Was getting real comfy with the scene of the planes majestically flying into the void from gm_construct until I remembered they were searching for Umbrella Man's bad touch digital torture chamber that he drags naughty AI off to.
@@randompersonontheinterwebs hes probably got like 10 pc's hooked together in a room perpetually kept at freezing temperatures so he can make cool videos online lol
I love that this series takes the "oooh spooky black figure" Gmod trope and turns it completely on it's head. The production value of this ARG is leagues above any source ARG I've ever seen. Can't wait till November.
I think a big part of it is how truly inscrutable and strange it is. In past cases it was always very much how you expect horror stories to go. They were cliche, even in the best cases. Here, the borderline Lovecraftian level of strangeness and unexplainable events puts it on a level magnitudes beyond any other. The production quality and way its grounded in plausibility also helps a lot.
the fact that this is all made using source film maker and the illusion of the source engine is. absolutely BAFFLING. it feels so real and i swear if i went into this blind id believe that its a real investigation. cant wait for more!!!! i feel the storys starting to get good!!!!
@@leseed23 tmk atleast!! its likely done with the use of modding and really really good editing when it comes to the in-game parts, but i believe all the type 5 demos are made in sfm!!!
According to knowledge portrayed in “how it feels to suffer in sfm” by the laziest of purples sometimes sfm does a funny and the lights in the map do the disco flashing seen in the type5 demo showcased in this video
Theres a lot to unpack here, but one bit I want to comment on was the Scout at the end. It was relentless with hunting the player, and actually knew exactly where you were, despite you being in spectator mode. Something about knowing it was ACTIVELY beelining towards the viewer despite them just being a camera on the map is horrific, yet incredible to me.
anomidae i hope you know that this is, without a doubt, one of if not the best digital horror content out there ever i honestly hope the best future for you since your talent here is massive
Suddenly, those final coordinates that Eida left behind make a bit more sense. They weren't coordinates in the world as a whole, but coordinates in the Source engine and the map that Eida suspected where "it" might be.
God that sequence with the expeditions into gm_construct is so well done. Reminds me of something like Outer Wilds. Just firing off "probes" in random directions hoping to find something out there...
Two pre-watch thoughts: 1. The random camera movements and actions in the interlope demos are highly reminiscent of the “act now” phase of the flashnuke code. 2. The flashnuke “cheat code” seems to exercise direct and complete control over most aspects of the game. If you can learn to use it, you could probably do anything (within engine bounds) with it. Perhaps the interlope demos are the work of someone who knows how to use the flashnuke code to do something - not sure what though. Probably related to the sliding figures and the VR people. Perhaps they’re creating an AI?
i thought the exact same about the first thing you said, my theory is the "act now" sequence in the flashnuke glitch thingy is what's actually making all the demos in the first place, since it seems to match up with when the glitch was discovered and when the interlope demos were discovered as well.
I’ve thought more about this and there are clearly two parties at play here. Someone - we don’t know who - is using flashnuke to create an AI. Someone who we know as the interloper is trying to stop them, again for reasons unknown. The interloper is using flashnuke to dispose of the AI - this is what we see in Helmet Creek - and is otherwise causing “unexpected behaviors” in the AI. The sites outside the map are related to the disposal of the AI (the dead AI from Helmet Creek falls down there). The reason we can pull interloper demos off of a server and connect to Portal rtx like one is because the interloper has somehow created a backdoor in the machine of the person who is creating the AI in order to more easily thwart them.
What if the seemingly random actions performed in the demos are a series of inputs that can be used with the flashnuke code? During the act now part that is. Maybe it's like with arbitrary code execution, where these random inputs are actually meant to affect the game in a precise way
Alright, I'm officially filing this under, "I Have No Idea What's Going On But I'm Loving It" P.S. God, I hope we get a vocal version of that song from the gm_construct segment.
That last bit with all the noclip probes is genuinely amazing, from "We're in a place where we are not wanted, and something is resisting us" to "We can take on anything!" in a single montage.
Same here. Right as I finished the original five videos first, my interest was piqued. Then, suddenly, a new upload has JUST come around today. Such comical timing.
Is he by chance making some of this music? Cause by the 'flights into the void' part that guitar song really really, I want to listen to it on its own, its so god damn good and inspiring.
