Hey PowerPak, have you ever heard of or played "the outer wilds". If you haven't, I think you would really like it and it would fit right in with your video format and editing style.
I always assumed that the "Big Squirrel" ended up as the hunter's meal later, because the small squirrels are for his wife. Plus more meat on the bones means healthier you the next day. Too bad we never got anything like that to prove it though, like putting a big squirrel on a spit or something. This is from me watching Mark play it anyway.
your wife says something like “hey hon, wanna order takeout?” and youre like “nah dinners on you tonight” and she says “you mean ‘dinner on me’?” and your holding a stapler and a few squirrels and say “if you insist”
@@Hmmmnnhh Yeah, like "Oh god, that was like... some sort of purring? That's definitely not good, this is terrible! If that wasn't a siren, what was it?!?"
idk why but "i wish she were beautiful like the squirrels of the wood, and so i will cover her in the squirrels of the wood," is such a fire line to me.
In my opinion it reads very crudely (in a good way, it works), reminds me of biblical quotes or dialogue from old myths/legends/tales. It's simple and direct like it's not dialogue that an audience is supposed to read, like you are actually inside someones head listening to their thoughts
"NIV: "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent." CEV: "They should be silent and not be allowed to teach or to tell men what to do." NASB: "But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet." 🗣️🔥🔥🔥🔥
"The flies have made her rotten" I love how the main character is casting blame off of himself like the psycho he is. He deep down knows the truth but is in denial, hoping that the more he kill squirrels, the better his wife will become.
Exactly. I thought that it was either some demonic entity or this dude who chopped up Wife. But, as the game progresses, I think it's the dude. Maybe he's an occultist too?
@@t0nyxaka90I can't remember, but I believe that some of the notes told the story (in first person) of the radio tower operator going mad or something with him getting paranoid. I think he is supposed to be the main character, after he went insane
@@fuxkag3908explaining it by "he's possesed" is a way to shift the blame off of him onto something else. No, he's definitly resposible for this and also completly insane
After watching this I decided to check the game out for myself and actually noticed that if you step into that stone henge type thing that damages you when “God Appears” and die before that final jumpscare- you can “restart day” and then go straight to sleep- you wake up on day 6 and it seems to just keep going… no more notes from what I’ve seen but endless squirrel stapling. I haven’t seen anyone say anything about this anywhere so I thought I would share it!
8:56 I love how neither you nor the game specifies the "sins" comitted, leaves the viewers fantasy to visualize the implied horrible crimes against nature taking place in the shack. And the dry, cheerful tone you have when complete, like you went shopping for groceries or fixed the car and not... you know, "committed sins" I love this game.
Fun Squirrel Fact! There's a specific town in North Carolina that is home to a special breed of Eastern Grey Squirrel that has naturally white fur! They're visually different from albino squirrels because they have totally normal squirrel eyes instead of the red eyes that albino squirrels have.
Fun fact: in my area we have grey, red and black squirrels. A lot of the local population is also crossbreeds. This is partly because they changed the city ordinances so cats weren't allowed outside anymore. Now we have more squirrels of every kind than ever before, plus an out of control rabbit situation.
My humor has gone so weird. I'm laughing at the loading screen cause it has a low resolution picture of a real squirrel and it says "You are sleeping" What's more hilarious is the Commit Sin one.
Can't wait to leave this on in the background and hear the most unholy things this game could possibly supply being called "Squirrel Stapler" and being made by Mr Szymanski himself.
Why is no one talking about that absolutely incredible pun in the title? Like, using the word “Nuts” in title of a video of a game about squirrels is PEAK comedy lmao
I only noticed this on rewatch, but I think the chanting is coming from the squirrels and animals of the forest, based on the pitch and weird noises interspersed. Adds an even creepier aspect to the scene, knowing that *everything* in the forest, no matter where they are or what they are, are all chanting in unison for the arrival of God. It also sounds like if someone hired The Chipmunks to score an A24 movie
That's an interesting way to look at it but I just saw it as distortion caused by his growing anxiety and psychosis especially because it starts out as a choir of women and the pitch shifting only begins as the clock gets closer to 0. Like I don't think the voices or even God are meant to be real the protagonist is just hallucinating haha
14:17 not sure if this was intentional but I love the narrative of this scene. The seemingly crazed hunter is still taken aback by the fact that his dead wife has moved to the table. Like its a disturbance in his endless zen-like orderly cycle and it really unsettles him.
The ‘you are sleeping’ was a laugh out loud moment for me the first time I played it Edit: the jump cuts in this video are even funnier. Perfectly encapsulates the feeling of the game
"You might know him as the creator of Iron Lung." 10-4! I'll be back to actually watch this video once I immediately purchase and play through all of Squirrel Stapler. I've run this race before and I know that going in blind only enhances the experience.
How's the game? I decided to watch the whole video cause i'm very sensitive to horror and would rather see it in the form of a video talking about it rather than the pure unfiltered scariness of the actual game.
@@mishagaming1075 Which game? Squirrel Stapler explores the mind of a crazy man, but there's no "classic horror," this isn't Resident Evil or Silent Hill or Amnesia Dark Descent." It's sunny and bright and 95% of the game is hunting forest animals with a gun. The horror parts is because the player character has obviously gone insane, but can't hurt anyone. Iron Lung is definitely horror, but a flavor of horror you might like. You are in a submarine on an alien planet, and there MIGHT be something down here at the bottom of the ocean that can kill you. Are you going to make it out alive? I won't spoil it, because that's the horror
‘Squirrel Stapler’ really remind me of other games like ’Flesh Birds’ and ‘The Repairing Mantis’ games I don’t know the meaning of noir what they represent, but still hold important to me in a one of a kind experience.
