Best lines in this video, "Why'd you send me to a murder house Jerry?" "Why'd you send me to a double-murder house Jerry?" "Why'd you send me to a double-murder-south-African-mask-curse house Jerry?" "JERRY, YOU STUCK ME IN A CURSED MURDER HOUSE AND MADE A CROOKED REAL ESTATE DEAL ON IT?!"
This is the most accurate depiction of the writing process I've ever seen in a video game. Sit down and get started and not even five minutes later you're on the phone with Jerry.
Seriously. I don’t know anyone named Jerry. But I was writing a short story and the phone rang and the next thing I knew Jerry was talking my ear off about his trip to Majorca.
I’ve not played the game but that seems totally out of left field in the best of ways. Yeah, no shit the property deal was shady. There was a murder there and the police never investigated anything.
The fact that New Bloods isn't afraid to put Civvies awful dick quotes on their store page to the point Civvie won't give them new ones is my favorite real life lore fact about Civvie
I like the post new blood said about telling the good a game is by the art and porn fans are willing to make for it. Then the head on dev chimed in hehe
I've come to realize that the English are generally way better actors than the Americans. Just compare the voice actors in Dark Souls (English) compared to Sekiro's dub (American). In terms of quality and talent they are day and night respectively.
haven't played the game itself but it's definitely a more fitting tribute than most things that ape ol' Howard. the generational resentment, lost greatness; and it shows you can do that without the horrible racism (at least in the narrative itself, can't undo the British being British, sadly)
That is one serious case of writer's block procrastination...the man was repelling down the outside of the building during a lightning storm rather than sit at the typewriter.
@@doctorcraptonicus7941 Damn you childhood. I missed alot of Nintendo's madness. I had a megadrive and psone instead. But I'll still cherish it for the bizarre Michael Jackson games. Who wants to save the kids by moonwalking folks.
Reminds me of one of my favourite endings to a video game. Spoilers for a certain Megaman spin off game; one of the Battle Network games (the Gamecube platformer): I shit you not the main antagonist's house gets raided by the police and he gets arrested in the middle of a video call with the hero. It is absolutely one of my favourite video game endings of all time.
@@NineteenInFrench Funnily enough in that ending the police were sent an anonymous tip online; the antagonist even gets mad that the tip made the VPN he had set up redundant.
@@WittyOriginalUsername thanks, my mom wanted to protect the world from my rocky dennis face
3 года назад
This was a fantastic video, I *really* enjoyed it. Not only entertaining, but a lovely summary of the whole game. Solid observations too! Here's a bit of little known trivia you might enjoy -- at one point I had treatments for two sequels: [SPOILERS ALL OVER THE PLACE] - In Scratches II (that II resembling scratch marks, of course), you played as John Patterson, an acquaintance of Blackwood that is mentioned in his diary and stays in South Africa, dealing with the aftermath of the mask "disappearing"... and ultimately meeting Dolhom itself in person. However, this game would have little to do with the events in Scratches I, and was meant to feature a completely different tone. Basically, I was going to attempt pulling a Kid A. - In Scratches III you played as... Jerry! Who is still feeling devastated after what he did to Michael, who has disappeared mysteriously. So he travels to Rothbury to seek answers, only to find that Robin has teamed up with other victims of Thalidomide and is terrorizing the town. This outline was a bit up in the air, I just knew that I wanted to give it a stronger 80's vibe, inspired by movies such as It's Alive. Nowadays, I'm satisfied with the tone and feel of the first game. I think its conclusion was appropriate, or at least the one I wanted to do. Even the flower at the end, as one fan recently suggested, may not mean anything ("it's blossoming because Michael left the water running!"). That sense of uncertainty, of an ever elusive mystery, is what the game always wanted to achieve. Thank you for keeping its memory alive!
@@timyo6288 If he's pretending, I'd just be impressed, because he's been keeping the charade up on his channel for over a decade.
3 года назад
The real Agustín has given me full permission to impersonate him. I have a signed agreement. Besides, how can I know for sure that you're not all incredibly sophisticated AIs?
This was one of those games that I randomly tried as a kid and forgot about, until one day I started wondering what that one game I played ages ago was. Thanks for the memories.
