If nothing else, it really goes to show how almost every single creator that's played Little Hope has always stated something along the lines of 'I was so invested until the end twist'. The idea of mistakes and curses following you through reincarnation is interesting in itself, and could have been the basis for some really interesting moments. This was a story that didn't need a twist, but Supermassive has desperately been trying to recreate Until Dawn, so. Big 'twist'. In stories like Jacob's Ladder, that twist makes sense because everything else is so out of order and dream-like that you can buy it without being mad about it.
I honestly believe Little Hope is a brilliant litmus test for what people like about horror as a genre, there’s so many interesting components that almost everyone who plays it will extrapolate at least a few things they had some interest in. For me the issue is in the execution, I agree with your other comment about the twist needing more fleshing out, the narrative should be built around it, not derailed by it.
@RatatTalks Same here. I like the twist, and I think it was indeed seeded well, but it was two different stories haphazardly intermingled. A narrative fetus in fetu.
@@RatatTalksyou've convinced me Little Hope was worth something. Because I HATED it. I loved the monster design and recursive story until the twist, which literally angered me so much it made me drop supermassive as a studio. I do not touch their games anymore. From what I can tell... I feel horror has to be a balance of consequences and redemption. It has to be mostly real. Someone has to die, but not everyone. Someone has to make it out to learn from the experience. I want hope at the end. I think, besides the twist not being well foreshadowed, it knee cuts the experience for me. Most of the growth and experience meant so little.
@@RatatTalksApparently it’s a cheat code to talk about video games in a narrative context instead of violence/etc because people act like you’re talking about the future
@@5h4d0w5l1f3 sometimes, absolutely! Other times, the pitch requires explaining multiple times how video games can have story, in general, which can be fun in its own right
I fully believe if you're gonna do a 'twist' like this, it NEEDS to be revealed in some fashion halfway through the story, or at the very least made clear that that's what's going on. Man of Medan actually did this well, as it's made clear that there's some strange issues in people's perception, and when the player characters meet back up halfway through the game, they can figure this out.
You should definitely at least be ABLE to figure out the twist with narrative clues (not like the card thing mentioned in the other reply as that's an aside not actually part of the story itself.) I think people forget that Silent Hill 2 still has an entire leg after the twist that deals with the implications of that twist. It's very hard to make a twist feel like it matters if it doesn't get explored in any way after it's revealed.
@@andycic.544 I was suspecting before then, the card thing was kinda the nail in the coffin. I remember thinking "oh no that is where they're going with it." Really enjoyed the silent hill vibes the game had overall though.
yeah, I think Man of Medan did its twist way more effectively. Little Hope was so confusing, the mechanics are confusing, you don't understand what the game really wants of you or is asking of you. It had a good idea, it just did not execute the idea very well at all. It's kind of frustrating. The twist ends up coming across as if none of your choices mattered, rather than the intend twist making you feel like Anthony worked through his trauma in some way.
@@andycic.544yeah that's exactly what Little Hope did not get right, you don't feel like Anthony gains anything at the end no matter what end you get because it cuts off at the twist, rather than letting you explore what the twist actually means to his future or even his past really.
The actual premise was so fucking cool and then they revealed the final twist XD A constant loop of misery where this town always brings back the reincarnations of its past residents to kill them all over again is such a cool idea
...but that's exactly what happened, just not in terms of physical bodies. The Curator talks about the "souls" you lost if your family members die. Anthony either helps them find redemption and peace, or they continue being tormented by the town.
I'd say my distaste for Little Hope's ending comes down to two things; one is the circumstance of the game's release, where it's hard to ignore this being the second consecutive game in the anthology to reveal its monsters were imagined. The other (and imo, bigger) issue is a thematic one, which is that I don't think the weight placed on "redeeming" the family's personality flaws makes a lot of sense for the story Supermassive was trying to tell. Like... for all the narrative's focus on Andrew forgiving Megan for the fire, he sure has a hard time absolving the rest of his family for what are ultimately mundane shortcomings as people. On paper, I understand the locked trait mechanic is supposed to represent Andrew's resentment over unresolved tensions in his family, but making them the final determining factor in each character's survival was a questionable choice. Maybe I'd feel differently if the final check to decide if someone's personal demons kill them happened BEFORE you decided on whether or not you'd accuse Mary. That way you'd at least be able to frame it as Andrew seeing too many flaws in his late family to think they'd be able to forgive Megan like he has. Instead what we get is a scenario where Andrew can make peace with the memory of a sister who caused his family's deaths, then immediately condemn his mother for being too irritable and his brother for being too indecisive. It undercuts Andrew's trauma with a weird, selective pettiness that I don't think was intended.
This is a great take and I agree, it feels really petty to implement a gameplay mechanic that basically has Anthony say ‘sorry mum you were too cautious so you deserve to die three horrible deaths’ Like come on man, it’s so restrictive.
@@RatatTalks I completely agree with everything you said. For me the ending literally completely ruined it. Instead of there being real witches or real people stranded and instead of there being this really interesting story. They pulled the "it was all a dream" " twist". And I genuinely despise any story with the it was all a dream, they were in a coma the whole time, they were just mentally ill ending. It literally makes the whole previous story totally meaningless. This could have been such a good story it could have been such a good and unique game. It's such a good idea for a horror game! And it's wasted on this. I was literally so angry at the ending because there really was so much potential. He might as well have just woken up in bed at the end and been like that was a weird dream shouldn't eat cheese before bed line 🙄
I thought for sure it was a family curse and they’re doomed to always face the same painful death and when you’re playing is when you try to break the cycle. BUT NOPE
If I had to guess, I'd say Anthony making Taylor and Daniel date is less about him disliking Vince, and more about the fact that Tanya was planning to run off with him. He wants to keep his family together and whole so he literally has her keep her dating life in the family instead, so he won't have to imagine her leaving.
This is a brilliant take and one I’m upset I didn’t reach, it makes way more sense than anything I posited. Thanks for the comment, I wish I’d said this myself lol
@@RatatTalks Taylor being a character that doesnt do anything reads to me as Anthony reframing Tanya's actions in his head to make her into someone that wouldn't actually leave them. Taylor's arguments with the group are pretty toothless, she usually concedes or doesnt really mean it and is just arguing for the sake of it. But Tanya actually meant it. I wish she'd had more interaction with Andrew to resolve that. Theres so much set up for him having to accept that the real Tanya wanted to leave, and he cant overwrite that. It could have tied in well to him having to let them *all* go.
I thought it was due to the conversation he has with Daniel in the beginning where it's implied Daniel has a crush on her. So later, he has them dating as a way of giving his adopted brother his heart's desire.
Something I want to mention is that in the "Everyone Dies, Carver is Accused" ending, if Anthony attempts to end his own misery, Melissa (yes, that's the name of the girl in red) will stop him from going through with it, only to transform into Megan after the illusion is broken. You could interpret this as the actual spirit of Megan reaching out to save Anthony from himself. This would mean she's also the only supernatural presence in this game aside from the Curator.
That is very interesting, but she's not the only supernatural presence at all. The Curator refers to any family members who are swallowed by the town as souls that Anthony lost. Those ARE his family members--they're just not alive. They're trapped in the town, in need of help, and no one but him can see them.
When I played Men of Medan I was like "Oh, this wasn't supernatural, I like it" and then I played Little Hope and thought "Are they afraid of making supernatural games now?"
48:00 "No one would really care if I made this video twice as long to analyze John's actions," he says, to his audience buckled in for a feature length movie about analyzing the characters of Little Hope. 🤨
Feature length movie about the entire thing vs Lord of The Rings directors cut length glazing of a middle aged alcoholic would be slightly different I fear
@@RatatTalks the only thing to fear is fear itself. We'd love a director's cut of any video. (I'm one of many who watched that one guy's 7-8hr long FNAF analysis)
My minor twist ending tweak - if they had to have Anthony be the only survivor in the present, have the others be ghosts that possess his body to interact with stuff. But also, don't cop out on the ending in the first place.
I am currently watching two of my friends play Little Hope blind for the first time and there is something very sad about seeing them theorize about time travel and other options for what could be happening. Recently, they lost the younger woman and I had to hold my tongue from telling them it made no difference for their theory, that to save the people from "the past" they needed to keep the present ones alive ;(
I felt similar playing this multiplayer with someone who hadn’t played before when working on this video. They had so many ideas and theories, and were so upset to lose characters. It broke my heart when they realised it didn’t matter in the end.
@@thefairybug40 is it worse to still enjoy the rest of the game before the ending, or to already have the experience soured? bad endings should not be spoiled imo
@@takimi_nada How much of their finite time are they obligated to waste in the name of preserving the experience, when the outcome will be the same? Give them the choice to reclaim their time, I say.
@@thefairybug40 That is absolutely the stupid thing to do. This ending can only be disappointing if you didn't pay enough attention to understand it. But it doesn't mean that the people you watch play will not. If they will, they will actually enjoy it, and your comment just will low their expectations for no reason.
I think what annoyed me about this game was that you could make objectively good decisions and they could be the "wrong" one. Like being cautious in a strange situation could result in a locked trait of "indecisiveness" or whatever, even when the option as described does not convey that the character is being indecisive, e.g., "Maybe we should see if there are other paths before trying to cross a destroyed bridge" or something like that, might be chosen by a player because it is a rational thing to try and because the other option is "let's push ahead and try to cross this bridge when we have no reason to think it is the best path". But then bam, you're "indecisive" and if you don't address that, this guy will die in the final scene with no chance to save him. (This is a hypothetical example, I do not remember the details enough to be more specific). Because the game relies so heavily on not giving away the "twist", the player doesn't have enough context to know what decisions they are even making. I thought I was trying to physically save people from a supernatural threat, and would have acted differently if I thought my goal was to make them face their demons (or Andrew's interpretation of their demons) or whatever. I know that's part of the point, that you aren't supposed to know everything because it's meant to be a challenge to assess which choice is best, and then you can replay and do better, but the rest of the game wasn't good enough to motivate me to do that. I found the twist uninspired as-is, I didn't like most of the characters very much, and the narrative stuff I found most interesting no longer mattered to me once I found out it wasn't "real". Some of it is down to taste - I like my spooky stuff to have actual spooky stuff in it (imagine how annoyed I was when two Dark Pictures games in a row had no actual supernatural elements) and I was more invested in Mary's whole situation than whatever else was happening - but I think they did miss the mark a bit with this one. It's the only one I haven't replayed.
The locked traits system is pretty awful, it pigeonholes you into playing a very specific way in an already highly linear game. I agree strongly with that. I didn’t talk about this in the video because it was outside of the scope of an already bloated script, but yeah you’re entirely right there.
this is EXACTLY why I was so mad. they changed the entire rules and goal without telling you, so you can’t properly play the story, and with the twist, you a) don’t want to replay and b) since the decisions don’t intersect with other characters there’s basically lile 5 decisions in the game that actually matter, so you don’t have to bother to replay at all. LH is baffling to me. What were they thinking?
A tiny correction, but i was obsessed with witch trials a few years back and its a personal pet peeve: there is very little evidence that the salem witch trials were caused in any way by ergotism. It seems to be a very convenient way to explain away human cruelty and ignores the broader context of the European witch trials and why they happened. It's a complex topic, but there was very rarely a singular reason or cause for any of the witch trials. Ramble over, anyway I'm loving the videos on supermassives games!
I didn’t mean to imply it was a cause of the Salem trials, I was talking more about the European trials such as those in the HRE. That’s my bad for not clarifying though!
38:20 "In a dream I saw my mother with the love of her life and no children. It was the happiest I'd ever seen her" - The Sun and Her Flowers, Rapi Kaur.
The twist of little hope was so disappointing. If it wasn't for the ending, I would consider little hope one of the best games from supermassive. If not THE BEST dark pictures games. The journey with the characters goes from all of them being pretty unlikeable to likeable and me wanting them all to survive (at least in my initial first playthrough). Only Angela survived with Andrew my first playthrough, as I did not know about the destined deaths if certain choices aren't made early on. The salt in the wound though was realizing nothing mattered, none of the characters were real. I was very invested in the four characters aside from Andrew, especially John and Angela, but we can't have an ending where only John survives or only Angela survives, there's no point in having everyone survive. Ultimately nothing really matters except for having the fire arm and deciding whether or not to fire at Vince. I can't believe how hard they fumbled with this. If they rereleased this game but changed the story where it wasn't just in Anthony's head and Mary WAS an actual spirit demon or whatever, just a polish on the story and concept, then it could be great. I would play a revamped version of this game again, but as is, it's awful. The worst supermassive game hands down.
I had the exact same first experience, Angela and Anthony only, got the police ending. I felt pretty disappointed in the twist, and though I’ve since came to believe that other issues are what put me off the game for the most part, that initial disappointment, that hollow feeling that nothing mattered, was tangible and I get you completely.
@@RatatTalksthat exact same ending is the one i experienced for the first time, and even though I've come around liking the twist after thinking about it some more (even though i agree it's not perfect), i hated it because of the way it got revealed in that ending. this wouldn't change any of the problems the writing of the whole story had, but one thing that confuses me about that ending (and others like it) is the possibility of Anthony getting arrested if he pissed Vince off. Like, the rest of the elements in each ending are supposed to represent something about Anthony's journey throughout the story, whether he forgave himself for his family's death or not, but if you picked the wrong options back at the church, you just get the cops called on you and that overrides your ending. Wow. It really just feels like a consequence for the sake of a consequence and not cuz it adds anything to the ending.