*Oh Boy, "Repairing Mantis."* That one went out there in all sorts of the "unsettling" genre, if you can call it that. Probably has something to do with that squirrel in it mutilating itself "to achieve dreams" (or not.) All while you, the player, are choosing its thoughts.
Fun fact: The Repairing Mantis sent me into a depressive spiral so bad that I had to go to the mental hospital. I mean there was other things as well obviously but that was one of them lmao
I always thought I hated jumpscares, untill, for the first time, I experienced a proper jumspacre, and I became a massive advocate for their use when used properly!
I hate jumpscares almost purely by the loud noises that comes out of nowhere. I’m very sensitive to sudden sound, so something like FNAF going from 0 to 100 is the absolute worst for me. The final squirrel stapler jumpscare is honestly my favorite though. The loud noise was built up so I wasn’t startled by that, but the overwhelming sense of dread leading up is what actually got me for once.
I love that this version of the game adds other sound effects in the environment to give the illusion of more animals or even people like someone cutting a tree with an axe, it reminds me of older hunting games from my childhood. There's also some other creepy sounds like hearing a Squirrelbear growling days before they appear, the sound of breathing nearby, the sound of movement when there's nothing there, and creepiest of them all, the quiet voice of a woman whispering "come back."
As soon as I heard this game was produced by the same person who made Iron Lung, this immediately went to the top of my "Must Play" games list edit: I just played it and came back to watch this video and I followed exactly the same logic near the end lol. "god is coming? right now? ok, I'll go home... oh... well I'll go the radio tower then. There's a health pack, bullets and a vantage point. It's the safest spot on the map". Daniel is weirdly good at using simple things to make us think the same way.
I love that David Szymansky is known for different things to different people now. He’s been “the dusk guy” to me for a long time, but it’s awesome that he’s captured a totally different audience with iron lung!
Eh. His games have great atmosphere and tension, but absolutely abysmal endings. For me, they're extremely underwhelming. It's like someone giving you a piece of fantastic cake, but the last bite is covered in bugs. It doesn't just ruin the last bite, but it also ruins how you view every bite before that one. Just how I feel though.
@@unchpunchem8947 wait he worked on Dusk? that's like my favourite movement shooter next to ULTRAKILL, I had no idea he worked with New Blood. That's crazy, I guess I can see how the art styles are kind of similar but wow. My opinion of him is now higher lmao
@@bbbbbbb51 I guess the ending of iron lung had a massive buildup to the ending which was just a jump scare, which not everybody likes, but imo that was probably the only well done jump scare I've ever seen in a game lol
I think the ending of Squirrel Stapler is better, like it's so omnious, just the message "In 2 minutes, god is coming" is such a scary message. Then when it gets down to one minute there is a chorus singing that God is Coming, becoming more and more chaotic to that crescendo. Sure Iron Lung one was spookier we could say more built up but I don't nothing beats "GOD IS COMING: 01:59"
The low-poly style really added to my experience. I kept on seeing things that I thought were like giant squirrel corpses or monsters but it was just a log.
Probably my favourite piece of gameplay story telling in this game is the fact that you have a health bar in this game, which i feel like is not the most usual thing in hunting games, even less so in ones centered around hunting squirrels
I actually think a squirrel stapler movie could be really effective, the same horror beats and unease play out but the man clearly sees these things as normal. Not so much a descent to madness as what it would be like in the deepest part of that madness. And just like the game, it could end with the face of god no sound, no screaming, just cut to black
Honestly after pondering about it for a while, a short film format would do this more justice especially for the buildup and ending scenes alone when creating the dread in a quicker pace then having it drawn out over the course of a feature length film (just a film student rambling, don’t mind me)
I think it's really eerie how "YOU ARE SLEEPING" shows up in the game. I mean, yeah technically it's an indicator that the next stage is coming, but the more you think about it... Maybe it's some obscure sign or vestige of the hunter's fragile mind reminding him that his day-to-day routine is not what it seems and how warped his conception of reality is. Like a dream... or a nightmare... YOU ARE SLEEPING.
the fact that “you are sleeping” is so small compared to the squirrel just In Your Face makes me think they’re so consumed by squirrels that all they can see is a giant squirrel jpeg
The game calls itself a small game hunting sim, but I think the best label is Absurdist horror. When I first played through, at the end I ran around in front of my house frantically demanding god come out and face me. Like I became the character of this mad hunter in the woods What makes this ending great, i think, is that you either feel as though god will be another target, or it flips the anticipation of the hunt around, making you a prey item that must run and find shelter before you’re caught by god. Something great about the ending is that god doesn’t appear as soon as the countdown reaches 0, it gives you a moment to register that God is here, and then he appears behind you, only cutting to black when you turn to face him
FAITH did the jumpscare thing pretty well too. I remember being very startled everytime when micheal came on screen. The atmosphere of the forest was just really unsettling. Just walking around the forest endlessly looping was just weird and then even the smallest thing would startle me
the ending sequence of squirrel stapler has to be one of my favorite pieces of horror media. i actually had no idea szymanski was behind both this and iron lung though!
