The experience of waking up being half asleep to some wacky thing on adult swim or an infomercial is such a fever dream.

@madiemakes

6 ай бұрын

Or those random animated short films that never make sense

@Ucceah

4 ай бұрын

even more so when you're zoning in and out of brief periods of deaming. it's so surreal!

you don't even know how much I wanted and needed a list of plotless games like yume nikki or lsd dream emulator. thank you SO much dude I'm for sure gonna play them.

@Cresendex

6 ай бұрын

Glad I could provide them, I love playing these games at night especially, gives them a feel that I haven't gotten in traditional games

@cynthiawang9752

5 ай бұрын

I was in the same place a few years earlier and I recommend you check out 0°N 0°W. It may seem to have more "gameplay" mechanics-wise, but it gave me a very similar feeling hopping around seemingly procedurally generated worlds and getting lost in them. More game recommendations: For a larger game with more content, try out The Norwood Suite. It is a puzzle/walking sim with a theme of music concepts recontextualized and has an experience very similar to exploring the House of Eternal Return or Convergence Station. If you know neither of these, consider House of Leaves but with less existential dread. Isolomus and the other games by the same developer also fit in the "plotless" category and all have a very unique look. I believe the developer uses actual clay animation to make the sprites. For games with similar aesthetics try AlienAfterlife; it has a plot (if you can call it one) but the whole thing is still an acid trip. Looking through my Steam library, I remember enjoying stikir as well. This game is much more structured than the rest and you may not consider it fit in this category, but I liked its randomness. In my library I also found "b" (yep, just b) which is a free flight simulator where you are a bee. With a vastly different style, but very much plotless, see Nour: Play with Your Food. It's a physics sim with some neat effects and soundtrack. Frame of Mind has its unique style and a linear gameplay experience (there isn't any actual plot as far as I remember, but the scenes are hardcoded and have reoccurring objects throughout that may or may not mean something). Cognition Method is a very well-made puzzle game currently in free beta. It can be roughly summed up as Portal mechanics mixed with a Fugan Void design, although this simple description is far from doing it justice. Another video I watched lately, The Indie Games We Dare Not Speak Of, has a few interesting nominations as well: Goblet Grotto, Funny Pizza Land, and Revenge of the Sunfish Finally, some more mainstream games that aren't perfectly games about nothing yet still worth mentioning: Frog Fractions (and all its sequels) (this is the only one for now until I find more)

@UndeadCookieMonster

4 ай бұрын

@@Cresendex Yume Nikki *does* have a plot but it's very obtuse, and really it's all about how you interpret it and what conclusion you come to with the ending

I really feel like Minecraft used to give me that same feeling which made it really special to me. When Minecraft was first made it didn't really have a reason to be made besides that Notch wanted to make a block game. It was "about nothing". Later it gained a point with stuff like the ender dragon. However, it was the first game that could be engaging to me without really trying to make me feel anything specific. It's just a world presented to you which was free from marketing intent. You were free to experience it the way you naturally wanted/tended to. It enabled you to create your own meanings of its content along with friends you may be playing it with.

@Fangamer1254

5 ай бұрын

Now I understand!

@CUBETechie

5 ай бұрын

Minecraft is beautiful or was it to sertain point. I love the background Music of minecraft it always Hit me😊😍

@NihongoWakannai

5 ай бұрын

Trying to add story to minecraft always felt so backwards to me. Having it just be an big empty sandbox where you do whatever was really the appeal, trying to add some sort of structure to it just weakens what it really was.

@kice1102

5 ай бұрын

@@NihongoWakannai Yeah definitely. Though I do feel like Minecraft always felt incomplete still. It feels like there some greater truth that we need to discover. Like theres something still out there left not understood. Minecraft has always felt mysterious to me, but sadly I think that last chapter will never come.

@Sfekke

4 ай бұрын

It's why a simpler Minecraft strikes a chord with so many people.

These games have a certain feel to them. Its sureal in a way but not all in a bad way. I didnt even know such games existed

The vibes of these “games” feel really similar to ENA! I wonder if dream barbecue will be a similar type of game with a bit of a story

unironically one of the greatest videos I've ever watched and I found it by accident. Bravo

this is such a fantastically scripted and edited video, i was so shocked to see the view count once i was done it. this deserves way more attention! really well done overall

Thank you very much for including Fugue in Void into this video 🖤

@embertheunusual8036

6 ай бұрын

Thank you for making that game! I've played it several times now, there's just something oddly soothing about it, like that drowsy sort of comfortable nothing Cresendex was talking about. Also, am I right in thinking it was inspired by NaissanceE?

@TheGalaxyWings

5 ай бұрын

I love the architecture in fugue in void !