It still matters because it happened. In his head but it happened. If they didn't do basically the same twist 2x in a row it wouldn't get as much hate. The gameplay was a step up. Most of the characters are likable after a while. The town and atmosphere is probably my favorite from all the games. Idk how they went from this. To the goat of them House of ashes. Then we got Devil in me and it downgraded in graphics , choices, it was janky AF, the setting was boring. Yeah you can run and stuff finally but they downgraded. Can't wait for the new space one. Frank Stone was fun. The new one looks super cool. I hope you can actually sprint instead of jog though. Harder qte and less linear
@@XvKJP2015 i think Devil in me is the best of the four, Little Hope would've been had it not been for the twist. If they wanted to make this twist, they shouldn't have had it in this kind of game where the big appeal. In my opinion, is based on anyone can either live or die and everything in between. John is not a real character so it does not matter if he lives or dies, TO ME. It matters to Anthony but I don't care about Anthony. I wasted 4+ hours on a self therapy session.
From my impressions of watching people play, Man of Medan made people unsure if any of these games would be more than just basic kind of good, and Little Hope made people distrust any future supernatural occurrences, making them hesitate to get invested in early House of Ashes I really like your idea of letting people in on the twist early on if they're engaging with the story, and I really like your rewrite! Gotta throw that on AO3 lol I've really only thought Deep Thoughts about Until Dawn, so I'm really enjoying your perspectives on these games as well
It's a damn shame these first stumbles put people off of House of Ashes, my video on it is going to be the most positive review I think I'm ever going to give this studio, unless they really surprise me with season 2.
I remember watching gameplays of little hope and being surprised at how disliked Angela was because she was honestly my favorite character. Even if she was relatively unkind I liked that she was outspoken about her opinions, that she felt very grounded in her worries and complaints. I also liked the connection she had with Daniel, I felt it was very sweet in it’s own way
12:44 unrelated but god i would LOVE that kind of game. my favorite genre of game is "usually mundane gameplay but set in an unexpected setting", and my second favorite is "this isnt a horror game but it does have a lot of elements that make me want to call it a horror game".
Omg, Karat I can’t imagine the effort that goes into your branched-out, thorough video essays and I am so thankful for this Little Hope one as I was excitedly anticipating it!! Thank you for your efforts!!
I had your The Quarry vid on my "to watch" list for about 3 weeks and I regret it took me that long to finally watch it. I just watched your The Quarry,Man of Medan,Little Hope and Until Dawn videos in one session and I really love your content. I love watching you find the smallest details and connecting them to certain characters and creating bigger picture for them, the background music is great too. Just wanted to let you know that you're good at what you're doing and it's very enjoyable to watch. Lots of love
I severely dislike Little Hope because it's SO close to being great and just drops everything at the end. It's intrigueing and tense, the narrative just pulls you in. And then the ending takes pretty much all of it away. All that fun and intrigue just feels bitter after that. And I truly think the ending could have worked with some twists. They laid some good hints. I thought it would be revealed that they got cursed or somehow stuck in a limbo of reliving the same tragedy as different people and it was your job to resolve their grief and betrayal and end the cycle and the others would be revealed as ghosts who needed to be released. Returning to Little Hope could've triggered the spirits into creating this false reality, melded their different reincarnations, and made those monsters to torture these souls further. Depending on your choices, the family is free to move on from this cycle and Andrew can live the rest of life knowing his family can properly rest.
I agree so much here, it's a different kind of frustration when something is so close to being good. I'd honestly rather just hate it, but I'm stuck wanting to love it, it's complicated.
I think one thing about taylor and vince that you forgot is that they CAN interact. But it’s only in the curators cut. They have multiple interactions too, one of which directly impacting anthony’s ending. She can talk to him in the bar, since you play as her. And she can warn him at the church, which stops anthony getting arrested at the end.
I played this game numerous times, several in creators cut, and no interaction seemed developed enough to warrant an inclusion. That said, it’s highly likely I missed something, and if it does impact the ending than I suppose that’s something.
@@RatatTalks yeah for sure, its not much! But i do think it makes sense, the curators cut is the only time we really get to see tanyas interaction with him aswell
Either way thanks for the comment, I wrote my initial reply whilst on a break at work so reading it back I feel like I came off really dismissive, even though this is legitimately helpful information in shaping my understanding of this game lol Thanks!
Yeah, they’re definitely an over-represented minority within stories about witchcraft, not to say men weren’t targeted, but a few more femme stories would be nice. I’ve kind of tried to remedy this in my reimagining, but of course I’m no expert on the female experience.
@@Manakuuchiha make it seem like they think women actually were witches or something. makes me wonder why this seems to be the case so often. sometimes even going so far as to show the accused witches of actually being real witches... idk man it feels bad.
@@jungtothehuimang i get what you mean, it almost feels like they're trying to justify what happened to them and validate the backwards ways of thinking that killed them. It downplays all the ways women have almost always been demonized for not acting the part of submissive piece of property that sadly too many men still hold tightly to, some without even realizing it.
You guys shouldn't forget that all supermassive games are meant to be horror parodies and are written around those dated tropes. Sometimes it's subversive sometimes it falls flat but I'm pretty sure they were aware of those biases when writing their games.
Little Hope made me so angry. Like irrationally angry lol They had a fantastic reincarnation story. Not every story needs a plot twist. I had a similar experience with Martha Is Dead. The last plot twist was so uncalled for and badly done that I relived my Little Hope fit lmao.
omg ur ghost town architect idea is so good,, it needs a like... spectrum where either u are a good guy building stuff that helps the ppl passing thru avoid the monsters, or building things that will corral them into the monsters' jaws
I can't wait for your House of Ashes video. To be entirely honest with you I only played HoA and The Devil in Me. While I loved the mixture of SAW and your typical Slasher, the story of Sherman, etc, HoA's placing in the Iraq War just does something for me that the rest don't, Salim especially is a great character.
Your rewriting of this game is fantastic and just what was needed! I feel like the original game was also severely lacking reference to the 1970s chapter, and wondered what you thought about including potential flashbacks to these scenes as well? I think it would’ve highlighted the cyclical nature of this trauma, and how characters like Taylor/Tanya are consistently punished for being outsiders. Similarly, it would have been cool to expand on Tanya’s paganism and potentially link it to the satanic panic, leading the people of Little Hope to believe that Tanya started the fire herself. Your video made me realise just how rich the 1970s plot line is, and just how limited it is in the game. I cannot WAIT to see your video on House of Ashes, if you’re planning to make one. It was by far my favourite game in the series.
House of Ashes video is definitely on the cards, been a while since I've done a script where I don't have to really criticise and can just glaze a game.
I went into Little Hope with higj expectations that the writers had learned something from the reception to Medan's lackluster/meaningless endings, only to be even more disappointed. Little Hope is easily the worst in the series for me because I've never felt more frustrated at a Dark Pictures ending before and since.
It really feels like a doubling down on some bad ideas when you consider how badly Man of Medan was received for the cop out ending. There’s a concept in Shauns Harry Potter video he brings up called the ‘two book delay’, where JK Rowling would always respond to criticism two instalments down the line. Supermassive definitely do this with their games, they take things that people disliked and do away with it two games down the line. Little Hope fixes a lot of gameplay issues from Until Dawn, House of Ashes feels a lot like a correction for Man of Medan. Recently the Casting of Frank Stone has done stuff like add a proper running animation which I think is a response to the crappy sped up walking in The Quarry, which was admittedly only one game before but it came out quite a bit before.
@@RatatTalks Agreed with all of this. It's such a shame that the very last minute is what ruins what should be the incentive to play again and try to understand what you've missed from an engaging build-up. The payoff isn't always worth the mystery, sadly. Like you said, the game would benefit a lot from cluing the audience in little by little and let us decide how we feel prior to the true reveal. I would love endings where we can play as the true Anthony and choose between reconciling with his past or plunge him into madness for good. As is, the game doesn't let the players digest what just happened.
I think perhaps the biggest issue with this game is that it has a central character but it doesn’t put him at the center at all. It kind of centers John, who is not real. If the entire narrative took place either directly from Anthony/Andrew’s perspective, or at least only from the perspective of characters who are in Andrew’s current party, then it would help to tighten the focus of the game where it belongs and the twist at the end would feel less hollow. Because then it would feel like an earnest character exploration and not a “but then it was allllll a dream” type of do-nothing story. As-is, the other character’s potential arcs don’t feel like they’re connected enough to Andrew’s to justify the ending
Hey ! This video came up in my feed and I looked down while I was watching and had to do a double take. I'm the artist who made your profile picture. Definitely didn't expect to see my art out in the wild ^^
Holy shit that’s insane, I found it posted on a forum without any credit so took it from there after looking for the original without much luck. The signature/watermark wasn’t very clear. Please give me all your preferred socials so I can credit in my channel description, or I’ll remove it it’s not cool with you.
FINALLY! SOMEONE WHO I AGREE WITH ABOUT THIS DAMN GAME!! I love the idea of Little Hope, but as someone who struggles with deleting thoughts and has attempted in the past, the bad ends really triggered me. It's like they might as well have said "it was all a dream". I've had my fair share of ideas for rewrites of this game. I really loved the idea that the town was the epicenter of black magic via the pastor. Like maybe the killing of the family allowed him to live forever and he had to bring them back to the town and kill their reincarnations in order to keep his power and immortality. And the game takes place on like the 300th anniversary of the final killings that completed the dark magic spell. This allows all the time jumping to happen. And Abraham calling out the priest in the end and saving himself and Mary broke the cycle. We get a glimpse of the him and his book burning before Anthony wakes up in modern times. Little Hope is completely different because of this. The town is still thriving, the family is alive and well. Like all the characters meet up for like a birthday party and mention some weird dream they had and find out they all had the same dream. I like the idea of Vince being the begrudging helper because Taylor looks like Tanya and then we find out that technically, she is Tanya. Maybe his little poppets are like a determination of a good or bad end. Like we get the choice to destroy them or leave an offering. If we do the good options, in the final show down, Vince buys Anthony time to hop to the past one last time to change things. So that's my rewrite. I really love your version of it! I would have the good ending of yours have Tanya run out of the house after the flood of memories and be greeted by a morose and warry Vince. We see he smile and say his name, but then she looks guilty and turns to look back through the window. She sees her family as they were in the 70's, but they're happy and waving as they fade away in a bit of light, symbolizing that they were able to move on. We then turn back and it's now modern day Tanya standing there. We see Megan grab Tanya's hand and bring her over to Vince. And maybe Megan does that little sibling push to Tanya, causing her to fall into Vince's arms. This would symbolize that Megan wants her to be ok and move on just like the family is.
I really like your proposed ending for my rewrite, it taps into the emotional core I was going for. I also like your more supernatural take, tying into berserk-esque ideas about rituals and cycles, it places a lot of emphasis on timelines and reoccurring events and I feel that’s a really interesting way to explore a game that centers across numerous times. I totally get you with wanting to connect with a character who suffers from the kinds of thoughts Anthony does, and how hollow it can feel. Probably more than I want to admit.
@@RatatTalks Thank you! It really did feel hollow for what they actually did with Anthony. I remember the first time I watched a play through of the game. I cried so much at that bad end. It made me realize I was crying for myself and all the shitty things that caused me to have those terrible thoughts and attempts. It felt like an actual gut punch, but not a good one. I could be ok with that kind of ending, but would have to be written a whole hell of a lot better than it was. Though, I did like the version where Megan stops him. But still. Thanks for reading my ramblings!
I remember REALLY enjoying this game up until the final twist. Like, I get what they were going for, thematically, but it just didn't really...do anything for me? It felt more like an "it was all a dream" ending to me more than an exploration of grief and forgiveness. I feel like there were so many different ways they could have explored those concepts, and instead I came out feeling mildly disappointed. And it sucks, because I genuinely like Will Poulter as an actor, I love stories that explore grief, I love supernatural stuff, and the horror in this game was top notch (for me, anyway, I'm a big baby when it comes to horror).
Little Hope revealing the twist somewhat early would be really solid, then we could dive into ideas such as how his "group" is helping him in the present with things like boosting somebody up using their shoulders. I think keeping the twist that surface level was a missed opportunity for sure, we could have used it as an interesting power piece towards a much more complex narrative.
Yeah, as it stands it exists purely for shock value at the end, whilst I feel it could've been better served as a building block in the narrative. Your ideas about the twist being subverted in gameplay by having things that are impossible to achieve by one person be done would be really interesting.
Absolutely loved the analysis and rewrite! Little Hope is the one DP game I feel the most conflicted about, likely because I never got to truly experience it: I just joined a discord call one day as my friends were wrapping it up and I got the twist spoiled. Thus I have a hard time judging the game from the perspective of caring for the characters the way I do in the other games, because I knew from the start that there was nothing to speculate about. The same can be argued for all games in the series, but the twist in LH so fundamentally undermines all previous intrigue, having MoM, HoA and TDIM spoiled would still make me want to know the story of how they got into their situation, how they figure it out, and how they get out of it alive. This video made me appreciate what the game was going for a lot more, and while I've always hated the twist on basis of it being what it is, I think you argue well for it potentially working if properly hinted at early on. The rewrite of Tanya as the protagonist is also a good step in the right direction, but personally I think taking it a step further and having all the "spirits" actually be present and gain a sense of redemption would make working for it feel more rewarding than a story a lone character makes up in their head, perhaps the wiccan rituals Tanya partook in and the deaths of the housefire bound all the spirits together, with Andrew's joining them through guilt despite his death occuring in a different location. Then again, the whole "they're already dead and your individual actions won't save them" clashes with what I want out of these games, and LH as a story might not be salvageble without it and simply not be a game for me, which is fine. Regardless, you gave me a better understanding for the themes and I am very grateful for that, and also happy to know I wasn't the only one disappointed by half of the cast not being fully developed/having no real impact on the story.
Ahh that first experience sucks, you missed the fun part and went straight to the controversial bit hahah Thanks for the comment, I agree the characters should all be more present. I aimed for this with things like allowing Andrew agency to confront his own abuser, but like I say my rewrite isn't the gospel truth way to fix the game. The main thing I wanted was to have the characters actually do things that relate to the themes rather than breaking off from the group and just kind of hang around the store. Comments like this serve to build on it and I really appreciate it!
While it is their worst entry, I do think they have only improved since this game and there are still some interesting bits in it. Great video as always!
