Solipsis - Cosmic Horror Lurks Beneath the Surface of the Moon in this Tense Sci-Fi Horror Game Available as Part of the Dread X Collection Vol 2 on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/13...
I don't know about brilliant. As the player, we already know what the threat is. This makes an immediate disconnect from the character we're playing as. Also that last rationalize mini-game looked more frustrating than panic inducing.
TheDustyMuffinsss as a player you do know what the threat is, but your character doesn’t. this is dramatic irony. it is telling a story, you aren’t playing a game.
@@SaintJimmy379 if you didn't know anything about Lovecraft or pop culture in general and just spent your life studying and working to get where you are as an astronaut I'd be pretty damn terrified and confused as to what I'm seeing when I'm up there where anything could exist or happen
"Solipsism is the philosophical idea that only one's mind is sure to exist. As an epistemological position, solipsism holds that knowledge of anything outside one's own mind is unsure; the external world and other minds cannot be known and might not exist outside the mind." - Wikipedia
Love this one. Could absolutely imagine taking that rationalize mechanic and either expanding it or making a longer game with it. I think the second instance of it is my favorite, having to slam the thought of it being the Russians against the side to make it 'fit' the rationalization.
Agreed, the atmosphere in this was top notch, adding that psychological mini-game really took it to another level. There could be a lot of applications of this in a rogue like especially with permadeath.
It would be a great alternative to the standard sanity meters in other games. You have to collect "logic" and "proof" then crafts them into rationalizations to keep your character sane when confronted with eldritch things.
*Press R to rationalize* "Aaah, yes! It's the commies!" No, it doesn't fi- "I said it's the commies!!!! *smashes the symbol on the screen borders in order to make it fit* " o-ok.... o_o
I mean it makes sense from a psychological perspective. When the possible has been eliminated as possible and all that's left is the impossible it is the answer however unlikely (probably butchered the phrasing), however, you really want to make the probably the truth, so you will force yourself to believe the improbably rational answer.
@@Anudorini-Talah I can see you adopted the classic Twitter style of bullshit arguing. No, I'm not ten. And it's pretty obvious about the creativity of the rationalizing, because of how it shows having to pick through a bunch of irrational thoughts to find one that actually makes sense. Maybe scroll through the rest of the comments to see what people like about this game.
Yeah, and also all the symbols or "rationalizations" are the same confused image. Whereas earlier in the game he had different rationalizations of the anomaly - could it be aliens? The soviets? Some weird eldritch horror?
The moon is tired that once in an old movie people hit her in the eye with a rocket and now everyone is making a reference to this movie and colliding in her eye.
No one is pointing out the similarity between what happened to the astronut in the last scene to rationalize mini games. The astrounut seems to become an idea/concept/rationalize for the moon creature. He was outlined and fitted to the dotted line on creature's forehead, just like his rationalized ideas.
@@gabrielajanki9167 To be specific, your rationalizations/insights disappear/transform (or explode in the case of this game) after they are thought up because they become knowledge. (This is just my headcanon)
I love the rationalization mini game. Especially the last one where all these ideas are moving around so fast that it’s difficult to grab the one you want. It just encapsulates this feeling of dread, terror and this desperate hope to believe something aside from what is there, it’s something I’m sure we’ve all felt.
Fun fact: the spiral staircase he descends at the end had the same number of spins as the spiral over the "I'm going crazy" head in the rationalisation minigame.
I really like how in the second bit where you choose the soviet one, you have to break a piece of the thing off. Its like your character is having to basically force/make up this narrative because of how absurdly strange and out of place the stairway is.
@@ferdinandbardamu. Yep. If you're willing to have a look, Simple History got it covered in one of their videos. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qRC0Jmh-9tY.html TL;DR, they carried a shotgun into space because once they were back on Earth, they'd land in forests rather than the ocean like Astronauts do. So they added a shotgun into the capsule as a defence item to fend off wild animals
i like the rationalize bits, how he starts off just looking calm, then after his shuttle is lost, progressively more horrified. the lighting effect was real good for those parts too
Given that 'solipsism' is the theory that only the self can be known and verified to exist and that the astronaut is basically a rational symbol for the moon, one could argue that humanity itself and possibly the rest of the universe is likely just figments of its thoughts and imaginations. In other words, the moon could be the real Azathoth...