@moshelinke2979

5 ай бұрын

​@@embertheunusual8036 that makes me very happy. Yes NaissanceE was a great inspiration!

@CUBETechie

5 ай бұрын

​@@embertheunusual8036 I was thinking the same

@ahorserunning

4 ай бұрын

Moshe the man himself. I wish you would have kept Wonders Between Dunes publicly available! It's one of the best things you made and anybody watching this video would enjoy that experience. You probably won't remember me, but I have been a fan since Voyagee and I still think about Neon Entropy almost every day. I believe we've hit the 5 year mark now. I hope development still continues on that project and that I'll get to walk around in one of your games once again...Development on Sens is stalled due to Limasse's financial difficulties which is heartbreaking(The gameplay introduced in the last couple updates was fantastic, everybody here should buy it and support the creator of NaissanceE regardless). So Neon Entropy is possibly the last game in that vein left to look forward to. I feel like the explosion of "The Backrooms" in internet culture might have created a whole new wave of fans of this type of game experience, they just don't know these games exist...

Not sure if this was the goal but, now I want to get The Indigo Parallel too.

proteus basically falls under the vague and broad category of "walking simulators" containing first person exploration games that aren't combat focused or platformers or any sort of difficult challenge or danger. some might have light puzzles, some might also have a story, but all are mainly about just walking around and experiencing the sights

How have you not blown up yet? Such great content with each video getting better and better! I find it so cool how these "games" can capture very strong emotions from seemingly nothing. All these games have such a strong feeling to them that something is fundamentally wrong, but it's somewhat overtaken by the utter strangeness that these games seem to portray so well.

I feel like Fugan Void looks a lot like NaissanceE. It also plays a lot like NaissanceE, from what you show and describe here. The architecture, the footsteps, the pushing of buttons. Breathing. It has a... resemblance? of a story. It has nothing to do with the gameplay. I think. The memories are fuzzy. It was all moving lights and deep pits and unsecured staircases and moving walls and what might have been concrete but was way too clean and uniform to actually be one and how different shades of 30% Gray made up the entirity of the lighting, like an Eskimo who's learned to distinguish the colours of snow.

@SpringySpring04

5 ай бұрын

Hey yeah!! That's what I was thinking. I liked NaissanceE a lot. Very interesting style!

This video is very, very well done. Please keep producing videos of this quality so I can continue to have something to watch. Thank you!

@thedoctoradvocate8251

6 ай бұрын

Also, check out Outer Wilds if you havent yet, beautiful game that somehow gives off the same vibes of this game despite not being that

I believe Solar Sands set a new golden standard, and I'm glad other people are finally following in his footsteps. Actually, I think I like Cresendex even more.

This video sold me so hard on Indigo Parallel.

Love the existential crisis that your videos give me.

I’ve been watching many of your videos lately, so happy to see that you uploaded just now! 😃

Hey Cesendrex, Your videos are always entertaining, your videos are fun to watch and you explain things really well, I just wanted to say your videos are wonderful! 😄

I would probably define the genre as Abstract Game, inspired by the term Abstract Art. By the way, I went to an art exhibition just now and suddenly thought what if there is an Abstract-art inspired game, and then this video pops up as if you read my mind. 😂

@YZOBEL5000

6 ай бұрын

i dont think you can compare it with abstract art, because abstract art was so heavily tied to the historical context. Experimental/Contemporary fits better imo. Video games being used as an artistic contemporary medium.

Fugue In Void has a similar uncanny vibe to me that the book Annihilation by Jeff Vandermere had. That eery, made by something unhuman in an attempt to mimic humanity. Highly recommend that book and the movie that came after it. Its vaguely cosmic horror but in such an abstract sense of the term.

My favourite commentary creator. I never ever leave comments or anything like that but your videos are really my favorite and I always anticipate them. Keep up the good work and never stop because honestly bro, you're one of the best KZreadrs on youtube in a looong time. ❤

Loved this video. Can't wait to check out these games. Subscribed.

i cried a little thank you for making this video and finally giving me a way to name to one of my favorite game genres that has been ever made

I've already watched all your videos great work and I just discovered you yesterday 😺

These videos depress me but I can’t stop!

14:55 I can see Istvan Pely at the center of the back row. His retro games had a profound effect on me growing up.

Fugue in void is EXACTLY the kind of game NaissanceE is. I will find and play it, and I recommend anyone who doesn't know NaissanceE does the same

Awesome video! I love obscure themes in games like this

Really great video! I'm definitely checking out some of these games

man ur content is incredible im gonna binge all of it

The time station only having trains leading to the future was so fucking funny I couldn't move on for several minutes

i like how all of these games seem really united by the feeling of eerie uncanny emptiness. like you have derealized/dissociated from your environment and are interacting in a world that doesn't make sense to you. i haven't played them so don't know for sure, but that is the vibe i get. edit: adding on, proteus feels like it is an acceptance of that loneliness/lack of substance. very cool

I love these games because you can almost project your own meaning. They're like exactly like my dreamscapes. I've been a vivid/lucid dreamer since i was a toddler. Some of my core memories are dreams. These games literally get RIGHT into that psychological hole that ive had. Nobody really talks about dreams or these realms in a satisfying way. How my dreams are always creepy even if nothing overtly creepy is going on. I am always lost or feeling like i have to finish some unknown task.

