That Creepy Feeling on Empty Source Maps 

Nice vid! gm_bigcity has always done this for me. I spent a lot of time on it when I was messing with wiremod, and it creeped me out every time.

Big city is the weirdest because the city doesn’t feel abandoned but isn’t cars or people. Sometimes the ambient noises can be very disturbing

This reminds me of how there are so many gmod servers that nobody plays on anymore, yet are still up and running. So many maps just sitting there, empty, forever.

i remember doing this once, walking around cs_italy with no hud. my fear of being alone was soon gone when my brother joined and shot me 45 times with a small machine gun in the back

I think a main reason is that most of these maps were made with HL2 textures, and HL2 is supposed to feel creepy with all of the abandoned and messed up apartments after the combine

I love the graphics style, realistic graphics are cool but something about these graphics is just pleasing to me

Gmod with no players is the scariest feeling ever.

0:16 - I seriously was like "Wait fuck, I've been in a call this whole time?"

I actually wrote a story about this feeling, It was about a man named Aiden who woke up In Gm_construct with no other people in sight, listening to the ambience of trains and cars in the distance; thinking people were there, so he set out, but found nobody, and I’m still writing it! Gmod always gives me the creeps when I play alone-

And then you see " joined the game" when you remember setting it to single player

Always gave me the feeling that I was the last person on earth, that I was some kind of God like entity summoning objects and NPCs into existence.

It feels like someone’s lurking around, watching and following you..

the reason why it's so creepy for me is because of how real and unreal it looks at the same time, mixed with the ambient sounds and overall feel that since it's a multiplayer map, anything can be with you.

For me, the feeling of being alone and having no one to help me should something were to happen to me is what frightens me. I remember this one time when I was kid I woke up alone in my house with no sign of anyone walking in my neighborhood nor any sounds of planes or cars passing by. I felt uneasy for a minute, but felt better after I turned on the tv to watch a live news story. Despite what most people saying they are anti-social, we are all social animals who rely social interaction to stay sane and feel safe.

Idk why but I feel scared when I go into these maps but I like walking around the maps like your doing

Maybe the reason for our feelings is, that eyery source map gives you the feeling that the world behind it is over. I mean its a map flying in a endless nothing end we are afraid that someday we are part of that "nothing" ...

There was a one map called train, I'm sure everybody knows it. First time; played with my cousins, happy. But then my cousins started to have exams so I had to play with someone else instead. I added bots; without radio chats, so unnerving that I had to close the map and never play it for day. Everything was so weird. There was no fun and joy playing with bots. So I tried something extreme; playing alone. It was like a horror game, no sound effect, no ambience. Sudden train sounds. That old climbing to ladder sound effects from Half Life 1. Even only just shooting to sky made me feel scared. The incoming reverb of shot, never in my life, anything made me feel this scared. Same feeling with bomb maps. That "Bomb has been planted" made me feel worse. I felt alone. But I never ever felt this alone on my life. There was no filling gaps. It was just me, and the train map. I'm still scared to play that map alone. It's unbelievably unnerving.

I often have dreams where i'm noclipping away from a snpc flying at me. like I have this nightmare a lot from playing so much single player gmod as a kid

1:52 that youtube compression tho

it's just at a point where you're expecting a jumpscare or something scary because you're scared that you're not alone.

one map in this game that is very creepy is a map called, rp_littletown, seriously this map gives off strange vibes while playing alone idk why, especially the sewer area.

5:13 "Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day."

Why does this feel oddly comforting to me

0:16 lol the discord ping pong

I remember I used to do this in bo2 some times, it always gave me a weird feeling exploring all the maps and now I know why

Is it just me or the map at 4:37 is really calming. like the thunder

For me, this is so relaxing, so comfortable. I would like to be in a place with no people looking, and do whatever i want

I want to know what devs was thinking when making source engine

its all fun and games until you start hearing footsteps

It’s called a liminal space A place that gives off a sense of anemoia when you see it

I usually spawn striders and workshop Npcs and watch them fight, that usually takes away the creepy feeling of being alone Edit: why do I have 200+ likes .-.

Am I the only one who spawns tons of npcs around me whenever I'm playing Gmod sandbox alone?

i can't watch this video the nostalgia hurts.

It's called Liminal spaces - it's a kind of unsettling feeling when you expect a place to be crowded, but is empty. Same with schools, at daytime lots of people roam around, but at night it feels off

Its the same feeling with Minecraft, I feel like someone is always with me when iam playing Survival Alone.

The feeling that I get when I'm playing a map like that, is that someone is watching me from the distance and its getting closer to me.

much more worse if your all alone in left 4 dead

Kinda feels like your the Stanley from Stanley Parable, free roaming outside of his company building.

