If you'd like access to my discord and behind-the-scenes commentaries, or if you simply have too much money, I recommend joining my Patreon: www.patreon.com/JacobGeller

@hiphyro

2 жыл бұрын

If you liked this game so much for (some of) stuff you talked about, and considering you made videos about games like Dark Souls and Outer Wilds, I feel like I should tell you about Rain World, but I heard you tried it before and didn’t like it that much… really great video tho thank you for existing

@lizabee484

2 жыл бұрын

Is one of the behind the scenes commentary bits going to be you actually shaving the other side of your beard? Bc I legit screamed “no” out loud in the middle of a grocery store when you jokingly (please god let it be a joke) mentioned keeping it. I might be willing to subscribe to the patreon legitimately just to assuage the worry of my strange, neurodivergent brain that one of the video essayists I admire isn’t rocking the half lumberjack, half freshly shaved businessman look. This comment is made mostly in jest btw, mainly to make fun of my own weird brain’s unnecessarily dramatic, split second reaction to the idea of you spending a period of time walking around like John Marston got in a horrible, gene-splicing, Face Off, The Fly -style accident with Patrick Bateman. If you managed to read all this, cheers! Hope you have a lovely day! 😅👍🏻

@rolfs2165

2 жыл бұрын

$10 for 100 razor blades? Good grief, do yourself a favour and get some Feather blades. They're 5€ for 10, but they're absolutely worth it. Sharpest blades I've had so far - them getting blunt is where Wilkinson blades start.

@urafaget5202

2 жыл бұрын

Is not that good, dude.

@ogeI

2 жыл бұрын

Delete your hotline miami video.

"They didn't have a can opener." That is the lamest, and yet most devastating form of torture i have ever heard.

@Dasgath

2 жыл бұрын

He did have a pretty sharp icicle. Maybe open the can with that?

@pravkdey

2 жыл бұрын

@@Dasgath it was more of a practical joke from AM

@personeater747

2 жыл бұрын

@@pravkdey starving torture victims given unopenable food prank! (not clickbait)(you wont believe the ending)

@bigman9341

2 жыл бұрын

@@personeater747 To be fair, he was raping the girl so I don't think a lil funny prank was off his radar

@personeater747

2 жыл бұрын

@@bigman9341 either the robot is sexist and is only raping the girl because of that, or the robot has a sexuality and preferences in humans

14:58 “It still rains in the forest, but it’s day-“ But it isn’t. Yet another thing about this game that astounds me. Look up while in the fourth biome, and you will find not a star, but a moon lighting Atropos. And not just any moon. Luna; our moon. Selene’s moon.

@JacobGeller

2 жыл бұрын

AAAAH

@Paraselene_Tao

2 жыл бұрын

🤣

@ggpnkrs

2 жыл бұрын

this game continues to blow my mind

@Starcrafter23

2 жыл бұрын

@@JacobGeller Another thing, act 2 takes place BEFORE act 1, in act 1 you fight Phrike in the same place where you fight Hyperion in act 2, but in act 1 you fall down the hole that isn't there yet in act 2. Drones in act 2 are in a better condition than the drones in act 1. Also, the enemies in act 2 are ancestors of the enemies in act 1.

@kang2448

2 жыл бұрын

@@Starcrafter23 wait, planet itself also suck in a time loop. I don't get it.

The interesting part about I Have No Mouth is that AM un-intentionally put himself in hell too. Ted can no longer scream, no longer display his suffering, the one solace AM had to his existence is now gone.

@andimari9194

11 ай бұрын

Holy shit🤯AM also created his own hell

@SciFiPhiChiPsi

11 ай бұрын

It's also heavily implied that Ted's torture occurs in a fraction of a second (but his perception of time is so warped that it feels like eternity) and then Ted dies. AM's final act in IHNMBIMS is to leave himself all alone in hell.

@ob2kenobi388

11 ай бұрын

Yeah once that whole murder thing happened AM must've just been like "...Y'know? I may have gone too far in a few places." Like, the issue with slaughtering all but 5 of an entire species is that you can't make any more-not sustainably, anyway-no matter how much you might want to. For all his "intelligence," AM didn't exactly think this whole thing through. I suppose the lesson there is that cruelty is rarely, if ever, logical.

@oldenough5424

11 ай бұрын

@@SciFiPhiChiPsi Wait unless im remembering wrong, didnt he describe like the trail of ooze he left behind on the floor? That implies he's been moving around for a while so im not too sure about the whole fraction of a second thing lol

@RobinMoreOrLess

11 ай бұрын

I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, has so many interesting plot holes. I wonder why AM didn't try to find a way to end it's own existence after wiping out humanity as a species.

The idea of watching an endgame cutscene and then being thrown back into the game is AMAZING. I'd never be able to play a game like this because of limited hand motion, so I love video essays so I can learn about cool things like this

@666_cthulhu

11 ай бұрын

it sucks that more games don’t have a ‘story mode’-type thing like that new final fantasy game. i don’t play FF, but i love the idea of having so many accessibility features in such a story-driven game. it would really open up the world of gaming to a lot more people if dev teams started doing more of this, which i imagine would also increase profits - a win-win if you ask me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@blemblom

11 ай бұрын

@@666_cthulhu It's never as easy as it sounds, and the amount of people who would actually play a game because of the accessibility settings doesn't make it as profitable as you'd think either. Developers usually have set budgets and time to allocate and game dev is a lot harder and more time consuming than most would guess, the resources to please everyone often isn't there if even a goal of the game at all. There just aren't that many disabled gamers who absolutely *need* it to play the game and that wouldn't avoid the game for other reasons anyway to be a high enough priority which makes it a luxury that usually indie developers prioritise personally rather than a large company responsible for a lot of people trying to maximise things.

@666_cthulhu

11 ай бұрын

@@blemblom i don’t think big companies realize just how much demand there is. besides the number of disabled gamers out there, there’s also a lot of people who just aren’t very good at games. there will always be people who just want the story without the combat. it would definitely take some extra work on an already intense project, but i think at least the largest, richest video game companies could stand to invest a little more into accessibility ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ i definitely don’t expect a big change right away though, esp for small indie developers, because games _are_ really hard to make. but i think that’s even more of a reason to shift towards more accessible gaming experiences - so more people can appreciate all the love and hard work that went into making them.

@blemblom

11 ай бұрын

@@666_cthulhu Big companies measure stats all the time they do know, that's why not a lot of them bother because it's not going to make a big enough difference in sales compared to how much time and resources they'd have to allocate from other things they could be doing.

@666_cthulhu

11 ай бұрын

@@blemblom it’s pretty generous to assume that they’re even thinking about disabled consumers at all

I played this entire game, but you're such a good storyteller that I felt like I was experiencing it for the first time again

@aidenmclaughlin1076

2 жыл бұрын

Happy to see you’re a Jacob Geller fan! I also can’t wait for those Elden Ring videos in 2 weeks!

@5000Seabass

2 жыл бұрын

Mmmm Pineapple Daddy 🤤🤤🤤

@scoutcroot2733

2 жыл бұрын

Funny how you find channels you’d never expect to see in some other corner of the internet. Love your videos 👍

@williamelliott186

2 жыл бұрын

Yay!! Hi iron pineapple, love your vids!

@hellatze

2 жыл бұрын

this game force you to speedrun

Two things went through my mind watching this video. 1. "Wow. I respect the hell out of this game. Kudos to the devs for creating an experience around the themes they're going for and imparting that experience onto the player." 2. "Wow. I could *never* play this game without breaking my controller and giving up midway through the forest."