"Electrician was supposed to meet me at the gate early in the morning but instead he left a fucking note while I was asleep." 10/10 depiction of britain
I take it as that the situation is common enough that British electricians would go to work with dissertation-sized and obviously pre-written notes just for this kind of occasion. Which raises the question why would anyone still think that going to work so early is a good idea.
For me it was the back story and the atmosphere build up that completely freaked me out, it did that so well that I found the ending kind of an anti-climax.
"I dunno. Let's ask Robin." My favourite line in the whole video. If, somehow, I get a copy of this game and play it with other people, I will absolutely steal it for the moment it was used.
When Civvie started talking about the settled science nightmare that was Thalidomide, I was honestly expecting Cancer Mouse to be summoned. Dodged a FPS bullet there.
And, ladies and gentlemen, the reason why I don't trust the current mandates for vaccination... Not that I have a choice, given I'll soon be moving to another country and they won't let me in without that jab.
@@Archris17 There's a myriad of regulations, testing, and safety precautions that have come about since then largely *because* of thalidomide and other incidents. Nearly 3 billion people are fully vaccinated now, if there was an issue with the vaccine, we would know by now. On top of that, it's not some mystery chemical being shot into your arm, we understand the full mechanism behind what the vaccine is, how it works, and what happens after very well. The technology that went into the vaccine is decades old (again, because nowadays we make very *very* sure there won't be horrible side effects). I don't make this post to judge you or anything, I have a phobia of needles, and stepping through the logic and reminding myself my fear was a irrational helped me go and get both shots. I'm hoping this helps convince you to get yours and feel good about it too.
“Mr. Blackwood, you’re British. Just plant a flag and go, don’t take the whole country with you” _Glances nervously at the British Natural History Museum_
Victorian homes actually had tiny rooms for the most part. And a lot of them. Horror cinema does not portray them appropriately. Cough cough Malignant. Source: I've lived in Victorian homes most of my life.
Everyone had less "stuff". We've owned three homes built from 1910-1920 (not Victorian, I know) and in all of them the rooms are tiny and closet space is pretty much nonexistent. You had a few items of clothing, maybe your Sunday best, and a tiny bed with maybe a freestanding dresser. Less stuff, less space.
Yep. Terrifys me so much I cant even watch the damn video. D: I had this game as a kid and I always used to cover my eyes when walking through that part of the mansion lol
Hands Resist Him also has 2 sequels, a prequel and a finale piece all done by the original artist. It's also nowhere near as scary as it looks in meaning. The hands merely represent all the possible lives and alternatives the kid has in his future. The kid is the artist's youth. The doll is merely his guide to the future.
Senscape has a Discord and they're hard at work on their next project: Asylum! Supporters of the game have been given late Steam Keys for the Director's Cut of Scratches.
It's also been over a decade since the kickstarter for that game and they've horribly missed their release date by years. I lack faith in them. As far as I'm concered they've completely bungled the project.
I don't remember the name, but there's this old point-and-click horror game about cursed standing stones that wander the area and turn all who touch them into ash... Edit: Barrow Hill, Curse of the Ancient Circle was the name. My mother played it long ago, along with the original Scratches.
@@buffoonwithashovel7354 Hey I left years ago mate, only a couple of family members still there now. The political situation plus covid is making life pretty hard for sure.
It's a testament to the game's pacing, audio, and overall design that it carries a lot of tension even with Civvie commenting. That basement BGM is still absolutely chilling. Excellent find, thanks for putting a spotlight on this old gem!
I've only ever felt as unnerved once before that was playing through 343 Guilty Spark for the first time... That Basement music is just as unnerving, I don't like it but I like it. If that makes any sense at all.
@Reeartse Just goes to show that music, or lack there of in some cases, is a vital part of the gameplay experience and that when done right REALLY enhances it.