I also did a video on this. I'm of the opinion that the game tricks players in a completely different way than they think - the game appears to not be supernatural, but it actually is.
A cursory look at your channel shows you have impeccable taste in games, if you link your Little Hope video I’d be happy to watch it when I have time. Always happy to hear other opinions.
This was the analysis I was looking forward to the most! (This is comment is gonna have some heavy self-projection) As a pretty big defender of Little Hope, I was one of the people that was heavily impacted by the twist despite it being somewhat obvious. Most of my appreciation for the game comes from interpreting the narrative as a look into grief through a lack of agency. For a choice based game a surprising amount of your decisions in Little Hope don't actually matter and seemingly small convos seem to determine the ending. While I can understand how that might feel frustrating to an audience that was promised a Until Dawn-like experience, imo, it only serves to highlight Anthony's feelings of inadequete control over his life. The hopelessness (haha) and lack of agency applies to almost every character in the game (with Daniel/Dennis as the exception as he feels like a weird amalgamation that reflects the general dysfunction of the family): Tanya's agency is compromised through expectations put on her as a woman, Angela's agency is compromised due to her role as a homemaker, James' agency is compromised by the rich and (while this is only one of the many interpretations of her relationship with the priest/reverend) Megan's agency is compromised by the priest who is implied to SA her. In a way, the main plot is just Anthony experiencing elaborate hallucinations in a wishful attempt to recreate and have control over the tragedy that transpired while the witch-plot is Anthony attempting to put the blame of the downfall of the family on Megan (the black sheep) to absolve himself from his survivors guilt. Ironically though, Anthony's attempt at having control over the tragedy actively robs his family of their own via the alteration of crucial parts their personality. It's probably why I don't feel so off-put by Anthony's "passiveness" in the story since I read it as him putting his energy into creating a functional family dynamic where he gets to just exist. Grief can be all-consuming and make you feel like you're just drifting through life instead of making choices (the antithesis of a choice based game) so the fact that the ending of the game focuses on accepting the grief (instead of curing Anthony of it) and making him come to peace with the fact that there are events in life one can't exert their control over and that that is okay (or unaliving himself if he can't come to accept it) is what ultimately sold the game to me. As someone whose mental health problems makes it so that I often doubt my rationality and sense of agency, Little Hope brings me some comfort. This might be a weird take, but I don't think any of the occult/witch stuff matters in the grand scheme of things. I read Anthony's obsession with the Witch Trials as not an inherent interest but rather as something he picked up post-tragedy in order to tie/explain the downfall of the family with some grand evil. Kind of like a "My family died in an abrupt and absurd way and there must be an explanation for this. My sister was involved in witchcraft. My little sister spends a lot of time with the priest, acts weirdly, draws weird stuff that involves the priest. My mom is quite religious. We have a book about Salem Witch Trials at home. What if the fire wasn't just an accident but rather a machination of my secretly-evil little sister who was in cahoots with demons and my family was tied to the events of the Salem Witch Trials?" thing. The tie-in with Salem is a great selling point for the game though so I think it was good to leave this bit up for intrepertation. Despite the fact that I spent an entire paragraph glazing this game, Little Hope is ultimately better in concept than in execution. Just like you said the game is not made for replayability and bets too much on an ending that heavily relies on a trope that a lot of people hate on principle. Also, making an analysis on this game really requires some good faith from the player that the interpretive nature of the game is intentional and not lazy. Maybe it would've played out better in book format where we actually got to read the thoughts of the characters, especially Anthony? Idk, I can't stop feeling like I keep seeing a better game through the cracks of what already exists. I really enjoyed your re-write and how you tried to flesh out the the supernatural elements of the story and actually elevated the discarded characters! Your version offers a much more compact and satisfying story (kind of like how Until Dawn tied in the wendigos to the group through Hannah). Also love how you didn't hold out on the religous themes of the game. Also, hope you get well soon! :D
just wanted to say that i got the same exact survivor’s guilt/grief acceptance/posthumous denial of agency themes from little hope, and i appreciate your intelligent and compassionate analysis written here :)
This comment could be its own video and I wholeheartedly understand why you like the game, this is a brilliant case study on the hidden gem beneath the surface that Little Hope hints at. I appreciate you looking more closely at themes that I perhaps neglected in my own reading, a lot of the darker implications around Carson and Megan I was aware of but steered clear of for numerous reasons. Your ties to lived experience provided me insights I couldn’t get on my own and I thank you for that. I think we’re very much in the same boat of loving the concepts at play but perhaps not being fully sold on the execution.
I strongly agree with this, in the game as-is I wish they’d focused on the supernatural aspect because it makes a more satisfying active plot with themes of generational impacts of sexism, but I think just a few more threads tying the real family members to the witch trials and why Anthony would associate his family like that would bring the themes of grief and lack of agency from great in theory to great in practice as well. Like you mentioned, the priest is implied to be abusing Megan in *some* way, but he’s the least present aspect of the real and present day events. I think something like Anthony maybe having found comfort in that same priest after the fact, and a few subtle actions of the priest to shift blame onto Megan posthumously would have worked with the witch trial plot serving as a metaphor for his realisation that an innocent, abused girl was not the ultimate evil. Maybe even something implying that it’s the priests fault that the fire started (even indirectly, through megan being upset/distracted due to his actions) could add to it
I worded the end part poorly, given that he’s shown to be an abusive corrupting influence in Megan’s life already. I mean more something that explicitly ties the priest to influencing Megan’s actions that night. Maybe he tried convincing her that worldly things are sinful (perhaps as a way to make her view her father as bad for keeping hold of something worldly like the factory which is keeping him away from being a good father to her) and that’s why she burnt it. It doesn’t need to be that explicit, but a few more pointers would be nice rather than a fairly shallow pool that points to him being nebulously bad for her. I’m also not very fond of him secretly being a satanist, it would make a lot more thematic sense for him to be a badly intentioned priest protected by the church either intentionally or because he’s good at acting innocent, given that when it comes to the moral panic that the game is pointing towards it was Christians spearheading that panic against rock music, witches etc not satanists
i originally let your videos play while i tried to sleep but oh lord i got so invested and ended up watching most of them. Love your analysis of the character’s psychology, roles in the story and ultimate narrative purpose.
I think the reason why taylor and daniel a couple (not that I agree with this depiction) is that Dennis had romantic feelings for tanya but wasnt able to express that properly since tanya was adopted into the family. Maybe Dennis wasn't abe to see tanya as fully (blood) family because he was older but understood that, that meant they couldn't be together. I think its implied by Dennis's strong disapproval of Tanya's relationship of Vince. That or anthony saw Dennis and Tanya as really close that he felt outcasted by their relationship even though we are shown that anthony and tanya are close. There could be jealousy because he felt that dennis and tanya were closer or dennis and tanya were even closer than anthony and tanya. I believe the first part is right, that anthony could tell dennis had romantic feelings for tanya and his subconious gave that to dennis because of a love for his brother or because he also couldnt see tanya as full (blood related) family.
It seems like dark pictures anthologies Achilles heel is that they will have a character/section really well thought out and the rest of game does not get the same time/care PS really compelling analysis
What's crazy is that the part they usually care the most about is the prologue where nine times out of ten the character dies or vanishes for most of the game. Casting of Frank Stone does this too, they really haven't learned.
12:35 THAT IS GENIUS! Id love a game like that because theres so much you could do with it. Theres so many possible hazards you could implement through monsters and each run could be where you try to keep the town alive as long as possible with the monsters and their order being randomized. From night only monsters that require a curfew to lovecraftian horrors that you need to keep out of sight and the various elemental monsters each with their own counters. You could hire different types of guards whether military for zombies or priests for vampires and werewolves and you need to keep then protected from the monsters that they aren't equipped to deal with to keep expenses down. The game could be a rouge-like, a horror game, a resource management game, a town builder, a tower defense or simulator game. OR ALL OF THEM! Amazing idea to just toss out there and move on immediately
I recognized that PRHVL Bop music three notes in at the start of the background chapter. I've consumed arguably too much Funger content recently and EVERYBODY (understandably) uses that music. It is sooo good. Excellent choice.
Great video, your analysis of these games are just fantastic and go into more depth than I ever could. Little hope is probably my 2nd favorite right before until dawn from the 'franchise', I can easily remember every character, what they were like and got pretty attached to them through experiencing it even years after I've seen anything from it and I can't really say the same for the others. it had so much potential, it's unfortunate for the kind of crappy ending execution and that it's all it's remembered for now. Really loved the version that you wrote.
I definitely prefer Little Hope to most of the studios offerings, and it is a shame it’s largely remembered as ‘that game with Will Poulter with a bad ending’ because there’s for sure a lot more to it. As I said, I really did want this game to be everything it could have been, I wanted it to be a smash hit modern classic, but that’s sadly just not what we got.
I did hint at some changes with The Quarry, and in Man of Medan it was in my original script to do a rewrite but it was so completely different to the original that it was basically just a new game. It would have followed the character from the comics, and the prologue characters, as well as maybe a scientist, and be set entirely during the first outbreak of the Manchurian Gold during 1947(?).
When little hope came out, my friends and I did a play / watch along, and I've never had a blind reaction experience similar to that game. I spent the majority in an invested cerebral state of theorising everything. 'Oh wow, the threats to their lives mirror the deaths of the people before. The personality traits flash on the screen before a character is subjected to a death like a judgement. They're doomed to reincarnate and repeat their fates until they can break the curse / cycle. Etc' Never before and since so far, have I had a reveal so jarring that I immediately turned and got mad about how terrible the game was. Like I needed to watch a video that pointed out the foreshadowing in order to understand the foreshadowing for the reveal. Nowadays, I love little hope as a concept. It lines up with the kind of horror I like. But I hope people got insight into how plot twists should work.
They know how they work, and they use that knowledge. If you needed to watch the video to understand foreshadowings, it's not the game's fault. Some people caught them, and you did not.
I think that's an unavoidable problem with this series across the board, but in this game it's really pronounced with things like the locked traits system.
I remember desperately hoping the supernatural element of this game was real. I have schizophrenia, so the whole "It was all in your head!" trope just doesn't scare me anymore. Just another Tuesday really. But actual demons and monsters that can and will kill you? Now THAT'S frightening. After all, the scary part of my hallucinations is that moment where I don't know if a threat is real or not.
What's crazy is they already did the perfect synthesis of mental illness and entirely real threats in Until Dawn with Josh. That game had it both ways, and I really don't understand why they never really did that again.
@@explodingegg123It is a lamw trope, because it's rarely explored interestingly as a psychological horror. Usually they do what happened with Little Hope and just play it as a supernatural story 99% for the runtime, and then throw the twist stupidly.
it truly beats me how Andrew is the main character of this game when hes so unimportant. Youd have to convince me this wasnt another The Quarry situation where Supermassive started out on a very different story and only then reworked it into what we got. How you theme a game around the witch trials and not center it around Tanya (just like in your rewrite) is beyond me
I agree, it’s not even that it should’ve been written around another character strictly, but Andrew is so passive and disinteresting. As I stated, he’s more a writing technique showcase than a character, it’s a real waste of a brilliant actor like Poulter. I get the story tells us about him through subtext and his inner thoughts, but I’d also like to see him externalise that into a personality.
I remember when playing the game, the witch that appeared to megan in the beginning being the cause of the fire never had it's own solid conclusion. Yes, we've got witchcraft later, was this witch an incarnation of one of the witches who died at the trial? we get this really creepy model influencing megan, but where is it later? did I miss it? is it just an incarnation of the abuse from the pastor? why didn't we see it later in the story especially during the witch trials? maybe it's my own fever dream....
I think the main bit of fan speculation is that it's Megan's way of visualising the abuse she went through under Carson, but that doesn't really explain why it exists within Anthony's memory. Maybe it's how he views him too. But yeah, it's pretty open to interpretation, it doesn't really have a conclusion. I would've liked to see it come back to be honest, perhaps in the ruins of the burned out house.
i think the twist was the dumbest shit ever. because this traumatized man could SOMEHOW imagine that he was going to different places as different people in different directions. Fuck little hope it is the worst one out of all of them. Heck why would the hallucinations then have a whole "previous life curse" nonsense going on? it was so fucking stupid that no every other game supermassive has released is an automatic win in comparison
Psychological horror where the "psychology" is literally just supernatural shit like this and then they go "um it's not real lol" is genuinely infuriating. It makes no sense and it feels like a cop-out. I don't understand why any of the writers think it's a good twist.
@@shakirashipslied9721 me and my friends even went in the beginning likee "oh this is all in his head or something right?" only to be dissuadded from that because of all the weird supernatural shit. Only to then see it being reaffirmed at the end. It was very unsatisfactory.
Thank you. This is why this game made me SO MAD. More than just a bad game would. It had potential! And they fucking ruined it!! The prologue is great. It had me so hooked .
Man I’m so happy I subbed to this channel. LOVE these breakdowns, and the rewrite you did to make it from Tanya’s POV. I’d genuinely love to write a fanfic based off of your take, if you’re alright with it? It’s such a fun idea and you have my creative juices flowing! (And also have me overcome with the urge to beam witch girl vibes directly into myself and everyone else’s eyeballs). Thanks for being here and thanks for being you!
You can do whatever you like with my rewrite, it’s not my IP so I don’t really care, even if it was I wholeheartedly support fan fiction and fan projects
If John running away from random noises like a silly goose has a million fans, I am one of them. If John running away from random noises like a silly goose has 1000 fans, I am one of them. If John running away from random noises like a silly goose has 10 fans I am one of them. If John running away from random noises like a silly goose has only one fan, that fan is me. If John running away from random noises like a silly goose has no fans, that means I no longer exist. if world is against John running away from random noises like a silly goose, i am against the world.
I really feel like Little Hope would have done better if it didn't follow up Man of Medan. Cause getting 'the monsters aren't real' twice in a row in a series that spun off from a game with real monsters is really annoying and disappointing.
