She is a wee gem especially to carry on when she’s close to a breakdown that Andy briefly makes a little worse when he’s observer. Like joking about the horrible monster baby being able to hear you through your controller. Even though she (apparently it’s a girl since it’s a nightmarish hallucination of baby Rose) can’t 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂
Haha as someone who can't comprehend being scared of a game/movie, it's still hilarious watching her Although alien Isolation.. really? It's just opening 40 doors, and the xenomorph is so janky, great aesthetics but I'm with Rich Evans on that one being overrated
I love everything about Fear Academy, but Andy’s mild “oh no, oh dear” never fails to absolutely crack me up. Ellen’s having a full breakdown and he’s just sipping tea like “what a conundrum”
Honestly Ellen's fear academy is such an amazing series, Ellen fearfully squeaking and Luke, Mike, Jane or Andy needling and or giving advice. Is a entertaining combo. And Ellen always does so we'll despite being a scaredy Cat.
Love all the personalities on show during fear academy Ellen *furious panicked squeaking Jane *joyfully munching popcorn Andy “oh dear. Well thats not right” Mike “CHAAARRGE! ATTACK!” Luke *basically tall Andy and pushing all Ellens buttons lol Need to try and catch more fear academy this year. Edit: forgot until Resi 7, Ellens ABC method for horror games, Always Be Crouching. Lmao
Jane's reactions in fear academy are legendary, calmly munches popcorn.😂 Shout out to Ellen for being a massive good sport and going through all those horror games.👍👏
My favourite thing about fear academy is Andy being so chill knowing full well he screamed the house down when he was playing. The outside Xbox book monster moment is iconic xD
Luke going all serious and saying "that didn't happen in my playthrough" is one of the funniest bits. That aside, having seen Ellen's fear academy playthroughs, and the From series so far, we can conclude -- Ellen may be easily scared, but she's incredibly brave.
One thing I LOVED about Ellen's Fear Academy was just how competent Ellen was at all the games, even when she was scared out of her skin. She was SO GOOD to the point where I struggled to watch other playthroughs of the games she played, because I was exasperated by other people's comparative incompetence.
I have such fond memories (should I say presh mems?) of each one of the Fear Academy entries, but my favourite moment is still Ellen doing precision headshots while squealing at an inhuman pitch and Luke wide-eyed laughing his head off and stating "this was the best idea ever". 😂😂😂
@@saviourfade6849 it was the Resi 7 one! It's about half way through if I remember correctly. Mia is chasing her with a chainsaw and Ellen is completely loosing it, while Luke looks a bit like an evil professor the way he's enjoying himself
The worst part of Resi 7 for me is that I can SMELL the Baker House. Here in rural America I've had to go into a fair share of abandoned buildings or barns that I've become familiar with the stench of musty ruined plaster, animal nest, and the occasional rotten carcass of a dead animal. I don't think I could stomach going through that game with that rolling around in my head.
I have to agree that given the player a gun ISN'T necessarily less frightening that not having one. The ability to fight back implies that you need to compose yourself and figure out how to respond to a threat, unlike being disarmed where it's more about experiencing the horrors and watching them unfold. Plus, the idea that even if you can fight back and the monsters can still keep coming back anyway is more terrifying.
The beauty of horror is how subjective and personal it is. What scares me does not scare you, and vice versa. It’s fascinating to hear someone else’s perspective and explanation. Also, that Layers of Fear super cut was gold! 😂
I've always a got a lot of respect for Ellen when she tackles horror games, and I'm even more impressed that she's only sworn twice so far during Fear Academy. Perhaps this year will gleam a third?
Ellen is amazing for willingly subjecting herself to this - courage is not the absence of fear, after all! - but the reactions of the rest of the team is golden, too. Y’all poke fun at her and her misery (c’mon, Jane eating popcorn while Ellen suffers is iconic, and Ellen’s sharpshooting under extreme pressure is god-tier) but you also genuinely care about her well-being and don’t want her to get too overwhelmed, either. It’s great to watch. ^_^
"Horror games get less scary when they give you a gun to fight back with." See if you still feel that way after playing F.E.A.R. You *start* with a gun, but it somehow manages to get *more* terrifying the further you go. What jump scares it has are some of the most effective I've seen, even when the atmosphere practically tells you to expect it.