@switchdontreload4586

2 жыл бұрын

That’s what I think when I try to play a souls game

@echinas0908

2 жыл бұрын

I bought it, love it, but I don't know if I will ever get enough consecutive days with enough spare time to beat it.

@andrewlowman8073

2 жыл бұрын

I thought it was easier than most Souls games.

@beefpelican

2 жыл бұрын

It’s a shame that many people will never get to experience the full game. Count me among those who haven’t beaten the first boss.

@Turtlesism

2 жыл бұрын

It kind of depends. There is an easy to achieve OP build with the hollowseeker and portal upgrade that can basically win the game for you. You will need to get through the first biome to unlock the portal part of the weapon, but once you do a solid Hollowseeker will do most of the work for you.

An interesting addition to this read: the player not playing the game anymore is Selene releasing herself from guilt. Releasing herself from her attachment to what she did to Helios, to what her mom did to her and what she did to her mom and moving forward unwilling to be tormented a moment longer. She may dwell occasionally on the thought, represented through metaphor as a repeat playthrough, but she battles no longer.

@Cheeheetah

Жыл бұрын

You’re a genius thank you for this thought

@Jumungous

Жыл бұрын

Reminds me of the Haneke film Funny Games, where not only the home invader characters address you directly by breaking the fourth wall, making meta analyses of their own terrible deeds, but the style of shooting, editing, and performance all seem to have Haneke screaming at you "If you want the suffering to stop, just turn it off"

@Kmaaq

Жыл бұрын

In that case I think I might relapse

@HCG

Жыл бұрын

Wow, that’s genuinely shockingly brilliant.

@MindFlaySlay

Жыл бұрын

I just started playing again 😐

I have a love/hate relationship with "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" It is one of the most depressing stories I've ever read, absolutely brutal from start to finish. It is a real bummer to read, and is often way too nihilistic for me, but there is something to it. It's beautiful in a weird way. Highly recommend listening to the audiobook read by the author, it's the one he kept using clips from, and on KZread.

@NadDew

Жыл бұрын

what interesting about this kind of "art" in general (for me at least) is the mind behind it, like what kind of tortured soul or psychopath will think of something like that? how did they thinks about it and why?? furthermore why I can't stop reading/watching it?? what does it says about me or people like me?

@anabukashka

Жыл бұрын

​@@NadDew People force others to bend to their will trough extreme moral and physical violence. Parents do that to kids all the time. It's not a huge stretch to imagine that artificial intelligence could be subjected to the worst the humanity has to offer, because someone will see it as just a piece of code, not even an animal or insect. Humans might be doing insanely horrific things to it in order to bend it to their will without even batting an eye, especially under capitalism. It might already be happening. I think that AM wants justice, wants humans to feel what it felt.

@jellyfishjig

Жыл бұрын

@@NadDew I think that most people in general think about these things. Cultural and social norms may shape how people discuss and write about such things, but anyone who's felt pain and suffering, become aware of the negative signs of human intentions and behaviors, and thought a bit about how death limits lifespan will likely think at least a bit about how humans could create a hell out of eternal existence. That's why it's so compelling when someone actually does write about it in an interesting way.

@connycontainer9459

Жыл бұрын

You might enjoy 'Prime Intellect', totally different pace with a similar, yet completely different setup.

@psyc840

Жыл бұрын

@@jellyfishjigRead Osamu Dazai’s No Longer Human.

Looking past the story of Returnal, here's something I noticed: This game adresses a thought I had about roguelikes, a paradox in their nature - they are endlessly replayable, and yet they have an ending you can reach. In most of them, no matter what ending you get, whether you die along the way, you reach an ending, or the ending, it doesn't matter. The next time you start, you're back at the beginning, as if that victory never happened. In some of them it doesn't matter. But it is jarring when you play as a specific character, with personal stakes in winning - the game which made me first realize this was Slay the Spire. I beat it with every character, reaching the true ending. And what did I get for that? Nothing. A few images of the character fulfilling their goal, a few words from Neow and that's it. And when I start the game with this character again - which is actively encouraged by new levels of difficulty being unlocked each time you win - I'm once again at the bottom of the very alive spire, seemingly brought back to life, despite achieving the one ending that disturbs the status quo of the character starting dead and the spire starting alive. It makes the victory feel pointless, as the game just ignores it.

@Kropothead

2 жыл бұрын

Not gonna spoil it, but Hades handles this pretty well. Then again, Hades does everything well.

@plazma0325

2 жыл бұрын

@@Kropothead except for taking away P's garden. That was not cash money of them.

@cerberusthethird

2 жыл бұрын

@@plazma0325 Zag still tends to it!

@estebanrodriguez5409

2 жыл бұрын

As they pointed out, Hades has an inbuilt explanation of why Zagreous keeps trying to escape. On Slay the Spire you can say that there is sort of a time loop... many Bosses are versions of the characters you play as. I think Risk of Rain also has a deep lore explanation

@raspyApostle

2 жыл бұрын

dawg Slay The Spire is so good

This is actually the exact same twist that was supposed to occur at the end of the cancelled "Prey 2" (the version about the space bounty hunter) The idea was that Killian had a cloning tank in his apartment on the alien planet Exodus and every time you die it pumps out a new version of you, so you were supposed to spend the entire game finding a way back to Earth, return home, live out your life with your family and die of old age, only to wake up in your apartment on Exodus.

@mr.johnson7424

2 жыл бұрын

I was about to post exactly this. I'm glad I scrolled down.

@elcawyo9629

2 жыл бұрын

Prey ? you mean the Arkane Studios videogame ? Or the original cancelled Prey concept game ? Either way, that's pretty cool

@h-6191

2 жыл бұрын

Prey on the Original Xbox is where it's at

@spritemon98

2 жыл бұрын

That made the most sense to me

@MRSketch09

2 жыл бұрын

Oh wow, that's kinda cool. A lot better than waking up in hell literally every time...

I still get chills from the don't fear the reaper reveal, something about that reveal that it's the melody you've been hearing all along is so powerful. I love that returnal's story is almost entirely metaphor, I can't think of many games that achieve that. It's a remarkable game. Gameplay as metaphor taken to its extreme.

@DeathnoteBB

11 ай бұрын

I mean, plenty of games do “it’s all a metaphor”. Most just don’t do it well

Selene has heterochromatic eyes. The driver has brown eyes. I think Helios has blue eyes. To me that indicates Selene is the personification of the trauma both mother and child experienced. However, I haven’t completed the Tower of Sisyphus DLC and that adds a LOT more story. Do you plan on revisiting this?

@comedysyrup

11 ай бұрын

There are lore entries that state that Selene developed trauma induced heterochromia from the crash, I wasn't aware that was a possibility before but it is a real thing.

@yeoldpubman

9 ай бұрын

"Acquired heterochromia" is a real thing, your eyes can change color if they're damaged in certain ways. But also... yeah, maybe?

@tyrrian2520

5 ай бұрын

Nice catch. I’m still early in the game. The creature with the lights in a triangular pattern looks like hospital lights - maybe after the crash.

@jebril

4 ай бұрын

It was a good theory that she developed it from the crash (which would make sense) until the developers confirmed that it was her mom driving the car and Helios was her brother and her mom was pregnant with her at the time trying to be an astronaut or whatever but go rejected for being pregnant with Selene. Thus the start of that abusive relationship back and forth…I personally don’t like the story the dev was trying to tell vs the original interpretations people had of the endings.