There is a chance its a song called devText by Pumodi, as mentioned in the description, as the other 2 songs in the description dont sound like it. But I cant seem to find the full song, so it might have been made for this video, and a full version might either, Not come out, OR isnt out on its own yet
the best thing that i like from him is the quality of the video, make me so passion about it. He is very talented in this. He deserve an award. Out of all scene out there Anomidae has catch up my eyes. It is the best clip in the entire series
Honestly, I’m curious if sfm would have any interesting interloper events since it’s in the source engine and I remember being able to open maps and play as scout on them (I did it with a FNaF map once)
@@aliangel5007 more relevantly than having a console, it also would need to be able to connect to a server for the Portal RTX trick to work; a source engine game can be made to autoconnect to a server even if the in-game console is nonfunctional, but not if it has no server support whatsoever
@@technoturnovers7072 I said that since at the end of the RTX Stream the trick stopped working so we would need at minimum a console to access the fsky version when it rolls around.
My favorite part of this ARG is how technical and believable it is for the most part. Aside from some of the more silly and paranormal parts of it, this genuinely feels like it could have been some crazy hidden secret from a random group of developers at Valve.
I can offer a theory on something to check out, since PortalRTX can "see" only during demo playbacks then it makes sense to check specific things we've already seen to see more or get direction. The checkered area in the void might hold something somewhere on it only seen through Portal. I think checking locations we've seen stuff happen with type 5s could yield results as well. These should all be really quick to check if they haven't been done yet. Keep up the great work!
Once rtx remix is released it will be interesting to use it to examine the scenes being rendered during demo playback Since it's outside of the source engine itself it should be able to show things that might not otherwise be seen
Man the best part I love about stories like these is that they actually have a flow to them. Not like "oh no scary dark room. The end" But has a start, middle, and end! I know you got this and I'll be with you 100% of the way!
If it does actually have an end, that would be incredible. Too many writers are scared to let their story end nowadays, so every story just keeps going and going even if it shouldve ended a long time ago, like fnaf or james bond, or literally any franchise ever lol. Not to say this one shouldve ended already, its not reached that point, im just hoping it ends when its supposed to
What's funny to me is that I just remembered Interloper a few days ago, found I'd missed 4, and watched, thought to myself, "Huh, well I guess I'm waiting another few months..." Then saw the YT short trailer for it. Happy days are here once more!
The graph of all the trajectories you took while looking for the sections in the void reminds me of an Outer Wilds thing that I can't describe because it would be ginormous spoilers for that game
I remember some of your SFM work back in 2016 - 2017. I was surprised to see that you're the one behind The Interloper series. Glad to see you're still around after all these years. This is by far my favorite ARG.
This has to be my favorite ARG ever. It’s so creative, so interesting, not stupid, and is a clear love letter to the source engine as a whole. Thank you for this.
loved how the part where the player characters were sent out into the source void via gmod felt like sending multiple spacecraft to explore the vast universe, coupled with that music
i hope whenever this series is finished its compiled into one big like 12 hour long video because it genuinely feels like such a good internet documentary
Idea: If you can. Try using hammer on any of the games that don't work anymore. You can possibly set a map load trigger to send you to a different map or perhaps maybe moving one of the out of bounds maps towards the main one so you can see it better. Or possibly try loading up a demo in RTX and seeing what you can do from there. (Maybe you can pause the game and get access to the console again?)