Think her colleagues encouragement and making her laugh has helped even Andy especially playfully making new fears like possibly looking out where windows used to be during slender:the arrival 🤣😂🤣😂😂🤣
I remember the Resident Evil Village Fear Academy, when Ellen finally walked into the mannequin room and her pistol disappears from her hand. As she's beginning to really hyperventilate, Andy pretends to soothe her with "Well, you have several guns, so let's check your inventory" and you see a moment of slight relief come over Ellen's face, until she opens the inventory, and it is completely empty, and Andy just offers an "oh no" that is so completely flat and devoid of urgency. I had to stop and rewind several times because I was laughing so hard.
I love how Ellen had a mini-jump already at the very beginning of the video when Luke first says her name. She is such a gem, needs to be protected at all costs.
You deserve such respect, Ellen. I could not play all of these horror games for people's entertainment, I've tried, but either I get too scared or not scared enough, never in-between.
When I played PT, I literally only downloaded it because it was free. I had zero prior knowledge about it. I just downloaded a free game, and started playing it. It was only rivaled in pure terror to when I was a child playing Ocarina of Time and encountering the Dead Hand. Now I just try whatever free game I can, because it might just be that good and I'd never know it.
Playing "The Suffering" as a kid was terrifying. I didn't have an Xbox so when my friends went to Disneyland and told me to take care of their dogs I turned on the game (in an unfinished basement 😳) and played it. 3 days maybe playing for 4-6 hours at a time, I completed it. But every time I realized I should go back home it was already long past dark and I never turned any lights on in the house for fear that neighbors would know I was playing games over there and not just taking the dogs outside and feeding them
Your Fear Academy streams have really inspired me into playing horror games. I had previously avoided the genre entirely, but because of y'all I now have a new favorite genre of games.
Your remark on "Layers of Fear" being constant jump scares reminds me of talking with other creative writers about how to create a sense of horror... and the key thing for building tension is the quiet parts between the horror bits. Being on edge because there's a jump scare every few seconds is the wrong kind of tension for memorable horror.
All of the Fear Academy coaching is great, but I think part of what makes Resi Village so special is that Andy just absolutely nailed his role. I don't know which I would say is the scariest, but that is certainly my favorite Fear Academy video.
There was something very special about the Ellen/Andy Victim/Mentor episodes of Fear Academy. In some ways it felt a bit like in the Hunger Games, where your mentor was once exactly where you are? I watched the Slender Awakening episode and immediately went to watch the OG oxbox video with Andy fear singing non-stop.
I recently replayed dead space1 and 2 and they're still terrifying to this day, I like the atmosphere of them SO MUCH there's not a lot of "empty air" there's always some spooky whispery shit goin' on when you aren't fighting
That's the beauty of the atmosphere, sometimes you can't tell what's a real noise and what's a "safe" noise, so you ALWAYS feel on edge! :D There's one specific thing I've always trusted though, and that's the string that plays when there's a necro off screen stalking you. Like a metaphorical eye in the back of my head
Great video recommendation (or so I think): 7 monsters who miraculously came back to life after dying horrible deaths. One perfect example would be the Songbird of Columbia from Bioshock Infinite
What I love about encounters like Jack Baker and Mr X in particular is that you have a gun, but you also know that it won’t help you. Somehow that’s more stressful than if you just didn’t have one
Sorry to disappoint you but it’s Lisa slamming the door on your character’s face rather than Ellen shutting the door on her but love the idea Ellen would if you could 😅🤣😂🤣😂🤣
Dave over on PSAccess also is a good shout to watch. Him and Ellen are two peas in a pod when it comes to horror games. No shame in being scared. It's natural human emotion. Some people just enjoy being tense and scared too :)
Yeah, I wanna play all the resident evils and silent hills someday (maybe not ALL the silent hills, but at least the main three) but when I was playing this one horror game, short, made by one person, not that scary, only really got me in the one jump scare (which got me three times, first while playing, twice more while editing the video) and I'm scared of the dark so the slightest bit of darkness can scare me. I also love your name.
I think I've commented this before, but... Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly. It's a gorgeous game for the time it came out, but hoooooly wow I can still remember specific scares from that game. Never finished it--too scary. Definitely recommend for Fear Academy.
Resident Evil 7 is hands down the scariest game I'd ever played until I got a vr headset. The entire time I was at the Baker estate was just sheer terror. It would definitely still be the scariest game I've played it it weren't for the fact that the level of immersion you get with vr elevates the pure horror you experience to levels that I find untouchable by other media. Great choice for #1, and great video!