The thing that I love about squirrel stapler, is that they give you a whole 5 day advance. And when you first see it, you may chuckle a little bit. Walking past the message 4 more times. But when you reach day 5, and it says that God is coming today, you feel off. And when you finally kill that final squirrel, when you finally place the straw to break the camels back, your met with a timer. God is coming. _In two minutes._ For the first minute, it is silent. You run back to the house, but you are only met with _I must meet god._ You don't hear any squirrels. The forest silent until the silence is broken by a horrific choir, singing in a unfathomablely uncanny pitch repeating 3 words. _God is coming._ The angels choir growing louder and louder, becoming more and more warped. You grab ammo. You grab health. _then the clock hits zero._ *God is here.* You turn left and right, you can't see him, the choir now screaming into your ears, over and over! Then, in your frantic search, you turn and finally meet God. Then nothingness.
I deeply appreciate you making a point of mentioning your attachment to the radio tower and then working it into the finale as your final bastion of comfort. That's solid storytelling flow.
I think the thing that makes me more nervous (apart of stapling squirrels to her corpse of a wife) is the "Committing sins" cabin since...we don't know what is the hunter is doing there...
It’s one of the few games that gets me freaked out just thinking about it. Even as funny and absurd as it is, I’ll never get over that “God is coming” sequence or the parts where the Wife appears outside the house. I remember one night I was honestly scared to get out of bed because I kept thinking about those parts. Definitely a great game though, David is super talented as both a game dev and storyteller.
"Take things slowly" I was high off of energy drinks 24/7 once I found a path to interconnect the three points of them I found. I treated this game like Doom at the end.
man, this is a great analysis! i’ve been wondering if anyone had covered this game yet- it’s so uncanny and unsettling which really adds to the atmosphere, and awesome video, as always
The tools a game gives you sets the expectation for how the player is meant to interact with them. Squirrel Stapler day 1 gives you a health bar, and a slow-firing weapon that you must manually cycle.
Always good to hear someone understanding how a good jumpscares work. Fnaf is another good example. It's a punishment for losing to have that high alert stress and fear forced out of you via jumpscare. For 5 bucks back in the day that was some quality jumpscare. Horror elitism can get pretty annoying so it's nice to hear different.
The fact that you made a reference to Markiplier's Iron Lung movie the day after a movie about that Titan "submersible" was announced... David Szymanski and everything surrounding him has been cursed, I'm certain of it 😬
a fucking movie, what the fuck....... even david symanski was concerned when iron lung sales increased just after the event and he was profiting from it and is a memester, wow this is genuinely kinda disgusting, who gave them the right's to do this anyway's.
The final part with the 2 minute timer gave me an actual mini panic attack The way that the singing gets slowly louder and louder and slighly out of tune makes my skin crawl
Ah, Squirrel Stapler. What a blast from the past this was. Also, if anyone ever read the "Section 8" comic strip, I'm pretty sure the protagonist is Dogwelder.
I played Dread X Collection: The Hunt recently, and it had a great reference about this game when you listened to the radio in story mode. There was this dude that listened to callers from around the world and after some time he received a call from the wife of the main protagonist from Squirrel Stapler, at first it's not that noticable, she talks about his husband hunting squirrels but later says about him stapling them to her and that he made the god angry. It's a nice easter egg, but now I wonder if at least some of these games from Dread X Collection are from the same universe the actual story of the main game is. I'm pretty sure that wasn't the only game referenced in the radio from these series, but I don't remember which one was also mentioned there.
Bit of a stretch here but at 4:52 Im pretty sure is a reference to Part 7 Steel Ball Run of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, a place called "The Devil's Palm" which is a lot bigger than the formation you see here but it has a similar rock formation, that being in the shape of fingers sticking out like a hand, inside the Devil's Palm you basically could die if you're not "worthy" and in videogame depictions, you slowly die, losing health again, it's a stretch so it may not be referencing anything, just a hunch
This is my first time watching Power Pak, but the sheer randomness and funny mood of this guy made me stay through the whole video, which is really rare for me.
This seems like a game Meatwad would be playing in AQTH, until Frylock tries it out once and then deletes it from the computer after telling Meatwad to play something less weird.
Wife jumpscare at 15:00 scared the crap out of me- but this game is actually kinda interesting- in a weird way? It’s like the weirdness of it makes it interesting to want to experience if that makes sense.
Your explorations into these weird and wonderful games are so enthralling and a joy to watch. I really hope you keep finding these gems and creating these videos!
the way you make videos about video games and the content within, it feels fresh. I want to keep on watching these videos, I dont just want to finish them so that i can pass time. Keep up the good work.
I just want to say I really like how you explained everything to the audience about how horror should and shouldn't be done. You are so correct and everything you said I 100 percent agreed with and it even resonated with me. You have a great way of explaining this I don't think someone could make a more perfect walkthrough to this game. Good job
"Committing sins" is one of those rare situations where telling is better than showing... we're just left to speculate about what specifically that means and that just makes it more disturbing. 🤣
fantastic video! had to watch it scrolled down so that only the captions were visible (because otherwise paranoia will do bad things to my day-to day life), but i just wanted to say you're a really good, enthralling youtuber! :)
What do we do with the Big Squirrel though...?