As soon as I got to the scene where the dude is merrily riding his bicycle through town right next to where our "characters" are being attacked by one of the monsters I knew that there was no threat at all in the game and it was all in their heads. Again.
genuinely didn't get the bit with the bible verses, I think I like the parallels with original salem witch trials more. I agree the game is losing it's appeal on the second playthrough. as far as story goes it would just make more sense imo for them to die in house in the end no matter what player does, the player would be able to save them to a certain point, but ultimately it is Andrew we're trying to safe, either he kills himself or he doesn't. which is my favorite ending anyway
I love this analysis! When I finished this game, I totally thought this was a story about an alcoholic trying to come to terms with his grief so that he can move on. Anthony telling the bus passengers to be quiet and the trooper being uncomfortable because nobody is there, the exchange between Anthony and Vince at the bar; Vince also can’t move on he’s still there. Vince is annoyed because Anthony is John bragging about being clean, which Vince knows isn’t true. Vince doesn’t ignore John because John isn’t there, it’s Anthony speaking in reality. Alcoholism can cause delusions, so I thought Anthony was imagining a different narrative of his family twisted up with his interest in the town lore, where there was some reason why he lost his family instead of just a real and tragic accident. It is shown that that Anthony had Tanya’s astrology and witchcraft books in the bus at the beginning.. I thought the end was just him not being able to escape his demons. lol I guess I completely missed the intended themes. This analysis was awesome and so thorough! Thank you!
Thanks for that, there's a few clues I didn't touch on for times sake. The issue with using them to say anything definitively is that there's a very valid argument that the clues don't reflect ontologically true reality but rather fractured parts of Anthonys psyche. Of course, some of them are probably just straight up real, and I see no reason as to why the key wouldn't be, we even see it in the prologue, but this game makes it kind of hard to say anything definitively.
I make supermassive games into Movies. Little Hope was my least favorite until I spent 2 months making it a film. Now, I really love the story, though as a game it's not as dynamic or interesting to play as say House of Ashes. It would be a better book or movie I think.
I agree because this game is probably the most linear, so removing the interactivity inherent to the gaming medium has a minimal impact on it as a story
I think, that really, the priest was abusing that little girl. I think her survival and return years later slowly her minds defensive block as she slowly remembers her brother and life. Learning it wasn't her fault or their family's fault, as the priest was using his lies about the sins of her family as reason for her abuse to "save" her.
was really looking forward to this video after being disappointed by the cool premise and fumbling of the ending. the rewrite at the end was beautiful, the focus on a witch and the specific areas of wicca being incorporated are such a cool element
Honestly I like when creators offer their own idea on what they'd tweak to fix a story, as it's something I do ALL the time. I really liked a lot of your rewrite. Based on some comments I would personally have played up the falsity of the witch accusations and if there's any true supernatural stuff happening, make it clear it happened because of the men accusing women of being witches and their own hypocrisy. Don't let the spirit be any of the characters but either a hallucination formed around guilt or a spirit they accidentally brought over who's tormenting them for their crimes...or something. I did really love your idea of changing the MC.
Thanks for the pointers, I agree the falsity and hypocrisy of the accusations should have been more focal, especially along masculine/feminine division lines. Carson/Carver is a hypocrite, he actively does satanic and evil stuff, whilst Tanyas wicca is a more positive thing, it informs her connections to others.
@@RatatTalks what you did include was really good, i did really like how fair you were to wicca and other pagan beliefs in your video, it would have been a refreshing twist on the horror trope of "pagan evil, christian good", and to me serves as a better twist than the one they put in themselves.
The general opion is always 'great game up until the twist ending' which I fully agree with. I adored the story until the very last part. The intrigue of the story pushed aside any issues I had with gameplay, so with the ending kind of ruined it definitely makes the rest of the game overall weaker. I love the dark pictures games so much and it has been great to watch them improve each game, and the couch co-op with my friends is a tradition with each new release. Super excited for the next one!
The co-op aspect is insanely good it kind of makes me sad that a lot of reviews are written from the perspective of solo play as these games are very much co-op first experiences.
I watched a playthrough of Little Hope, and I was convinced that they were going to use the in-game element of the supernatural for the very real way that cycles of abuse can repeat across generations. I thought they were going to go through a story where, through supernatural means, that trauma can be healed to symbolize that it's never too late to stop the cycle. Instead, there is no supernatural, its just one guy having a mental break, where he can end up committing suicide for an unrelated event hours earlier in the game. Its a terrible ending, horribly stigmatizing, I hated it, especially given the promise of the earlier story.
I liked Little Hope, but I feel like the writers themselves weren't sure what they were going for. It's almost like they wrote the main part and then shoehorned the big twist. If they wanted to make a psychologically driven game, they should've leaned more into the psychological elements. For me, the "characters weren't real" thing is not a problem, but they had to have more substance. Maybe add some elements with them having flashbacks to their actual lives (not the witch trials - just Anthony's memories of them), or maybe they could see the world in different ways (same map, but different decorations. Could create fun interactions in coop, where one player asks what was that and the other one didn't see anything), I don't know, just add something that would make players question the reality and their sanity. Plus, if the characters had bigger impact on Anthony's feelings/trauma, it would create some motivation for the players to play again. Like, maybe if Angela died, there would be a subtle moment in the ending that signified that he didn't overcome her (Anne's) death specifically. I just feel like the game had so much potential, but because there were so many elements mixed together, nothing got really fleshed out in the end. Like the Tanya&Vince plotline could be so good, but it's barely there because Andrew is the main character (I agree that it would be a lot better with Tanya as the lead). Thank you for the video! I can't wait for you to cover House of Ashes, it's my absolute favourite in the anthology.
I definitely agree. Little Hope had potentially compelling themes and ideas, but it felt like SuperMassive were trying to do too much at once. The story feels really undercooked and unclear as a result.
@@tylerbarnes972 Yeah, exactly. Though I like the fact that Supermassive are experimenting with different things, plots and stylistic choices, even if they don't always succeed.
I wanted to like this game, I really did. Ive always loved The Crucible and the Salem Witch Trials fascinate the hell out of me. This should have been an easy home run. But God did they fumble it HARD.
I didn’t really give my thoughts on it but I also love The Crucible, both the stage production and the 90s movie with Daniel Day Lewis. I also love The Witch. Basically anything in that sort of haunted New England setting appeals to me heavily.
Your rewrite sounds really good, but I also think the Game should have committed to the Reincarnation idea, because as it stands, the whole thing being a hallucination wasn’t believable at all Anthony hallucinating the entire game just made no sense, he goes back to his hometown, crashes his bus and then has a full blown Mental shutdown where he hallucinates his dead family members being reincarnated as his classmates, flashbacks to the Witch Trials where he can seemingly alter the past, and Demons hunting him down Compare that to Josh in Until Dawn, where it’s revealed that his Mental shutdown is the result of undiagnosed schizophrenia, coupled with the deaths of his Sisters, and his Autophobia (the irrational fear of being alone), with all that in mind it comes as no surprise that by the end of the game he’s completely losing his mind Also the Supernatural aspect of mistakes and unresolved trauma following you through Reincarnation is awesome
The reincarnation idea is pretty rad for a story about generational trauma, and I actually think a story with this as a focus could do wonders for the Carver family as villains as they’re a bloodline of profiteers and fearmongers who always cause the same problems. However, if we’re going to start critiquing horror for having terribly inconsistent writing and rules for mental breakdowns then we’re opening Pandoras Box. It’s all bad all the time.
i loved the video!! the only thing i wish you’d have touched on is angela’s gun death. this happened to me on my first playthrough and it frustrates me til this day. i believe it’s the only death besides andrew’s in the game that doesn’t involve the demons, and it doesn’t seem to have any symbolism to me. it felt so cheap lmao. this death, the twist and the character locked trait system are some of my biggest gripes with little hope
The locked trait system absolutely SUCKS. It kind of fell out of the scope of this video, but after reading comments I actually wish I touched on it. A game that’s all about unreliability and ambiguity having a definitive ‘correct’ way to play characters is so dumb, it’s needlessly restrictive.
@@RatatTalks THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT I SAY. it seriously defeats the purpose of these games by punishing the player by making the characters act the way they want to
These are excellent reviews! I'm curious if you've thought about reviewing/analyzing House of Ashes? Personally I think SuperMassive is ambitious for making a series that isn't already based on a pop culture IP, and they tell different stories in different situations and at different points in time. Yeah they're not all masterpieces but I think it's still a great set of attempts and I think the games are still made with love even if they aren't perfect.
Hi, I'm going to be dropping the House of Ashes video later this year, I'm wanting to read some of the books by Khurrum Rahman to talk more about his writing style and why he hit where so many missed. I agree, they're definitely bold for creating entirely new stories each time, I really respect the originality on display if nothing else. I would never accuse these games of being soulless cash-grabs, it's clear that every single one had a team of people who wanted the game to be good.
I'm now deeply sad that we'll never have your version of this game! Hoping for a HoA video in the future, as that was my favourite dark pictures game by far!
Only just started the video but I have to say that the twist was such a shame because this game had me on the edge of my seat even more often than Until Dawn- I found the personalised monster designs so compelling and horrifying that every encounter felt so much more threatening than almost any other Dark Pictures game to me! The twist retroactively robbed me of that feeling but I still enjoyed the experience and it's still one of the better DPA games in my opinion
I was so disappointed by this games story. I LOVED all of the witchcraft, the reincarnation theme, the tension between who to trust, and then all of those interesting ideas were completely thrown away. It made me so sad and angry that they destroyed the core of their story
That’s probably true, but it’s hard to give an objective measure of how good a character is. I think for me it’s a matter of the purpose behind the character, a character with absolutely no personality can work really well in a setting that doesn’t require any.
love ur videos sm :)) i actually rly appreciate that u put in ur own thoughts + analysis and dont just recap the entire plot in way too much detail lol keep up the good work !!
26:28 A possible reason for this could be because the Crucible didn’t really focus on the people being accused of witchcraft. The main character wasn’t accused until near the end. I still agree with your point but that could be a reason
I think your videos are amazing unfortunate they weren't a thing when I was fully invested in supermassive but your videos are definitely well made and if I go down my future plan of video essays they will probably follow a similar structure to yours obviously won't be supermassive though I couldn't compete with you bro it's a losing battle 😂😂
Appreciate the comment, video essays are fun projects to script I love doing all the research and I wish you all the best if that’s the path you go down. More coverage of supermassive is always welcome, I don’t really see it as competition hehe
WHAT THE FUCK, *THAT'S* WHERE PAPPENHEIMER COMES FROM???? In Germany, "Pappenheimer" is a word for people who make obvious mistakes or do things wrong in annoying ways. Usually used kind of fondly, like for example to refer to students who never submit their work on time or IT supporr clients who reliably forget to try the same troubleshooting step. I didn't know that this was named after a brutal witch trial why are we like this
That application of the word isn’t from the trial but from a play released in the 17th century. I forget the name right now but I replied to another comment with it. Something Tod, maybe Wallingers Tod.
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If nothing else, it really goes to show how almost every single creator that's played Little Hope has always stated something along the lines of 'I was so invested until the end twist'. The idea of mistakes and curses following you through reincarnation is interesting in itself, and could have been the basis for some really interesting moments. This was a story that didn't need a twist, but Supermassive has desperately been trying to recreate Until Dawn, so. Big 'twist'.
In stories like Jacob's Ladder, that twist makes sense because everything else is so out of order and dream-like that you can buy it without being mad about it.
I honestly believe Little Hope is a brilliant litmus test for what people like about horror as a genre, there’s so many interesting components that almost everyone who plays it will extrapolate at least a few things they had some interest in. For me the issue is in the execution, I agree with your other comment about the twist needing more fleshing out, the narrative should be built around it, not derailed by it.
@RatatTalks Same here. I like the twist, and I think it was indeed seeded well, but it was two different stories haphazardly intermingled. A narrative fetus in fetu.
@@RatatTalksyou've convinced me Little Hope was worth something. Because I HATED it. I loved the monster design and recursive story until the twist, which literally angered me so much it made me drop supermassive as a studio. I do not touch their games anymore. From what I can tell... I feel horror has to be a balance of consequences and redemption. It has to be mostly real. Someone has to die, but not everyone. Someone has to make it out to learn from the experience. I want hope at the end. I think, besides the twist not being well foreshadowed, it knee cuts the experience for me. Most of the growth and experience meant so little.
They didn't try to recreate Until Dawn, lol, there wasn't even a big twist there. Without the ending this story would just be weird and incomplete.
@@Megawaps I'd say the twist of the killer being Josh the entire time was pretty big
The ending to Little Hope was so egregious to me that I spoke about it twice, at length, for speeches in college
Hahaha that’s amazing, hope you got good grades for it
@@RatatTalksApparently it’s a cheat code to talk about video games in a narrative context instead of violence/etc because people act like you’re talking about the future
@@TheDeadDandySometimes, we're just happy that students recognize that professors are also humans who might enjoy video games
@@5h4d0w5l1f3 sometimes, absolutely! Other times, the pitch requires explaining multiple times how video games can have story, in general, which can be fun in its own right
Based on
I fully believe if you're gonna do a 'twist' like this, it NEEDS to be revealed in some fashion halfway through the story, or at the very least made clear that that's what's going on. Man of Medan actually did this well, as it's made clear that there's some strange issues in people's perception, and when the player characters meet back up halfway through the game, they can figure this out.
I knew what the twist was as soon as the Curator laid down cards and turns them over and they're all the same card. I was sad I was right.
You should definitely at least be ABLE to figure out the twist with narrative clues (not like the card thing mentioned in the other reply as that's an aside not actually part of the story itself.) I think people forget that Silent Hill 2 still has an entire leg after the twist that deals with the implications of that twist. It's very hard to make a twist feel like it matters if it doesn't get explored in any way after it's revealed.