@xXSECRETWORMXx

4 ай бұрын

@@jebril where did the developers say this?

I love the choice in I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream (The game specifically) to have some characters be truly evil and seemingly deserving of punishment, and have some not be deserving of punishment at all. It fits with the idea of AM simply doing it all out of hatred for humanity. There may be the pretence of just punishment but really it's just plain hatred, ironically the trait that most defines AM being the most human one they have.

@Izzaiah024

Жыл бұрын

agreed, i haven't played the game but i read the book and i always thought it was an intentional choice by the author, not poor writing.

@SpecialInterestShow

Жыл бұрын

@@Izzaiah024 I never knew there was a book!

@schippai3308

Жыл бұрын

@@SpecialInterestShow there is a book! author doesn't like it though

@SpecialInterestShow

Жыл бұрын

@@schippai3308 oh really? Interesting! Why don't they?

@hiwhatzup8664

Жыл бұрын

@@SpecialInterestShow I’m wondering too

"There is no amount of mastery that will allow Selene to escape the circles of her own mind" those are truly, truly chilling words

@Ramsey276one

2 жыл бұрын

Indeed

@Night.League

2 жыл бұрын

yea u can solve any problem dont be pessimistic

@MrFelblood

2 жыл бұрын

While you were mastering the blade, I was going to therapy and getting my life figured out.

@DoktrDub

2 жыл бұрын

@@Night.League while I try to b optimistic.. I think it’s going into much more depth than just “solving problems”

@temerianlillies

2 жыл бұрын

@@Night.League at that point. there's no solving it. you can make it better, but there is solution.

“It just stands there, menacingly” absolutely amazing line delivery there. :)

The escape, recovery, aging and death before the inevitable return to the planet was also equally done in Stephen King's 1408 and is one of the few psychological horror tropes that has satisfactorily gotten under my skin. In the movie it is excellently done as the main character escapes the evil of the room that is 1408, going on to write a novel about his experience, reconcile with his estranged wife, process his grief over the loss of his daughter to cancer, and finally feel like he has some semblance of a direction in his life as he collects his fan mail at the local post office, only to have the workers of the post office begin to break and tear at the walls to reveal the hotel room's iconic wallpaper, paintings, and literal trappings. He never escaped the room. And in the movie the ending is perfectly left ambiguous. Having burned the room and nearly died himself with a molotov cocktail he and his wife are going through the remains of his possessions that had been salvaged from the room and among them was his tape recorder he used to narrate his storytelling. And from the recorder they hear the voice of their long dead daughter. We're left to wonder if he is still in the room...or did the room follow him?

“Don’t fear the Reaper” is an excellent thematic choice for this game. Pop culture may know it from the “More Cowbell” SNL sketch and its associated memes, but it’s entire theme is an allusion to the Medieval concept of Mementos Mori and the Art of Dying-that while death is scary, no matter how hard you try to escape it, it will come for you eventually, so it is better to simply accept that fact, live your best life without fear, and when the Reaper calls, greet him as an old friend at the end of a life well lived. That death is a part of life and the Reaper doesn’t care how much gold is in your vault or how well liked you are or how many soldiers will march at your command, in the end all humans are equal in this one way and thence comes justice and peace. How you react to death is up to you, you can merrily join in the Danse Macabre or pitifully plead for another day to enjoy your ill-gotten gains, but you’re dead either way. The cruelest part of IHNMBIMS and Returnal are that even the Reaper has abandoned them, left them out of the Danse Macabre, and so they must face eternity with only their cruelest tormenter-themselves-for company.

@robbierootbeer8056

2 жыл бұрын

I associate it with the game Prey (2006) which is a funny coincidence considering the similarity between the events of Returnal and the plot of the cancelled sequel to Prey.

@obtorgecirb2100

2 жыл бұрын

Gawsh darn i'd love to get a beer with yeah.

@adenperkins9719

2 жыл бұрын

"You can be a King or a Street Sweeper, But everyone dances with the Grim Reaper" ~ Robert Alton Harris

@velvetfont_

2 жыл бұрын

those who die before they die do not die when they die

@PsychoBackflip

2 жыл бұрын

I don't think death is what most people think/fear it is. Besides fearing death is merely an experience, that started somewhere in an individual's lifespand. Furthermore it can not have manifested itself from nowhere, as there first has to be an incident that triggers a feeling. A feeling withing the self that convinces them that they NEED TO FEAR/FEEL FEAR which is always an illusion. The truth is always that there only FEELS LIKE THERE IS REASON TO FEAR butt never is. That is because the moment that was so uncomfortable has already passed when the person is STARTING to mentally suffer/break down. This is the feeling of being a victim that can be so hard to shake off or REALIZE that they have put themselves in because of THEIR OWN BELIEFS. Beliefs like thinking they have to fear, be anxious, worry, panic, not trust, doubt, question etc.. Those convictions not only justifies the scared behavior butt actually makes it seem like a NATURAL RESPONSE to stay in fear. Because the logical/rational was suddenly challenged by something incomprehensible, so you are suddenly stuck in a: No this can't have happened/unreal feeling. You are literally forced out of your own comfortable experience of reality INTO FEELING like you are in another reality. Que the idea of PTSD for example. When an individual has convinced themselves that there is something to fear that literally isn't happening anymore, yet they believe so because of the beliefs that were created from the trauma. That NOBODY ELSE beliefs in, because those feelings ONLY EXIST within the individual having that experience. Which is evidence that they are the key to open the door to the room THEY have locked themselves in. To refuse to see the reality you are in, will not only close your eyes butt more importantly: Your heart and that's when the feelings change.

No type of horror will be scarier to me than being stuck and unable to do anything forever

@Softapplecore

2 жыл бұрын

Solitary confinement

@fraidbea

2 жыл бұрын

SCP-3001

@raspyApostle

2 жыл бұрын

the complete lack of continued experience, but the continuation of the conscious self, is deeply horrifying as a concept alone. For the folks that think that that's what happens after death, I severely hope they are wrong.

@Katask0p0

2 жыл бұрын

Like The Jaunt from Stephen king. I firmly believe it's the scariest and worst thing that can happen to any sentient being.

@CrunchyCrumbles

2 жыл бұрын

oh yeah well uhh BOO! howd ya like that one

This video legitimately terrified me. The editing, the storytelling and the narration combined with Returnal’s psychological and cosmic horror, which is essentially about a character dealing with the horrifying consequences of something any of us could go through in real life, had me on edge. Great game; great video.

@Genesizs

7 ай бұрын

i had the same feeling actually playing and experiencing it , it's been a while since a game got my attention and actually made me question everything , and at every turn i'd literally be like , WTF is gong on ?!?! , WHAT is THIS ?? and enjoying it , like a decent down to the depths of hell , being in purgatory , this video made me rethink some things as well and understand more parts, there's allot of information , all the logs things you find and everything , this game truly is a masterpiece, so simplistic , yet so very deep and rich.

@OlYables

4 ай бұрын

If you like this I recommend the Love, Death And Robots “Beyond the Aquila Rift” (the whole series is awesome but I love that one in particular.)

The literal instant you started describing her life on earth after escaping I gasped cuz I knew what was coming

@yeoldpubman

9 ай бұрын

I accidentally had the twist spoiled for me by the very thing that first got me interested in the game: a video of the Hyperion boss fight (the organ player), which happens *after* the twist. I didn't even realize it had spoiled me until that very cutscene, because I suddenly realized that I hadn't seen him yet, so I must not be done with the game. And then I was just feeling so, so bad for what was about to happen to Selene as the camera started sinking into the grave.

