Daniel Mullins: An Exhaustive Analysis 

Can't believe the real Sado was actually the friends we made along the way. Then lost in a messy argument. Then fell into a cycle of revenge with.

One thing I love about his games is that, meta and ARG stuff aside, they're really good games and stories on their own. Characters are relatable, plot twists are memorable, tragedies are palpable. It's not just about messing with your head, it's about giving the players a great, though bittersweet, experience; and Mullins has the writing chops to pull it off.

my head canon for how death works in the Hex is if you die in a scripted sequence (i.e. regular gameplay) you can be brought back, but if you die outside of an intended way, you're gone for good. EDIT: also I do believe Lionel Snill is supposed to be an intentional mirror for Daniel Mullins. Lionel and Daniel are almost anagrams and if you remove the M and U from Mullins and reverse it, you get Snill.

Maaan, I wanna hear those 15-20 minute diversions on Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Digimon! I'm also slightly obsessed with card games and while I know it would've clashed with the video to put in three whole extra video essays right in the middle of this one, I can't help but want MORE analysis. You know you've got something good when the only complaint is "More please!"

Commenting to fuel the unknowable algorithm gods, and also to welcome back one of my favourite video essayists. I didn’t know much about these games besides one playthrough of Pony Island a while back, so it was really interesting to see this deep dive into them. Definitely interested in seeing what Daniel does next. And I’ll definitely be back again for the next upload here, these videos are incredibly high quality and deserve a lot more attention.

Great essay! I think the self-reflection in these games is definitely deliberate (though there may be elements that are just the natural way creators end up in their work). In Pony Island, Satan is petulant, yes, but a lot of it stems from insecurity. I actually ended up feeling bad for him when he asks for more time, and wishing I could comply- close the game and give him a few hours to work on it (which of course, is impossible). The Hex is more obvious. Daniel Mullins had an unexpected runaway hit in Pony Island, and Lionel Snill is a young developer unsure how to handle the pressure of an early hit. It's very clearly a cautionary tale/dark path. Especially since a lot of Lionel's flaws (since he doesn't know the characters are sentient) stem from mistreating the people he works with: needing a gold nameplate to place himself as superior over more-experienced employees, his feud with Carla, stealing pensions. Inscryption has a much gentler take. Kaycee is the most direct developer analog, and a lot of her diary entries in the mod are very direct statements about her love of the game, the creative process, and feeling honored and touched by people's reaction to it. But outside of the mod, all of the scrybes are like different DM styles in a D&D game. P03 is the munchkin player who values minmaxed mechanics over story, Leshy values atmosphere and immersion. Unlike the Hex, the characters aren't hostile to the player, they want to play the game (although all with different ideas how). Leshy *acts* scary in Act 1 because you, as a player, clicked on a horror game and he wanted to give you a good experience. It's why, at the end, he asks to play without keeping score. That's why, though I deleted Pony Island as requested, I feel good playing Kaycees Mod. Replaying Pony Island would be contributing to the Hopeless Soul's imprisonment. Playing Kaycee's mod is me having a fun time playing a spooky game with my friend Leshy.

A comment for the algorithim. Sacrifices must be made. I absolutely adore Inscryption's first act, but never really could get into the second or third. As someone who's a sucker for a great deckbuilder and a killer asthetic, the later acts and the meta-story as a whole always sapped my interest a bit, feeling like they were distracting from the most interesting part of the game. So getting to experience them through the lense of someone who genuinely understands and appreciates all those aspects is a treat for me, and I really liked how you tied all the games together throughout your analysis. Looking forward to whatever you have planned next!

Watched this whole video assuming it had hundreds of thousands of views, shocked to see only 1k, this needs more attention. Also great use of the Outer Wilds OST.

Realized this video is awesome when i started tearing up at the recounting of the hex story. Ngl dont have much to say, really like your balance of calm script reading and like, personal touches for the lack of a better word. Commenting for the algorithm mainly.