It fits with the visual similarity between the rationalization minigames, where you fit ideas into the dotted line and the last part, where you fit the silhouette of the astronaut on the dotted line, awakening the moon face.
I find it interesting how this game constantly plays with the idea of the "man in the moon". The game first talks about seeing a face on the moon, which many people know about. What I find more interesting, though, is how the landscape changes once you enter the staircase in the eye. I'm likely overthinking things, but since the "eye is the window to the soul" comes up in my head when I see this scene. That aside however, the floor of the moon changes considerably once you reach the bottom - the circular indents of the moon have changed to uneven grooves which at times resemble faces - once again, man in the moon. Now those two finger-looking things that moved while you were underground certainly implies something, but what exactly im not sure. Heres the fun part, when our astronaut enters and reveals the face, he *becomes* the man in the moon. I'm pretty sure this game is an allegory of being consumed by your fears, but I'm probably overthinking things lol Also this just came to me while I was writing this, the fact that the gravity measurer becomes heavier, I believe thats related to "the weight of your fears", if thats how the saying goes. Lastly, the rationalization seems to actually correlate with the actions you partake in. You drag these ideas to your forehead to make sense of them. Now, what is usually tied to not only your mind, but is also an eye? The mind's eye. Taking a step down that staircase is the astronaut literally going into his mind, where he spirals down and once again meets his fear of the face of the moon. He cannot rationalize anything about that situation because simply, his fear is irrational, until he saw the face, that is. Also the symbols in the last rationalization are heads with something spinning into it. Spiral staircase into your mind. I rest my case.
@Roy may I add that when the astronauys explodes not only id similar to the rationalising mechanic, but the point is settled in what would be the third eye in the ground's face?
You missed the title, though. "Solipsism". Solipsism is a school of thought that believes the only one who can be truly known, and therefore exists, is the self, while everything else is merely a figment of your imagination, of your RATIONALIZATIONS. At the end, the astronaut becomes the rationalize minigame for the moon, implying it is merely but a concept, an idea to it. As that moon is likely also merely but a concept to a being superior to him, and so on. You gotta remember this shit's Cosmic Horror. Things as "Facing your fears" are technically incorrect interpretations of it.
I like how the only symbol for the last minigame is a face with a spiral, like he's hearing impossible things and his only way to rationalize this is that he's going insane. Edit: I just noticed the "I'm going insane" option was always available. That's... Deeply horrifying.
This is a pretty clever game. The rationalize part was so on point. I feel like that’s almost exactly how it goes in your brain as things get more and more bizarre.
the best thing is how the final "rationalization' is the Moon itself rationalizing the existence of the human- the astronaut is so small and insignificant that it's almost like an idea to the moon, and the very act of being considered by the small planetoid is enough to utterly evaporate a person.
