Note: I covered an early Beta build of this a year ago, but the full version of Chapter one has just been released and it's got a lot more content, so figured I'd do another vid. I trimmed out one area (as it was very empty) and I've also trimmed out a lot of the early ticket collecting as it's a little time-consuming. Hope you enjoy your stay at Anemoiapolis!
"If I drown here, nobody will notice" - oh god. imagine your body just floating around those chlorinated pools forever. I bet that's what happened to the shadow man.
They've always had a personality through the gameplay if you're really watching. The best example is of a game I can't even remember, but I do remember the characters in the game having a dance party and they went in (in first person mode) and started wiggling the view all around like they were dancing too. It's little things like that that has really made the channel stand out to me. They aren't just getting through games, they're _enjoying_ games, and it's obvious.
The mannequin and locker room were well done. Gave me the best kind of "creepy game" vibe: not a jumpscare panic or screaming fright... but where a cold chill gradually spills over your whole body like a cold breeze and you just want to get away.
I'm a bit disappointed with this update version of the game. I believe the beta version was a lot more cohesive with the level design and atmosphere, but now the developer made some questionable choices that really toned down the initial strenghts. I liked the beta opening, it gave a nice contrast of mundane life into the player MC before the weirdness, now it feel quite empty. Why cut down the pool section in two parts? It was a great start and build up to the atmosphere and scaryness of the city, now it has been turned into a level of a hub world, which significantly tone down the feeling of being lost and the progression factor. This is further aggravated by the fact you have to collect tickets to get in other parts of the hub world, which in this case is quite annoying. The new areas like the Mall sections, Golf an Movie Theater are cool, but at the same time feel undercooked and boring rather than bizarre. Again, if the game did not have an hub section and focused on being a more linear approach, it would have worked better. Also the human villain at the end is such an unnecessary cliché, I'll rather have more moments of environmental storytelling or other Shadow Guy appareances than that.
It's weird. I can't pin it down exactly, but the game feels like it's lost a lot of the liminal and creepy vibes it had originally with these changes. Which has made it, generally, less interesting. Like, both the audio and the visuals feel now like they're trying too hard.
Maaan I really preferred the linear progression of the beta way more. The elevator thing is an unnecessary chore. Everything just feels less cohesive and foreward-moving
Liminal Space Horror is very omnipresent on this channel and across RU-vid lately. Eerie silence and nostalgia in game form is existential dread therapy.
Unfortunately I don’t think this game did a really great job with what it had, sure some sections like the movie theater had an eerie and unnatural aspect to it, and throughout the chapter you clearly understand that there is something wrong with the Mall, but it fails at conveying the idea that you are in danger and you are not the only one roaming the building, despite having plenty opportunities to do so. The only moment of genuine concern were the shower rooms, much like in the Demo, with a proper build up with the scribbles on the mirror that warn the player to keep moving no matter what, but the game would benefit immensely if the presence would be present throughout the mall, because for the most part it felt like we were a kid lost at Walmart
@@Emmy-S55 True liminal space eerie nostalgia does not have the entity cringe. if it has this plot point it's no longer truly liminal space but backrooms focused instead. which isn't a bad thing but people are confused about these two genres from the same family tree.
@@Mogadypopz This is not subjective. It's a subgenre of horror. Trust me you can count on it I always call out lazy dev team behavior but this is on purpose. Only certain people are affected by liminal space horror. You must be born in the 80s, 90s (especially the 90s) or even early 2000s (rarer cases but some older zoomers claim they also feel this eerie aversion.) The person must also be from some American state since European or other nations don't seem to have this strange attachment to nostalgia.
@@StyleshStorm I think people from other countries may very well also feel it. I'm not from US but I feel it very clearly. During my undergrad years I often wandered around in the university campus after midnight. These liminal spaces remind me exactly of those sprawling university building complexes, clean and brightly lit without a soul but myself. I think this liminal thing is ultimately about a sense of lonely but safe isolation, which is a pretty universal sentiment in the modern industrial society.
Yep. I've pinned it down for me. Most of the new content lacks narrative. It's liminal spaces just for the sake of liminal spaces. With worse sound and visuals.
Is it just me or is the overall quality of the animation significantly diminished compared to the Poolrooms-only first release? To me that's what hindered a lot of the immersive feeling of this expansion (don't get me wrong though I still love it...I just have a soft spot for Poolrooms content).
@@Sarah.Riedel ok, so I wasn't the only one to notice this, good. Like, you saw those bathroom sinks? The faucets' water animation just... stops when you close them. And it's not like, the water that was running down finishes running - it literally disappears. I wonder if there are other animations that feel... wonkier too.
@@Mike14264 the water in general just seems much lower in quality compared to how it was rendered in the first beta...for example the small pool he jumps into around 4:20, the water is essentially just a shaded square over the background??...the pools in the first release had much more depth and movement, everything seemed so smooth, almost like everything was sort of glowing from the inside. It was highly immersive, again largely due to the quality of the rendering...by comparison, things here feel very flat - like, don't get me wrong the skill it takes to design something like this is immense, but at times it just _screams_ "I'm an animation!!"