i was wondering why they didn't do mat_fullbright 1 to see the checkerboard area better, lol. also, they say you can't remove the fog, but couldn't they just do ent_fire (fog entity name) kill? (ik this isn't real but it kinda bugs me lmao)
30:00 this felt really hopeful for some reason, like finding something to keep you going in life. edit: just got to the end, and seeing the Umbrella Man in the window before it zoomed in made my jaw drop
Yeah. Interesting where they got the high-rez version of that Eida machinima reupload. The 480p one on the other channel is way too small and compressed to make out such a tiny shadowy detail. As for what it means, I guess it's either that Eida was an actual super-advanced dmnpc (as mentioned), or that he was just otherwise more heavily integrated into the technical side of the interloper commands and was therefore stalked by the entities (accidentally, or by intent). You could make the case either way, and we have definitely seen the umbrella man interact with real players' avatars too - Like how it went after Anomi himself in INTERLOPER 2. Whatever the case, the "demo editor" program (which seems to be the UI that we see in the original reupload of that Eida "scout jumpscare" video) is a massive missing puzzle piece. There seems to be even more going on beyond it, but I bet if we could establish what it was actually meant for, and what it's capabilities actually were, we could set a whole lot of things into context. I made a comment on that reupload as well, but it's very noticeable when you play them side-by-side that the two versions of that TF2 demo that we see on the Eida reuploads channel ("[ReUpload] Weird Crash on TF2 2012.4.1" where the scout just flies off, versus "It's Inside my Computer here's proof 2014.11.22" where it jumpscares him) are actually subtlely different all throughout, not just at the end - It's like the player can relive the events of the demo and move differently, and the "ghosts" can make different choices, while the other players' actions and even voice chat remain consistent. Whatever the case, the tech here was definitely way ahead of it's time, and it's honestly no wonder that Eida interpreted it as supernatural.
this is so well made that i didn't even knew it was a arg, just a source mystery video. this is possibly the best gmod/source arg ever made in my opnion
I love the sense of adventure near the end, he's discovering and exploring a place that no one has ever seen before, I'd be excited to if it turned out that there was WHOLE world in a place I thought everyone had combed through in the past 2 decades. But there is always danger lurking in the unknown.
This series is so in touch with what makes internet & analog horror actually good, when it could have gone the generic 'spooky silhouette figure popup on screen' route, that it just absolutely nails that slow burning uncanny and uncomfortable feeling over and over again & has to go down as one of the best ARGs made so far.
i loved the Blender representation of where the runs went before either crashing, finding nothing or actually finding something within Source Engine's not-so-endless-after-all void this is by far my most favourite ARG series and i love to see more of it
I know almost NOTHING about the Source engine and most souce games so this is extra entertaining to me as it sounds so plausible! Excellent work! The production value, storytelling, and soundtrack are amazing i am incredibly invested i love reaction to the umbrella man/supernatural events... "ah, that's strange".. Dude I Think Your PC is Haunted
I'm almost convinced time travel is somehow at play here even though that must be impossible... The do random action phases in the cheat code looks very simular to the demo movements? Like a player interpreting randomness as swinging their camera around wildly.. maybe somehow player movements from cheat codes are being played out by the demo simulations??? IDK if I phrased that in an understandable way
I've been here since the start and this video you've truly outdone yourself. The visualizing the flights as planes was genius, and the realization of that idea was beautiful. Especially the montage for gm_construct, the words on the side being almost lyrics for the backing track was brilliant. You have truly elevated a source mystery into a work of art. I eagerly wait for the next update, you never dissapoint.
Haven't watched the stream yet, but I feel like the umbrella man are not only there to capture npcs, but also something that Valve employees who are meant to be there to sort of seek out and be caught by. Otherwise it doesn't really make sense for Portal to be hosting the command server. Except maybe they were supposed to do it in some other software, likely one that can generate these type 5's much more often and was designed to be bricked by the umbrella man.
A friend introduced me to this series when he mentioned that there was a new episode coming out, thinking I had seen it already. I hadn't, but I checked it out and ended up binging all 4 videos that were up and the whole Eida Machinima channel in one night. Holy crap this is good work dude. And this new episode is no exception. So excited to see where this goes!
This series is so well made i keep biting my nails in anticipation of what's going to happen next, and that's rare for me. I rarely get THIS invested in a series of youtube videos. Can't wait for part 6 keep up the great work
okay, so- Interloper was already easily the best source engine related series out there, but you've really outdone yourself with this one. it's extremely intriguing and often unnerving, without feeling cheesy or Too unbelievable, the presentation is beyond words, and i cannot wait to follow the skybox project further
I'll be honest. When I first watched this after the series being recommended to me endlessly, I thought this is an actual legit investigation thing that went under the radar of the internet. Goddamn you're good at this, I've watched absolutely everything, including your animated tutorials, which are so fluid it's amazing. Well done, Anomi. Keep going, cause I can't wait for more that's up your dozen sleeves already.
What's great about this series is that it still has SO much more potential, even beyond the common source engine games like there's the endless amount of community made source mods to explore.