To explain what I think The Indigo Parallel is (having only watched 3 minutes of the video and not having played it), I think it is a collection of psychedelic-like experiences, whether recreated from memories of an actual trip, or making trippy things that make no sense that could possibly make sense when under the influence of psychedelic compounds. Edit: seems I was right

I remember stumbling upon LSD Dream Emulator back at around 2008 and played it on a PSX emulator. I must admit the nightmare parts were kinda creepy. I still have that ISO, too bad the original is so rare and expensive.

Surrealism, impressionism, brutalism, absurdism, and avant-garde. Truly the finest examples you have brought up. Well done!

Another cool game I played before that was quite different back then, was the transformers armada game on the ps2, it was a really cool fun toy box like game where your just roaming around with transformers. Love the video man keep it up!

I gotta say I don’t watch KZread that much anymore but I always get excited about your videos. They always inspire me, help me find new ideas and ways to word feelings. “Nothing” to me just means the lack of something. “Nothing” doesn’t truly exist on its own, nothing can’t exist without something. There can’t be a lack of something out of nothing… but these games make me feel like there is a lack of nothing within the lack of nothing. So much nothingness it makes me feel like the nothingness isn’t a lack of game or story, but almost more like the lack is within our knowledge and capabilities to understand. I don’t know if I’m just talking nonsense but maybe you think it makes sense lol. These are games to me. Games of so much nothingness that we fill our lack of knowledge we feel playing it that we reflect and put ourselves in it. Maybe that’s what I’m doing right now. Like you said what you say about it says more about the person than the game. I really want to create a story with a liminal feel, and I want to capture the feeling of just a bit of inhuman touch. Could you play Stray in a video? That game inspired me a whole ton, it’s about a futuristic world where you fall into a city that was trapped from the real outside world for years. Robots gained their own consciousness after time and they live in this walled off city. It’s super atmospheric and it looks beautiful in my opinion. I think how there’s no humans and only robots who will sacrifice themselves for others to find the outside world, it all seems almost innocent. And I really like that. You play as a cat which also helps get rid of any human feel. I’ve never gotten so quickly attached to almost completely unknown characters in anything before. You immediately love the characters and the places and really want to help them even though you know barely anything about them. I think you’d really like this game. I cried at the end lol. It does have more story than these though. I’d be really really happy if you had this in a video! Thank you for inspiring me and helping me learn more and understand my interests better. Who knows maybe I’ll make a book or game some day you’d really like! Im trying to get into this now at 14 and your videos helped. I’d love to know what you’d think of Stray and hear what you have to say about it!

Reminds me of "NaissanceE", one of my all-time favorites. I'm happy to learn that this is actually a genre.

My KZread was on autoplay and I ironically wake up half asleep to a video about the liminality of dream-like games...

Such an interesting topic! Love the vibes of games about nothing

@FayeHunter

7 ай бұрын

Buddy my life is nothing and everything I do is nothing, this is perfect timing thank you for the upload ⚓

The Indigo Parallel is similar with me and another indie game that I thought no one else would like or buy for it’s asking price, Fear and Hunger. It too fills a very specific niche, however it’s probably one of the most popular indie games on Steam, and I don’t know how it and it’s sequel achieved that.

❤️ your videos

your videos remind me of my favourite youtuber exurb1a, keep up the great work i see that you are raching 20 k soon congrats

The beginning of Fugue in Void seems similar to the beginning of Rapid Eyes

@YZOBEL5000

6 ай бұрын

ive read was inspired by Jonathan Glazers Under the Skin intro

I can't watch this video right now because I need to sleep but I will for sure enjoy it later !

Sweet spot between gameplay and feeling of the last one, Proteus will be No Man's Sky for me, I definitely recommend you to check it out if you didn't already. NMS is so comfy, tackles this existential questions through plot and the music is so fitting it all creates very satisfying experience. For me it only lacks mixed biomes and maybe seasons that are present in Proteus, but maybe this is what Hello Games described as "big thing coming up" :)

Hey really love the videos

Create until nothing is left to create and the universe bursts with an overworked sigh and pretend to pretend to recrown the creation and sing the same songs till the clouds start to cry and then over and over and over again and then over and over and never again.

