I Fell Down the Evertale ad Rabbithole 

Honestly, the whole thing about the guy making an actual story out of the animations of those scummy ads. Was a surprisingly positive note to end on!

Man this sucks because it’s such a good idea for a mobile game. A horror take on Pokémon and it’s gameplay style is something I’d totally pay to play. If someone could make something like this and not as a scam, I’d totally support them in any way. Edit: just saw that end and now I’m totally gonna keep up with that project. Now let’s hope that it turn out better than those ads and that there is quality translations.

I wonder if they will ever realize that if they actually make the games like the ad then maybe just maybe people will play them

I remember being genuinely interested in these ads when I first saw them. Thankfully I did my research beforehand and saw that it was a scam, so I didn't spend any money on it. I think it's kinda hilarious how companies can be so unaware of what people really want. If someone actually made a game like the one as advertised, I'd play for sure! Support genuinely good indie devs, my friends!

this is one of those strange time when the fake-out ad is more interesting then the actual game, i guessing in the marketing team, one guy went "fuck it, shock content, pokemon edition" and just made up a completely different game to get peoples attention, and higher ups saw how even though it's a fake out, it still drew in customers so they let it continue.

I was one of the older players who left shortly before the creepy ads started. The game had something like a "first chapter" that played completely differently from all the later ones. The first one has that monster-catching aspect, has typical JRPG elements, and then all the later ones are much more stripped down in terms of areas to explore, and it's just a series of encounters plus loads of story from time to time. Of course, it also ramps up the difficulty tremendously so it really requires investing some money to get strong enough to progress beyond a certain point. For quite a while, I really did like the game, and I didn't mind spending lots of money on it to access more content, etc. I also enjoyed the waifu stuff, too. Lots of eye-candy. There were also some special gameplay aspects that were only available to top level alliances, and I even ended up briefly leading one of those high-level alliances for a little while. However, shortly thereafter, I quit the game for a couple of reasons. 1. The pressure. At top-level play, trying to handle campaigns of alliances of alliances against other alliances, there was a whole mess of politics between alliances and pressure to make sure that our teams were doing everything that they could to gain ground. I ended up putting pressure on members of my team, and I realized that I didn't really like that. I didn't like being the one who had to make the executive decisions all the time, or telling other players to get in line. I was spending way too much of my day constantly checking the game, having multiple daily alarms telling me to check various things to get all the points/resources I could. I stepped down and abandoned my alliance. 2. Pedo-bait. I really did like most of the story, and I also liked the sexy characters, but then they did a short story event where one of the young women gets magically turned into a child temporarily, and while the story itself avoided being too creepy about it, the "cards" for that new, childlike version of that character were *_deeply_* disturbing to me. The higher the level of the card, the more revealing the outfits, and it just made me sick. I considered just avoiding that particular event and waiting until something else came around to focus my time on the game again, but just the fact that those cards were out there, part of the game, and part of the promotions at the time really made me uncomfortable being associated with the game. I didn't want to be seen playing it anymore. I think a lot of other folks may have left for the same reason. After hundreds of dollars sunk, I uninstalled the game and never came back. It was not long at all after that that I started seeing the creepy ads. I wonder if the fallout from their questionable choices contributed to the shrinking player base and the decision to work a weird ad campaign scam like this, to pick up a different player base than they had previously tried to court.

Minor correction. It was free when the ads started. It's been coming and going several times. I reckon I actually played Evertale during the third wave of these creepypasta ads. At that time, it was free. My guess is that the team realized the bait and switch strategy wasn't working, so they resorted to grabbing your money before you get rug pulled.

Words cannot describe how deeply I appreciate the introduction to that One Punch ad. I remember seeing the less waifu oriented horror ads. It was rather confusing, because I instantly knew there was no way a game that would actually be like that would be advertised so heavily. I felt they were playing their hand out a bit much. It would be cool to see a subversive horror game on mobile though. I imagine it'd be rather disconcerting to find a pokemon-esque game on the appstore, playing it for a bit, then starting to notice some darkness creeping in over time.

A legitimate gacha horror game sounds interesting, but instead we get blue balled by waifubait

These are the only ads I rarely skip. I just can't shake off the morbid curiosity of what's gonna happen next

Never in a million years did I think a video about fake creepypasta ads for a waifu bait mobile game would end with a surprisingly wholesome message about the power of the human spirit, but here I am. Well done!