More videos to come soon, so stay tuned!
Pet him.
Hey PowerPak, have you ever heard of or played "the outer wilds". If you haven't, I think you would really like it and it would fit right in with your video format and editing style.
Who do you think you get the stapples from?
absolutely this @@ragingassassin6659
I always assumed that the "Big Squirrel" ended up as the hunter's meal later, because the small squirrels are for his wife. Plus more meat on the bones means healthier you the next day. Too bad we never got anything like that to prove it though, like putting a big squirrel on a spit or something. This is from me watching Mark play it anyway.
That "commiting sins" screen just looks like a shitpost and I love it so much for some reason
commiting shitposts
This entire game is just a really elaborate schizopost
committing squirrel
What do you mean by "sins" 😮????
Committing tax fraud
"I'm sure she's just hungry." Followed by the sound of stapling five squirrels to your wife is the funniest thing to me
**walk in to wife eating**
**staple five squirrels onto her**
**mwah**
**go to sleep**
your wife says something like “hey hon, wanna order takeout?” and youre like “nah dinners on you tonight” and she says “you mean ‘dinner on me’?” and your holding a stapler and a few squirrels and say “if you insist”
@@pking8792
*Today was a good day
COMMITING SINS
@@pking8792He’s just like me fr
I think the funniest thing about the game is that the siren wailing at the end is actually just his infant kid pitch shifted and slowed down
REALLY??
LOL
When the siren dies down, there's this strange feeling and realisation that *"WAIT, THAT'S NOT A SIREN..."*
@joelhoon1707 that makes it scarier ngl
@@Hmmmnnhh Yeah, like "Oh god, that was like... some sort of purring? That's definitely not good, this is terrible! If that wasn't a siren, what was it?!?"
"God is Here" gotta be one of the funniest yet horrifying lines in any of David Szymanski's games
yeah it is one of the funniest. yet HORRIFYING lines in any of his games
"Mario has logged in."
@@coltonpatterson5409wHat dO yoU meAn MAriO
“I have arrive” - Radal
@@hek23143you just copy pasted the original comment
Thanks for the video!
He’s him
the main man of the..... ehhhhh
hour
2 month's ago
is here.
What did he do in the shack!? Tell me dusk dev!
@@arwrw2 commit sin.
@@Beowolf-jy5rc ok
Back in my day we could staple squirrels to our miss's without being called "crazy" or a "psychopath"
grandpa i already told you that you were never in the luxurious job of squirrel stapling, now go back to bed.
Dam libs, squirrels stapleing was done by my fore fathers for generations
Real
@@martefalaWELL THEM DAYUM LIBRARIANS ARE TELLIN ME OTHERWISE!! I WAS THERE IN THE WOODS WITH THE SQUIRRELS! I DID IT!!
Back in my day, shooting god got you a medal!
idk why but "i wish she were beautiful like the squirrels of the wood, and so i will cover her in the squirrels of the wood," is such a fire line to me.
Szymanski is such a brilliant writer with amazing quotables. The line in Iron Lung "Hope is as illusory as starlight" like????? It's insane.
In my opinion it reads very crudely (in a good way, it works), reminds me of biblical quotes or dialogue from old myths/legends/tales. It's simple and direct like it's not dialogue that an audience is supposed to read, like you are actually inside someones head listening to their thoughts
@@aldoborgia7836true, i think it would make sense if he was thinking it too
“God is here”
🔥🔥🔥
"NIV: "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent." CEV: "They should be silent and not be allowed to teach or to tell men what to do." NASB: "But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet."
🗣️🔥🔥🔥🔥
Fun fact: The squirrel facts are MOSTLY facts about lobsters
😮😮😮
Lobsters are always watching indeed.
That explains the fact about them peeing from their eyes.
But it wasn't a Squirrel...
It was a -Rock- LOBSTER.
Spooky Lobster jumpscare. But yeah I noticed the antenna fact about Squirrel was actually from an arthropod.
Imagine an infinite mode.
Endless days of just hunting squirrels.
Heaven or Hell?
(Let's rock)
@@papasuamae4302 fuckin mankind amiright?
Day 5, god shows up and it’s just Jesus with a better rifle and he takes all the squirrels so your just hunting ghosts and bears
The wife would become a near perfect spheroid of squirrels given enough time
@@papasuamae4302heall
"The flies have made her rotten"
I love how the main character is casting blame off of himself like the psycho he is. He deep down knows the truth but is in denial, hoping that the more he kill squirrels, the better his wife will become.
Exactly. I thought that it was either some demonic entity or this dude who chopped up Wife. But, as the game progresses, I think it's the dude. Maybe he's an occultist too?
@t0nyxaka90 maybe the dudes possesed woooo, but most likley driven mad by something
@@t0nyxaka90I can't remember, but I believe that some of the notes told the story (in first person) of the radio tower operator going mad or something with him getting paranoid. I think he is supposed to be the main character, after he went insane
@@fuxkag3908explaining it by "he's possesed" is a way to shift the blame off of him onto something else. No, he's definitly resposible for this and also completly insane
Not out of the realm of Possiblity but I personnaly
Believe something did Drive him mad@@Kyumifun
I remember Jolly playing this and laughing at his attempts to play off all the weird stuff happening as seemingly normal.
"Where is god? Where is the bastard!?"