@@andycic.544 I was suspecting before then, the card thing was kinda the nail in the coffin. I remember thinking "oh no that is where they're going with it." Really enjoyed the silent hill vibes the game had overall though.
yeah, I think Man of Medan did its twist way more effectively. Little Hope was so confusing, the mechanics are confusing, you don't understand what the game really wants of you or is asking of you. It had a good idea, it just did not execute the idea very well at all. It's kind of frustrating. The twist ends up coming across as if none of your choices mattered, rather than the intend twist making you feel like Anthony worked through his trauma in some way.
@@andycic.544yeah that's exactly what Little Hope did not get right, you don't feel like Anthony gains anything at the end no matter what end you get because it cuts off at the twist, rather than letting you explore what the twist actually means to his future or even his past really.
The actual premise was so fucking cool and then they revealed the final twist XD
A constant loop of misery where this town always brings back the reincarnations of its past residents to kill them all over again is such a cool idea
...but that's exactly what happened, just not in terms of physical bodies. The Curator talks about the "souls" you lost if your family members die. Anthony either helps them find redemption and peace, or they continue being tormented by the town.
I'd say my distaste for Little Hope's ending comes down to two things; one is the circumstance of the game's release, where it's hard to ignore this being the second consecutive game in the anthology to reveal its monsters were imagined. The other (and imo, bigger) issue is a thematic one, which is that I don't think the weight placed on "redeeming" the family's personality flaws makes a lot of sense for the story Supermassive was trying to tell.
Like... for all the narrative's focus on Andrew forgiving Megan for the fire, he sure has a hard time absolving the rest of his family for what are ultimately mundane shortcomings as people. On paper, I understand the locked trait mechanic is supposed to represent Andrew's resentment over unresolved tensions in his family, but making them the final determining factor in each character's survival was a questionable choice. Maybe I'd feel differently if the final check to decide if someone's personal demons kill them happened BEFORE you decided on whether or not you'd accuse Mary. That way you'd at least be able to frame it as Andrew seeing too many flaws in his late family to think they'd be able to forgive Megan like he has. Instead what we get is a scenario where Andrew can make peace with the memory of a sister who caused his family's deaths, then immediately condemn his mother for being too irritable and his brother for being too indecisive. It undercuts Andrew's trauma with a weird, selective pettiness that I don't think was intended.
This is a great take and I agree, it feels really petty to implement a gameplay mechanic that basically has Anthony say ‘sorry mum you were too cautious so you deserve to die three horrible deaths’
Like come on man, it’s so restrictive.
@@RatatTalks I completely agree with everything you said. For me the ending literally completely ruined it. Instead of there being real witches or real people stranded and instead of there being this really interesting story. They pulled the "it was all a dream" " twist". And I genuinely despise any story with the it was all a dream, they were in a coma the whole time, they were just mentally ill ending. It literally makes the whole previous story totally meaningless. This could have been such a good story it could have been such a good and unique game. It's such a good idea for a horror game! And it's wasted on this. I was literally so angry at the ending because there really was so much potential. He might as well have just woken up in bed at the end and been like that was a weird dream shouldn't eat cheese before bed line 🙄
I thought for sure it was a family curse and they’re doomed to always face the same painful death and when you’re playing is when you try to break the cycle. BUT NOPE
If I had to guess, I'd say Anthony making Taylor and Daniel date is less about him disliking Vince, and more about the fact that Tanya was planning to run off with him. He wants to keep his family together and whole so he literally has her keep her dating life in the family instead, so he won't have to imagine her leaving.
This is a brilliant take and one I’m upset I didn’t reach, it makes way more sense than anything I posited. Thanks for the comment, I wish I’d said this myself lol
@@RatatTalks Taylor being a character that doesnt do anything reads to me as Anthony reframing Tanya's actions in his head to make her into someone that wouldn't actually leave them. Taylor's arguments with the group are pretty toothless, she usually concedes or doesnt really mean it and is just arguing for the sake of it. But Tanya actually meant it.
I wish she'd had more interaction with Andrew to resolve that. Theres so much set up for him having to accept that the real Tanya wanted to leave, and he cant overwrite that. It could have tied in well to him having to let them *all* go.
he'd love game of thrones
I thought it was due to the conversation he has with Daniel in the beginning where it's implied Daniel has a crush on her. So later, he has them dating as a way of giving his adopted brother his heart's desire.
Something I want to mention is that in the "Everyone Dies, Carver is Accused" ending, if Anthony attempts to end his own misery, Melissa (yes, that's the name of the girl in red) will stop him from going through with it, only to transform into Megan after the illusion is broken. You could interpret this as the actual spirit of Megan reaching out to save Anthony from himself. This would mean she's also the only supernatural presence in this game aside from the Curator.
I think I briefly touched on this ending but I didn’t know the Melissa thing. Appreciate the comment.
I've played all Dark Pictures a lot and never heard a mention of Melissa, I thought that was the real Megan at the end?
@@Yertos some dataminers found out like, a few months ago that the girl in red is named Melissa.
But yes, Megan is the girl at the end.
That is very interesting, but she's not the only supernatural presence at all.
The Curator refers to any family members who are swallowed by the town as souls that Anthony lost. Those ARE his family members--they're just not alive. They're trapped in the town, in need of help, and no one but him can see them.
@@WynneL That's an interesting theory. I still see them as all in his head but that's what's great about the story it's not so clear cut.
finally, someone with the true chutzpah to actually put their own fanfic in their analysis video. thank god.
Bringing in the OC donut steel plot to save gaming 💯
The decision to make Y/N the protagonist instead of Andrew sounds bold at first, but he was already an audience surrogate so...
When I played Men of Medan I was like "Oh, this wasn't supernatural, I like it" and then I played Little Hope and thought "Are they afraid of making supernatural games now?"
I guess we doing non-supernatural games now
House of Ashes and The Quarry are super natural
@@samuelgeaney7556 That's the thing, put one of those two between Man of Medan and Little Hope and way fewer people dislike the ending
48:00 "No one would really care if I made this video twice as long to analyze John's actions," he says, to his audience buckled in for a feature length movie about analyzing the characters of Little Hope. 🤨
#ReleaseTheExtendedJohnCut
Feature length movie about the entire thing vs Lord of The Rings directors cut length glazing of a middle aged alcoholic would be slightly different I fear
@@RatatTalks I would watch it
@@RatatTalks the only thing to fear is fear itself. We'd love a director's cut of any video. (I'm one of many who watched that one guy's 7-8hr long FNAF analysis)
My minor twist ending tweak - if they had to have Anthony be the only survivor in the present, have the others be ghosts that possess his body to interact with stuff. But also, don't cop out on the ending in the first place.
I am currently watching two of my friends play Little Hope blind for the first time and there is something very sad about seeing them theorize about time travel and other options for what could be happening. Recently, they lost the younger woman and I had to hold my tongue from telling them it made no difference for their theory, that to save the people from "the past" they needed to keep the present ones alive ;(
I felt similar playing this multiplayer with someone who hadn’t played before when working on this video. They had so many ideas and theories, and were so upset to lose characters. It broke my heart when they realised it didn’t matter in the end.
For the love of god, WARN THEM! You don't have to give spoilers, but you can at least warn them that the ending will disappoint.
@@thefairybug40 is it worse to still enjoy the rest of the game before the ending, or to already have the experience soured? bad endings should not be spoiled imo
@@takimi_nada How much of their finite time are they obligated to waste in the name of preserving the experience, when the outcome will be the same? Give them the choice to reclaim their time, I say.
@@thefairybug40 That is absolutely the stupid thing to do. This ending can only be disappointing if you didn't pay enough attention to understand it. But it doesn't mean that the people you watch play will not. If they will, they will actually enjoy it, and your comment just will low their expectations for no reason.
I think what annoyed me about this game was that you could make objectively good decisions and they could be the "wrong" one. Like being cautious in a strange situation could result in a locked trait of "indecisiveness" or whatever, even when the option as described does not convey that the character is being indecisive, e.g., "Maybe we should see if there are other paths before trying to cross a destroyed bridge" or something like that, might be chosen by a player because it is a rational thing to try and because the other option is "let's push ahead and try to cross this bridge when we have no reason to think it is the best path". But then bam, you're "indecisive" and if you don't address that, this guy will die in the final scene with no chance to save him. (This is a hypothetical example, I do not remember the details enough to be more specific).
Because the game relies so heavily on not giving away the "twist", the player doesn't have enough context to know what decisions they are even making. I thought I was trying to physically save people from a supernatural threat, and would have acted differently if I thought my goal was to make them face their demons (or Andrew's interpretation of their demons) or whatever. I know that's part of the point, that you aren't supposed to know everything because it's meant to be a challenge to assess which choice is best, and then you can replay and do better, but the rest of the game wasn't good enough to motivate me to do that. I found the twist uninspired as-is, I didn't like most of the characters very much, and the narrative stuff I found most interesting no longer mattered to me once I found out it wasn't "real". Some of it is down to taste - I like my spooky stuff to have actual spooky stuff in it (imagine how annoyed I was when two Dark Pictures games in a row had no actual supernatural elements) and I was more invested in Mary's whole situation than whatever else was happening - but I think they did miss the mark a bit with this one. It's the only one I haven't replayed.
The locked traits system is pretty awful, it pigeonholes you into playing a very specific way in an already highly linear game. I agree strongly with that.
I didn’t talk about this in the video because it was outside of the scope of an already bloated script, but yeah you’re entirely right there.
this is EXACTLY why I was so mad. they changed the entire rules and goal without telling you, so you can’t properly play the story, and with the twist, you a) don’t want to replay and b) since the decisions don’t intersect with other characters there’s basically lile 5 decisions in the game that actually matter, so you don’t have to bother to replay at all. LH is baffling to me. What were they thinking?
A tiny correction, but i was obsessed with witch trials a few years back and its a personal pet peeve: there is very little evidence that the salem witch trials were caused in any way by ergotism. It seems to be a very convenient way to explain away human cruelty and ignores the broader context of the European witch trials and why they happened. It's a complex topic, but there was very rarely a singular reason or cause for any of the witch trials. Ramble over, anyway I'm loving the videos on supermassives games!
I didn’t mean to imply it was a cause of the Salem trials, I was talking more about the European trials such as those in the HRE. That’s my bad for not clarifying though!
38:20 "In a dream I saw my mother with the love of her life and no children. It was the happiest I'd ever seen her" - The Sun and Her Flowers, Rapi Kaur.
Gosh I haven’t read Kaurs poems in years, takes me back to the tumblr era. Beautiful words.
The twist of little hope was so disappointing. If it wasn't for the ending, I would consider little hope one of the best games from supermassive. If not THE BEST dark pictures games. The journey with the characters goes from all of them being pretty unlikeable to likeable and me wanting them all to survive (at least in my initial first playthrough). Only Angela survived with Andrew my first playthrough, as I did not know about the destined deaths if certain choices aren't made early on. The salt in the wound though was realizing nothing mattered, none of the characters were real. I was very invested in the four characters aside from Andrew, especially John and Angela, but we can't have an ending where only John survives or only Angela survives, there's no point in having everyone survive. Ultimately nothing really matters except for having the fire arm and deciding whether or not to fire at Vince. I can't believe how hard they fumbled with this. If they rereleased this game but changed the story where it wasn't just in Anthony's head and Mary WAS an actual spirit demon or whatever, just a polish on the story and concept, then it could be great. I would play a revamped version of this game again, but as is, it's awful. The worst supermassive game hands down.
I had the exact same first experience, Angela and Anthony only, got the police ending. I felt pretty disappointed in the twist, and though I’ve since came to believe that other issues are what put me off the game for the most part, that initial disappointment, that hollow feeling that nothing mattered, was tangible and I get you completely.
@@RatatTalksthat exact same ending is the one i experienced for the first time, and even though I've come around liking the twist after thinking about it some more (even though i agree it's not perfect), i hated it because of the way it got revealed in that ending.
this wouldn't change any of the problems the writing of the whole story had, but one thing that confuses me about that ending (and others like it) is the possibility of Anthony getting arrested if he pissed Vince off. Like, the rest of the elements in each ending are supposed to represent something about Anthony's journey throughout the story, whether he forgave himself for his family's death or not, but if you picked the wrong options back at the church, you just get the cops called on you and that overrides your ending. Wow. It really just feels like a consequence for the sake of a consequence and not cuz it adds anything to the ending.
It still matters because it happened. In his head but it happened. If they didn't do basically the same twist 2x in a row it wouldn't get as much hate. The gameplay was a step up. Most of the characters are likable after a while. The town and atmosphere is probably my favorite from all the games. Idk how they went from this. To the goat of them House of ashes. Then we got Devil in me and it downgraded in graphics , choices, it was janky AF, the setting was boring. Yeah you can run and stuff finally but they downgraded. Can't wait for the new space one. Frank Stone was fun. The new one looks super cool. I hope you can actually sprint instead of jog though. Harder qte and less linear
@@XvKJP2015 i think Devil in me is the best of the four, Little Hope would've been had it not been for the twist. If they wanted to make this twist, they shouldn't have had it in this kind of game where the big appeal. In my opinion, is based on anyone can either live or die and everything in between. John is not a real character so it does not matter if he lives or dies, TO ME. It matters to Anthony but I don't care about Anthony. I wasted 4+ hours on a self therapy session.
It is the best game from Supermassive indeed, at least storywise. The ending was only disappointing for you if you didn't understand it.
From my impressions of watching people play, Man of Medan made people unsure if any of these games would be more than just basic kind of good, and Little Hope made people distrust any future supernatural occurrences, making them hesitate to get invested in early House of Ashes
I really like your idea of letting people in on the twist early on if they're engaging with the story, and I really like your rewrite! Gotta throw that on AO3 lol
I've really only thought Deep Thoughts about Until Dawn, so I'm really enjoying your perspectives on these games as well
It's a damn shame these first stumbles put people off of House of Ashes, my video on it is going to be the most positive review I think I'm ever going to give this studio, unless they really surprise me with season 2.