Stuff like this is why mobile games still get so much hate.

if someone was to ever actually make this game Im 100% sure they would make bank if done right. this game would hit different and with the horror theme you could threw as many curveballs as you want with it.. Im sure if the person got more people to help the game would be crazy.

I'm glad this closed on the power of "be the change you want to see in the world" and the human spirit. And "I'LL MAKE MY OWN GAME! WITH BLACKJACK AND HOOKERS!"

When the ads look cooler than the actual game.

honestly, if the game in the ads was real id absolutely love to play it. The story is a very interesting concept

“There is no overarching story. Or narrative being spun. There is no puzzle to be solved.” Dudeeeee he could be a voice actor

I got it when it was free, played for an hour, and was severely disappointed that it wasn’t anything like the scary ads. I really do hope someone makes the idea into an actual game.

The ads made me curious too, but I knew it was just bullshit. Thanks for shedding some light on the actual kusoge

I always get these ads, and from the start I immediately had a feeling that they were scams with how inconsistent the art styles in them are, but I won’t lie when I say I’d be a little interested in a horror RPG with those concepts brought up. Good on those inspired Japanese devs for trying to make lemonade out of lemons.

Someone needs to make an actual horror RPG game based on this

someone should make an actual game based off of the evertale ads edit: literally right after i typed this i got to the point of the video where someone was apparently making a game out of it

This is "Ad looks better than the game" ON LIKE ANOTHER LEVEL. I feel so much pain because i LOVE games like these

It's such a shame too, that such a great concept for a new direction of the game was squandered in favor of making quick bucks. Good to know the community took said idea into their own hands, I'm interested to see how that project goes.

We must create the horror that we want to see in the world. Truly an inspirational message.

That was a rollercoaster. I went from intrigued, excited, disillusioned and then hopeful again 😂

watch someone will actually make a horror "pokemon like" game and the company that made evertale can't sue because their actual game is nothing like what they show in their ads

Those ads always scared me when I was watching RU-vid late at night

It’s sad how mobile app developers can be this disingenuous, and it still working on roping people in just because of how aggressive the AD campaigns are.

Interesting video, the ad campaign seems a bit pointless though unless they are targetting young kids who will maybe buy something without looking into it. I'm guessing most people would click through the ad see the game is nothing like advertised and that would be that. Hopefully the fan game will give this all a happy ending afterall though. Are there any great horror mobile games, I'd love to try some but it's hard to search through all the junk on the various app stores.

man am I glad you made this video. I at one point was kinda interested in the game because the ads were cool, but I don't have a single dollar to really shell out, so I was really kind of upset that I wasn't able to try and experience it, even if it turned out to be shitty in the end. so seeing now that the company was in on the ads to make it look cooler than it really is, makes me sad, but I'm glad that I was tricked into spending that dollar

Y'know, the ads worked. I've been seeing them and it made me curious enough to watch this video. So, I think the ad campaign was great despite it being a bait-n-switch.

lmao *OMORI X Pokemon*

If they get you to watch 1 ad, they already made a profit from you even without the dollar fee. And they don't have to worry about burning bridges, the game made 4 million in one month last year alone. The amount mobile games in general and gatcha in particular is staggering.

Ah good. They upset a dude so much he said "screw it I'll make it myself." now i hope it gets translated to English. God speed angry guy. I'll wait for those play throughs.

Evertale released at a dollar price point, they didn't change the price of the game because of the ads there was a campaign to gain new players by making the game free for a short time and was always going to go back to a dollar. While I agree the company leaned into the ads and is basically a scam at this point, the price point of the game I believe is a coincidence.

You know if they actually made the game they advertised, it might actually be a hit for me. I absolutely love physiological horror games, and I really wish they would produce the advertised content.

This is better than any 1-5 star review could give. I had been hesitant to buy the game because I don't openly have resource to put into google games. Thank you so much for this time and effort to show us what it really is: a desperate cash grab and false advertising scam.

I originally thought those creepy ads were stolen wholesale from some other game or video but never bothered to look into it. I'm glad someone is making what's been advertised into a real thing. Of course, I see in my recommendations of this video that Game Theory covered this as well and published 2 days before you did. Not watched MatPat yet but I hope he mentions the channel that's trying to turn those ads into reality

literally got a evertale ad as i clicked on this😂

The funniest thing it that I got an ever take ad for at the beginning.