Hmmm, actually this have a lot of thoughts and attention to detail packed in this game. So right from the beginning. First gravity measurement return 8.something. "Just solid ground" as "alter ego" said. Also "we a hoping to locate an empty lava tube". So they want to go under the surface of the Moon, for some reason. Second shows -15.5. This is anomaly, small cave under the ground for example. "Some sort of subsurface feature". Nothing special. Third is -119.something. "Heh, that our lava tube. Must be a deep one." Again, nothing too special. Fourth -650. Thats a REALLY BIG one. And its the first time the astronaut starts to question reality. If you look carefully on the ideas in rationalization minigame it shows three possible solution for this, how astronaut see it: First one is "there are big cavity under the ground". This does not suits as 'correct' solution since it jump from 0 to 100 too fast. Second is "Im loosing my mind". Astronaut begins to doubt is what he see is real. Or rather, is things what he see is reality is or no? Third one is "gravimeter is broken". Simplest and most obvious solution....for now... After spacecraft explosion from the collision with meteorite each new measurement shows more and more negative numbers, the closer astronaut get to the staircase. So I suspect in gameplay perspective you should use gravimeter to find it. Rationalization near staircase also reveal something interesting. Now each 'idea' have weak parts in it. Now main ideas is: "its an aliens": does not suits here since if it really was aliens, astronaut would notice their presence right at the beginning. "its a supernatural being (cthulhu as example)": does not match too, since 'ghosts in outer space????? really????????????????' "Im loosing my mind": not suits here since "staircase on the moon SHOULD have logical explanation". Also notice, this idea does not have a 'weak' parts. "its a communists": it 1969-1972 years in game I believe. USSR was first who landed on the moon, so its the only 'logical' solution why moon have human made structure. But its veeeeeeery weak rationalization, almost comical. When astronaut descend on the staircase, he sees big human like hand and hear some very suspicious noises, but for some reason does not question it. If you compare radio sounds that astronaut hear after falling from stairs with radio chat from the beginning, with astronaut that was left on the orbit, you can notice that background noise are similar in both broadcasts. You can say "but hey, its like radio work in this game". No, its not. When the hero speaks, it is very clear that you can hear him through radio. And his translations dont have such noise at all. When realization hit him that he loosed his mind, all ideas in rationalization minigame have same icon "Im loosing my mind". And also, 'shape' of the idea that suits this time have same shape as "Im loosing my mind" idea in both previous minigames. It can be interpreted as "I see not that happening in real, right from the beginning". Last minigame, when astronaut becomes an idea, is quite tricky....I mean from the point of rationalization...ehhhh.... So anyway, if you watch it carefully right from the beginning you can notice that astronaut walk on spiral staircase, which have same amount of turns as spiral from the head in "Im loosing my mind" idea. So it mean that he actually descend into the mind if some being -> he becomes a part of this being mind -> being stop thinking about him -> he ceases to exist, both as idea and as existing object/being.
@@lindinle if I remember correctly, this game is part of a larger meta-game type thing. But anyways, when it comes to this stuff, some people can really get into it, while others are rolling their eyes so hard they spin to the back of their head, I guess you know which one you are.
When I was a child, my parents would often leave on trips and I’d spend the nights at my grandparents. During this time, up until I was 7, I had the same nightmare 5 times. I’d rather not get into it unless people start asking me because it’s a long nightmare, but it was about that moon. I still sometimes feel weird about the moon. This game connects horror with me on a really personal level
4:42 I have a theory that the crash of two spacecraft broke the astronauts helmet that causes gradual asphyxiation over time which he starts to get delirious (hallucinating from his childhood imaginary horrors) as he eventually ran of oxygen, where he suffocated by the vacuum of space when the helmet glass shatters.
@@karacreed0723 I mean…a man passed out for 15 second and he experinced 15 years of his life inside his head. Getting married and even have kid, all inside his head. Makes you wonder if we are actually alive right now or are in a playback mode as your brain slowly dies.
@@Iwanwahid1969 considering we can remember almost anything wrong given enough time, it wouldn't really matter since it'd technically be more like a different life with alterations to what it actually was, and I find that a little relieving.
It makes me think that if solipsism is taken to its natural conclusion, it's revealed that the solipsist can't even confirm their own existence. They're merely the dream, or rationalization, of some Lovecraftian and unknowable consciousness which inhabits them. This creeping feeling destroyed their perception of others first, and when the darkness is peeled back and it is fully realized, it destroys the solipsist, too. The empty moon looking out at the world mirrors the astronaut's empty helmet looking out at the moon. This was a brilliant piece and it makes me so glad that I continue to check this RU-vid channel.
I like the visual contrast between the rationalization minigames and the last part, where you awaken the moon face. Just like in the minigames, where you're fitting an idea/jigsaw piece to fit the situation, the dotted outline against the backdrop of the astronaut's face, in the last bit, you're fitting the top down silhouette of the astronaut against the backdrop of the awakening moon face. It's as though the game is conveying to us that the very mechanic of trying to rationalize what can't be explained is futile and doesn't lead anywhere good.
anyway my favorite feature in this game is a "rationalization" this how you character tries to explain unexplainable, and every next time he just can't come up with something common and drives more and more crazy.