It feels like we live in our world, but we're the last ones left

I know everybody is talking about how scary the maps are, but this video just.. gave me a strange appreciation for these maps. I just find the roughness mixed with realism the source engine provides, along with the iconic sounds, props and textures absolutely beautiful and nostalgic! It really brings a warm feeling to my heart

In my high school AP US History class, my final exam was a project based on a pop culture example from the late 20th century. I used Unity to make a virtual reality replica of the D&D Tomb of Horrors. While testing out the map late, late at night, although I had created it myself from scratch, I genuinely couldn’t shake the feeling of what could be lurking in the darkness outside the glow of the minecraft torch I’d modeled into the game. Got an A+ and discovered 2112 during that project, but some of those fears have stuck with me.

The reason these empty Gmod maps scare me is because of an old TTT map named ttt_smallville. I'm pretty sure the place is still downloadable to this day on the Workshop. There was a mystery told by some famous youtuber, I have yet to find this video since it was most likely privated, but it did exist. The video told about there being some creepy ragdoll thing in the closet that players would rarely see. I'm not sure of the conditions to see this ragdoll, but I'm pretty sure you had to play in the map for a long period of time before it appeared behind you. I'm not sure though, I never saw it, but people in the comments of the map talk about it.

Source is like a grandpa or grandma, they're old, you endlessly love them, you have a lot of good memories and sometimes you visit them.

The sad feeling of a empty darkrp server...

I'm glad you found the *Source* of your feelings. But seriously, I feel the exact same way. In addition to unease, I think there's a quiet sadness that comes from emptiness.

Great video man! I have many memories of playing gmod in the middle of the night by myself and getting that eerie feeling.

I honestly feel this way whenever I watch old videos I liked on RU-vid, the comments section used to be so active, now the last comment was 8,9 years ago…. Always feel sad, time truly flies man 😢

Part of me believes that this eeriness these maps have is because they are an imitation or simulation of reality, or have elements of it at least. Especially since you can move around freely, you're in first person, and have ambient noise. So it's probably that our brains associate these with things we've seen in real life but do not accept them as reality, thus making us feel weird and that something's just.. off, and we're expecting something else. Like some uncanny valley stuff. I dunno. That's my observation. I also recommend looking up the concept of "liminal spaces" which give off a similar feeling with the difference being that those places are real.

The fact that you expect something to show up is the creepiest thing

There’s an Urban Legend where 3 players were playing in a Garry’s mod map that’s now been removed from Steam. When the two other players left the last player decided to stick around because he didn’t had much to IRL. He kept having the feeling for some that as small and as empty the map clearly was, he can’t help but feel someone or something was still with him within the map. He was bored in-game so decided to explore this possibility. The map had a sewer system which the player went down to, his computer screen froze and when it unfroze a dark humanoid figure appeared accompanied by a audio-voice that said “Wassup nigga I’m the chicken penis ghost, and from now on anyone who reads this experience of yours wasted their time as it gets shared through RU-vid comments.”

0:16 Source map ghost joins the chat

I actually have nightmares of videogames like this where the game defies logic and enemies appear that you've never seen before chasing you.

It’s like this comment I saw saying “ It’s creepier when you expect something to come out of the shadows that doesn’t, than when it does. “

I don't know exactly the reason, but this is why i never finished hl2. Even when I was completly alone in-game I always felt that there was someting watching me and something was going to happen. So because it was making me very anxious I decided to quit.

Before it was creepy , now its creepy and nostalgic :( Especially when you join a server and ur fav map is selected and no one is there.

Its especially scary and lonely when you're in an online server.

I think it's a combination of the ambient audio and knowing that in reality there's actually nothing there. No birds, no cop cars, nothing. Just inanimate objects.

Source maps feel creepy when you're playing alone. There is no player or entity and the place feels like a ghost town. The scariest part would be if you're not alone and there is a being hidden in plain sight and would either hunt you when time is right or stalk you somewhere where you can't see it but it can see you. I get this similair feeling with the early (not alpha or beta) minecraft survival when playing on peaceful difficulty. I know peaceful doesn't progress the game but i felt like without mobs or villagers im just a lonely player and Herobrine would literally stare at me from affar and stalk me for what i do. Video game levels without entities or player interaction would be scary to play alone in general. You dont do anything and you can just leave but the eerie silence and waiting long enough would leave you uneasiness.

I used to have nightmares in which I was roaming alone in empty cities like this, but it was cloudy. I also get this weird feeling with poorly designed NPC, like in old PS2 games, with those horrible, ignoring, silent and very scarce pedestrians in open world games such as those from Spiderman, or the repetitive car and building designs of the open world Need for Speeds.

It's like... you're the only one alive in several places. Taking out the NPCs and shit, it's actually really creepy because it's like someone is there... watching you even if you're alone.

It's also scary because when you first played on many of these maps, it was years ago when you where younger. When I play on old source maps it reminds me that I am growing older and as graphics continue to improve you can see just how different things have changed. It just feels very uncanny.

Its because of the fact that most Source maps are vast with many buildings, and with ambient noises which makes them seem inhabited, but their is no sign of life anywhere and everything is still, frozen in place. I get the same feeling but amplified by 1000 when playing Space Engine, the universe is so vast but its void of any life, and everything is still.