@@RatatTalks I'm looking forward to it! I definitely enjoyed watching people play it
I remember watching gameplays of little hope and being surprised at how disliked Angela was because she was honestly my favorite character. Even if she was relatively unkind I liked that she was outspoken about her opinions, that she felt very grounded in her worries and complaints. I also liked the connection she had with Daniel, I felt it was very sweet in it’s own way
I liked her too
12:44 unrelated but god i would LOVE that kind of game. my favorite genre of game is "usually mundane gameplay but set in an unexpected setting", and my second favorite is "this isnt a horror game but it does have a lot of elements that make me want to call it a horror game".
I also love this specific subgenre, the fnaf pizzeria sim is a great example lol
Omg, Karat I can’t imagine the effort that goes into your branched-out, thorough video essays and I am so thankful for this Little Hope one as I was excitedly anticipating it!! Thank you for your efforts!!
I had your The Quarry vid on my "to watch" list for about 3 weeks and I regret it took me that long to finally watch it. I just watched your The Quarry,Man of Medan,Little Hope and Until Dawn videos in one session and I really love your content. I love watching you find the smallest details and connecting them to certain characters and creating bigger picture for them, the background music is great too. Just wanted to let you know that you're good at what you're doing and it's very enjoyable to watch. Lots of love
I severely dislike Little Hope because it's SO close to being great and just drops everything at the end. It's intrigueing and tense, the narrative just pulls you in. And then the ending takes pretty much all of it away. All that fun and intrigue just feels bitter after that.
And I truly think the ending could have worked with some twists. They laid some good hints. I thought it would be revealed that they got cursed or somehow stuck in a limbo of reliving the same tragedy as different people and it was your job to resolve their grief and betrayal and end the cycle and the others would be revealed as ghosts who needed to be released. Returning to Little Hope could've triggered the spirits into creating this false reality, melded their different reincarnations, and made those monsters to torture these souls further.
Depending on your choices, the family is free to move on from this cycle and Andrew can live the rest of life knowing his family can properly rest.
I agree so much here, it's a different kind of frustration when something is so close to being good. I'd honestly rather just hate it, but I'm stuck wanting to love it, it's complicated.
It wasn't close to being great, it WAS great.
Bad endings genuinely spoil everything else.
I think one thing about taylor and vince that you forgot is that they CAN interact. But it’s only in the curators cut. They have multiple interactions too, one of which directly impacting anthony’s ending. She can talk to him in the bar, since you play as her. And she can warn him at the church, which stops anthony getting arrested at the end.
I played this game numerous times, several in creators cut, and no interaction seemed developed enough to warrant an inclusion. That said, it’s highly likely I missed something, and if it does impact the ending than I suppose that’s something.
@@RatatTalks yeah for sure, its not much! But i do think it makes sense, the curators cut is the only time we really get to see tanyas interaction with him aswell
Either way thanks for the comment, I wrote my initial reply whilst on a break at work so reading it back I feel like I came off really dismissive, even though this is legitimately helpful information in shaping my understanding of this game lol
Thanks!
I hate being like that...but of course all of these stories about the witch trials are about men. Goddamn it!
Yeah, they’re definitely an over-represented minority within stories about witchcraft, not to say men weren’t targeted, but a few more femme stories would be nice. I’ve kind of tried to remedy this in my reimagining, but of course I’m no expert on the female experience.
When the story centers on men, magic isn't real. When it's centered on women it is.
@@Manakuuchiha make it seem like they think women actually were witches or something. makes me wonder why this seems to be the case so often. sometimes even going so far as to show the accused witches of actually being real witches... idk man it feels bad.
@@jungtothehuimang i get what you mean, it almost feels like they're trying to justify what happened to them and validate the backwards ways of thinking that killed them. It downplays all the ways women have almost always been demonized for not acting the part of submissive piece of property that sadly too many men still hold tightly to, some without even realizing it.
You guys shouldn't forget that all supermassive games are meant to be horror parodies and are written around those dated tropes. Sometimes it's subversive sometimes it falls flat but I'm pretty sure they were aware of those biases when writing their games.
How you got through the John segment without once going "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt" is beyond me
I didn't even know about this until this comment, not a popular kids thing where I'm from
Little Hope made me so angry. Like irrationally angry lol They had a fantastic reincarnation story. Not every story needs a plot twist. I had a similar experience with Martha Is Dead. The last plot twist was so uncalled for and badly done that I relived my Little Hope fit lmao.
omg ur ghost town architect idea is so good,, it needs a like... spectrum where either u are a good guy building stuff that helps the ppl passing thru avoid the monsters, or building things that will corral them into the monsters' jaws
That would be rad, shame I have zero talent or experience in any of the areas that matter in game development
@@RatatTalksHehe i can't code for shit either but i just had the idea when u talked about it... It's def smth someone should do one day tho
First the piano version of Me and my Husband during Angela's section and then the Fear & Hunger theme? Goated background music choices haha.
Had to get the Mitski cover in
So does that mean the QTEs are coin flips?
i also enjoyed the whirling in rags theme from disco elysium peeking out sometimes
And a Rihannon cover for taylor. Mayula for john
I can't wait for your House of Ashes video. To be entirely honest with you I only played HoA and The Devil in Me. While I loved the mixture of SAW and your typical Slasher, the story of Sherman, etc, HoA's placing in the Iraq War just does something for me that the rest don't, Salim especially is a great character.
Your rewriting of this game is fantastic and just what was needed! I feel like the original game was also severely lacking reference to the 1970s chapter, and wondered what you thought about including potential flashbacks to these scenes as well? I think it would’ve highlighted the cyclical nature of this trauma, and how characters like Taylor/Tanya are consistently punished for being outsiders. Similarly, it would have been cool to expand on Tanya’s paganism and potentially link it to the satanic panic, leading the people of Little Hope to believe that Tanya started the fire herself. Your video made me realise just how rich the 1970s plot line is, and just how limited it is in the game.
I cannot WAIT to see your video on House of Ashes, if you’re planning to make one. It was by far my favourite game in the series.
House of Ashes video is definitely on the cards, been a while since I've done a script where I don't have to really criticise and can just glaze a game.
I went into Little Hope with higj expectations that the writers had learned something from the reception to Medan's lackluster/meaningless endings, only to be even more disappointed. Little Hope is easily the worst in the series for me because I've never felt more frustrated at a Dark Pictures ending before and since.
It really feels like a doubling down on some bad ideas when you consider how badly Man of Medan was received for the cop out ending.
There’s a concept in Shauns Harry Potter video he brings up called the ‘two book delay’, where JK Rowling would always respond to criticism two instalments down the line. Supermassive definitely do this with their games, they take things that people disliked and do away with it two games down the line. Little Hope fixes a lot of gameplay issues from Until Dawn, House of Ashes feels a lot like a correction for Man of Medan. Recently the Casting of Frank Stone has done stuff like add a proper running animation which I think is a response to the crappy sped up walking in The Quarry, which was admittedly only one game before but it came out quite a bit before.
@@RatatTalks Agreed with all of this. It's such a shame that the very last minute is what ruins what should be the incentive to play again and try to understand what you've missed from an engaging build-up. The payoff isn't always worth the mystery, sadly. Like you said, the game would benefit a lot from cluing the audience in little by little and let us decide how we feel prior to the true reveal. I would love endings where we can play as the true Anthony and choose between reconciling with his past or plunge him into madness for good. As is, the game doesn't let the players digest what just happened.
Guess you're just dumb then.
I think perhaps the biggest issue with this game is that it has a central character but it doesn’t put him at the center at all. It kind of centers John, who is not real. If the entire narrative took place either directly from Anthony/Andrew’s perspective, or at least only from the perspective of characters who are in Andrew’s current party, then it would help to tighten the focus of the game where it belongs and the twist at the end would feel less hollow. Because then it would feel like an earnest character exploration and not a “but then it was allllll a dream” type of do-nothing story. As-is, the other character’s potential arcs don’t feel like they’re connected enough to Andrew’s to justify the ending
first persona 3 music now fear and hunger on your video about a supermassive game? you're pretty cool tf
Hehe thank you
Hey ! This video came up in my feed and I looked down while I was watching and had to do a double take. I'm the artist who made your profile picture. Definitely didn't expect to see my art out in the wild ^^
Holy shit that’s insane, I found it posted on a forum without any credit so took it from there after looking for the original without much luck. The signature/watermark wasn’t very clear.
Please give me all your preferred socials so I can credit in my channel description, or I’ll remove it it’s not cool with you.
FINALLY! SOMEONE WHO I AGREE WITH ABOUT THIS DAMN GAME!! I love the idea of Little Hope, but as someone who struggles with deleting thoughts and has attempted in the past, the bad ends really triggered me. It's like they might as well have said "it was all a dream". I've had my fair share of ideas for rewrites of this game. I really loved the idea that the town was the epicenter of black magic via the pastor. Like maybe the killing of the family allowed him to live forever and he had to bring them back to the town and kill their reincarnations in order to keep his power and immortality. And the game takes place on like the 300th anniversary of the final killings that completed the dark magic spell. This allows all the time jumping to happen. And Abraham calling out the priest in the end and saving himself and Mary broke the cycle. We get a glimpse of the him and his book burning before Anthony wakes up in modern times. Little Hope is completely different because of this. The town is still thriving, the family is alive and well. Like all the characters meet up for like a birthday party and mention some weird dream they had and find out they all had the same dream. I like the idea of Vince being the begrudging helper because Taylor looks like Tanya and then we find out that technically, she is Tanya. Maybe his little poppets are like a determination of a good or bad end. Like we get the choice to destroy them or leave an offering. If we do the good options, in the final show down, Vince buys Anthony time to hop to the past one last time to change things. So that's my rewrite. I really love your version of it! I would have the good ending of yours have Tanya run out of the house after the flood of memories and be greeted by a morose and warry Vince. We see he smile and say his name, but then she looks guilty and turns to look back through the window. She sees her family as they were in the 70's, but they're happy and waving as they fade away in a bit of light, symbolizing that they were able to move on. We then turn back and it's now modern day Tanya standing there. We see Megan grab Tanya's hand and bring her over to Vince. And maybe Megan does that little sibling push to Tanya, causing her to fall into Vince's arms. This would symbolize that Megan wants her to be ok and move on just like the family is.
I really like your proposed ending for my rewrite, it taps into the emotional core I was going for.
I also like your more supernatural take, tying into berserk-esque ideas about rituals and cycles, it places a lot of emphasis on timelines and reoccurring events and I feel that’s a really interesting way to explore a game that centers across numerous times.
I totally get you with wanting to connect with a character who suffers from the kinds of thoughts Anthony does, and how hollow it can feel. Probably more than I want to admit.
@@RatatTalks Thank you! It really did feel hollow for what they actually did with Anthony. I remember the first time I watched a play through of the game. I cried so much at that bad end. It made me realize I was crying for myself and all the shitty things that caused me to have those terrible thoughts and attempts. It felt like an actual gut punch, but not a good one. I could be ok with that kind of ending, but would have to be written a whole hell of a lot better than it was. Though, I did like the version where Megan stops him. But still. Thanks for reading my ramblings!
This is such an adorable rewrite, especially at the end omgg!!!
I remember REALLY enjoying this game up until the final twist. Like, I get what they were going for, thematically, but it just didn't really...do anything for me? It felt more like an "it was all a dream" ending to me more than an exploration of grief and forgiveness. I feel like there were so many different ways they could have explored those concepts, and instead I came out feeling mildly disappointed. And it sucks, because I genuinely like Will Poulter as an actor, I love stories that explore grief, I love supernatural stuff, and the horror in this game was top notch (for me, anyway, I'm a big baby when it comes to horror).
What's frustrating is that they also could have explored themes of grief and forgiveness through the lens of an in-universe supernatural occurrence.
@@EmeraldAshesAudio Exactly!!
Little Hope revealing the twist somewhat early would be really solid, then we could dive into ideas such as how his "group" is helping him in the present with things like boosting somebody up using their shoulders. I think keeping the twist that surface level was a missed opportunity for sure, we could have used it as an interesting power piece towards a much more complex narrative.
Yeah, as it stands it exists purely for shock value at the end, whilst I feel it could've been better served as a building block in the narrative. Your ideas about the twist being subverted in gameplay by having things that are impossible to achieve by one person be done would be really interesting.
Absolutely loved the analysis and rewrite! Little Hope is the one DP game I feel the most conflicted about, likely because I never got to truly experience it: I just joined a discord call one day as my friends were wrapping it up and I got the twist spoiled. Thus I have a hard time judging the game from the perspective of caring for the characters the way I do in the other games, because I knew from the start that there was nothing to speculate about. The same can be argued for all games in the series, but the twist in LH so fundamentally undermines all previous intrigue, having MoM, HoA and TDIM spoiled would still make me want to know the story of how they got into their situation, how they figure it out, and how they get out of it alive.
This video made me appreciate what the game was going for a lot more, and while I've always hated the twist on basis of it being what it is, I think you argue well for it potentially working if properly hinted at early on. The rewrite of Tanya as the protagonist is also a good step in the right direction, but personally I think taking it a step further and having all the "spirits" actually be present and gain a sense of redemption would make working for it feel more rewarding than a story a lone character makes up in their head, perhaps the wiccan rituals Tanya partook in and the deaths of the housefire bound all the spirits together, with Andrew's joining them through guilt despite his death occuring in a different location. Then again, the whole "they're already dead and your individual actions won't save them" clashes with what I want out of these games, and LH as a story might not be salvageble without it and simply not be a game for me, which is fine. Regardless, you gave me a better understanding for the themes and I am very grateful for that, and also happy to know I wasn't the only one disappointed by half of the cast not being fully developed/having no real impact on the story.
Ahh that first experience sucks, you missed the fun part and went straight to the controversial bit hahah
Thanks for the comment, I agree the characters should all be more present. I aimed for this with things like allowing Andrew agency to confront his own abuser, but like I say my rewrite isn't the gospel truth way to fix the game. The main thing I wanted was to have the characters actually do things that relate to the themes rather than breaking off from the group and just kind of hang around the store. Comments like this serve to build on it and I really appreciate it!