3:47 you could say it draws a lot of PARALLELS

Fugue in Void looks amazing!!!

For practical purposes, I just call most of these "abstract walking simulators" which as the name implies, is a sub-genre of walking simulators. Most walking simulators have similar qualities to these games you mentioned; unsettling/uncanny or horror-ish elements, relaxing and/or meditative atmosphere, and a variety of shallow "gameplay" mechanics.

i love this video so much

4:13 - I think a sun is meant to burn? I'd be very concerned if that wasn't the case.

I dont really think these are games about nothing but rather games about something. These games are made by people and each asset was specifically placed for a reason. Just because the creator didn't disclose the reason doesn't mean it isnt there. These reasons don't have to be grand or anything like that, it could be that placing a cube in a certain place looked nice or added an element to a place that felt a little empty. A painting is an image created with many thousands of individual brush strokes that were placed with a specific purpose decided on by the artist. Usually this results in an image easily understood by a viewer but there are paintings that aren't so easily understood. There is meaning to every action we as humans make which means there is meaning in everything we create. Good video.

another amazing video

This is my favorite "genre" of games, i wish it had like an actual name for it because like how do i even

amazing video!

I think the purpose for this game is to recreate the feeling of a dream for example the non logical architecture can also be found in our dreams as dreams have no logic due to it being a fragment of our imagination and that is why people like it so much

"A Game Golden, Thats not Gold because its made of gold, but because its affects onto the player is." - me quote it now

I know this may seem like an odd suggestion but I would love to see you cover soda drinker pro. During the second level you can walk into a wall which will transfer you to this secret… thing? It’s an assortment of “mini games” called Vivian Clark that is just full of weird bizarre… things

This video was so well done. I haven't even heard of any of these except LSD Dream Simulator, but I love games like this. I normally spend a lot of time in any game I play just walking around and exploring, so this genre is damn near perfect for me. Is proteus VR then? I'd love to play it but I don't have VR anything.

Drinking game: Take a shot every time he says Indigo Parallel. You'll be in the hospital due to alcohol poisoning by Minute 10.

I was very much expecting the classic Yume Nikki to show up here at some point, but it's certainly interesting to hear about some new games instead.

take my sub. quality content

If you'd like to see more games that give the feeling of "more than the sum of it's parts" then I recommend CONCLUSE 2. It's really bizarre and fun

Sick channel

This video is about zelda botw and totk, right?

Fugue in void reminds me so much of limasse five's projects, especially in visual meaning

indigo parallel was giving me some crazy Worlds Online vibes

gotta steal that jacob geller title

Thanks for showing us 😅💋

Proteus; Stand in the stone circle.

Hey Cresendex, Merry Christmas, hope you have a great day!

@Cresendex

5 ай бұрын

A little late of a response but I hope your Christmas was good as well

oh my god, when you go to the Balls station you turn into.... a ball??? insane

Is Babbdi a game about nothing? Because I feel like it is despite there being so much to do.

This video made me not want to play any of the 700 games I've pirated, bought or gotten for free, it somehow made me loose hope

“like the indigo parallel” will be stuck in my head all day check ur scripts, take care :3

Fire vid as usual back to back bangers

LSD Dream Simulator is exactly what the name says. The game resembles a LSD trip in a lot of situations.

Why I love Dreams by media molecule

why the hell do you sound like toastedcherries lol. oh also amazing video

I like this channel

You should try Bernband!

I dont particularly like (or dislike for that matter) playing these sorts of weird, liminal experiments, but I do love analyzing them with other people. The conversation around them is often much more fun than the thing itself, IMO. But perhaps thats my inner English major talking.

All video games are art, some are just more well made than others. I'll still say gow 2018 was the equivalent of good deviantart pictures, and something like the original no more heroes is like a surrealist art piece

honestly would love to drop and play a bunch of these games but why do they have to all be so scary?

10:02 nice

"Ten minutes in and the game finally starts." Bro I know Triple A titles that take longer.

These games are not about nothing, they are about everything, it just depends on who is playing

21:54 Fugan void is also very similar to NaissanE 😮 i love the game

10/10 just watched a video about nothing.

I'm imagining Seinfeld, but Jerry and George are game developers....

Some More Doors is so good

He sounds like MatPat, that's my first thought on the video

LSD for the ps1 is a missed opportunity

The genre should be called "Fever Dream"

hi i commented on a nother video about the titanic uhm: Can you make a video about the inside of the Titanic. I don't know really how to explain how eerie the interior is. The whole ship makes you feel trapped in such a big thing that you cannot escape, forced to die the design of the staircases and various parts of the ship give a really weird feeling. Like a hotel thats gonna get bombed and you are helpless. copy and paste is fun

24:27 I'm sorry, but I could NOT help thinking of Digital Circus

we have jacob geller at home