Ok but can we talk about how terrifying this was?? The parts with the hands, the close-up of the guys face during the rationalize parts, the distorted audio, the MOON THING. I don’t get spooked easily but this got me rattled
SO want to see a fully-expanded version of this. I'm with everyone else: the atmosphere's amazing, the top-down view, the rationalize mechanic- it's a formula for something great and I can't wait to see what can come after this
Walking down a seemingly endless flight of stairs on the moon is scary enough on its own when you realize how difficult movement is one of those suits !
was let go today, from my dream job. It deleted from my life direction and independence it is a humbling, harrowing, surgically dismantling thing to realize that you are nothing more than a cog in a greater machine. This game reflects that.
Ooo, that was an interesting one. I like the rationalize concept, and seeing him losing his mind by the end of it visualized in a cool game mechanic was well done.
solipsis is a short but sweet game and the theme and style of the game fits very well, the gravity meter and rationalization system mechanics were unique but ultimately superfluous though. however if this was made into a full game with in depth mechanics just as unique as these two it really would be an amazing horror game
While I haven't had the chance to read Lovecraftian-type horror, this is one of the best cosmic horror titles I've seen.. All that's left is getting a Steam account at last.. Love your work Alpha! 🤙👍
More games need this rationalize mechanic, not just horror games but perhaps even action shooters where the main character has to come to terms with the fact that he has committed or witness a terrible crime. I could also imagine this having a butterfly effect like in Until Dawn or House of Ashes.
"Solipsism is the philosophical idea that only one's mind is sure to exist. As an epistemological position, solipsism holds that knowledge of anything outside one's own mind is unsure; the external world and other minds cannot be known and might not exist outside the mind."
@@napoleonsolo5929 because the donald is obsessed with the u.s returning to its "glory days" of the mid 60's? even though most off what happened then can't be repeated because it no longer exists
Alpha you remain a legend. This really just goes to show how lucky we are to live in a generation where indie developers are making little hidden gem classics left and right, and you are the one shedding light on so many of these. Keep it up!!
0:08 "You know,it's strange that i became an astronaut." Yah..you know,you lucky you be astronaut and instantly die while human race suffer on earth beacuse emo boy who summon a thicc female demon squid for get smooch
I really like this game's aesthetic. Normality slowly unravels around the player character and rationalization becomes increasingly erratic with more and more disjointed possibilities which reflects their mental state. Like other people have said I think the rationalization mechanic is both a neat idea and pretty well executed - shaking the thought around that "it was russians" for rationalizing the existence of the staircase to eventually make it fit to indicate it's a weak explanation that requires a lot of reaching was pretty clever IMO. Gj to the devs. There's a metric fuckton of "low graphical fidelity eldritch horror" games but this is one of the more interesting ones I've seen
@@asyuh2000 ikr? we dont know what happened to the other planets moons in hellstar remina they r probrally still there so remina and the other survivors can colonize one of those moons
The science on this is a little insubstantial, like measuring gravity and subterranean depth are different, that could just be a diction mistake, it just took me out of it, like the first time the negative "Gravity" value doubled I would have panicked because it would probably mean you're near some kind of gravity anomaly. in contest though it was very good, the Rationalize bubbles were cool, and the build up was well done.
To be fair, the player rationalizes it as his... instrument... device thing having malfunctioned. Now I guess it's up for debate how likely it is for an astronaut to write something like that off as a system error at all
There's a starman waiting in the sky He'd like to come and meet us But he thinks he'd blow our minds There's a starman waiting in the sky He's told us not to blow it Cause he knows it's all worthwhile...
The rationalize thing was really cool The first go around it introduces the mechanic The second go around it displays how even when something doesn't fit logic, if we throw it around and malform the idea, even the illogical can rationalize anything The third go around it encapsulates what a mind would be like trying to rationalize eldritch things. You can't rationalize the irrational so it sends your mind into a frenzy trying to find something, making it near impossible to do so