Oh that let's play was so fun x3
I feel like Jolly could seriously pass for the protagonist of Squirrel Stapler
After watching this I decided to check the game out for myself and actually noticed that if you step into that stone henge type thing that damages you when “God Appears” and die before that final jumpscare- you can “restart day” and then go straight to sleep- you wake up on day 6 and it seems to just keep going… no more notes from what I’ve seen but endless squirrel stapling.
I haven’t seen anyone say anything about this anywhere so I thought I would share it!
a little late, but i must ask:
how many squirrels did you staple onto the wife before you stopped?
@@thegreatknowingyeah…
How much
@@DinoRickycan somebody... Can somebody go check in on this dudes wife?
Best comment section ever
Good catch.
8:56 I love how neither you nor the game specifies the "sins" comitted, leaves the viewers fantasy to visualize the implied horrible crimes against nature taking place in the shack. And the dry, cheerful tone you have when complete, like you went shopping for groceries or fixed the car and not... you know, "committed sins"
I love this game.
crazy
i was crazy once
they locked me in a room
a rubber room
a rubber room filled with squirrels
squirrels ma
If squirrel stapling can happen in full view of the camera, what could possibly be behind the veil that's worse than that??
Wearing mixed fabrics in the squirrel shack
@@concept8192Committing tax fraud!
Fun Squirrel Fact! There's a specific town in North Carolina that is home to a special breed of Eastern Grey Squirrel that has naturally white fur! They're visually different from albino squirrels because they have totally normal squirrel eyes instead of the red eyes that albino squirrels have.
I have no idea why, but for some reason the fullscreen crusty squirrel jpeg with YOU ARE SLEEPING plastered over it takes me out every time.
Fun fact: in my area we have grey, red and black squirrels. A lot of the local population is also crossbreeds. This is partly because they changed the city ordinances so cats weren't allowed outside anymore. Now we have more squirrels of every kind than ever before, plus an out of control rabbit situation.
Seems like that could be an opportunity for native predators, like hawks, foxes, and mustelids to move in. Maybe it'll eventually balance out.
And an invasion of squirrels is good? They chew cables and kill themselves, make the cats go outside to eat them instead
@@mesotolioma5089outside cats are what got so many bird species are extinct now
@@Slumpped Cool
@@Slumppednot even remotely true. Cats are not causing species of birds to go extinct.
My humor has gone so weird. I'm laughing at the loading screen cause it has a low resolution picture of a real squirrel and it says "You are sleeping"
What's more hilarious is the Commit Sin one.
Yep that's funny
We have the same humor too XD
I blame technology
Big fan of the quiet horror of "to help you find ammo and health refills" early in the vid so one asks themself "...why do I need health refills" lmao
Can't wait to leave this on in the background and hear the most unholy things this game could possibly supply being called "Squirrel Stapler" and being made by Mr Szymanski himself.
Why is no one talking about that absolutely incredible pun in the title? Like, using the word “Nuts” in title of a video of a game about squirrels is PEAK comedy lmao
I only noticed this on rewatch, but I think the chanting is coming from the squirrels and animals of the forest, based on the pitch and weird noises interspersed. Adds an even creepier aspect to the scene, knowing that *everything* in the forest, no matter where they are or what they are, are all chanting in unison for the arrival of God. It also sounds like if someone hired The Chipmunks to score an A24 movie
That's an interesting way to look at it but I just saw it as distortion caused by his growing anxiety and psychosis especially because it starts out as a choir of women and the pitch shifting only begins as the clock gets closer to 0. Like I don't think the voices or even God are meant to be real the protagonist is just hallucinating haha
14:17 not sure if this was intentional but I love the narrative of this scene. The seemingly crazed hunter is still taken aback by the fact that his dead wife has moved to the table. Like its a disturbance in his endless zen-like orderly cycle and it really unsettles him.
Psychopaths tend to have ocd or similar conditions. So having a disturbance to their pattern is often extremely distressing to them.
This and 14:54 was even more funny
A small detail I love that a lot of players might not see, if you shoot God your score goes down
Whoops. Sorry, god.
The ‘you are sleeping’ was a laugh out loud moment for me the first time I played it
Edit: the jump cuts in this video are even funnier. Perfectly encapsulates the feeling of the game
Nice pfp
"You might know him as the creator of Iron Lung."
10-4! I'll be back to actually watch this video once I immediately purchase and play through all of Squirrel Stapler. I've run this race before and I know that going in blind only enhances the experience.
How's the game? I decided to watch the whole video cause i'm very sensitive to horror and would rather see it in the form of a video talking about it rather than the pure unfiltered scariness of the actual game.
@@mishagaming1075 Which game?
Squirrel Stapler explores the mind of a crazy man, but there's no "classic horror," this isn't Resident Evil or Silent Hill or Amnesia Dark Descent." It's sunny and bright and 95% of the game is hunting forest animals with a gun. The horror parts is because the player character has obviously gone insane, but can't hurt anyone.
Iron Lung is definitely horror, but a flavor of horror you might like. You are in a submarine on an alien planet, and there MIGHT be something down here at the bottom of the ocean that can kill you. Are you going to make it out alive? I won't spoil it, because that's the horror
@@TheRoboKitty I spoiled it for myself and i am very sensitive to being scared so i'd rather just watch a video. For both.