4:40 Fun fact, this painting is called "The Hands Resist Him" (1972) by Bill Stoneham, and it's based on a photograph of the artist as a boy. The devs for this game probably learned about it when it became a meme in 2000. Long story short, some wacky elderly couple listed it for sale on eBay claiming it was haunted. They said the kids would move around at night, and even leave the painting to enter the real world. Their provided photographic "evidence" was unintentionally hilarious, but the meme spread because the painting is so damn creepy by itself. Funnily enough, Stoneham says the painting represents a boy being guided into the world of imagination by a living doll. Stoneham actually has a website where you can see all his work, and he's still alive today. In fact, he made several "sequel" paintings to The Hands Resist Him, and he just finished the series this year. Eerie stuff!
Been enjoying Civvie so much, that I've been practicing my 3d animation and modelling skills with a fan version of the camera zooming through the dungeon.
21:20 Not gonna lie, I didn't understand why Civvie was getting worked up over that until "Were they Catholic?" Kinda forgot not everyone grew up with that sort of thing.
The second weirdest thing about Catholicism. The first being that the priests don't have families. As someone raised baptist, I couldn't imagine not spending your teenage years in church trying to get to know the pastor's daughter in the biblical sense.
@@YHUAN01 which would be problematic if Catholics were actually devout, but having grown up in a Catholic town, i can assure you....95% of them are not. Then again, we are Cajun Catholics....and that generally entails being Cajun first, and Catholic a distant fourth 😄
@@razorfett147 I suspect a lot of that comes from a fundamental lack of respect for the Church. While events like public appearances by the Pope see huge turnouts, literal centuries of abuse of authority (as well as just flat-out regular abuse) pretty much guarantees that many people are going to find it difficult to take them seriously, making them less likely to follow the example that the clergy are *supposed* to be setting. As a result, a lot of Catholics seem to treat the faith as a kind of spiritual pick-and-mix. Not necessarily a bad thing, depending on the person. But I'm just a goober on the internet spouting personal observations with nothing verifiable behind them. Don't take it as Gospel.
It's amazing how much the horror is amplified by the fact that you have to slowly turn to look around instead of just clicking at something to jump to a new scene or angle
Blackwood being British and thinking that he should take the whole country with him (of the small underdeveloped island he found), is very British all things considered.
@@ronmastrio2798 THANKS FOR THE GOLD KIND STRANGER YOU ARE A GENTLEMAN AND A SCHOLAR EDIT: CAN WE PLEASE REPORT THE MISOGYNISTIC, TRANSPHOBIC RACIST NAZIS PLEASE THEYVE HIJACKED THIS THREAD EDIT 2: JUST COZ MY WIFES BOYFRIEND IS A TRUMP SUPPORTER DOESNT MEAN ME OR MY WIFE ARE. EDIT 3: THOSE COMMENTING ABOUT MY SON NOT BEING THE SAME COLOUR AS ME OR MY WIFE WILL BE REPORTED
The new dungeon accommodations and view came with increased productivity quotas. Sorta like one of those promotions that's barely a promotion with only a tiny bit of a carrot on the stick, but the amount of work and responsibility goes way up.
I appreciate the spoilers warning. I checked my Steam and I have a copy of the Director's Cut, so I'm stopping here and playing this tonight. Thanks again.
@@TangoMike88 I'm certainly enjoying it so far. Haven't played a Myst-like game in ages, so it's taken a bit to get used to things again. I'm a bit stuck at the moment, so I will watch this video again until the spoiler warning and see if it can get me past.
@@percher4824 I'm enjoying it. A bit stuck right now and I didn't even get to the spoiler warning in this video (been ages since I've played anything like Myst, so I'm rusty at these kind of games). Still, I'm going to keep at it.
Scratches is rad and I was surprised and happy to see you cover it because it deserves any love it can get. Scratches really is a master class of the "nothing is scarier" style of horror. As first person horror adventure games go John Saul's Blackstone Chronicles and The Dark Eye are also favorites of mine too.
What I love about this game is that from what I’ve seen it never once makes any kind of definitive statement as to whether or not anything supernatural was happening. On the one hand, yes, you had a dream about a boarded up door before you even knew it existed. On the other hand, it was hidden by something in front of it, so naturally you’d be curious as to if there’s anything behind that. On the one hand, the purification of the mask made the atmosphere feel lighter, but on the other hand, maybe it was a placebo effect; the purification was supposed to work, therefore to you it did. On the one hand, that medicine doesn’t produce deformities to that level, but on the other hand maybe the creator didn’t know that. And then of course... the chapel has the book “De Vermis Mysteriis” in it, which is from the Cthulhu Mythos. Which is either just a little nod, or this game is a part of Lovecraftian lore. Not once does the game say anything definitive. It’s so good.