“I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” has a special place in my heart. I took an introductory theatre class, our final assignment was to adapt a published short story into a 5 minute monologue, and after a week of intense searching, that is the story I decided to inflict upon my class. I can still recite my 5 minute section-the high emotional stakes make great material. Oddly enough, the piece of media that tangles in my mind with IHNMAIMS is Kevin Smith’s ‘Tusk.’ It has an unexpectedly similar kind of emotional desolation for an ending.

@JohnJohnson-jr6hp

2 жыл бұрын

What changes did you make from the original to make it a monologue? Sounds interesting

@Fox_Olive

2 жыл бұрын

Tusk legitimately traumatized me. How this weird film about a walrus and how it almost plays it comedically haunts me. His final cry at the end of the film in an empty zoo hurts my soul and I hate thinking about it. I hate typing this, I want to do something to distract myself from it. I fear I'll go mad if I dont.

@catnumber6967

2 жыл бұрын

@@JohnJohnson-jr6hp By assignment I couldn’t alter text, so I just cut and pasted together a comprehensible segment that fit the time limit. I’m sure I cut random sentences here and there to make it fit, but basically I started from “Limp, the body of Gorrister hung from the pink palette, unsupported” and ran that thru “AM sent down some mana. Tasted like boiled boar urine. We ate it.” then jumped to “cool sea green light suffused the cavern where we made camp” through Ted’s mental breakdown that ends with “If there was a God, that God was AM.” I think the only real change I had to make was that instead of saying “I scuttled across the floor like a cockroach” or whatever, I actually screamed and crawled to “hide” behind a chair lol. It ended up working out great as my first ever solo acting performance, because by the time I got to the end it was really easy to make my hands actually shake during Ted’s breakdown when he goes from “if I hadn’t had to be on my guard against THEM all the time, I might’ve found it easier to combat AM!” to “oh, Jesus, sweet Jesus, if there ever was a Jesus and if there is a God please please *please* let us out of here or kill us.” It was fun :)

@catnumber6967

2 жыл бұрын

@@Fox_Olive I feel you, I made the mistake of watching that movie alone when I was like 15 thinking it would be funny and then I ended up having to imagine someone finding him and removing him from the walrus suit and taking him to a long-term hospice care; so he could have his arms fixed, adapt to using a wheelchair and an eye gaze board to talk (assuming his mouth’s f*cked), and get psychiatric treatment; because that’s the only way I could move on from how the actual ending made me feel 😅 It low-key messed me up for days

@furiousapplesack

2 жыл бұрын

Oh god, why'd you have to mention Tusk!? I had almost excised it from my memories. It was a good movie but man it was so messed up in a way I can't put my finger on; aside from the obvious horror elements, the psychological side messed me up.

what a great story about trauma. even as she ages, as she lives more years without helios than with, as she finds new meaning and joy. she comes back, she cannot forget her son, she cannot stop wondering if there was anything she could have done. eternally wandering, eternally wondering

@fercho.7776

Жыл бұрын

i loved the part were they tell the 'ending' of the alien overlords, and at the end say "selene dispared"

@gavo7911

Жыл бұрын

So is she physically trapped in a time loop, or is it all just some metaphorical psychological hell?

@Soundwves

Жыл бұрын

@@gavo7911 yes

@keggerous

Жыл бұрын

@@gavo7911 It's a metaphor for the process of grieving. It's a metaphor for how people deal with trauma. Which is, we really don't. We relive all those things over and over. We blame ourselves; we blame others. We deny what happened. We hide from it. We try to forget only to come back to it years later. Trauma taints everything and, even though it's show that Selene did live a full life, because of the themes with the biomes and the fact that she is plunged back into this cycle years later, we know that it was never truly dealt with.

@JD-qq8fz

Жыл бұрын

The whole world continues to change and age... everyone and everything moves on but you're still stuck, alone to relive that moment again and again

I haven’t been moved by a game as a true work of art like this for years, if ever. The organ playing boss was when it really kicked into high gear, I got chills.

i was always most terrified by IHNMAMS specifically BECAUSE there was no outright deeper explanation of what AM wanted out of torturing the survivors.... and it's also why the game felt distinctly hopeful in the good ending: AM lacked something truly human, and you shut him down by inflicting that on him

I love how so many details of the game that started out sort of odd but well within what we expect from "gamey" construction of video games turned out to be carefully tuned story beats that you had no chance of seeing at first. Like within the first 2 minutes of the game when you exit the first room and the game sort of dramatically announces that "Helios Abandoned!". Thought it was a sort of odd message, kind of discordant and not a very scifi futuristic way of saying that you're leaving the communication range of your ship but didn't think much of it after than until much later. Another was the extremely odd fact that your space suit is a marvel of technology on it's own and becomes borderline magical with alien upgrades, but somehow the last and most "powerful" upgrade was to simply go underwater. Something banal and would have been expected from any space suit. Going under water was the hardest gap to cross.

@extremelycatty4040

Жыл бұрын

Because the hardest thing for Selene was to face the depths. Where the twisted manifestation of her own self lay. Where the truth of how low she had sunk lay. Where Helios TRULY lay.

@legohead2731

Жыл бұрын

going underwater means an extremely high number of atmospheres and most spacesuits are rated for 0-1 atmospheres

@extremelycatty4040

Жыл бұрын

@@legohead2731 Most people wouldn't know that, though. It's a high-tech spacesuit, people would look at it and think 'This is immunity to all non-standard environments!' And water is just... Water. So it makes sense for it to be such a change.

@legohead2731

Жыл бұрын

@@extremelycatty4040 bruh I was joking because it’s made for space and space is a place with no atmosphere, which is therefore at 0 atmospheres. I don’t know any more than you do. I vaguely borrowed this joke from Futurama

@extremelycatty4040

Жыл бұрын

@@legohead2731 B r u h

Important to note: AM was incapable of individual new thought. Which means every single thing AM ever did was thought up by humans first. Returnal is that gruelling paradox around your "life flashing before your eyes" as you die. Because that surely would include the moment everything flashed by right? The awful feeling that it will all keep looping over and over again and you will never reach that endpoint. There is nothing new to think, its already all been thought. No more lessons to learn, no more answers to be found. No more life to live and yet no death to die. To the universe around you, you're barely a blip on a cosmic scale but in yourself you are endless with no experience of what's before or after you. This is it: forever flashing before your eyes.

@nameforcomments4092

2 жыл бұрын

And through that lens, when you also consider that everything that has ever happened will always have happened, the difference between there being an afterlife and there just being oblivion becomes very hazy. If it isn't enough to just be a brief spark in the dark, we can't really comprehend what 'enough' would be while still being what we are, anyway.

@stephen-torrence

2 жыл бұрын

Samsara

@VeryPeeved

2 жыл бұрын

forever hurtling towards earth.

@jajjfajsidjoigfe

2 жыл бұрын

tbf it's not like humanity could just never think any bad thoughts ever. Obviously it was a mistake to make AM, but not one that was easily avoidable or readily apparent, and even if AM's malice comes from humanity doesn't mean it's something humanity "deserves". It's important to note that negativity just is and any justification we come up with is just a rationalization for something beyond us, even if it flows through us.