‘Squirrel Stapler’ really remind me of other games like ’Flesh Birds’ and ‘The Repairing Mantis’ games I don’t know the meaning of noir what they represent, but still hold important to me in a one of a kind experience.
the flesh birds is a game inspired by the simmilar movie "The Birds" Of hitchcock.
i love flesh birds
*Oh Boy, "Repairing Mantis."* That one went out there in all sorts of the "unsettling" genre, if you can call it that.
Probably has something to do with that squirrel in it mutilating itself "to achieve dreams" (or not.) All while you, the player, are choosing its thoughts.
AHA! I’ve been trying to remember the name of Repairing Mantis! Thanks for the unintentional help my guy
Fun fact: The Repairing Mantis sent me into a depressive spiral so bad that I had to go to the mental hospital. I mean there was other things as well obviously but that was one of them lmao
18:50 I like the appreciation of a PROPER jumpscare that has actual effort put in it. And thought as well.
I always thought I hated jumpscares, untill, for the first time, I experienced a proper jumspacre, and I became a massive advocate for their use when used properly!
Mfw i turn around at the end of a Szymański game:
I hate jumpscares almost purely by the loud noises that comes out of nowhere. I’m very sensitive to sudden sound, so something like FNAF going from 0 to 100 is the absolute worst for me. The final squirrel stapler jumpscare is honestly my favorite though. The loud noise was built up so I wasn’t startled by that, but the overwhelming sense of dread leading up is what actually got me for once.
Mfs will be like "I must make my wife beautiful again!"
No you don't, God is coming😂
Should be top comment
This guy really knows how to build an atmosphere. Really excited to see what he makes next.
I think he'll add more atmospheres
@@calebharris292 We should send him to Mars then
for now it's gloomwood to my knowledge,
also play dusk, i think it does the job as well as this one, if not better.
@panqueque445 don't , the solae winds will just blow it away
I love that this version of the game adds other sound effects in the environment to give the illusion of more animals or even people like someone cutting a tree with an axe, it reminds me of older hunting games from my childhood. There's also some other creepy sounds like hearing a Squirrelbear growling days before they appear, the sound of breathing nearby, the sound of movement when there's nothing there, and creepiest of them all, the quiet voice of a woman whispering "come back."
As soon as I heard this game was produced by the same person who made Iron Lung, this immediately went to the top of my "Must Play" games list
edit: I just played it and came back to watch this video and I followed exactly the same logic near the end lol. "god is coming? right now? ok, I'll go home... oh... well I'll go the radio tower then. There's a health pack, bullets and a vantage point. It's the safest spot on the map". Daniel is weirdly good at using simple things to make us think the same way.
I love that David Szymansky is known for different things to different people now. He’s been “the dusk guy” to me for a long time, but it’s awesome that he’s captured a totally different audience with iron lung!
Eh. His games have great atmosphere and tension, but absolutely abysmal endings. For me, they're extremely underwhelming. It's like someone giving you a piece of fantastic cake, but the last bite is covered in bugs. It doesn't just ruin the last bite, but it also ruins how you view every bite before that one. Just how I feel though.
@@unchpunchem8947 wait he worked on Dusk? that's like my favourite movement shooter next to ULTRAKILL, I had no idea he worked with New Blood. That's crazy, I guess I can see how the art styles are kind of similar but wow. My opinion of him is now higher lmao
@@bbbbbbb51 I guess the ending of iron lung had a massive buildup to the ending which was just a jump scare, which not everybody likes, but imo that was probably the only well done jump scare I've ever seen in a game lol
@@mrtoast244 Yeah! I'm fairly certain he solo-developed Dusk, as with his other projects. Dude is an absolute game design powerhouse!
I think the ending of Squirrel Stapler is better, like it's so omnious, just the message "In 2 minutes, god is coming" is such a scary message.
Then when it gets down to one minute there is a chorus singing that God is Coming, becoming more and more chaotic to that crescendo.
Sure Iron Lung one was spookier we could say more built up but I don't nothing beats
"GOD IS COMING:
01:59"
The low-poly style really added to my experience. I kept on seeing things that I thought were like giant squirrel corpses or monsters but it was just a log.
Probably my favourite piece of gameplay story telling in this game is the fact that you have a health bar in this game, which i feel like is not the most usual thing in hunting games, even less so in ones centered around hunting squirrels
I have never ever felt as much dread as I have when completing the end sequence. There's something else about religious horror when done right.
Bro it’s 3 in the morning right now and 15:20 made me almost have a heart attack. Good video though, been loving your content since THAT video
Bro.
Dude.
Blud.
Cuh.
@@haroldbalzac6336feller
@@haroldbalzac6336I clicked translate and it turned blud into fornication 😂
@@haroldbalzac6336you should translate your comment
@@haroldbalzac6336why the hell does TH-cam translate "blud" as "fornication" 💀
I actually think a squirrel stapler movie could be really effective, the same horror beats and unease play out but the man clearly sees these things as normal. Not so much a descent to madness as what it would be like in the deepest part of that madness. And just like the game, it could end with the face of god no sound, no screaming, just cut to black
Honestly after pondering about it for a while, a short film format would do this more justice especially for the buildup and ending scenes alone when creating the dread in a quicker pace then having it drawn out over the course of a feature length film (just a film student rambling, don’t mind me)
I think it's really eerie how "YOU ARE SLEEPING" shows up in the game. I mean, yeah technically it's an indicator that the next stage is coming, but the more you think about it...