Also said secret entrance looks EXACTLY like the one in the dream, but they probably didn't want to design and render more assets, and/or the needed to save space in the disk
@@Ovog95 but MYST puzzles are not rooted in using tools on objects in the environment, like the camera perspective is literally the only gameplay similarity
Oh, I definitely remember playing this game many years ago! The thing about it was that my older sister and I were having a "race" of sorts, playing it on our own computers, trying to see who could beat the game first. Well, I made it to the end before she did ... but I can only imagine what it must have sounded like to be her, very near the end with the scratches, but before she went down into the basement, and suddenly the sounds of me screaming filled up the house. Fun times, good game. This and Barrow Hill: Curse of the Ancient Circle are two fantastic lo-fi horror games that manage to be legit terrifying without needing a big budget.
_Scratches_ is like _Rhiannon - The Four Branches_ and _Barrow Hill,_ almost entirely just atmosphere and building stressful dread with any sort of monster or whatever almost entirely relegated to the very end of the games. That's actually pretty good, they build you up for so long that the end is more impactful. I just wish Agustín can finally finish _Asyulm._ ( _The Lost Crown_ was good, but it didn't have the same tension like these other games.)
Fun fact - the voice actor for Jerry is the same guy who did the main character in The Lost Crown. Somehow his voice acting here is much better than in Lost Crown.
Oh, I remember this one. This game has the worst damn jumpscare I think I've ever experienced. The entire game is nothing but buildup, and you keep waiting for the shoe to drop, but nothing ever happens. Half way through I was convinced nothing scary was actually going to happen... Then something did, and took ten years off my life expectancy.
Author: "This house will be a treasure trove of horrors." Sees there's no electricity when he arrives and misses the electrician later on as well. Also has no candles to write with at night. Also, has a creepy basement. Author: "Well, now...."
It doesn’t get said often enough. Thank you Civvie for providing hand typed closed captions in your videos and not just using the auto caption generator. My girlfriend is legally deaf and Civvie’s videos are some of the very select few we can watch together without having to pause every few minutes to sign dialogue to her.
@@AliaImmortalis The caption legend themselves, my mistake, I was under the impression that Civvie did the captions. Thank you very much for the captions. My girlfriend appreciates the sound descriptions as well. We both appreciate your through effort. She says your captions are flawless. We can’t really think of anything missing. She really enjoys how you describe the general music, the audio cues, the ambience, use all caps for yelling, the asterisks for emphasis and put the song titles.
Yea - I was a big Giger fan at the time that came out and got it day 1. I still fire that up and finish it every now and then.. be funny with Civvie's comments on it!
I always loved the Dark Seed aesthetic! H R Gigers artwork really added to it! The voice acting was hilarious. I remember the old Retsupare play through: "I understand basic architecture!" 🤣
I'm sorry but ... have you ... have you not seen him do Thief? 'Cause he did done Thief. Not that I wouldn't love Civvies take on Eye I just don't think Cruelty Squad is the outlier you kinda, sorta make it out to be.
Civvie is an imsim fan, why do you think he has almost 20 Postal videos? As for Eye, I'm not sure he'd go for it, he kind of spend all his time travel gags on Serious Sam games. Its also one of those games that I don't know if you could get a ton of humor out of. A retrospective into the development would be interesting from Civvie's muckraking journalist kind of vibe.
Fun fact, the creepy painting at 4:41 is a real painting called "The Hands Resist Him" that was allegedly haunted. Did not expect to see it in the game!
Damn gotta say, watching someone play this on RU-vid and it being kind of an "interactive slideshow" its really impressive how atmospheric and tense it still is.
Hoo boy, does the story of thalidomide get darker. Google the “Behind the Bastards” podcast episode about thalidomide. If you want some idea of how dark it gets, lets just say it involves the Nazis.