Ellen you're so brave for having played these. I'd rate Alien Isolation tied with RE7 at first because the atmosphere would make me unable to progress as i hid behind furniture in absolute fear
Resident Evil 7 was the only Fear Academy I couldn't finish because I was so anxious it felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest. I can't give Ellen enough kudos for going through with these, I could never haha
When I first play through Beniviento’s house in RE8, I didn’t even realise that I didn’t have my weapons. Also I’m surprised she hasn’t played through outlast in one of the fear academy’s
An underrated aspect of the fear factor to resi 7 to me is the human aspect of all the characters and the unsettling intimate feeling of being a guest inside another family’s house, encroaching on and being a victim of all the violent dysfunction.
Ellen's Fear Academy has become a regular October tradition for me now. Those screams are legit and I know it's taken a few years off her lifespan. Thank you El, for your sacrifice or multiple sacrifices as it were.
Also, about the mental health thing. That's actually what makes psychological horror games so scary for me. My brain is like a collectathon of mental disorders, and my biggest fear is legitimately going clinically insane. It's not an unfounded fear either, so playing a game that leans heavily into (realistic) depictions of such really hit close to home for me
I am a genuine fan of Ellen's Dead Space playthrough because it's my fav of the list. My friend gave me her copy because she reached the part with the babies and NOPED out.
Having Jane and everyone else's hilarious commentary/reactions while playing any horror game is probably the best way to enjoy it 😂 I'm looking forward to this year's Hallowstreams.
My first introduction to Dead Space was Ellen playing it on her own channel a long time ago, in a similar format to this with her then boyfriend off camera coaching and occasionally making her jump, which now makes me wonder if that was the inspiration for fear academy. Edit: I just looked it up again; I had completely forgotten her impressive rate of swearing
Ironically, Ellen's who got me into scary games in the first place! I see her play them and think, "Well, if she can do it, I can do it!" And now I seek them out 😅
There's something special about Resi 7 that, though it didn't bother me like it did Ellen, I can see how disturbing it is. For me, a lot of the reason it took me decades to play horror was the fear of being pursued by enemy characters. The Jack Baker pursuits on the second floor are particularly my least favorite bits. Something terrifying about being alone, not a STARS soldier just a normal husband looking for his wife, being chased in a creepy house by a psychotic Southerner....
Aaahh Ellen.. your over-reactions is why we love you.. You scare easily and it really shows.. but you also laugh easily.. your giggles brighten our days
When Silent Hill 2 came out, my friends all came over for a slumber party. We lugged the heavy CRT TV down into the unfinished basement, hid inside a blanket fort, and probably kept my parents up far too late with muffled screams. It was glorious!
Honestly, I completely respect putting Dead Space at #3. I started playing the first Dead Space game last month after getting back from my summer holiday (mostly on a recommendation from a friend who loves horror), and immediately I thought "What the hell am I doing!?!", and I a SUPER cautious when I walk through the game and I got scared incredibly easily by the numerous jump scares. What I found more startling though, was the fact that I was playing the game at all, because I'm not a horror person myself.
Fear Academy 2021 was iconic. Not only did Luke and Ellen get the true ending to PT that hadn't been seen since the demo launched (seven years as of 2021), but Andy trolling Ellen, and telling her the Fetus monster could hear her through the PS5 microphone was the funniest things I have ever seen. I can't wait for Fear Academy 2022, where Ellen takes her PhD in Phear, and takes on whatever Luke, Andy, Jane and Mike throw at her... And judging by this Summer Games Fest will probably be all Dead Space clones.
I did not watch this when it first came out, watching it now that I'm unemployed, and holy crap that Ellen put up with all this! I don't get scared by horror games but for someone that does it's amazing that she continued to do it so much. I don't know how to articulate my feelings other than saying I'm impressed because i probably would not do something i don't like that much
Totally agree with Ellen. If the game starts giving you stuff, especially weapons, it’s a pretty good indication that it wants/needs/suggests that you use them for what’s about to come. 😉
I honestly almost broke into laughter when it came to number 4. The noises were just so loud and I had to quickly turn my volume down on my computer just cause I didn't wanna bother anyone else with the noises of someone screaming for their live.
I agree with ellen about horror games that take away your ability to fight back. When you fear something in real life, you don't fear being instantly annihilated by it, You fear your uselessness in the face of it, fighting back all you can, only to be grabbed and taken down
It’s not a horror game per se, but man I get chills when I played Condemned Criminal Origins. Stuck with me for a while just how frightening in that unsettling way the game is