While it is their worst entry, I do think they have only improved since this game and there are still some interesting bits in it. Great video as always!
I also did a video on this. I'm of the opinion that the game tricks players in a completely different way than they think - the game appears to not be supernatural, but it actually is.
A cursory look at your channel shows you have impeccable taste in games, if you link your Little Hope video I’d be happy to watch it when I have time. Always happy to hear other opinions.
Been a fan for a while. This was another awesome breakdown!
I appreciate the continued support and the comment, it really means a lot
This was the analysis I was looking forward to the most! (This is comment is gonna have some heavy self-projection) As a pretty big defender of Little Hope, I was one of the people that was heavily impacted by the twist despite it being somewhat obvious. Most of my appreciation for the game comes from interpreting the narrative as a look into grief through a lack of agency. For a choice based game a surprising amount of your decisions in Little Hope don't actually matter and seemingly small convos seem to determine the ending. While I can understand how that might feel frustrating to an audience that was promised a Until Dawn-like experience, imo, it only serves to highlight Anthony's feelings of inadequete control over his life. The hopelessness (haha) and lack of agency applies to almost every character in the game (with Daniel/Dennis as the exception as he feels like a weird amalgamation that reflects the general dysfunction of the family): Tanya's agency is compromised through expectations put on her as a woman, Angela's agency is compromised due to her role as a homemaker, James' agency is compromised by the rich and (while this is only one of the many interpretations of her relationship with the priest/reverend) Megan's agency is compromised by the priest who is implied to SA her. In a way, the main plot is just Anthony experiencing elaborate hallucinations in a wishful attempt to recreate and have control over the tragedy that transpired while the witch-plot is Anthony attempting to put the blame of the downfall of the family on Megan (the black sheep) to absolve himself from his survivors guilt. Ironically though, Anthony's attempt at having control over the tragedy actively robs his family of their own via the alteration of crucial parts their personality. It's probably why I don't feel so off-put by Anthony's "passiveness" in the story since I read it as him putting his energy into creating a functional family dynamic where he gets to just exist. Grief can be all-consuming and make you feel like you're just drifting through life instead of making choices (the antithesis of a choice based game) so the fact that the ending of the game focuses on accepting the grief (instead of curing Anthony of it) and making him come to peace with the fact that there are events in life one can't exert their control over and that that is okay (or unaliving himself if he can't come to accept it) is what ultimately sold the game to me. As someone whose mental health problems makes it so that I often doubt my rationality and sense of agency, Little Hope brings me some comfort.
This might be a weird take, but I don't think any of the occult/witch stuff matters in the grand scheme of things. I read Anthony's obsession with the Witch Trials as not an inherent interest but rather as something he picked up post-tragedy in order to tie/explain the downfall of the family with some grand evil. Kind of like a "My family died in an abrupt and absurd way and there must be an explanation for this. My sister was involved in witchcraft. My little sister spends a lot of time with the priest, acts weirdly, draws weird stuff that involves the priest. My mom is quite religious. We have a book about Salem Witch Trials at home. What if the fire wasn't just an accident but rather a machination of my secretly-evil little sister who was in cahoots with demons and my family was tied to the events of the Salem Witch Trials?" thing. The tie-in with Salem is a great selling point for the game though so I think it was good to leave this bit up for intrepertation.
Despite the fact that I spent an entire paragraph glazing this game, Little Hope is ultimately better in concept than in execution. Just like you said the game is not made for replayability and bets too much on an ending that heavily relies on a trope that a lot of people hate on principle. Also, making an analysis on this game really requires some good faith from the player that the interpretive nature of the game is intentional and not lazy. Maybe it would've played out better in book format where we actually got to read the thoughts of the characters, especially Anthony? Idk, I can't stop feeling like I keep seeing a better game through the cracks of what already exists.
I really enjoyed your re-write and how you tried to flesh out the the supernatural elements of the story and actually elevated the discarded characters! Your version offers a much more compact and satisfying story (kind of like how Until Dawn tied in the wendigos to the group through Hannah). Also love how you didn't hold out on the religous themes of the game.
Also, hope you get well soon! :D
just wanted to say that i got the same exact survivor’s guilt/grief acceptance/posthumous denial of agency themes from little hope, and i appreciate your intelligent and compassionate analysis written here :)
This comment could be its own video and I wholeheartedly understand why you like the game, this is a brilliant case study on the hidden gem beneath the surface that Little Hope hints at.
I appreciate you looking more closely at themes that I perhaps neglected in my own reading, a lot of the darker implications around Carson and Megan I was aware of but steered clear of for numerous reasons. Your ties to lived experience provided me insights I couldn’t get on my own and I thank you for that.
I think we’re very much in the same boat of loving the concepts at play but perhaps not being fully sold on the execution.
I strongly agree with this, in the game as-is I wish they’d focused on the supernatural aspect because it makes a more satisfying active plot with themes of generational impacts of sexism, but I think just a few more threads tying the real family members to the witch trials and why Anthony would associate his family like that would bring the themes of grief and lack of agency from great in theory to great in practice as well.
Like you mentioned, the priest is implied to be abusing Megan in *some* way, but he’s the least present aspect of the real and present day events. I think something like Anthony maybe having found comfort in that same priest after the fact, and a few subtle actions of the priest to shift blame onto Megan posthumously would have worked with the witch trial plot serving as a metaphor for his realisation that an innocent, abused girl was not the ultimate evil. Maybe even something implying that it’s the priests fault that the fire started (even indirectly, through megan being upset/distracted due to his actions) could add to it
I worded the end part poorly, given that he’s shown to be an abusive corrupting influence in Megan’s life already. I mean more something that explicitly ties the priest to influencing Megan’s actions that night. Maybe he tried convincing her that worldly things are sinful (perhaps as a way to make her view her father as bad for keeping hold of something worldly like the factory which is keeping him away from being a good father to her) and that’s why she burnt it. It doesn’t need to be that explicit, but a few more pointers would be nice rather than a fairly shallow pool that points to him being nebulously bad for her.
I’m also not very fond of him secretly being a satanist, it would make a lot more thematic sense for him to be a badly intentioned priest protected by the church either intentionally or because he’s good at acting innocent, given that when it comes to the moral panic that the game is pointing towards it was Christians spearheading that panic against rock music, witches etc not satanists
i originally let your videos play while i tried to sleep but oh lord i got so invested and ended up watching most of them. Love your analysis of the character’s psychology, roles in the story and ultimate narrative purpose.
I think the reason why taylor and daniel a couple (not that I agree with this depiction) is that Dennis had romantic feelings for tanya but wasnt able to express that properly since tanya was adopted into the family. Maybe Dennis wasn't abe to see tanya as fully (blood) family because he was older but understood that, that meant they couldn't be together. I think its implied by Dennis's strong disapproval of Tanya's relationship of Vince. That or anthony saw Dennis and Tanya as really close that he felt outcasted by their relationship even though we are shown that anthony and tanya are close. There could be jealousy because he felt that dennis and tanya were closer or dennis and tanya were even closer than anthony and tanya. I believe the first part is right, that anthony could tell dennis had romantic feelings for tanya and his subconious gave that to dennis because of a love for his brother or because he also couldnt see tanya as full (blood related) family.
It seems like dark pictures anthologies Achilles heel is that they will have a character/section really well thought out and the rest of game does not get the same time/care
PS really compelling analysis
What's crazy is that the part they usually care the most about is the prologue where nine times out of ten the character dies or vanishes for most of the game. Casting of Frank Stone does this too, they really haven't learned.
12:35
THAT IS GENIUS! Id love a game like that because theres so much you could do with it. Theres so many possible hazards you could implement through monsters and each run could be where you try to keep the town alive as long as possible with the monsters and their order being randomized.
From night only monsters that require a curfew to lovecraftian horrors that you need to keep out of sight and the various elemental monsters each with their own counters. You could hire different types of guards whether military for zombies or priests for vampires and werewolves and you need to keep then protected from the monsters that they aren't equipped to deal with to keep expenses down.
The game could be a rouge-like, a horror game, a resource management game, a town builder, a tower defense or simulator game. OR ALL OF THEM!
Amazing idea to just toss out there and move on immediately
Im full of amazing ideas that last all of three seconds
I recognized that PRHVL Bop music three notes in at the start of the background chapter.
I've consumed arguably too much Funger content recently and EVERYBODY (understandably) uses that music. It is sooo good. Excellent choice.
Haha I’m working on Funger video right now. The absolute grip it has on video essay TH-cam needs to be studied.
Great video, your analysis of these games are just fantastic and go into more depth than I ever could. Little hope is probably my 2nd favorite right before until dawn from the 'franchise', I can easily remember every character, what they were like and got pretty attached to them through experiencing it even years after I've seen anything from it and I can't really say the same for the others. it had so much potential, it's unfortunate for the kind of crappy ending execution and that it's all it's remembered for now. Really loved the version that you wrote.
I definitely prefer Little Hope to most of the studios offerings, and it is a shame it’s largely remembered as ‘that game with Will Poulter with a bad ending’ because there’s for sure a lot more to it.
As I said, I really did want this game to be everything it could have been, I wanted it to be a smash hit modern classic, but that’s sadly just not what we got.
I really liked the rewriting section of this video. Couldn't be cool if you did the same for Super massive games that you have already covered.
I did hint at some changes with The Quarry, and in Man of Medan it was in my original script to do a rewrite but it was so completely different to the original that it was basically just a new game. It would have followed the character from the comics, and the prologue characters, as well as maybe a scientist, and be set entirely during the first outbreak of the Manchurian Gold during 1947(?).
Really enjoyed your Until Dawn video, super happy to come back for this one! :D
Happy to have you back!
When little hope came out, my friends and I did a play / watch along, and I've never had a blind reaction experience similar to that game. I spent the majority in an invested cerebral state of theorising everything. 'Oh wow, the threats to their lives mirror the deaths of the people before. The personality traits flash on the screen before a character is subjected to a death like a judgement. They're doomed to reincarnate and repeat their fates until they can break the curse / cycle. Etc' Never before and since so far, have I had a reveal so jarring that I immediately turned and got mad about how terrible the game was. Like I needed to watch a video that pointed out the foreshadowing in order to understand the foreshadowing for the reveal. Nowadays, I love little hope as a concept. It lines up with the kind of horror I like. But I hope people got insight into how plot twists should work.
They know how they work, and they use that knowledge. If you needed to watch the video to understand foreshadowings, it's not the game's fault. Some people caught them, and you did not.
The problem I had was the illusion of choice
I think that's an unavoidable problem with this series across the board, but in this game it's really pronounced with things like the locked traits system.
So excited to see this! You put so much great detail into your videos it's such a joy to watch!
I remember desperately hoping the supernatural element of this game was real. I have schizophrenia, so the whole "It was all in your head!" trope just doesn't scare me anymore. Just another Tuesday really.
But actual demons and monsters that can and will kill you? Now THAT'S frightening. After all, the scary part of my hallucinations is that moment where I don't know if a threat is real or not.
I don't have schizophrenia, but I still think the "it was all in your head" trope is a lame cop-out a lot of the time
What's crazy is they already did the perfect synthesis of mental illness and entirely real threats in Until Dawn with Josh. That game had it both ways, and I really don't understand why they never really did that again.
@@explodingegg123It is a lamw trope, because it's rarely explored interestingly as a psychological horror. Usually they do what happened with Little Hope and just play it as a supernatural story 99% for the runtime, and then throw the twist stupidly.
Yay! It’s here. Been looking forward to this 😊 thank you for all the hard work you put into your videos
Thanks for the comment!
I really enjoyed your Little Hope rewrite! I think you really grabbed onto the emotional core I wanted this game to have.
it truly beats me how Andrew is the main character of this game when hes so unimportant. Youd have to convince me this wasnt another The Quarry situation where Supermassive started out on a very different story and only then reworked it into what we got. How you theme a game around the witch trials and not center it around Tanya (just like in your rewrite) is beyond me
I agree, it’s not even that it should’ve been written around another character strictly, but Andrew is so passive and disinteresting. As I stated, he’s more a writing technique showcase than a character, it’s a real waste of a brilliant actor like Poulter.
I get the story tells us about him through subtext and his inner thoughts, but I’d also like to see him externalise that into a personality.
that john jumps off the bridge gives the same energy as fat drake at the filipino barbeque being called a lambong, its just missing the fart
I remember when playing the game, the witch that appeared to megan in the beginning being the cause of the fire never had it's own solid conclusion. Yes, we've got witchcraft later, was this witch an incarnation of one of the witches who died at the trial? we get this really creepy model influencing megan, but where is it later? did I miss it? is it just an incarnation of the abuse from the pastor? why didn't we see it later in the story especially during the witch trials? maybe it's my own fever dream....
I think the main bit of fan speculation is that it's Megan's way of visualising the abuse she went through under Carson, but that doesn't really explain why it exists within Anthony's memory. Maybe it's how he views him too.
But yeah, it's pretty open to interpretation, it doesn't really have a conclusion. I would've liked to see it come back to be honest, perhaps in the ruins of the burned out house.
i think the twist was the dumbest shit ever. because this traumatized man could SOMEHOW imagine that he was going to different places as different people in different directions. Fuck little hope it is the worst one out of all of them. Heck why would the hallucinations then have a whole "previous life curse" nonsense going on? it was so fucking stupid that no every other game supermassive has released is an automatic win in comparison
Psychological horror where the "psychology" is literally just supernatural shit like this and then they go "um it's not real lol" is genuinely infuriating. It makes no sense and it feels like a cop-out. I don't understand why any of the writers think it's a good twist.
@@shakirashipslied9721 me and my friends even went in the beginning likee "oh this is all in his head or something right?" only to be dissuadded from that because of all the weird supernatural shit. Only to then see it being reaffirmed at the end. It was very unsatisfactory.