Stumbled across this video by chance, much like how I saw those evertale ads and got curious about it. This was a fun deep dive to go through, and knowing that someone is actually trying to make a game out of the concept these ads presented does fill me with hope. Think I'll check out the other videos on this channel, fantastic work dude

My favorite is the skeleton saying "isnt it beatifull ?... The end of the world ?"

I remember seeing an ad for this game and was intrigued and decided to look into it. Needless to say, I was disappointed when I got to the app store and saw it wasn't anything like the ads.

I remember playing this game before they started making ads and got pretty deep into it and I actually enjoyed it like, obvi it was pretty generic but still pretty fun, when I saw the ads I usually skipped before the title card so I'm really disappointed to see these were connected

I was bored and browsing the app store when I saw the game was free for a limited time. I figured I'd download it and give it a shot but never got around to it, which is why this video caught my interest. Thanks for the heads up.

is it a coincidence that i literally just got an ad on evertale before watching this

Watching that OPM ad... I'm starting to see why they sponsor youtubers to promote it for them. Also fun fact: the fake mobile ads are so infamous that an AFK Arena ad included a skit where a phone user gets an obviously fake ad only for the featured character to answer to the user's annoyance by actually teaching him how to play the game.

Can I just say? I recently found this channel out of the depths of youtubers on here and I have loved every SECOND of this guy's content 😍 Like he has such a way with content and words that I can't stop watching him... (not to mention the voice, omg I love it so much, it's giving ASMR vibes ngl)

Hey man, I saw the creepy ads and was Interested awhile back, but thanks for illuminating the scammers.

this video reminded me how good omori’s horror elements are it has the best reasoning for such horror i’ve seen omfg i love omori 😍😍

The people who made these ads are, in the words of JonTron, 100% BUTTF**K INSANE!

I got an ad for Evertale right before I watched this lol

Yo great video! I found Evertale in their phase before all these horror ads and I genuinely liked the game. I only stopped playing because I got exhausted from the game loop. It was pretty much just go to new city/town, fulfill that town's request, fight boss, go to next town all while training. It started to feel a bit same-y, but damn I really enjoyed it actually. It's a shame it's been run into the ground by this scummy practice. That's exciting to hear about that project in Japan trying to piece together the ads though. I'd love to see that as well. Hopefully you'll update on that if significant progress gets made.

I just got an Evertale ad before this video, and I haven’t gotten an ad for that thing in at least a few years lol.

i feel the arg theory could still be there, like, its not all of them that bring to it with many just being there to do miss directions or just confuse the viewer. in exchange the real story is about them being trapped in a virtual reality to escape the problems they did to the world and all those unlinked adds actually being previous tries of the virtual reality program that failed or that they are seen as dreams by the people inside of it edit: P.s i am not saying its not just made to bring people to the game

I got an ad for Evertale right after clicking onto this video!

There's gotta be a guy who can make us these ads as a real game

"There are so many mobile games that try to be good first, and make money second! Pick. ANY of them!!" I feel like there are a lot of gamers who are completely unfamiliar with that concept you just posited.

Considering the sheer amount of effort put into these ads, and the created lore, I once I thought this company could be planning to use the money they are blatantly stealing from people and once they get enough they may actually make their already well structured Pokemon Creepypasta clone. Then I remember this is a mobile game company that by this point has only made misleading ads and realize they have no plans to make anything substantial and all these ill gotten gains are going to do is line their own pockets.

I’m hoping so badly that someone makes this into an actual game. It’s such an interesting concept and I’d love to see it. The company struck a gold mine but they refuse to get the gold from it

When the Ads have deeper lore & a more interesting story then the game they are advertising . This feels like one guy on the marketing team had an idea for a dark meta subversion on pokemon & used these ads to make it happen.

WOAH. I have no idea who this guy is, got this vid in my recommended, and immediately see Devil Survivor 2 opening card. going absolutely feral rn and havent even gotten to the main contents. DeSu beloved mans has good taste.

I think i would actualy play the game and even pay like 5$ if they actualy made a game like this instead of the actual game.

Clicked on this out of curiosity, got an evertale ad

Keep an eye on that Japanese developer, I bet the creators of Evertale or the company they outsourced the ads to will try to sue him. If they do we should be ready to help

Well technically there is an overarching narrotive in the “normal” ads but when the ads start not matching entirely, that’s when it’s disconnected entirely

I'll be honest, I actually like the waifus within this game, and I also enjoyed the story. But the main reason I stopped playing this game is when they decided to make an gacha event for the main heroine, Risette where she became a literal 8 year old in a very sexual bride dress, heck even the character name was "Young Risette"

Months late but I'm glad i came across this video. Cause i remember playing Evertale BEFORE these ads were shown. It wasn't until I saw these ads is when Evertale caught me in it's grasp again and played it again.