Fun fact the nazis were searching for the holy grail and other magical artifacts, the US knew they weren't real but began searching as well, just in case.
@@saerain I have. Super messed up. I couldn't imagine treating humans like Guinea pigs to that degree. Giving them stds and letting it fester, allowing people to free limbs then smash them. Doing Mengele on another level
one creepy game that I can easily recommend to Civvie to review in the near future is Sanitarium.........unless of course we finally get a Pro System Shock episode, which that game has yet to be featured in any capacity.
@@frug5629 I remember this being the only few games that terrified me in my early teens due to the sound effects and creepy atmosphere. would be a neat idea for a future episode, that plus System Shock is a worthy shooter for Civvie to look into after Doom, Quake, & Half Life.
I remember playing this with my brother and sister years ago! The part where you crawl into the boiler scared the ever loving shot outta me and I still remember it to this day. Forgot about that jump scare with the mask, though. Thanks for reminding me.
i never went into it because at the time i just got done playing Capcoms first horror game; "Sweet Home" and i noped the fuck out of that idea. years later i watch this and i'm like "yeah; that sounds about right"
I could've sworn I played this game, but I remembered something about a train and a puzzle with rolling bones (like actual bones, not dice) to divine an answer. Just looked it up and it was Dark Fall: Lost Souls. Very similar, iirc.
I lived in a country that used rotary phones well into the 90s. I can testify that this is in no way how you actually use them. Pretty sure civvie just dialing 1-1-1-1
I forgot this game existed until you got to the ending and then I remembered. I remembered being scared shitless. Didn't get me the second go around, but hoo boy...this game has a lot of atmosphere. The tension and dread that builds up. The devs did an amazing job making so much out of so little.
Creativity from limitation and all that. I can't really think of many horror games that are too polished or "involved" that get the horror right, to be honest.
"Sir, you are british, Plant a flag and Leave." this, this right here is the single most perfect phrase i've ever heard. i can't express the joy of hearing this. when i raid america, you know i'm using this line! "just here to plant a few flags, then i'll be on my way..."
As someone from Scotland, I can confirm large chunks of our country are indeed a wasteland, such as Aberdeen Old Town, Glasgow, the mountains of the Fife countryside _especially_ the Lovecraftian Silent Hill that is butterstone school and the northernmost highlands peninsula beyond the Moray Firth.
Having grown up around Wick and Thurso, I can confirm that life up there makes The Shadow over Innsmouth look like the fucking Hungry Hungry Caterpillar.
@Steven Raith Butterstone in the mountains near or in Fife is like Silent Hill crossed with Tsugunohi and Pathways into Darkness. When I went there for a short time, the mountainside the school is on was hidden in thick fog, it was very cold every day and the atmosphere in the building didn't help. That creepy "See me" poster on the kitchen door looked like the girl on it was a manifestation of the deadlights. (from the book version of IT) I thought I escaped it but like the evil ghosts in Tsugunohi, copies of the poster started appearing in the school and college I went to.
@2:43 Oh my God! That scream reference to my favorite tv show Freakazoid absolutely made my day. Thank you Civvie for having such fine taste in weird, witty, and dry humor
Goddangit Jerry! That Gianni voice acting though 😂 This sounds like a good horror game to play on Halloween, thanks Civvie. Totally gonna try this game, if I can find where to get this game. Probably torrent sites lol
holy shit i remember watching a let's play of this game when i was 8 or younger an getting scarred of this 16:00 fucking part so hard i instantly noped out of this and being the reason why i was scarred of darkness till 13. In recent years i started to wonder how this game ended but, i didn't remember name of this game over 10 years later i finally get some closure on this game and being glad i stopped where i did because i would have been scarred of darknes till' 15
"You know, when you're a writer, it's all stream of consciousness man. There's no planning, there's no notes, there's no big conspiracy board with characters/connections/motivations." . . . y'know, as an aspiring writer; this was both incredibly on point, and literally taking a left on the turn pike and taking the freeway to Albuquerque to kidnap some poor fucker's dog to go to a rodeo. I'm not saying that it's *NOT* true, but y'know . . . different keystrokes for different folks.