I can’t bash physiological horror where the psychology is just ‘sike’ given how much love I hold for Im Thinking of Ending Things
Thank you. This is why this game made me SO MAD. More than just a bad game would. It had potential! And they fucking ruined it!!
The prologue is great. It had me so hooked .
Man I’m so happy I subbed to this channel. LOVE these breakdowns, and the rewrite you did to make it from Tanya’s POV. I’d genuinely love to write a fanfic based off of your take, if you’re alright with it? It’s such a fun idea and you have my creative juices flowing! (And also have me overcome with the urge to beam witch girl vibes directly into myself and everyone else’s eyeballs).
Thanks for being here and thanks for being you!
You can do whatever you like with my rewrite, it’s not my IP so I don’t really care, even if it was I wholeheartedly support fan fiction and fan projects
If John running away from random noises like a silly goose has a million fans, I am one of them. If John running away from random noises like a silly goose has 1000 fans, I am one of them. If John running away from random noises like a silly goose has 10 fans I am one of them. If John running away from random noises like a silly goose has only one fan, that fan is me. If John running away from random noises like a silly goose has no fans, that means I no longer exist. if world is against John running away from random noises like a silly goose, i am against the world.
I really feel like Little Hope would have done better if it didn't follow up Man of Medan. Cause getting 'the monsters aren't real' twice in a row in a series that spun off from a game with real monsters is really annoying and disappointing.
As soon as I got to the scene where the dude is merrily riding his bicycle through town right next to where our "characters" are being attacked by one of the monsters I knew that there was no threat at all in the game and it was all in their heads. Again.
genuinely didn't get the bit with the bible verses, I think I like the parallels with original salem witch trials more. I agree the game is losing it's appeal on the second playthrough. as far as story goes it would just make more sense imo for them to die in house in the end no matter what player does, the player would be able to save them to a certain point, but ultimately it is Andrew we're trying to safe, either he kills himself or he doesn't. which is my favorite ending anyway
I think that’s a pretty agreeable and realistic change to make
love the intro, and great video!!
Man I wish the game would have been more like your take at the end of this video. It could have been so damn good.
I’m very biased if I say ‘the way I wrote the story would be better’ because I wrote it entirely to appeal to my tastes, but I’m glad you enjoyed it
I love this analysis! When I finished this game, I totally thought this was a story about an alcoholic trying to come to terms with his grief so that he can move on. Anthony telling the bus passengers to be quiet and the trooper being uncomfortable because nobody is there, the exchange between Anthony and Vince at the bar; Vince also can’t move on he’s still there. Vince is annoyed because Anthony is John bragging about being clean, which Vince knows isn’t true. Vince doesn’t ignore John because John isn’t there, it’s Anthony speaking in reality. Alcoholism can cause delusions, so I thought Anthony was imagining a different narrative of his family twisted up with his interest in the town lore, where there was some reason why he lost his family instead of just a real and tragic accident. It is shown that that Anthony had Tanya’s astrology and witchcraft books in the bus at the beginning.. I thought the end was just him not being able to escape his demons. lol I guess I completely missed the intended themes. This analysis was awesome and so thorough! Thank you!
Have not finished the video yet, but i think clue 50 the key implies that the whole fire was an accident. It is very open though.
Thanks for that, there's a few clues I didn't touch on for times sake. The issue with using them to say anything definitively is that there's a very valid argument that the clues don't reflect ontologically true reality but rather fractured parts of Anthonys psyche.
Of course, some of them are probably just straight up real, and I see no reason as to why the key wouldn't be, we even see it in the prologue, but this game makes it kind of hard to say anything definitively.
Thank you for sharing your ideas for an alternate story. I liked it.
Glad you did!
I make supermassive games into Movies. Little Hope was my least favorite until I spent 2 months making it a film. Now, I really love the story, though as a game it's not as dynamic or interesting to play as say House of Ashes. It would be a better book or movie I think.
I agree because this game is probably the most linear, so removing the interactivity inherent to the gaming medium has a minimal impact on it as a story
This game is really dark
Like, i cant see shi . I turned the brightness up all the way and i still cant tell whats going on
I think, that really, the priest was abusing that little girl. I think her survival and return years later slowly her minds defensive block as she slowly remembers her brother and life. Learning it wasn't her fault or their family's fault, as the priest was using his lies about the sins of her family as reason for her abuse to "save" her.
That Daan profile picture and PRHVL Bop music got me thinking you're about to feed us with a Fear and Hunger video.
It’s looking that way, there’s lots of requests for it on the latest community vote post
Well, I always look forward to more Funger content from the channels that I like!
was really looking forward to this video after being disappointed by the cool premise and fumbling of the ending. the rewrite at the end was beautiful, the focus on a witch and the specific areas of wicca being incorporated are such a cool element
Honestly I like when creators offer their own idea on what they'd tweak to fix a story, as it's something I do ALL the time. I really liked a lot of your rewrite. Based on some comments I would personally have played up the falsity of the witch accusations and if there's any true supernatural stuff happening, make it clear it happened because of the men accusing women of being witches and their own hypocrisy. Don't let the spirit be any of the characters but either a hallucination formed around guilt or a spirit they accidentally brought over who's tormenting them for their crimes...or something. I did really love your idea of changing the MC.
Thanks for the pointers, I agree the falsity and hypocrisy of the accusations should have been more focal, especially along masculine/feminine division lines. Carson/Carver is a hypocrite, he actively does satanic and evil stuff, whilst Tanyas wicca is a more positive thing, it informs her connections to others.
@@RatatTalks what you did include was really good, i did really like how fair you were to wicca and other pagan beliefs in your video, it would have been a refreshing twist on the horror trope of "pagan evil, christian good", and to me serves as a better twist than the one they put in themselves.
The general opion is always 'great game up until the twist ending' which I fully agree with. I adored the story until the very last part. The intrigue of the story pushed aside any issues I had with gameplay, so with the ending kind of ruined it definitely makes the rest of the game overall weaker. I love the dark pictures games so much and it has been great to watch them improve each game, and the couch co-op with my friends is a tradition with each new release. Super excited for the next one!
The co-op aspect is insanely good it kind of makes me sad that a lot of reviews are written from the perspective of solo play as these games are very much co-op first experiences.
I watched a playthrough of Little Hope, and I was convinced that they were going to use the in-game element of the supernatural for the very real way that cycles of abuse can repeat across generations. I thought they were going to go through a story where, through supernatural means, that trauma can be healed to symbolize that it's never too late to stop the cycle.
Instead, there is no supernatural, its just one guy having a mental break, where he can end up committing suicide for an unrelated event hours earlier in the game. Its a terrible ending, horribly stigmatizing, I hated it, especially given the promise of the earlier story.
love the elliott smith music in the background
He’s one of my all time favourite artists so had to sneak it into at least one of my videos
I liked Little Hope, but I feel like the writers themselves weren't sure what they were going for. It's almost like they wrote the main part and then shoehorned the big twist.
If they wanted to make a psychologically driven game, they should've leaned more into the psychological elements. For me, the "characters weren't real" thing is not a problem, but they had to have more substance. Maybe add some elements with them having flashbacks to their actual lives (not the witch trials - just Anthony's memories of them), or maybe they could see the world in different ways (same map, but different decorations. Could create fun interactions in coop, where one player asks what was that and the other one didn't see anything), I don't know, just add something that would make players question the reality and their sanity. Plus, if the characters had bigger impact on Anthony's feelings/trauma, it would create some motivation for the players to play again. Like, maybe if Angela died, there would be a subtle moment in the ending that signified that he didn't overcome her (Anne's) death specifically.
I just feel like the game had so much potential, but because there were so many elements mixed together, nothing got really fleshed out in the end. Like the Tanya&Vince plotline could be so good, but it's barely there because Andrew is the main character (I agree that it would be a lot better with Tanya as the lead).
Thank you for the video! I can't wait for you to cover House of Ashes, it's my absolute favourite in the anthology.
I definitely agree. Little Hope had potentially compelling themes and ideas, but it felt like SuperMassive were trying to do too much at once. The story feels really undercooked and unclear as a result.
@@tylerbarnes972 Yeah, exactly. Though I like the fact that Supermassive are experimenting with different things, plots and stylistic choices, even if they don't always succeed.
I wanted to like this game, I really did. Ive always loved The Crucible and the Salem Witch Trials fascinate the hell out of me. This should have been an easy home run. But God did they fumble it HARD.
I didn’t really give my thoughts on it but I also love The Crucible, both the stage production and the 90s movie with Daniel Day Lewis. I also love The Witch.
Basically anything in that sort of haunted New England setting appeals to me heavily.
Your rewrite sounds really good, but I also think the Game should have committed to the Reincarnation idea, because as it stands, the whole thing being a hallucination wasn’t believable at all
Anthony hallucinating the entire game just made no sense, he goes back to his hometown, crashes his bus and then has a full blown Mental shutdown where he hallucinates his dead family members being reincarnated as his classmates, flashbacks to the Witch Trials where he can seemingly alter the past, and Demons hunting him down
Compare that to Josh in Until Dawn, where it’s revealed that his Mental shutdown is the result of undiagnosed schizophrenia, coupled with the deaths of his Sisters, and his Autophobia (the irrational fear of being alone), with all that in mind it comes as no surprise that by the end of the game he’s completely losing his mind
Also the Supernatural aspect of mistakes and unresolved trauma following you through Reincarnation is awesome
The reincarnation idea is pretty rad for a story about generational trauma, and I actually think a story with this as a focus could do wonders for the Carver family as villains as they’re a bloodline of profiteers and fearmongers who always cause the same problems.
However, if we’re going to start critiquing horror for having terribly inconsistent writing and rules for mental breakdowns then we’re opening Pandoras Box. It’s all bad all the time.
i loved the video!! the only thing i wish you’d have touched on is angela’s gun death. this happened to me on my first playthrough and it frustrates me til this day. i believe it’s the only death besides andrew’s in the game that doesn’t involve the demons, and it doesn’t seem to have any symbolism to me. it felt so cheap lmao. this death, the twist and the character locked trait system are some of my biggest gripes with little hope
The locked trait system absolutely SUCKS. It kind of fell out of the scope of this video, but after reading comments I actually wish I touched on it. A game that’s all about unreliability and ambiguity having a definitive ‘correct’ way to play characters is so dumb, it’s needlessly restrictive.
@@RatatTalks THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT I SAY. it seriously defeats the purpose of these games by punishing the player by making the characters act the way they want to
These are excellent reviews! I'm curious if you've thought about reviewing/analyzing House of Ashes?
Personally I think SuperMassive is ambitious for making a series that isn't already based on a pop culture IP, and they tell different stories in different situations and at different points in time. Yeah they're not all masterpieces but I think it's still a great set of attempts and I think the games are still made with love even if they aren't perfect.
Hi, I'm going to be dropping the House of Ashes video later this year, I'm wanting to read some of the books by Khurrum Rahman to talk more about his writing style and why he hit where so many missed.
I agree, they're definitely bold for creating entirely new stories each time, I really respect the originality on display if nothing else. I would never accuse these games of being soulless cash-grabs, it's clear that every single one had a team of people who wanted the game to be good.
If you just cut out like, the last minute, it’s a good game.
Yesss, been waiting for this for ages :D
I'm now deeply sad that we'll never have your version of this game!
Hoping for a HoA video in the future, as that was my favourite dark pictures game by far!
It’s scheduled to come out November, maybe late October. All details about upcoming videos can be found on my community tab!
@@RatatTalks amazing news! 🥰
Only just started the video but I have to say that the twist was such a shame because this game had me on the edge of my seat even more often than Until Dawn- I found the personalised monster designs so compelling and horrifying that every encounter felt so much more threatening than almost any other Dark Pictures game to me! The twist retroactively robbed me of that feeling but I still enjoyed the experience and it's still one of the better DPA games in my opinion
thank you for the food, mr ratat
You are very welcome friend of the channel aketchimimi
I was so disappointed by this games story. I LOVED all of the witchcraft, the reincarnation theme, the tension between who to trust, and then all of those interesting ideas were completely thrown away. It made me so sad and angry that they destroyed the core of their story
Woah, you're on a roll 🙌🏻
Thank you bro appreciate the continued support
All art is subjective but characters can be worse than others
That’s probably true, but it’s hard to give an objective measure of how good a character is. I think for me it’s a matter of the purpose behind the character, a character with absolutely no personality can work really well in a setting that doesn’t require any.
love ur videos sm :)) i actually rly appreciate that u put in ur own thoughts + analysis and dont just recap the entire plot in way too much detail lol
keep up the good work !!
Thanks so much for the comment and support!
26:28 A possible reason for this could be because the Crucible didn’t really focus on the people being accused of witchcraft. The main character wasn’t accused until near the end. I still agree with your point but that could be a reason
This game is too dark. Not conceptually, literally. It's so difficult to see what's going on in these cutscenes.
It’s true across all their games, even at max brightness it’s hard to see
I don't have any strong feelings about any of these games but I love you analysis of them:)
I think your videos are amazing unfortunate they weren't a thing when I was fully invested in supermassive but your videos are definitely well made and if I go down my future plan of video essays they will probably follow a similar structure to yours obviously won't be supermassive though I couldn't compete with you bro it's a losing battle 😂😂
Appreciate the comment, video essays are fun projects to script I love doing all the research and I wish you all the best if that’s the path you go down. More coverage of supermassive is always welcome, I don’t really see it as competition hehe
WHAT THE FUCK, *THAT'S* WHERE PAPPENHEIMER COMES FROM????
In Germany, "Pappenheimer" is a word for people who make obvious mistakes or do things wrong in annoying ways. Usually used kind of fondly, like for example to refer to students who never submit their work on time or IT supporr clients who reliably forget to try the same troubleshooting step.
I didn't know that this was named after a brutal witch trial why are we like this
That application of the word isn’t from the trial but from a play released in the 17th century. I forget the name right now but I replied to another comment with it. Something Tod, maybe Wallingers Tod.