I'm not gonna lie, I was a bit scared when I clicked on the video and saw the low view count. I'm sorry but I guess I was being conditioned into believing that having few views must also mean that a video is not worth my time. Luckily I stuck with it tho, thankfully the stylish opening was enough to tell me I wasn't about to watch some low-effort essay. After 2 whole hours I jst wanted to, idk, leave a comment congratulating with you, which is something I rarely if ever do on RU-vid. Maybe I'm doing this because I felt bad for my initial judgement, but It's probably because it's demoralizing to see something you put great passion and effort into go unnoticed on the internet and seeing someone take the time to write down their feelings would be more appreciated than just a simple like. So yeah, great video man, hopefully my (admittedly needlessly long) comment can give even the smallest boost to your visibility because you definitely deserve way better.

Have been a big fan of Daniel Mullins since the release of pony island, truly an amazing indie game dev. This video is a great tribute to him! Surprised it has so little views. Also digging the black nail polish, looks sick :)

You are absolutely the most underappreciated video essayist I've ever seen. You have good analytical skills, good pacing throughout the video, good bits, solid humor (even if it occasionally feels like you don't quite hit the timing right), great games that you focus on... It's impressive. I'd love to see a video on Omori if you've played it (it's very much worth your time if you haven't done so yet, though I'm guessing you know about it already given your existing videos). I think there's a ton to unpack in terms of psychological and thematic content. Honestly, I'd probably make a video essay myself if I had the time and the editing chops to do it justice, haha! All that said... You have a relatively small subscriber base and viewcount that absolutely does not match up to the sheer quality of what you're making - and honestly, like your (and my) view of Daniel Mullins' work, I can't wait to see what you go on to make next!

Great analysis and retrospective! Really enjoyed watching, and the framing device is fun haha. Makes me want to replay these games... And gets me even more excited for Pony Island 2.

Wonderful video, love your humor and found it super interesting to get the info on The Hex, it was the last big Daniel Mullins game I didn't know much about and now I wish it had more coverage. Time for a couple background rewatches

This is a really cool stuff. Personally I found Inscryption GOTY of that year, and I am a big fan of Daniel myself. Really comprehensive dive I did here. The overarching theme (even though I did have partially formed in my mind, I never actually articulated it) you formulated really well. Good job mate. (How come this video so little views)

Hello there. Wonderful job of a video. You've reached all that I love about a Daniel Mullins game: art, talent, humor and wisdom. Thanks mate.

One of the best videos I've seen lately. Truly worth the 2 hours watch in one go.

Very proud of the accomplished young man you are. Great video, well delivered, well researched and well worth the effort and the pain 😊.

I randomly encountered Inscryption on RU-vid. I clicked on it out of boredom, and fell in love. Now I have my eye on Daniel Mullins. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next!

Seeing your channel logo in my subscriptions gave me joy!

Great video! Subscribed. I wanted to mention something that you seem to have missed from Pony Island: if you change some of the files, you can get some dialog from Satan that says that sometimes, he "likes to speak in different voices", using the sound effect for hopless soul's voice. The implication being that the whole game was just the Devil tricking you into thinking you were escaping with a friend, when in reality nothing you did was actually hurting him, and you were just playing his game. I would have found that interesting to bring up in analysis

The more I hear about Daniel Mullins’s history the more I think that the hex was just him telling his story with some fantasy added on top to make it entertaining

1:02:53 I can say you're the first person I've ever heard describe "To The Moon" as a "walking simulator" game. Dear Ester? Yes. 1:06:44 I thought the point of Rust was that it was never released. It was leaked and then the community "completed" it.

Definitely captivating and entertaining 2 hour experience. Cheers, for taking your time and making this video!

plz release the card games cut

Bro how does this only have 7.7k views? This is a masterpiece! You explained the details and everything inbetween and what the games mean as a game instead of the lore, you compiled it all into one amazing easily understandable video to watch that was enjoyable and could absolutely help people like myself understand the reason why the games were made, beautifully made! Well done!

VERY excited to watch all of this! May the algorithm gods smile upon you 🙏

i watched this whole video within a span of a week mostly cause i enjoyed it way too much for it to end this was and probably is one of my favorite youtube videos ive seen in a while i cant believe this video only has 10k views i will rewatch this masterpiece again eventually

I have an idea as to what the freeze frame of Sado meant, i think its for the player. Sado seems to be the most aware of the literal player, you, specifically. You, who was scrubbing through the clip, frame by frame. Shes saying hi basically, of course she'd be around for a sudden act (agent of ch-) of violence.