I desperately wish for an English patch or translation of the fan project at the end of the video, pokemon creepypastas and Peta parody games just don't do it for most of us anymore.

The cult ad reminds me of Ao Oni. Where the text box hides the main threat until it goes away to reveal it. Probably a coincidence.

I remember seeing the game on offer for free, downloaded it and didn't get very far cause i got bored. I've gained more entertainment through this video about the game, than the actual game and i think this is the only game i can think off that has managed to pull that off.

*Gets an Evertale ad before the video*

The evertale ads should be its own game

I didn’t even realize that it was a scam! I was getting these adds a ton a while back and thought, “maybe someone has a play through I can watch later” oh man. Thanks for putting this out there and saving me hours of my life!

I never even care about the ad at first since I've downloaded the game out of boredom and found a decent game that eventually falls into greedy perverted hell

ironically a creepypasta mobage is a genius exposure strategy had they played it straight.

“Be the change that you wish to see” - Gandhi

Can't wait until someone gets mad enough to just Make the game this ad is projecting

i got an evertale ad as soon as i clicked this vid wtf

I gotta respect the CounterSide clip at the start. That game scratched my itch after Brave Frontier unfortunately shut down

Imagine if someone actually makes a Evertale game with this lore

I remember being drawn in by the ad download the app just to be so disappointed every time I see the ads I get pissed bc it’s something I want so bad

I remember downloading evertale day 1 it was released (cracked of course lmao) and finish the main story in probably a week. It was a pretty generic story but it's still fun and the gameplay is serviceable. It's very sad it devolves into this... Weird stuff since I still play their other game to this day, Neo Monsters.

OMFG did you know that I searched for those pokemon copycat clips for idk how long? Literally didn't sleep for a night to search for that. Praise you and RU-vid god blessing me with this video to give me some closure.

I remember playing Hunter Island on the ipad when I was a kid, I personally really enjoyed it and the awesome monster designs. When I found out that the same company made Evertale, I was quick to download it to play it. It was during when it was still a free game (wtf, I didn't know they changed the price). Yeah... I got out of there when I noticed that their were more big booba waifus than monsters themselves. It's quite sad.

I got a evertale ad while trying to watch this😊

Great video, I still get these ads constantly and finally decided to cave and see what the heck they were about, sad to see they were all fake but its as expected

LMAOOOO I CLICK ON THE VIDEO AND I GET AN EVERTALE AD AS SOON AS IT OPENS AND ITS A HORROR AD TOO. Honestly, i was *so* hyped for whatever Evertale was, i fell for their trap but i was way too lazy to download or buy their game. I got lucky and avoided their scam before learning about it and now that i know what they are, i’ll never give them a dime. Such a shame, i really want someone to make a game like this one day.

y'know what I found in this rabbit hole? oh my... it's... a class action lawsuit!?

I remember seeing this ads not long ago and I always skipped them but seeing a tiny bit of 2 of them (mainly the monster lady one) always left me unnerved, it's awesome seeing that you went into the topic, great video!

As I clicked on this video, I got the ad for Evertale… I can see what you mean

When you mentioned that the game was a dollar, I felt so gaslit since I knew for a fact that I got the game for free. Then the scummy revelation happened and i sighed a breathe of relief and sorrow for those who fell for the snare too late.

I kept getting these ads spamed to me, so I just ignored them and moved on, assuming they're clickbait. Although, I quite liked the storyline you proposed- I may steal i- I mean, take inspiration from.

Damn man you did a great job on getting me hyped and then slamming me down XD

This sappy video has inspired me to fix the damn damage calculations in my visual novel engine and make a DAMN GAME ALREADY

Good lord, Yuri. Your cadence is to die for.

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOO i cant believe you put grand in the vid. and this was mad recent too cuz of black rock shooter being the current Collab. WE NEED MORE PEOPLE PLAYING GRAND

Literally every mobile game ad anymore seems like a fever dream…as if everyone on the marketing team took LSD and amalgamated every idea into a low-budget 30-second ad. I spend so much time thinking about the psychology of mobile game ads and never reach a conclusion as to who the target audience is.

This is very nicely made. Better than some where the ads look like io brawling games and they are mafia city and clash of clans dupes