I wouldn't be surprised of what looks like "water" down there would not be actual water, but rather 3M Novec 1230, a.k.a. "waterless water", a fluoroketone that looks exactly like water but is completely dry, does not wet any surface and has fire suppressant capabilities.
really like this game glad someone is coverinjg it. i was about to be upset that they took all the water out of the game but realized they just fleshed it out more. lol. i dont like all the changes per say especially with the central area but its still a cool vibe. my biggest complaint is that all the areas seem MUCH smaller than the beta, i remember people getting lost in the locker rooms and the lazy river.... and i dont like how they cut the statue that you have to climb to get to some vents, i hope its in future episodes. i kinda liked the beta better tbh
The statue is actually in the game, it just wasn't showed here for some reason. What I don't like is how... devoid of content the other areas are. They have nearly no commentary at all, as opposed to the pool areas, and pretty much no haywire puzzles either, aside from a single one, which is the most complex one too, in a relatively inexpensive area (about 40 tickets, can't remember). I seriously hoped we'd see more of those puzzles, they broke up the gameplay rather nicely. I also don't like how the text of a door at the end of an area says "next level", it kinda breaks immersion. And I kinda agree with the hub level thingy, but I do like how it feels deliberately like an area that was supposed to have people doing business inside of it, but was almost abandoned in a rush. Plus, hey, I like me some collectathon progression! And the looks of the areas were all neat, I just wished they had more... substance, if that makes any sense. Though the Conference Room did nail the sense of getting lost in a liminal area pretty well. Once you lose your sense of direction, it's hard to get a grip again, and that sensation was hella cool. Also, the way you climb the walls in the first room of the Movie Theatre feels a little... "game geometry abusing-y", if that makes any sense. And the ending of that whole area felt more like dreamcore/surrealism, honestly, it was a bit silly. Also, the shadow man of the pools... kinda doesn't lead up to anything. These pools, may I add, are the most expensive area of the game, at 100 tickets, and folks will probably leave it for last, yet it feels like it should've been one of the first areas, since it's more consistent with the first few pools. I dunno... I think the moment where you leave the dingy shower rooms was when you should've stumbled onto the central mall. I did like how they switched up progression a bit for the pools tho, playing with our expectations. And they made more use of the holes at the bottom of the slide area, them being the only way for you to enter the reservoir.
@@DGneoseeker1 I mean... I like each for their own things. The beta does feel more consistent with its vibes tho. Plus, they cut out the dialogue between the protagonist and his wife at the start, I honestly thought that was a pretty neat way to contextualize what you were doing in there, and it gave some insight into the dude's rather mundane life, an interesting juxtaposition with the crazy things that'll happen to him in a matter of minutes.
Although this is more recent build, somehow game feels worse. The visuals, the sound, the subtlety of the early build is somehow gone. Have no idea why is that so.
Looks like one of those newly empty malls, except for a crawler or two. Usualy it's not that you are alone, but you are not and don' know if the other 'being' is benevolent or not.
is it wrong that this seems like it would be a cool place to chill out in while dreaming? apart from stuff like the locker room with the shadow person of course.
Hi! Thanks! Ken from El Pichon Games (creator of The Bunny Graveyard) does the animations, then I add the audio and the dumb puns. Glad you like them! :)
IT’S HERE… and it’s massively disappointing. Why did they cut out the intro monologue? Why did they split the water park stage in two and make the second half the _final level?_ Why the hub world that kills all tension and atmosphere? Why the procedurally-generated levels that kill all pacing? I had such high hopes for this since the beta and I bought it the SECOND it came out, but… it needs to go back to the workshop, ‘cause this ain’t it. EDIT: Having finished the game myself, the final stage is just as great as ever. For some reason, the part where you go through the lobby after escaping the locker room wasn’t in this video, but it _is_ in the game. I just wish we didn’t have to go through the empty, procedurally-generated boredom of the Conference Rooms and Country Club to get there.
I think the tickets and the procedural generation are missteps, but it's still a very interesting and unique game. Plus, this is just the first chapter. We're just getting started.