THIS VIDEO HAS 10K VIEWS???? BRO I MISREAD THE FIRST TIME AND I THOUGHT IT SAID 100K. DUDE. YOUR SHIT ROCKS. I ADMIRED THE THUMBNAIL FOR A SOLID 3 MINUTES JUS FROM HOW YOU WERE ABLE TO COMBINE ALL 3 GAMES INTO A DELICIOUS IMAGE seriously, keep it up! I thoroughly enjoyed this!

Great video! Yes, I still have a big Netrunner binder on my game shelf. Also, I was happy to hear a track from Bastion :)

I'm not even through the first part yet, but I already know I'm gonna watch this till the end. High quality stuff!

Only about 11 minutes in, but the writing and presentation here is fantastic! I hope Daniel Mullins comes across this at some point! Subscribed!

Very enjoyable video! Glad the algorithm decided to push it my way, especially when I'm a big fan of the developer's work as well.

Incredible analysis and choice of music. Thanks so much

Hope the fact that I commented means this video gets recommended to more people, because this deserves so much more views 🙏

Thank you for an incredible video!

What a banger of a video essay! :)

Almost forgot BitBuddy was made by the same dude as fricking Inscryption

Just finished watching the hex portion and wow this video is fucking phenomenal.

Fun fact: (also pony island arg spoiler) The hopeless soul and Satan are the same person

Snill gives me major yandere dev vibes. The hate of mods, and the mistreatment of staff and fans is just so similar

Back with another great one!

Watching this whole thing made me realise how deep these games REALLY are. Goddamn.

This video was amazing. I will not try to elaborate because my ingles gramatic is terrible. (I'm brazilian)

Am i the only one who would love to hear all the Magic the Gathering and Yugioh explanations?

Imagine Sado vs P03 in a new game after she tried to enter in the game

This video definitely deserves way more recognition

live laugh pony island 2: panda circus (watch it not be related to any of the previous games, with red herrings being its own spinoff)

Loved this whole video and then I heard outer wilds music and I knew you were the goat immediately

got mad deja vu when you said lazarus in part 2 the hex

Great breakdown on the themes in some darkly fascinating games! Have an algorithm comment to feed the algorithm :D

49:43 I think the npcs are only recoverable if you use a weapon that should be used there, meaning if you use a level one sword on a level one enemy it can come back, but use a level one thousand weapon on a enemy and they ain’t coming back

Welcome back Mezz 👏🏻

This video is soooo underrated!

For Pony Island, Theodore probably isn't the player's actual name. Their alleged killer was a man who never took up the sword, and at the latest, died 400 years before the crusades.

gonna play them games before finishing, you deserve 10 times the subs CA-CAW

not even a mention of leshy and p03 divorce canon possibility

Hmm, I've played Inscryption, and Pony Island, and I've kind of been wanting to play the Hex for a long time, maybe I should do that soon, so I can watch this video

I so can't wait for Pony Island 2.

1:36:42 how dare you. I'm already sitting through an hour and a half plus video. Give me the magic, yegio, and so on ramblings!!!!

this video has NO RIGHT to be this good.

Top quality stuff!

3:40 Arkane 😢

Thats an amazing video

Прекрасна робота, дякую за аналіз.

Am i really going to watch a 2 hour video at 1 in the morning? Of course I am!

Awesome

2:06:05 love you too my guy, awesome video

omg they're back! hooray!

Genuis was the right word.

And i love this video!!!

1:47:00 one of the best parts of the game, a shame that the boss got deleted

Looking forward to lunch time.

I’m a sucker for Sado ngl

best video ever

Oh my god

I love daniel mullins

commenting to help the algoritm

So first of all this is an incredible video and was a great watch though one small issue so tiny it doesn't really matter but the lost soul is not your ally but rather your enemy inwould recommend you look into it and how pony Island was just a big trick of the player wow sounds familiar

here before the video blows up

swag video

Let's gooooooooooo

comment for algorithm, great video

Bro i havent even 100% pony island

aww @ 2:06:06

Commenting again just for the algorithm

1:15:08 sponsored by WHO ?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Comment for algorithm

W video

46:00 as opposed to regular capitalism, which is different because uhmmm ehmm uhhhhh

Comment for the algorithm

Good vid

Sight Duffy batangas king teddy

downvoted for cutting the 20 minute mtg diversion

4:31 is that skeleton a proto version of the one from inscryption?