The best part is that Boyd is 100% right even though the first signs are that he's the weirdo oddball nobody likes- and that every time he makes a valid point, they yell him down, or appeal to his emotions or shabby logic- Boyd probably could have resisted the mountain and escaped, but it used his care for his friends to ensnare them- Boyd would have been 100% in his rights to just beat the crap out of Sarah and drag her back down the mountain. But the real horror is, they could have headed back at any time- the only external power pushing them forwards, the only thing driving them on against all reason, all logic, WAS YOU. Because you wanted to know. Because you were curious about seeing what was at the top of the mountain. Because to you, Elaine, Boyd and co, they were expendable. It's only natural that horror protagonists get picked off one by one, right? But you had to keep going. Keep digging. Keep searching. It's gotta be worth, right? Gotta know, right? Gotta find out? Fill the eyeholes as much as possible until the protagonist croaks- might even get a scene or two after they're all dead! Gotta know! GOTTA KNOW!!!!
“How DARE you play this game, you evil son of a bitch! You are singularly responsible for ALL this suffering, and you should feel bad.” -A Videogame, made by at least one developer
@@randomanon8408 Its only cheesy if the player is forced to do anything- if you have to kill a kid for the plot to progress and suddenly every other character yells at you for doing it, it's cheesy. "Blaming the Railroaded player" is that trope. But when done right, where the player has numerous options that they may not have considered. You've got games with a "good" ending and a "bad" endings, and the bad endings have you play the game as you expect you should, and a "good" ending where you put game logic aside and try to find another solution. Was Far Cry 3-4 cheesy, because if you chose to respond to a bad situation like a rational person? A game that properly calls you out by predicting your behavior, that's proper spooks to me. Just because many college sophomoric horror games can flounder as they try to be "deep" doesn't mean having depth in a horror game is something not to want. The real issue currently is many indie horror games have so many cliche's that the expectation on the player is "I need to do something obviously stupid because otherwise, this wouldn't be a horror game!"
@@pyrosnineActual I just find it distasteful, being offered one choice and being blamed for taking it, like uninstalling the game is an option. It's really not, so the impact rings hollow because I wasn't offered a choice to begin with.
"It's so threatening. It feels like a warning." Probably because those horrifying stone spikes are one of the many amazingly terrifying suggestions for long-term nuclear waste warning messaging. Always love when games take them as inspiration, but do something fresh with it.
At first I thought the shadow creatures were the ghosts of the people previously killed by the mountain, but now they seem like the jailers of the thing hidden inside.
I love how this captures lovecraftian horror very well, and the twist that the stalker-types were actually trying to prevent the Inverted God from being unleashed..
So the story goes like this: This "God" or whatever it is, feeds on entire races to keep itself satisfied. The creature that stalks the group on the mountain belonged to its previous victims, most of whom were devoured while the survivors were enslaved. Somehow, these survivors managed to trap the God in another reality, one only accessible from the mountain peak. They then erected the temple that tells their story and chose to eternally guard the entrance to the other reality to make sure the God would be imprisoned forever. Countless ages pass and humans emerge, for one reason or another they arrive to the mountain. The God is smart, and can communicate to others with its mind, trying to entice them to make it to the peak so they can free it, he may also be able to alter reality around the mountain, causing the landslide, the train crash, maybe even the car malfunction. The beings who guard the peak know this, and so they kill anyone who gets too close, either cause they can't communicate, or because the mind control is too strong. As time passes, the guards continue to succeed in stopping humans from reaching the peak, but are slowly killed off until only one is left. When the group arrives to the mountain, the last guard tries to pick them off one by one, but is killed by Sarah before they can finish. With nothing stopping her, she arrives in front of the God, who uses her life force to free itself. Now that it's free, it seeks to feed on humanity, and nothing can stop it now. TLDR: Creatures are good, humans are dumb, and the world is doomed.
Yeah that's the story. I wonder what the middle picture was, though. Is it the empty husks leftover from its feeding falling back to Earth and burning in the atmosphere?
16:03 this is so funny that the chars don't have a back turned animation, so they just watch the creature nab their friends and go like "what happened?", "I ani't seen nuthin'", "it will be forever a mystery what I just looked at".
Really dig the Eldritch Rave music! Something interesting to me was the note that said they didn't want to leave the thing in the fog alone. If you've ever read stories of survivors who have to trek through the mountains or snow, you may have heard of "Third Man" syndrome (I think it's a syndrome). The survivors feel like there's an extra person in the party, or someone following them. Sometimes even have conversations with the person who isn't there. It's fascinating!
I really liked the art direction. Not to mention the sound design was great. Especially the haunting piano theme when you arrive up the mountain. Da Duh Da Duh Da Duh. The farther you go up the mountain the percussion kicks in. The hunting theme is intense whenever the creature pops up. The best theme was inside the temple.
@@acrj-alfasaus4825 they refused to put their hands in the air every time he shouted for them to do so from behind the console. Turns out they did, in fact, not care.
it was a surreal experience watching this absolutely horrifying cosmic horror story, being genuinely unnerved by it, only to have the video end with a bunch of cheesy puns. pretty funny too
Traditional grave markers are made by grabbing stones, then carving them with a knife or another stone till smooth. Time doesn't exist on the mountain, and people have been stuck there since at least the 30's, so he probably had all the time in the world to carve as many as he liked. I'm more surprised we didn't see a carved mansion.