So after getting excited about the Beta and then seeing this, I'm...torn about how I feel about this game, maybe a bit...disappointed. (Long comment incoming. Read at your peril.) I do like the stuff they kept in from the Beta - the Waterworld space felt familiar yet different at the same time and the locker/shower room sequence was genuinely frightening and tense - I almost wish it was a little longer and had a bit more build-up like in the Beta. The other Liminal Spaces had a lot of potential like the movie theaters and the hallways and the golf course although that felt a little lacking. Even the hub area had a really strong feel for liminal space, at least, to begin with. Also, I'm so glad they kept the 'Observe' feature where the character's inner thoughts appear on screen, but remain unspoken. It's a nice touch that I wish other games did more. That said, there are a lot of things that I found to be distracting: -Why cut the opening monologue? It was a good introduction to the character you're playing as. -The hub world killed a lot of the tension - it made it feel TOO safe. -The ticket collecting felt unnesscary, more of a gimmick to keep you moving forward. The collection animation was kind of cool, but it ruined the mood -I can see what the goal was for the procedurally generated spaces, but I think it was a mistake in execution. -The levels felt a bit too big so they felt kind of empty and needlessly long. Again, I can sort of see what the aim was, but you can have too much space. -Why were the Waterworld levels split into two separate places? It was a bit jarring and nonsensical in a way that kind of broke the immersion of the game -I feel like there were a lot of missed opportunities to lean into the psychological horror/uncanny aspects of a game like this. Maybe that's more of a personal nitpick, but I would have loved hearing doors opening in the distance or maybe the mannequin seem to move places randomly, have a golf ball zip past you despite no one being there, etc. I might still keep an eye on the developer because it's clear they've got some great ideas and they've got a sense for Liminal spaces which has me intrigued. It just feels a bit disappointing after how strong the Beta was. Maybe with a bit of time and some scaling down of the areas, a bit of leaning into liminal horror/uncanny horror stuff - who knows? It's a decent game. Sometimes, it's a good game, but it needs some polish and some work for Chapter 2
A Minneapolis. Not to be confused with the other Minneapolises "How do I get out of here?" Well, wouldn't you like to know, repairboy? 18:29 I'm not cleaning that up 29:17 Causing property damage? Not a big fan
this is a massive downgrade from the beta. another indie game ruined by scope creep. if i were the dev i would read these comments and release a poolrooms-only edition and just focus on making that bit perfect, release the other stuff as DLC if desired.
Personally I was never a fan of the opening monologue to begin with. If the point is that you’re a self insert, I’d rather let myself fill in the dialogue and thoughts. And when you start off with spoken lines mixed with only text, its a jarring composition. So either have a voiced character with a set personality, or no voice and let the player interpret it.
@@DGneoseeker1 I definitely think it leads impact to the idea of being in a dream scenario. At least, in my dreams, when I talk I know I’m “talking”, but I can’t physically hear it.
Shame what happened to the end results. the demo was really good but now seeing this. it kinda sucks to be honest. the maker of this game really ruined it for himself.
i was not expecting this to actually get scary. the actual effort put into making something with a nice interior design just made it feel... lonely, a bit empty. the scariest part was the potential threat of seeing the cost of the utility bill. god knows i don't want to die of sticker shock seeing the water bill and electricity. and then... you had to call the shower rooms dinghy. right pissed off something with that comment, lol sure, orange lighting is NOT flattering, but we don't talk about that, its common decency.
The last section was the only one to make me really nervous right away. Wide open, dimly lit spaces make me uncomfortable anyway, but then to throw in everything being at strange angles with nothing lining up at all on top of that. Just from the little bit in the video it felt like a museum with no art in it.
Just finished it. Enjoyed it but I felt like the ???? (Dark) area near the end was pumping the player up for something that didn't happen. You just walked a little bit and got into the elevator. I was expecting some next level dread down there.
Nice joke at the start. As for the game, I've been interested in it for a while, and I still think that it looks nice/interesting and is one of the most beautiful backrooms/liminal space-themed games, but I was hoping for a silent protagonist of the barely-any-layer-between-you-and-the-game kind (rather than a random dude, not to mention a random dude who talks so much). Backrooms-adjacent games are perfect for this type of protag; it helps with the immersion.
@@AlphaBetaGamer normal malls are a dime a dozen. The architects here didn't want to sell themselves short. If it was boring, the patrons would make short change of it in its currency 'tuation.
This thing of liminal spaces doesn't hit me at all. Everybody seems to feel certain dreamlike, anxiety, or even terror feelings. None of that happens to me 🤷🏻♂️
@@Pleasestoptalkingthanks Anemoia, yes, because it happens to me with the 1920s or the victorian era, for instance. Also with the 70s. But liminal spaces don't touch anything inside me.
@@alligator4117 All that backrooms thing, ok, can cause some disturbance due to the monsters and being trapped or lost, but not the place by itself. To me it's like another maze, that's all.
This game and Complex Found Footage tackle why I like liminal space 'horror' games: the fear of knowing you're going deeper and furtherr into an abyss of familiar places like malls, hotels, office spaces, indoor pools but you're the only one there. You don't know if anyone else is there, and if there is - whether or not they're alive, supernatural, or it's all one big venus fly trap - is the real mystery. Although of course the real mystery and the one thing that takes it out of the mystery/horror is one just asking, "Who could have seriously built all this sh*t and how much did it cost?" XD
So do you get a game over / dream over type thing if you let the shadow person touch you? The shadow person seems creepier in the still pics of it than in the game it self now but they are still kind of creepy....
3:50 I give that jump a 6.5. Was missing a cool salto. 9:10 wow, ABG is an elevator hog who wants it all for himself. I can excuse murderery, but I draw the line at elevator hogging 9:53 hey, stop rubbing your b utt all over the panel, people touch that 17:12 you broke it, you pay for it!
I remember when I worked maintenance at an office building at night. Same vibe I got when he got to the carpeted-floor part of the game lol Just going to every cubicle, emptying trash and you're the only one there...