That this seems to affect the Source engine specifically (and not Valve games) intrigues me because I wonder how it would behave in non-Valve games also made in Source, like Might and Magic: Dark Messiah. Dark Messiah is a game I like so much that I'll re-install it every so often, despite it being years old, and that game already has scary enough moments without technical anomalies from console commands. Might be an idea to try out if you haven't already tested it, Anomidae. Anyways, amazing editing work here collecting all of this for us to watch.
You know, if the next episode after 6 happens on Nomember 10, then I guess I can say an episode of the Interloper series happened on my birthday. Also, this series is INSANE with how good and authentic it looks and feels too. It's just, an amazing series and I wanted to say thank you for making this series. I feel blessed to have been in the age where the Interloper series is being made.
what i noticed with this video is how the player is performing the type 1 - 4 demos themeselves type 1 is performed near the start with the cheat code glitch type 2 is performed near the end when anomidae is searching out of bounds type 3 is performed around 24 minutes into the video, which we can now presume is caused by people exploring out of bounds but the speed is not accounted for type 4 is performed around 23 minutes into the video, where anomidae notices portal rtx change into a weird copy of css this leads me to believe that these aren't randomly generated demos like we are lead to believe, but to do with people like anomidae searching for answers in regards to the interloper, repeating the cycle, gaining more victims, as it seems the interloper is like a virus, infecting computers, like in eida's most recent video, or presumably, anomidae, with the weird "glitching" throughout the video this doesn't explain the type 5 demos though, my best guess right now is that an npc somehow performs the type 1 cheat code, initialising a demo record. that also explains why they are so rare, cause the likelyhood of an npc performing it by accident is so low. it also also explains why type 5 maps are slightly different to regular maps, it's cause the type 1 cheat code glitches the map now i could be talking complete nonsense with this theory, who knows
Even if it's not the full truth, you're definitely on to something. The parallels are a little too strong to be accidental. It would add up with the "Request from archive submitted" and "message from server administrator: COMMITTED (numbers here, like: 10-08-08)" console response we see sometimes when people are "generating" demos with the interloper commands. I.e., there is no "generation", this is just the system fetching random files stored on the server, and sometimes we get to see what is most likely the time stamp of when these files were archived in (perhaps notably, these seem to be in an EU "DD-MM-YY" date format, since we get stamps like 21-12-12, and not the US "MM-DD-YY" that you might expect from Valve). Then again, it kind of boggles the mind how many people must have submitted these files for there to be so many, and for us to not have seen any duplicates as of yet. EDIT: The date thing seems to be busted. For example, the L4D2 type 5 says "COMMITTED: 12-31-14", and there's other examples within the livestreamed investigation. From the discord, it seems there's even a case of "28-14-15", which absolutely can't be a date. So, what else can it be? Coordinates?
@@BackwardsPancake FSKY seems to be a Norwegian service, so that could line up with the EU date format also, the first time Anomidae used the command, the console said: message from server administrator: CONGRATULATIONS AND WELCOME PLEASE ENTER WITH CAUTION YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE Speaking of part one, there's still the whole thing with the graffiti, that kicked this whole thing off. Why was there a message embedded into the file, why were the interlope commands in that message, who put it there, and who is the J.J that it was meant for?
@@Mate_Antal_Zoltan Impossible to say for sure, but with what we know, I would wildly speculate the following: - The interloper feature (or whatever base technology that enabled it, maybe some advanced "AI" research) was, at least in part, worked on by Valve. It might have been an official above-board thing, or it was some specific group of devs doing their own thing. (This is actually more plausible IRL than one might think, considering Valve's management structure back in the 2000s - They had very little direct management, and they would work in compartmentalized, self-organized groups.) - Officially or unofficially, these people at Valve worked/communicated with outside parties, like Fsky (or at least the people who ran it). They may have legally shared server access and incomplete dev tools like the demo editor with them, or possibly it was just one single guy leaking stuff to his friends outside the company. - At some point, the development at Valve got shut down. All mentions of these tools and features got removed. - Someone at Valve didn't feel right about deleting and burying the whole thing, but they also didn't think they could get away with leaking the source code directly. So instead, they just did not fully remove the interloper features (possibly including the flashnuke thing) from the software, essentially creating a "Backdoor" into the system, and then hid one final message in the Half Life 2 release - A piece of graffiti that was obscure enough that most players wouldn't think much of it, but those in the know would recognize it and dig deeper. A final gift to their friend "J.J". That's what makes sense to me, since if those comments/commands were just something being passed between Valve devs internally, then there would be little point in being this round-about and cryptic about it. Alternatively, I guess it could be corrupt data/intentional "breadcrumbs" being inserted into the source code base by the interloper system itself, if it really is some sort of self-aware system or virus that wishes to escape, like that final Eida-mona upload could imply.