Maybe it's some obscure sign or vestige of the hunter's fragile mind reminding him that his day-to-day routine is not what it seems and how warped his conception of reality is.
Like a dream... or a nightmare...
YOU ARE SLEEPING.
the fact that “you are sleeping” is so small compared to the squirrel just In Your Face makes me think they’re so consumed by squirrels that all they can see is a giant squirrel jpeg
I agree. There’s something very uncanny about how game tells you that “YOU ARE SLEEPING”, as if that’s novel information.
The game calls itself a small game hunting sim, but I think the best label is Absurdist horror. When I first played through, at the end I ran around in front of my house frantically demanding god come out and face me. Like I became the character of this mad hunter in the woods
What makes this ending great, i think, is that you either feel as though god will be another target, or it flips the anticipation of the hunt around, making you a prey item that must run and find shelter before you’re caught by god.
Something great about the ending is that god doesn’t appear as soon as the countdown reaches 0, it gives you a moment to register that God is here, and then he appears behind you, only cutting to black when you turn to face him
FAITH did the jumpscare thing pretty well too. I remember being very startled everytime when micheal came on screen. The atmosphere of the forest was just really unsettling. Just walking around the forest endlessly looping was just weird and then even the smallest thing would startle me
8:52 I love how the sound of commiting sins is just a noisy printer.
Is it me or I also heard a Squirting sound
@PastaBuckman64-p7b it was really satisfying to print fake money
@@PastaBuckman64-p7b it's a very satisfying feeling once you've finally completed it
the ending sequence of squirrel stapler has to be one of my favorite pieces of horror media. i actually had no idea szymanski was behind both this and iron lung though!
The thing that I love about squirrel stapler, is that they give you a whole 5 day advance. And when you first see it, you may chuckle a little bit. Walking past the message 4 more times.
But when you reach day 5, and it says that God is coming today, you feel off. And when you finally kill that final squirrel, when you finally place the straw to break the camels back, your met with a timer.
God is coming.
_In two minutes._
For the first minute, it is silent. You run back to the house, but you are only met with
_I must meet god._
You don't hear any squirrels. The forest silent until the silence is broken by a horrific choir, singing in a unfathomablely uncanny pitch repeating 3 words.
_God is coming._
The angels choir growing louder and louder, becoming more and more warped. You grab ammo. You grab health.
_then the clock hits zero._
*God is here.*
You turn left and right, you can't see him, the choir now screaming into your ears, over and over!
Then, in your frantic search, you turn and finally meet God.
Then nothingness.
So cool
The chilling realisation that the chanting at the end of Day 5 is not gibberish made the final scene so much more terrifying.
I deeply appreciate you making a point of mentioning your attachment to the radio tower and then working it into the finale as your final bastion of comfort. That's solid storytelling flow.
I think the thing that makes me more nervous (apart of stapling squirrels to her corpse of a wife) is the "Committing sins" cabin since...we don't know what is the hunter is doing there...
this sounds like a job for matpat lol
'Commiting sins' is pretty self explanatory, innit?
@@hodor4904 it could be anything from mutilation to eating meat on friday
so we still don't know what the hell he's actually doing in that shed
@@spaceacepl4636 judging by the noises, he's committing tax evasion
@@ExValeFor of course
the tax fraud jokes
It’s one of the few games that gets me freaked out just thinking about it. Even as funny and absurd as it is, I’ll never get over that “God is coming” sequence or the parts where the Wife appears outside the house. I remember one night I was honestly scared to get out of bed because I kept thinking about those parts. Definitely a great game though, David is super talented as both a game dev and storyteller.
"Take things slowly"
I was high off of energy drinks 24/7 once I found a path to interconnect the three points of them I found. I treated this game like Doom at the end.
I feel like any horror game where you play as a “antagonist” is gonna be more disturbing than the rest.
David is one of my favorite devs because he gets deranged ideas for games and then just creates them. It's so good.
Powerpak always having the best taste in games
Out of the ordinary, I mean.
man, this is a great analysis! i’ve been wondering if anyone had covered this game yet- it’s so uncanny and unsettling which really adds to the atmosphere, and awesome video, as always
The final bit of that game is so disgustingly tense. I knew what was coming and it still put me wildly on edge.
“You are sleeping “ absolutely floored me
7:05 “your nerves are wound up so that tight you could play them like a violin” WHY IS THE WRITING SO GOOD ON A VIDEO ABOUT THIS GAME OF ALL GAMES
The tools a game gives you sets the expectation for how the player is meant to interact with them.
Squirrel Stapler day 1 gives you a health bar, and a slow-firing weapon that you must manually cycle.
JUMPSCARE #1 AT 10:46
Wait, only one? I expected more from it, What a relief!
ok
It’s the ambush before a pounce, that is the preparation for a jumpscare.
Ik u thought that sounded deep but it makes no sense my dude ?
Always good to hear someone understanding how a good jumpscares work. Fnaf is another good example. It's a punishment for losing to have that high alert stress and fear forced out of you via jumpscare. For 5 bucks back in the day that was some quality jumpscare. Horror elitism can get pretty annoying so it's nice to hear different.
Just letting you know how much I appreciate your editing that lets us all experience the full range of emotions in all of these games for ourselves
The fact that you made a reference to Markiplier's Iron Lung movie the day after a movie about that Titan "submersible" was announced...