I get an uncanny valley feeling when staring at these gmod maps, like they're realistic but still not quite and it's freaking me out

I really want to know why this is the case aside from just no people, because that adds to it, but a game like MS Flight Simulator 2020 has no people but isn't really creepy. I guess it also is up to how "raw" it looks. The way the textures look and repeat, how perfect the edges of objects are, the way the lighting works. I feel like the best way to describe these maps are "imperfectly perfect." The textures and buildings look maybe sorta real, but they aren't. I guess it's kind of like the whole "Uncanny Valley" thing along with other factors, such as the lack of people, that gives it that atmosphere. I love the video tho btw, I guess it's thought provoking.

These make me feel pretty comfy.

Because it feels like you’re holding your breath

Man. The nostalgia for this is real.

The feeling you get is not only "being afraid of being alone" but actually being afraid of not knowing who or what can be hiding somewhere, watching you, all those windows, all those buildings... It is an almost undescribable feeling. I used to feel the same when i spent much time in school after classes.

id like to feel this feeling once again

Can somebody make these kind of map but with actual “sighting”

Source maps are so cool. There’s nothing that blends nostalgia and aesthetic like them.

Ngl tho the servers looks beautiful

I live for this feeling.

This gives me the Ravenholm vibes, when I first enter Ravenholm place some unusual and being alone feelings makes me uncomfortable, after encountered some people it makes me a little bit comfortable for a while...

I went to a empty cinema map before and I can say its creepy, then going to the restroom makes it even more eerie since its just the quiet empty noise of the restroom.

You're just waiting for someone or something to come out and confirm you're not alone but it never happens. Creepy feeling for sure, we're so used to seeing NPCs in games that it's instantly weird for them not to be around anymore.

Old Blockland Maps really felt this way too

No one: The tf2 players who practice their rocket jump on an empty map: ._.xd

The ambient noises like traffic noises or police sirens feel like echos of the past.

I remember getting up early and playing empty CS 1.6 servers. That's exactly how I felt.

Finally, a video where there isn't any commentary so you actually have that creepy feeling.

That discord noise at the beginning scared the jesus out of me.

I also get this kind of feeling when ending a gaming session with friends. When they all leave and you're left alone in the empty map... Feels just empty.

Hometown1999 hit me in the feels

the gm House with garden v2 bring back that nostalgia of that Venturian Tale Harlem shake video

i was hoping i wasn't the only one that had this feeling

As a kid, I remember always using the "follow me!" Radio command in cs condition zero only for the bots to follow me so i won't be alone

Nothing is more scary than needing to buy CS:S for missing textures

I like the empty feeling. It's very calming and humbling.

Everybody gangsta till you forgot to disable ZINV mod in the settings before you make a video you felt like weird due to liminal space

It’s like that feeling of turning off the light in the basenent and then Running up the stairs

Imagine you wake up one day and you're in one of those maps. Time doesn't pass, you feel no hunger, no thirst, no need to sleep either. You can't get hurt and you can't die. You can only move inside this map, you can't go further. You're trapped here, for the rest of eternity. Alone.

I think this happens not because you're afraid that you're alone, it's because that you're afraid that you might not be alone

I think people forget how dark half life truly is. Showing these maps with no people, not even combine is a grim reminder of how the human race was destroyed and made so no other children could be born so the human race just slowly died out, the planet drained of its resources the combine leave as well. This is all that remains.

That feeling is just out of place as you're walking but the old texture and buildings will be there always not matter what.

Me: Mom can we play on the DarkRP server? Mom: No, we have DarkRP at home DarkRP at home:

This whole feeling is engrained in my memories of coming home from school and playing Garrys Mod and Portal on the family PC back in 2010 and 2011. In the winter when it gets dark much earlier it was especially creepy but always captivating, i had a whole world to myself away from the stress of school. i remember playing these empty maps alone because i never enjoy multiplayer that much so that added a whole lot more. The looping ambient sounds, the same textures and models from, CS Source and Half Life 2 have become almost like good friends along with the maps they appeared in, the friends i didnt have at school. I cant get the exact same feeling anymore these days but the Source Engine still just has that atmosphere that is so recognisable and unbeaten.

I got that feeling when i tried to play CS 1.6 with empty maps a few years ago and damn it was a mix of nostalgia a sadness because i Love this game but i felt sad because i missed the people that i used to play with

Back when I had Gmod, I didn't have wifi (I had to use hotspot, but I didn't have too much.) I could only play single-player on these giant maps by myself. It wasn't boring, as I had a lot of fun mods and maps to play on. But sometimes I would stop and realize that I was all alone in these cities, these hotels, these oceans. I was alone, and that scared me. Something didn't feel right. I haven't played gmod in over a year, (I lost my old account, and I also moved) and watching this gives me those old feelings again. Well done.

0:40 this feels like when you're looking for cheese at 2 am because you hungry