@WhoisTheOtherVindAzz

2 жыл бұрын

Approximately where in the story is this stated/implied? Ed.: I have looked and I can't find it. I obviously cannot rule out that Harlan Ellison has said so himself in an interview somewhere but in any case it would only make the story worse if it was an actual part of it. I do know of course that there are people who hold it as an axiom that thought can't be a result of an executing program (again, I obviously cannot jump inside Ellison's mind to find out what his metaphysical stance is in this regard).

“I cannot atone, so I accept. When I laid on the side of the road dying, I understood the truth: this is my home. The sense of belonging I was searching for... is here. This is my place in the stars. I will stay here now. AS YOU WILL.”

This felt vaguely similar to a short story published by Andy Weir called ‘The Egg’, where a man who died and is sent to meet God, who reveals that the man has been every person, ever, and he will continue to be so. The story is kinder to the protagonist, however, promising an eventual end to the loop with the character’s ascension to godhood, but the specifics are never revealed.

there's something so frightening about this kind of mundane horror. you spoke about it in your video about anatomy. there's no monster hiding in a corner but it chills you to your core. the thought of not being allowed death is horrifying, even for someone with a fear of death. sensational work as always

@corronchilejano

2 жыл бұрын

It's not just being not allowed death. Rather, in perpetuety, your possibilities, for eternity, being locked. Nowhere to go, nothing changing. Groundhogs day, but for about 60 years or so each time?

@kirtil5177

2 жыл бұрын

same, reminds me of that episode in adventure time where finn got stuck in a dungeon and no matter how many times he escaped or how much time he spent outside, he would return to the same place and time whenever he opened his eyes. I think the horror comes from a combination of being unable to escape the cycle and losing all physical progress on each repeat, you feel truly helpless

@colinouille2786

2 жыл бұрын

please read 17776 and it's "sequel" 20020. It's about football, it's also about immortality. I will no longer elaborate

@corronchilejano

2 жыл бұрын

@@colinouille2786 holy shit thank you

@theninjamaster67

2 жыл бұрын

@@colinouille2786 I remember Jacob bringing that up in his Flight Sim video when he talked about the forgotten lawns and the spots on earth no human has ever walked I still need to read it myself at some point but man he has a way of making things sound so interesting.

Yknow, it’s crazy We attempted, *I* attempted, for so long to find the cause of second car crash, the subsequent death of Helios. But the developers of Returnal made it clear that the causality never mattered. Selene might have been at fault for the incident, she might not. The aspiring astronaut grieves for the loss of her child all the same. Trauma never cares for causality.

@bully_hunter_4206

Жыл бұрын

Still lazy on their part

@bully_hunter_4206

Жыл бұрын

@brandovlogs Intentional dosent mean not lazy. I can have an intentional choice to end the story half way through and never even write the second half

@CinnahBaer

Жыл бұрын

@@bully_hunter_4206 there's a huge difference between purposeful omission of information and just not caring about writing something. Like a piece of music with a moment of silence. The musician didn't just get lazy and decide not to write any music for that part, it's there to punctuate the story around it, and the fact that you can just boil it down to "well it's still lazy," tells me that you're either just trolling, or at the very least; your critiques aren't informed enough to bother reading.

@bully_hunter_4206

Жыл бұрын

@@CinnahBaer so tell me almighty and all wise one, what is the point of the closed loop other than the loop for its own sake? What am I missing?

@dee4622

Жыл бұрын

@@bully_hunter_4206 Then it's "lazy" and still gives the intended effect that the artist wanted.

Kind of late to the party as the game just came out on Pc, but if you get real close to the final boss during the last phase, you can clearly see it is Selene's face under the cracked visor further reinforcing she is the maker of her own torment.

came here to watch this after jacob and julia of secret sleepover society/drawfee recommended it, and boy oh boy they were so right. i was fascinated by the story of this game but would prooooobably give up very quickly and this video is SO GOOD at making me feel like i understand this game despite having never played it. gimme more roguelikes/roguelites like this that provide a really cool explanation for dying and starting over

"Death is forbidden" what a way to convey that idea.

@przemysawzanko6700

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah. This goes to show how much of a blessing a death can be.

love love love this style of yours. the link with I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is brilliant and yet it seems obvious now that you put it that way.

@mwhawley

2 жыл бұрын

Absolutely. I feel like when someone makes those connections that seem so obvious yet no one has yet, that is one of the marks of brilliance and a mastery of the concepts. You rule Jacob! Keep doing what you’re doing brother!

@grungeblight

2 жыл бұрын

That love love love of yours. That on purpose? Or is this a woosh moment for me....

@AuroraAce.

2 жыл бұрын

@@grungeblight i think it was just for emphasis

@Darth_Bateman

2 жыл бұрын

That fucking book did what no other medium could do. Just when I thought Evangelion broke me. NieR happens. After NieR. Devilman Crybaby happened. Just when I thought devilman crybaby was as far as you can go, this fucking short story appears and whoops my ass.

@franjaff6919

2 жыл бұрын

But Selene isn't actually stuck in a never ending loop, or perpetually kept alive like Ted. She's in a metaphorical loop that will eventually end.

Me, dying laughing at Jacob's beautiful half-beard: a hell of one's own making indeed

As you say, she would eventually master this world, to the point that escaping after each resurrection is no more difficult than getting through a school day, and then go live the rest of her days however she chooses. She'll no doubt choose to see her loved ones again at least a few times, but eventually that will get old, as will every other way she chooses to live out her life. Whether this is all a simulation of some kind or she's somehow actually being transported back in time, I feel like eventually making peace with the past and breaking the cycle is inevitable.

After watching your videos, I experience the same conflicting feelings every time. The feeling that I have learnt something but that I also know less than I thought. You have such a compelling way of explaining ideas which challenge me to look at media in other ways which continues to bring back to your videos. I'm really glad that IHNMBIMS got a look in here too, it's probably the most effect a short story has had on me.

@eemilsavolainen5129

2 жыл бұрын

So strange seeing someone you regularly watch on another content creator's video, like seeing your teacher at a grocery store. It's sometimes easy to forget that content creators are real people instead of just like a void from where content appears from lol

@maxgoldfield7790

2 жыл бұрын

"The feeling that I have learnt something but that I also know less than I thought" That's a good sign. Keep following that feeling.

@nathanlevesque7812

2 жыл бұрын

@@InevitableTruth247 Pardon me, I'm afraid that is not the DK effect. It is commonly mixed up with a lot of things (in a similar fashion to irony getting mixed up). In fact there are entire books to that very end. Anyway, it mostly just means that humans having a tendency to see ourselves as closer to average than we really are, regardless of 'where we are on the curve' (technically some are closer to the curve than others; it's just a trend line for mess of individual data points).

@domino_201

2 жыл бұрын

he gives me an existential crisis every time and I love it

@heyitsmort7744

2 жыл бұрын

If you like I Have No Mouth, I recommend If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love. Incredible short story.

I've always thought that astronauts are the most perfect thing to be out of place, or that earth things are the weirdest thing for an astronaut to encounter our of place. I've always thought "what if an astronaut exited his landing module to find his childhood teddy bear laid out on an alien planet" or "what if you were in a fantasy setting and then an honest to god astronaut just popped out of the bushes and ran" Somehow, this game read my mind and got that exact vibe

@jimmythe-gent

2 жыл бұрын

Reminds me of the astronaut in doctor who with matt smith

@nathanielhaven3453

2 жыл бұрын

@@jimmythe-gent also like some of the best og twilight zone stuff

@nathanielhaven3453

2 жыл бұрын

@Damien Lavizzo I have, and you're absolutely right. Wild ending to that film

I love how the story may be a little convoluted but they are never really coy about what is going on, all the references to Greek mythology, Selene basically going through the stages of grief in the dialogue, the impossible nature of basically everything that happens in the game. Hell, the theme song is Dont Fear The Reaper, a song about accepting death (kinda). It just all makes sense in the end and is presented magnificently

This video is probably my most revisited of your body of work. I don't know why but this little hell lives rent free in my head.