Really interesting in every way. As a cosmic horror fan I find this truly ballsy since not only does the game appear to have a bizarre premise (love it) that many may not be drawn to, but also a uniquely 80s animation look and sound that may not appeal to younger gamers used to a more modern aesthetic. I salute your storytelling here, especially your indication that the heroes may inadvertently be the bad guys. Great work! I'd love to see more of this kind of game design.
in the end the sealed entity would have freed itself, just needed enough people to try and get in there, the guardians were mortals and couldn't comunicate, or were forbidden from doing so, should have sealed the cave entrance only chance humans had was if the anomaly zone was costantly moving and if the 4 stupid kids didn't go up the mountain it would have dissapeared on its own
As much as the simplistic pixel style works for this short feature, I would love to see it expanded into a Triple-A game in full 3D with voice acting, inventory, combat, puzzles and multiple endings. Hell a movie even, so long as it isnt directed by Uwe Boll.
The middle fifteen minutes are a bit lackluster, and these kids are kinda dumb for not stopping to consider their situation before entering a clearly supernatural area, but the beginning and ending are awesome.
This is more like the backstory for a AAA game. Defeating the cosmic daemons and saving the Earth and humanity is what games are made of. The AAA game would begin right where this story ends.
@@-0rbital- It is a weird name and I remembered it only because I kept seeing it scrolling down to older videos. It's one of the few games I didn't finish watching. The font was barely legible and plot over the place. Didn't last until the monster.
I think the real issue is that the bad guy is subtly brainwashing them (the bad guy being the elder god, or possibly the player) into rationalizing bad ideas as being the best ones- but it's so subtly done it's not obvious until you read the journal entries that reveal it.
This game reminds me another where a bunch of teens goes to a island and some cosmic horror stuff happen (I don't remember the game name so if anyone knows what I'm talking about pls tell me I want to play it)
Yes, lack of player choices, lack of being able to do anything skillful that affects the outcome of anything. Don't think it's possible to lose the game prematurely? Also, would have been cool to see the victims going down into the ground instead of just disappearing.
I think the lack of player choices was entirely the point- you're being brainwashed into continuing onwards even when it's an obvious deathtrap- even as your player character keeps rationalizing moving forwards.
@@pyrosnineActual Yeah that makes sense, though it's very common amongst games like this to basically be simply a narrative where instead of turning pages you press arrow keys or dpad directions... Even with a premise like that, though, there could still be choices that don't derail the overarching narrative. Can't think of any, though lol.
The godly monster was obvious if you squint hard, it's mostly just grunts as if awakening from it's slumber. Idk about the alien creature tho, prolly something akin to "I had to do it. Don't kill me-
I created a small story about what was on the walls in the end and I really hope you like it :) It took me abt 5 mins to do but the game really struck me The goliath never died. It was put into chains at the top of a mountain and held for millennia for the world to ignore Spited by god and never given the chance to repent It calls for the forgiveness and for the eyes to see what what ours can’t reach without belief in that that is incredible When one comes back to feed him He will be strong and break free He will be incredible and he will be gluttonous And the years he missed will be fufilled by others
This one didn't get me but had to stop watching The Fridge Is Red: Goldi Verne. The protagonist's voice actually gave me a headache and I started to feel nauseated
So spoiler The demon looking fellows were an ancient race that got found and ate by that God looking creature. They rebelled, chained him up and guarded where he was, but in time with more and more visiting them some died trying to defend the jail and with Noone to take their place, their number eventually became one. And we kill the last one, free that monster giving it enough strength to unchain himself and doomed earth. I'm curious to know what the last demon said. Also all the demon did was to try and make people scared and run away, until the very end. Also the godly being was the one responsible for the snow, fog, bad climate, and time distortion
I'd say the mountain didn't have a hook in him, until he was emotionally damaged by the loss of a friend- He's calm and rational- until one of his friends die, and he starts emotional bargaining.
I'm just gonna be the guy to say it: WHO HAS THE TIME TO BE WRITING ALL THESE NOTES DOWN AND LEAVING THEM EVERYWHERE??? I mean they're not even journals they are sheets of paper! Do people just bring one sheet of paper and 1 pen/pencil to write their current thoughts down? that makes no sense!
I think they're made by the god of the end. It's implied he's resposible for attracting people to the mountain, together with all the anomalys and bad weather. He made them probaly as a way to led and incentive people to keep going, thinking they can find the person who made them. if you notice how they get more crazy with time and all appear on some sort of altar. It's pretty sure they werent made by humans
They are stuck in there innantime bubble from at least the thirties. They have all the time innthe world to write notes. Perhaps they sensed something is messing with their heads and wrote to distinguish the voices from their own thoughts. Instead they recorded their own brainwashing and mental deterioration, gradual descent into madness.
@@funnyfroggiealert1816 It doesn't say the paper was blank. They could just rip it fromma book they took to read and write on it with charcoal from the fire.
I think it was a stylistic choose, like the low poly 3D models and pixelated graphics, in order to make the whole evironment of the game world feel more surreal.
"Stop, danger ahead." Or, more properly explained "I am the last of a race that imprisoned a god-like entity of pure evil in this space-time bubble. We sent it here eons ago to a where and when that was nothingness. We spent the last several millennia stopping interlopers that the entity lured to this mountain the only way we could as no amount of trying to communicate with them would deter them. I am the last of my kind and have exhausted what little energy I had stopping your friends. Please don't go in there or you will destroy your world and countless others."
*The devs could animate the hammering to death imp scene but were too goddamn lazy to make even a rudimentary walking animation or spites of the characters backs as they walk away.* *A very half-assed effort. The devs should be ashamed of themselves.*