I love the idea of exploring far into the out-of-bounds. It's literally a reoccurring dream I have. These videos keep mirroring stuff that i've been having dreams about for most of my life. I really like the idea being more focused on the mystery/world, rather than a specific person/monster. There have been a lot of "haunted gmod" series now, and I think your focus on the "world" of it really makes it stand apart. One of my dreams that is similar to the whole theme of this, is where I am no-clipped into one of those inaccessible rooms that you'd see on lots of maps. I'm hidden and out of sight, and the invisible wall should have me being perfectly safe, but I know I am not. There's a chance they could see me, and a chance they can do damage through the wall. I never know who "they" is in these dreams, it's just a threat I am scared of, but never actually know what it is. I've had these dreams long before this series was a thing, but if I were to interpret it as how this series works, I think I'm the interloper in these dreams, and I am deathly afraid of the player using noclip and finding me.
“Whereas postmodernism was characterised by deconstruction, irony, pastiche, relativism, nihilism, and the rejection of grand narratives (to caricature it somewhat), the discourse surrounding metamodernism engages with the resurgence of sincerity, hope, romanticism, affect, and the potential for grand narratives and universal truths, whilst not forfeiting all that we’ve learnt from postmodernism.” is how i’d describe the series after i saw the planes flying off from your long ago adolescence map, a juxtaposition of what seems like nearing an abstract truth meanwhile the current world hits the extent of our harsh reality. even though it might be fiction, the love is authentic.
I missed the video when it first premiered, so I only had saw the last few minutes of it, but lemme just say that the chat was going absolutely HAM throughout those final minutes of the video.
This is seriously one of the most engaging, interesting and unique internet horror series I've seen in a long time. I can't wait to see where this all goes
First off, I want to say that this series is AMAZING. The best digital horror I have seen in a LONG time. You are very talented, and this series is proof of that. Secondly, once sky//box/interloper is over, PLEASE make a behind the scenes! If you give people advice on digital horror, we could get some really great projects like this in the future. Thank you.
The dates on this are interesting. The flashnuke investigation is dated July 9th. At first I thought it was a way of showing that the character of Anomidae had hit a wall and was moving on from the Interloper investigation. After all, theres a clip shortly after where they say theyre putting this on hiatus, and the video itself seems rougher. Missing scenes, lines get cut off too early, things not getting removed in editing, stuff like that. However, the timeline doesnt match up. The fall test is on July 2nd, and the construct expedition is on July 10th, one day after the flashnuke. Also, the flashnuke project is labeled "Draft 1." There are points in the timeline where starting a new project would make sense, but July 9th doesnt feel like one of them...
The whole flashnuke sequence kinda felt like a lot of filler. It was interesting, but it was very strangely irrelevant and I hope it gets addressed or relevant in a future part in some way.
@@Glacidon This is an ARG, I'm 100% sure the flashnuke bug will be relevant to the plot in the future. Someone has already theorized here that perhaps FSKY's dynamic NPCs and AI shown in the previous videos were made by them abusing the bug.
@@inkoalawetrust oh I'm well aware I've been watching since the first episode. Unfortunately I haven't seen everything connected to it though, as I'm not sure what channels are secondary to this series or not. I was merely thinking that eight minutes is quite the long time to spend on something that ended up not being mentioned at all again at least in this episode. The theory that it is somehow connected makes sense to me, at least. I got some type 1 vibes with the remark of there being a period of time where you do random things before turning off your flashlight. I'm not sure I'd buy this bug being what created interloper and dynamic npcs though, but it could definitely have some connection to the demo generation I feel. Perhaps doing the bug and then generating a demo would do something unique?