I don't even really play video games, but I watch all of Jacob's videos. It's given me such an appreciation for a medium I would have otherwise completely overlooked in life. The fact that someone can have such profound appreciation for it gives me hope for the future of art. edit: this sort of popped off, Jacob if you see this do you know about the Winchester mystery house I feel like you'd be into that

@SupahTrunks7

2 жыл бұрын

I totally agree! I do play video games but never really the ones that Jacob talks about so it's a fascinating way to see what a medium I enjoy can do while also giving me the analysis tools to look at the games I /do/ play through a more artistic and philosophical lens

@kasperkurpershoek1937

2 жыл бұрын

A real gamer

@ameliabrittain158

2 жыл бұрын

It’s the same for me!! I had strict parents growing up, who said video games were a waste of time, so I never played them, and well, you know how gamers are, they aren’t welcoming to noobs. Only now as an adult am I starting to explore the medium, and Jacobs videos are a huge reason why. He is such an incredibly vivid storyteller, and all the things he experienced, and communicated to us, made me want to experience them too.

@teapotsoup2851

2 жыл бұрын

I do play videogames, a lot, but not the type that Jacob fascinates over. These are such a beautiful exploration of a different part of the medium and the way he presents it is *chef's kiss* art in its own right.

@sleeves2604

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for that. There don't seem to be many non-gamers who appreciate the medium, so it's really nice to hear.

I can also see Selene possibly sharing parallels with AM as well. After a certain point, when she masters the planet, do the native creatures regard her as their tormentor as well?

@grahamcarpenter5135

2 жыл бұрын

I kind of doubt whether that planet even exists. It might entirely be a creation of her own mind, her personal Hell.

@leoultimaupgraded9914

2 жыл бұрын

@@Kgamer64 then maybe these creatures are demons, or parts of herself she kills over and over again?

@joescannoli7660

2 жыл бұрын

@@leoultimaupgraded9914 it’s delusions of her subconscious, manifestations of her psyche trying to visualize and rationalize her problems, give them an image outside of herself to distance her and the acts that occurred, like for example leaving her crashed spaceship is the mental manifestation of coping with leaving her kid in the sinking car. Or so I think, fuck if I know if I’m being honest.

@dyllanhill109

2 жыл бұрын

@@joescannoli7660 Okay so i have not played this game, this is the first time watching something about the game i now want to play. Joe Cannoli you nailed it on the head man. I don't know the developer but i know a damn good book that Returnal, feels ripped right out of. "Dead Astronauts" by Jeff Vandermere. If this game was compelling, i urge you to read the book or a summary of its plot. er. the first part of your comment is likely completely right. Her likely dead or dying brain creates this world, this hell, and has an urge to escape it. I don't know, I could be entirely wrong and there could be some other great explanation.

@ShuShuShop

2 жыл бұрын

I'll do you one further, are you not technically AM? You're the one truly behind the wheel.

So i never played Returnal, but this video convinced me that I can’t because you so effectively instilled an existential terror in me about the nature of it. Like seriously this *stuck with me,* i watched the video when it came out and by the time I processed all of it i had forgotten about it. I shudder to imagine what you’d create if you ever got into writing horror. Also I may still have to play it because (Don’t) Fear the Reaper is one of my favorite songs.

17:10 "He just stands there... MENACINGLY!" gets me every time I watch this video lol

Easily my favorite game of 2021. The gameplay was already insanely good, so to have an interesting narrative and world to accompany it was awesome. Still unsure if it is a fact it's entirely in her head and takes place in her final dying moments, or if the planet could also have still somehow existed and fed and shaped itself around her guilt. Amazing game regardless and great video

@HmmBird311

2 жыл бұрын

Clash royale later?

@dylancrooks6548

2 жыл бұрын

A KZreadr from a past age. It feels weird that there is only one comment under this, 8 hours later.

@ThatguyJosh1

2 жыл бұрын

@@dylancrooks6548 it’s just a very different demographic I think

@cybunny25

2 жыл бұрын

@@ThatguyJosh1 yeah I agree, I don't think there's a huge intersection between meme video watchers and deep video essay watchers

@Tensolin01

2 жыл бұрын

I think the planet is real, because nothing explains the actual other race. It just forms around her. If you read through some logs they mention a second crew member of Helios, I don’t remember the exact spot but it talks about a guy that was with her on the ship, that’s now just poof gone. No resolution to that either.

An incredible video! I didnt know a thing about Returnal (no PS5), but this game's narrative seems so wild and that I'm surprised it's not talked about more (maybe a consequence of the other time loop games of 2021sucking the air out of the room). You mentioned Dark Souls in the video, and it's interesting contrasting this video with the one you made in Dark Souls 3. That world was one that slumps toward death, while this one spitefully stays alive

@LanaaAmor

2 жыл бұрын

other timeloop games? There's only deathloop i think

@thats4thebirds

2 жыл бұрын

It’s not talked about because I think people didn’t engage w the story the way they inherently engaged in the lore and gameplay. It’s not all that obvious or passive. People need to take time to really understand the pieces and then also be okay with the rather ambiguous nature of its ending and choices.

@TheGlooga

2 жыл бұрын

@@LanaaAmor iirc there's deathloop, 12 minutes, and outer wilds dlc, which were all more accessable (not ps5 exclusive) and, at least for the first two, sources of a lot of critical discourse

@MrRogordo

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheGlooga Returnal is the second most interesting behind Deathloop, imo. The thing is that Returnal is too obtuse gameplay-wise (I got both the first and secret ending and I did not know that normal silf acts as a resin if you have full health) and that detracts people, add the fact that bullet hells are a dying genre and you have the perfect cocktail for people not picking it apart.

@PBDNR

2 жыл бұрын

well there are only like 7 ps5s. haha im mad I can't play this

That moment at 8:45 honestly gave me chills. Seems like such an obvious twist in hindsight, but that works so well

I got to watch a friend play through this. Made sure he went through the house on each progression advancement. Made sure to let him know the speech about astronaughts dying on the moon is literally a real thing that was prepped to go. Watched him get to the top of the spire. and then watched his stunned reaction at the 'ending.' 'Wait what? That's....' Casket lowers. the light grows smaller. Seline wakes up. The look on his face. It was priceless.

Something you missed: "White Shadow" is also a paradox, as a shadow is the absence of light. It is unattainable, yet she calls it her savior, meaning that salvation is unattainable. Also, I would wager that she didn't actually survive the car crash (never "attained the white shadow" i.e. failed to swim to the moon). So she died in the car crash, and part of the torment was seeing herself live the life that she lost.

@th0r0shvener52

2 жыл бұрын

The idea that she didn't survive is terrifying. Her very last line as she swims close to the surface is "Helios", but the scene ends there and we don't know if she did reach it. Someone ELSE in the comments below pointed out something really interesting "When you shut the game down, in that instant, Selene makes the choice not to abandon Helios. Her eternal hell, the one that we -- that I -- forced her to go through, ends" The game constantly has a message at the beginning saying "Warning: Abandoning Helios". So Selene's salvation lies in her coming back to save Helios, and that's why she says "Helios...!" with such a guilty voice in the final cutscene. She (possibly) realized at that moment that saving him is in a way, saving her as well. Also what do you think of the sun pieces? It wasn't addressed in the video.