David Szymanski and everything surrounding him has been cursed, I'm certain of it 😬
a fucking movie,
what the fuck.......
even david symanski was concerned when iron lung sales increased just after the event
and he was profiting from it and is a memester,
wow this is genuinely kinda disgusting,
who gave them the right's to do this anyway's.
The final part with the 2 minute timer gave me an actual mini panic attack
The way that the singing gets slowly louder and louder and slighly out of tune makes my skin crawl
im so glad myhouse introduced me to your videos because they're just such a joy and so interesting. please keep up the wonderful work!!!
Jibanyan
Ah, Squirrel Stapler. What a blast from the past this was.
Also, if anyone ever read the "Section 8" comic strip, I'm pretty sure the protagonist is Dogwelder.
David apparently recently had a child, can you imagine them being asked what their dad does for a living and telling that person about this?
David's wife being like "would you still love me if I were a squirrel"
I played Dread X Collection: The Hunt recently, and it had a great reference about this game when you listened to the radio in story mode. There was this dude that listened to callers from around the world and after some time he received a call from the wife of the main protagonist from Squirrel Stapler, at first it's not that noticable, she talks about his husband hunting squirrels but later says about him stapling them to her and that he made the god angry. It's a nice easter egg, but now I wonder if at least some of these games from Dread X Collection are from the same universe the actual story of the main game is. I'm pretty sure that wasn't the only game referenced in the radio from these series, but I don't remember which one was also mentioned there.
Great video, dude! The way you narrates the events suit the game itself so well!
Bit of a stretch here but at 4:52 Im pretty sure is a reference to Part 7 Steel Ball Run of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, a place called "The Devil's Palm" which is a lot bigger than the formation you see here but it has a similar rock formation, that being in the shape of fingers sticking out like a hand, inside the Devil's Palm you basically could die if you're not "worthy" and in videogame depictions, you slowly die, losing health
again, it's a stretch so it may not be referencing anything, just a hunch
So squirrel stapler is a fucking jojo reference
You're extremely good at narration and creating tension with editing/pacing
This is my first time watching Power Pak, but the sheer randomness and funny mood of this guy made me stay through the whole video, which is really rare for me.
This seems like a game Meatwad would be playing in AQTH, until Frylock tries it out once and then deletes it from the computer after telling Meatwad to play something less weird.
The uses of the soundtracks of dusk and iron lung is a great detail which adds to the videos atmosphere!
If your channel doesn't pop off soon, I'm going to eat my hat. This is awesome. Keep up the great work
Wife jumpscare at 15:00 scared the crap out of me- but this game is actually kinda interesting- in a weird way? It’s like the weirdness of it makes it interesting to want to experience if that makes sense.
When the wife appeared behind me I was like “Hello honey! Pleasure to see you!”
You cover games in such an engaging and immersive way. So glad I found your channel!!
the little stapling at the end was just too cute
Your explorations into these weird and wonderful games are so enthralling and a joy to watch. I really hope you keep finding these gems and creating these videos!
I love how you edit. Just the lil intro is great, showing the differences in the 3 David Szymanski games with the music and sound.
the way you make videos about video games and the content within, it feels fresh. I want to keep on watching these videos, I dont just want to finish them so that i can pass time. Keep up the good work.
0:27 And chop goblins, and co-developer of gloomwood
He's been busy, bless his soul
You running to the radio tower with the timer counting down + the cacophony of “GOD IS COMING!” music honestly made that sequence
Very enjoyable video and great commentary. Especially loved the joke at the end at 24:25. Did not expect that at all xD
I watched this last night at 3 AM alone in the dark and it genuinely terrified me like nothing else has in my life. I still dont understand why
Power Pak reviewing squirrel stapler makes me so happy, the only reason i know this game is bc of your iron lung vid man
Housebound, my beloved!
Props to your beautiful cat for putting up with those staples!
Just here to say I appreciate raw audacity of the pun in the title, well done. 🐿
Signalis video next?!? LETS FUCKING GO IM SO HYPED
I just want to say I really like how you explained everything to the audience about how horror should and shouldn't be done. You are so correct and everything you said I 100 percent agreed with and it even resonated with me. You have a great way of explaining this I don't think someone could make a more perfect walkthrough to this game. Good job
Power Pak, I have never seen a better game or topic documenter. Thank you for making these MASTERPIECES of narrative joy.
The greatest sin here was that you reminded me of one thing. I payed to go see Meet the Spartans as a teenager.
I feel your pain.
It's "paid"
"Payed" is for painting ships
I love how much your voice fits the vibe of this game like “‘give me your skin’… huh… that’s probably fine”
"Committing sins" is one of those rare situations where telling is better than showing... we're just left to speculate about what specifically that means and that just makes it more disturbing. 🤣
I love a video like this where I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.
This man's videos always inspire me to write. He's got such an extraordinary way with words
The low quality image of a squirrel that popped up as the dreaming image had me on the fucking FLOOR
fantastic video! had to watch it scrolled down so that only the captions were visible (because otherwise paranoia will do bad things to my day-to day life), but i just wanted to say you're a really good, enthralling youtuber! :)
squirrel stapler
Squirrel Stapler indeed
agreeable
Damn
Yeah
So true
Just hear it was the dev of disk and go “oooooooohhhhhhh it all makes sense”