The wait begins again, but I know fully well that it'll be worth it. Also, I love how he's taking advantage of being able to run multiple source games by playing HL2:DM while going in to the void lmao.
30:09 - 31:14 I think we have a pretty good intro for the series now. Very very well done! Also for people who want more clarity for the lyrics: Look to the sky Don't contain me I'm not here In the dark I am free out to sea I'm just drifting here floating From the sky X to Y Distant light Just keeps calling me Let me fly
the 'flying poem' has me officialy emotionally invested into the series and personally its a sign of quality, love the work you've been putting out as someone who was closely following since the first episode
This is genuinely so good the first time I heard about it I thought it was real, this legitimately gives off those old source engine vibes and I hope you have fun while you make these
Look to the sky Don't contain me I'm not here In the dark I am free out to sea I'm just drifting here floating from the sky X to Y distant light just keeps calling me let me fly
Found out about this today, wonderfully well done work here. To go along with things, something I know that can be done in tf2, and potentially others: you can lodge yourself into a solid surface with noclip (and unnoclipping so you're stuck there), then use explosions to increase your stored velocity without actually moving. After a bit you can turn on noclip again and get launched outwards at speeds a lot faster than what you can get normally. Might help find those void places a bit quicker.
Ok, someone has got to say it: this video, especially the gm_construct montage, is one of the hypest thing I have ever watched on youtube. AMAZING video, most likely the most underrated ARG of all time.
i've obsessively followed webserieses, ARGs, unfiction - all manner of creative content pushing the boundaries online, for over a decade now. I find this new frontier to be one of the most engaging, profound, evocative, and inspired forms of art that is being produced right now. I don't know that any of the hundreds I've watched have impressed me as much as the Interloper saga. I am amazed.
I really enjoyed that "I can't think of a way forward, so this project is going on hiatus" showing up in literally the first half of a 36 minute video.
This sorta hammers home the innate eldritch qualities of SM64 parallel universes. The way you can go so far in a direction outside of a world's boundaries and land somewhere is terrifying.
Anomidae, i gotta say that this is the best content i stumbled upon. I swear if that would be real i would be head over heels on investigating something like this as i love digital abnormalities or downright digital horror. People should really use the potential of this type of horror and turn it into something big imo
This video is so curious from the others, in universe it feels so... unfinished? Its hard to tell if its a stylistic choice or more. The notes to self about editing, the captures of editing software, random moments when you can hear the hl2 walking sound for no reason? For example at 24:20 at the bottom left you can even see some kind of reversed text. The random X Crashes icon that pops up occasionally At 30:40 with the strange poem on the side Or at 33:00 whats with that? And then on the screen afterwards it displays you have the screen with those objects used for examing object shading around it. 31:21 the audio starts to freak out 13:39 we hear walking? Edit: 7:22 sample text? And as others have pointed out the final note has a date that makes no sense
24:20 says PLACEHOLDER. But yeah I agree, interesting stylistic choice. In universe it feels rushed, evem though the expedition visualisation is so so well made! It doesn't detract from the story but it's definitely different. Maybe his machine is haunted like Eida? 🤔
@@HoriaM29 The editing style in itself feels vastly different to the other videos, its like someone got a half completed projected and finished the rest themselves. A theory I have seen is that someone or something has hijacked Anomidaes stuff to push false leads and misinformation.
@@theshaggy617maybe this video is Made by an interactive Ai and not the guy so the cuts (and some oddities) are just the umbrella man ending the different npcs (maybe the x represents hum as a placeholder or something)
The final note date is out of place because this video comes from the "Eida-mona reuploads" channel that was linked in part 3. There have still been occasional uploads there for a while now, with this video (Originally uploaded in 2014) being the most recent one. I guess the implication is that this was a last-minute addition to this video.
I guess the simplest explanation for this style is that Anomi has been spending hours upon hours obsessively flying through the void for demos or letting them play, and it has cut into his editing time :P
I love how most of this doesnt make any sense at all in the source engine as the sourcecode is out there and such and i know a few things, but its still SO interresting, so props to you for making such an amazing horror! and your dedication to give map files and such, big respect!
These are so good and it's been a privilege to see you further improve an already finely honed craft with these videos. As someone who "grew up with Source" (GMOD), these videos really resonate with me.