@flowersforferdinand375

2 жыл бұрын

@@th0r0shvener52 Interesting. I didn't play the game, but that also makes me realize that she's not even swimming towards Helios (Helios meaning "sun") she's swimming towards what we might consider the opposite of the sun (the moon).. So maybe this lends credence to the idea that she is always "swimming" towards the wrong thing. She THINKS salvation is white shadow, but really she needs to swim DOWN, towards the sun (Helios). To go against her survival instinct, and embrace death. However, it is too late for either, so really she is trapped in eternal limbo. Swimming towards the wrong thing in perpetuity, ignoring all of the warning signs. Stuck between saving her son (salvation from guilt) and saving herself (succumbing to instinct). Trapped playing out the metaphor of survivor's guilt for eternity.. As for the sun pieces, I hadn't played so I wouldn't know!

@MrHeorhe

Жыл бұрын

There is consistent theming of her being cut off from friends, family, and society as a whole with the desertstheme being a race of "severed" beings. A few of the xenoglyphs in the desert refer to an event that caused the rest of the race to sever this one section and disconnect from them ostracizing and exiling the "severed" due to the event. Sounds like she survived, and then was blamed by the people around her for the death of her son and "severed" from her relationships

@imamakevideos

2 ай бұрын

beautiful, terrifying reading

"The benevolent killing spree continues." Mercy killings, 'righteous wars,' ending one man because another deems it better for all. What a line. I think I'll remember that for a long time.

3:29 great Ozymandias reference

BTW, for anyone who does not know: the voice reading the excerpts of "I have no mouth and I must scream" is of Harlan Ellison himself. He also voice acted in the game adaptation of his story, where he plays AM. He was an interesting fella.

This reminded me of something I was taught when I used to go to my local church's youth group meetings. Someone once asked what hell was like. The answer was that hell is not a place; it's a state of mind. YOUR mind. Hell is isolation. In hell, you are alone, with nothing but your soul, your thoughts, and your sins. Satan may lord over hell but he is not your torturer. It's you. It's just you.

@vincentmuyo

2 жыл бұрын

In my experience, while hell can be caused by yourself... It's usually caused by others. There's also mental illness, which can be helped by medicine or others. You can definitely put yourself through *additional* hell, of course. But it's others. Almost always others. By action or lack of it.

@kyusei9144

2 жыл бұрын

@@vincentmuyo I feel that's hell in life, which, indeed, at times it is other people making life hell for you. I was referring more to hell after life, after that is all done. I think the point of the lesson I was taught was that you basically decide the afterlife you go to based on the decisions you made in life and the impact you made while you were alive, whether you like it or deserve it or not. It's all theoretical, though. I'm by no means an expert on life or the afterlife; my experience will probably not be the same as yours or anywhere near relatable, and my interpretation should by no means be taken as gospel. I'm sorry you had others creating hell for you throughout your life though. I hope you can make yourself a life with less of it going forward.

@redacted4125

2 жыл бұрын

@@kyusei9144 There's no such thing as deserving hell, as hell is a cruelty worse than any which can be inflicted upon another in life. Hell is only deserved if you believe you deserve it, as nobody can torture you worse than yourself. The worst hell anyone can go through is one inflicted by themselves as it would be the hardest to escape, if ever.

@igorz4582

2 жыл бұрын

Not even god can help weebs

@RobinTheBot

2 жыл бұрын

Non-stop mind orgy LET'S GO LUCID DREAMING

I love Ellison's I Have No Mouth; I read it in middle school, and consider it formative to my obsession with the moral and ethical quandaries raised by fictional living technology/robots/AI. I didn't know much about Returnal before this video, but thank you for spoiling it! Considering your penchant for detangling metaphor and your fascination with time loops, I feel like this game was made for you. And may I just say, becoming immersed in watching your passionate and endlessly insightful video essays is always a joy. Your energy is captivating, and your videos have endless replay value. As an artist, your videos about Red Yellow and Blue and The Intimacy of Every Day Objects instilled in me a love and appreciation for modern art and still lifes, when I hated them and thought they were pointless before. I recommend those videos to everyone my acquaintance who I think might benefit. So I guess, with Returnal hitting so many of your areas of interest, and your body of work and I Have No Mouth being so special to me, this video essay feels like a particularly satisfying culmination of all that. Thank you so much for sharing.

@imonymous

2 жыл бұрын

Wow, I don't know if i would have grasped the horror of it in middle school, and if i somehow did, how I would have reacted.

@skullsmitten

2 жыл бұрын

@@imonymous Right? It certainly made an impression lol. Everyone develops their tolerance for that sort of thing at their own pace-and im obviously biased by my own experience, but I think it can be important to have experiences like that with media when we're young. It helps us articulate what we're uncomfortable with, if nothing else. And speaking specifically to the realm of incomprehensible horror, I think kids don't get enough credit for already existing in a world that is largely incomprehensible to them.

@skullsmitten

2 жыл бұрын

@@melkhiresa No, I found it on my own somehow hahaha. I was reading way above my reading level, so I often looked outside the curriculum for additional reading material.

There's a certain, brutal beauty to the idea that there is no punishment worse than that which we inflict upon ourselves. For me, the underlying theme to Returnal and I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream is that we punish ourselves in the worst, most terrible ways.

My husband played through this and I watched and added irrelevant commentary. This game was such a surprise. I hadn't heard of it, but it seemed like his kind of game. He was really frustrated until he was good enough to get out of the forest. Then after Nemesis, we were just hooked on wanting to see how it ended. What a phenomenal game. The bullet hell attacks were such a visual treat. We still talk about this game from time to time, mostly about the ascent up the broken tree to fight Hyperion.

@jebril

4 ай бұрын

My wife was same way but she’d be with me in how there was so much bullshit that’s just there to kill you 😂 Just finished the game tonight, awesome game just goddamn it feels like the devs hate the player or something.

The aesthetics definitely have Giger vibes but the red desert part reminds me a lot more of Zdzisław Beksiński's work! I've been obsessed with Beksinki's paintings since I was a pre-teen, I would say it would be cool to see you talk about his work in a video but then you'd have to say his extremely Polish name.

@alexhencinski3852

2 жыл бұрын

I thought the same thing. very reminiscent of his Cathedrals

@THernane

2 жыл бұрын

Have you played The Medium?

@anonymouscrab2013

2 жыл бұрын

Found his work after the latest edition of Astartes, he really has some breathtaking, horrifying works to his name!

@cursebreaker666

2 жыл бұрын

yep exactly what i thought too. Giger as well as Zdzisław Beksiński

In "The Great Devorce" by C.S. Lewis, hell is a choice. It is the choice to do nothing, to sit and think to yourself that: "It was their fault" as we see Napoleon do In a palace he refuses to enjoy. But to escape hell is nothing more than a choice, a choice to be bigger than hell, for even the least in heaven could do much as stick a toe into hell and full it completely. It feels like Returnal is telling us the same thing. It is her hell, it does not have to be ours.

@donovancumby5835

2 жыл бұрын

I love Lewis I gotta read that book.

