either. I think the name refers to something else though. Or maybe both of our answers…. Coincidently, I watched an episode of stargate sg1 just the other day and Seth is the name of a character with a cult in the show. Seth, otherwise known as…Set, god of violence and disorder.
@erronblack308 that is cool! I didn't think that Seth could be a reference to Set, it could probably be a reference to both
Seth also happens to be voiced by Sonic the Hedgehog. I’m not joking, look up the voice actor of Seth’s channel.
@DaltonIsaacs-fn3bb that explains so much actually lmao iwas wondering why it sounded so familiar
20:10 was NOT expecting to hear my fav jazz in a horror game
What type is it?
@@hec-z its by count basie, blue and sentimental.
@@Jayce0000 OK, thank you.
And on the note- well
Not all of these are psychological horror, but what matters in all of them is that the devs who made them understand that built up terror is far better than a quick jump of horror.
They also, what you pointed out, utilize lack of clear answers very well- not as a resolution that never comes, but as another building block of the whole, the suspicious dead pixel you notice in the corner and wonder why it's there
"Instead of Relying on a Spooky Ending to save the game." *Proceeds to show a vampire spin kicking a werewolf in a game that ends with you and the vampire winning from the power of friendship*
Everyone’s first reaction is to shoot god.
A fair reaction
20:56 Ah yes, I finally get to use this quote: "The fear begins when you realize you're alone. The horror begins when you realize you're NOT alone"
In general; "No players online" was planned more as an ARG project than a game.
Presenting David Szymanski by referencing Iron Lung and not Dusk is wild ngl.
Good vid mate.
4:29 He's just standing there... menacingly!!
5:46 Pyro being so real there
fr
He'd be more interested of they inflated squirrel god
morelike annoying 😂😂
sucks he likes kids
Genuinely, thank you for not sticking Lisa's jumpscare in PT. I would've crumpled.
13:38 😭 THIS PART IS ACTUALLY HILARIOUS, I CAN'T
9:03 This physiological horror seems to project how people can be deceived while watching the news or other broadcasts. Sometimes making people think the wrong things and make them do things they shouldn’t. This game seems to reflect how directors and executives find ways to deceive viewers.
11:35 “well done scare”
The demon: :3
Dungeon Defenders mention? Subbed.
4:30 Kale a GOD behind u💜
Karen a FROG behind you 💜
mama a girl behind YOU💜
Children a SLIDE behind you 💜
18:08 “this seriously scared the poopy soppy outta me “😂😂😂😂😂😂
You should try Mouthwashing! It's blown up very recently and it's the silent hill-type psychological horror where you're left trying to grasp the implications of why what's happening IS happening. Also cool unreliable narrator thing i guess.
I watched manlybadasshero play mouth washing, it looked super well made. The story was really sad though
I watched a gameplay and it made me feel so many emotions helplessness anger sadness emptiness
@@KaleTheLeaf Yeah, it's a psychological horror tragedy from the eyes of the bad guy, it's a masterclass of "show, not tell."
bruh how rude.. use mouthwash yourself
Respect for this so much. Cheap jumpscares aren't scary. They make me flinch. Omg wow good job, you made my human reflexes kick in. Same with movies. No, I want psychological horror. Show me something super basic, in an open field, no noise, minimal music, broad daylight, but make my stomach drop off of pure context. Beautiful. Creative. I also believe it's higher effort content and is far more fulfilling from a consumer standpoint.
21:47 bro right when the figure hit the screen I got an Ad for Clash Of Clans
Same
💀
mobile game jumpscare
I got an ad for grammarly
YOOO, Dungeon Defenders mention?! (also happy new year)
what I love about this is the fact that I watched markiplier play all of these games
idea:
a game that acsesses your photos, and if they recognize any faces more than one time, the faces will be put onto a d*ad body. because the body has the face of someone you know, it messes with the players head, and empathy.
Thats gotta be illegal somehow. Not that the idea doesn't sound cool it does. Its just crazy
(Sorry, I'm a paragraph texter)
...The Salvation Project hits close to home for me, and watching this is honestly helping me cope with what I've dealt with. The sudden shadows of the demons and the image of one approaching you without actually harming you makes me remember that it's not actual demons that are the threat, but instead instead it's the monster in your mind that a cult or cult-like environment will create for you so that you comply with what they want, even if it is not good for you.
The demons in the game don't hurt you because they are your imagination of the worst case scenario that Seth makes you afraid of. I can heavily relate to this. I often walk in dark hallways paranoid that some demon will hurt me if I let my guard down, bc fear was used to keep me from thinking for myself, and small mistakes were seen as mortal sins in the environment I grew up in. As a result, I walked in the dark praying obsessive compulsively (called scrupulosity OCD) out of fear instead of love, begging God for forgiveness and mercy when I was having those bad thoughts and flashbacks that I couldn't control, and compulsively praying hundreds of times afraid to make a mistake and summon the boogeyman or a flashback, and starting over if i screw up the prayer.
I'm doing a lot better now after a over a decade of help and some time away from my church and with good people of all faiths, so I can at least maintain a connection with God (though, I'm more of a pantheist than a monotheist), though church environments are still a bit triggering for me. Fortunately, God should understand my situation if he is omniscient. I'm glad games like this exist, it captures the experiences of religious trauma really well imo. Comforts the disturbed and disturbs the comfortable.
I'm certain God forgives you, as you've done nothing wrong. I'm certain He'll have some choice words for those who put you in such a position, however. ❤ Happy yer doing better! ^_^
Jesus's life and story is basically Him welcoming murderers to dine on his table. Go to Jesus, brother
@cyphlone3306 Jesus is wonderful. I know it was man and not God who hurt me. It's hard when the word of God is misused to shame you for your imperfections or make you tolerate abuse turning the other cheek for everything, but maybe one day I can go back to church without having panic attacks or flashbacks. Thank you for your kindness, God bless you ❤️
@SilenceIsGolden4 God bless you, brother in Christ.
I have religious OCD too, and it sucks. I’m sorry you go through that
2:17 Bro thought he was slick wit dat 😭😭
I completely love how you point out these little details in horrrors that everyone(including me) misses!
Finished binging all your vids. This was a great one to watch! I've got a list of games to play now :D
Most psychologycal horror is when you show your favourite movie to your bros. Its either they like it and peace. Or they hate it, then it gets complicated from there
This goes hard mane keep it up
I found this video after watching an hour long video about forbidden silent.
I thought I'd watch this video becuz it wasn't long lol. Very nice vid.
18:13 “and the way this creature is designed is pretty spooky”
I’m sorry man but the creature just looks like you but frowning when I saw the side by side comparison 😭😭
You should play darkwood, it scares me so bad i havent finished it in the 2 years ive had it, its got no jumpscares
Pyrocinical reference
@@KaleTheLeaf i started a new save because of the 8 hour video
Sameereeeeeee