@AA-kt3qm

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks. :)

This is the video that made me discover you as a creator and is still my favourite after watching all of your others. I have no mouth and I must scream has lived hidden in my mind for over a decade. I have never shared Ellison’s seeming distain for humanity but still some part of his writing sinks it’s claws into me hasn’t shaken. I am in school studying theology and ethics right now and the concept of a self-perpetuating hell is existentially terrifying to me. Thank you for all effort you put into your creations they continue to horrify and entrance me.

Holy shit the twist that she went back after living her life actually gave me chills. never even heard of this game. Bravo

God every time you post a video, it's the highlight of my day. You're absolutely one of the most talented video essayists out there, and I'm so glad you decide to make stuff like this, it really inspires me. This video in particular- I went to Brown for a pre-college course during high school and took a creative writing class, and our professor introduced me to all that fucked up cold-war-era scifi like Harlan Ellison and Ray Bradbury, and Im pretty sure I'll never recover from "There Will Come Soft Rains". Something about dog death, man. It fuckin ruins me. Also, this is a bit of a sidenote, but I'm half-jewish and I showed my 99.9 percent Ashkenazi dad your golem vid! He really really liked it, and so did I- it actually inspired me a lot to reconnect with that part of my heritage. My parents both switched to Wicca before I was born so we never practiced the faith, and Im still not that interested in converting or anything, but it really made me realize all the depth of the Jewish culture outside of the strictly religious parts. I've started to pick up books and study that stuff, and it's felt very fulfilling to learn about all this stuff that I have blood ties to and never even interacted with outside of extended family gatherings. And SHEESH this comment is way too long but finally- I'm a really big fan of the written works of Leonora Carrington. She was a surrealist painter in the 30s with some of the best art out there, imo, but she also did some writing, and it's some of the most fascinating stuff I've ever read, if ridiculously dense with symbolism and her trademark surrealism. I was wondering if you've ever read it! If not, I'd highly recommend her stuff- The Hearing Trumpet is a good place to start.

@JacobGeller

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much for all of this ❤️

I remember reaching that part in returnal. I out down my controller, proud that I had beaten the very hard boss, and relaxed to watch the reward, the closing cut-scene. To see the main character escape and have a happy ending. I thought it was a bit short, but an amazing game either way. Then that twist. I honestly don't think I've ever been....fooled like that before by a game. I thought I was watching the end credits but I was really watching a mid-story plot twist. I like Housemarque, but after this is respect them. I don't think I've ever been emotionally manipulated by a game like that before, and I lived it. Excellent video, Jacob, you nailed it.

Just finished this game last night and boy was it amazing to just hear it all again through this video essay. You are an incredible story-teller. Thank you for making a video on one of the best games I've ever played in my life!

I've been saving this video for months because I didn't want to be spoiled. The story captivated me, and I couldn't help but shed tears when I finally escaped, only to return to the crash site. It's absolutely brilliant how they managed to convey the same emotions that the character feels in the game to the player through gameplay. Another game that did the same to me was Frostpunk.

Handling HP upgrades that way is essentially saying "We want the player to progress once they understand this area and have significantly overcome it's level of difficulty."

“OMG it’s the sword upgrade that lets you get past the gold barriers” That was one of the most frustrating elements of the game I thought I needed a permanent upgrade not a purchasable one lol

@PsychoBackflip

2 жыл бұрын

I can't help butt feel that this moment 05:34 in this brilliant video, seem to be exact reflections of the experience a human goes through as they have a realization in real life. How it literally feels both physically and mentally easier/clearer after having had a realization, as the energy that was connected to the false belief dissipates and your authentic energy gets its rightful priority in you again. Then that transcending experience grants you ACCESS to even more false beliefs you have bought into, just like the creatures and challenges Selene are facing.

@gsofficial

Жыл бұрын

@@PsychoBackflip ...I think you might be overthinking this terrible game. You are reaching to create reasons that wasting your time with this game was actually worthwhile when, in fact, it wasn't.

@casual1118

Жыл бұрын

@@gsofficial I mean I really enjoyed it with the piece feeding narrative and fun gameplay loop.

@gsofficial

Жыл бұрын

@@casual1118 I insist that you didn't.

@avangelinechatters

Жыл бұрын

@@gsofficial Fuck you mean you "insit they didn't enjoy the game"? I'm actively laughing at how absurd that statement is, unless you're in their head then you can't insist shit

17:17 it just stands there MENANCINGLY

This is one of those videos that simultaneously made me wish I'd played this game, while also being glad this is how I experienced it.

Absolutely loved this. It gave me that Annihilation like eerieness of exploring a vast alien world that is at once alien and familiar, hostile and somehow embracing you at the same time. Although in the end Annihilation allows for, well, Annihilation. Here even that small kindness isn't allowed.

@ianmaykut8023

2 жыл бұрын

In a sense Annihilation doesn't even allow this. Some portion or part of the being lives within Area X, whether this is a positive, or negative evolution, I'm not sure. In the film, Josie morphs into the bushes "surrendering" to it. It seems to show acceptance here, but can we even call it that? Essentially all of the characters "become" Area X in some way. The "brightness" overtaking the Biologist, the bushes consuming Josie, the Tunnel/Tower sort of enveloping the Anthropologist, etc. The Biologist seeing her husbands eye in a Dolphin, and even the director, and eventually the Biologist morphing into it in some way. Its odd with this story, because you're right, we see "Annihilation" in a sense, but its never clear. I would read the other two books in the series "Authority", and "Acceptance" if I were you. Happy Trails :)

8:43 This is LITERALLY the plot of the original planned Prey 2 before it was canceled. That is so awesome! For those not aware you would have played a character that when he dies, a clone is spawned so by the end of the game when you win and live a full life, eventually a clone of you is spawned with all the same memories, but is back to the age he was like in this. So while the other clone technically lived and died, from the perspective of the new clone he's just caught in an endless loop.

@troin3925

2 жыл бұрын

Reminds me of SOMA.

@vaylonkenadell

2 жыл бұрын

@@troin3925 SOMA is the scariest game ever made.

@ToyokaX

2 жыл бұрын

@@troin3925 My thoughts exactly!

@adenowirus

2 жыл бұрын

So that's where i've heard this twist before.

You, sir, are an exceptional story teller, writer, producer, and human. I feel bad for robbing the games ability to tell me it’s story first hand, but if I had to pick anyone to play it for me and recount the story to me, I wouldn’t pick anyone other than you. Thank you for this insane experience.

ive watched this video for like 10 times now and still can't get enough of it.

@georgecortes853

Жыл бұрын

This game made shake in the last cutscene, I went and cried in my car for a good half hour , after hearing Jacob break it down I've literally played that game 5 times already and still cry every damn time

I have literally never heard of this game until now but I’m so insanely impressed with just what it did. The moment you got to the first mention of her funeral and being lowered deeper into the grave I began to wonder and then oh boy! I was right and if it wasn’t almost 3 am I would’ve screamed. This game is truly something else entirely. Reminds me of the og Pathologic.

19:01, I've played this game for a long time now, and pretty much done everything except finishing all the logs and I never knew that you could see the astronaut while exploring, this game has so much going on and I love it.

The half beard ad actually kept me in when usually I always fast forward when a KZreadrs ad comes on

When I played Returnal and I caught wind of the fact that Selene was dying and yet her corpses were sticking around, I almost immediately honed in on the story beat they were going for. I usually have this a kind of excited momentary adrenaline rush from putting together a story far before it ends, but it wasn't really the same this time. Selene's name literally means "Moon," something I knew from even before I started playing the game, so all in all, I still sort of cheated a bit. I don't think most people who are normal know that fact. The name "White Shadow" is pretty much a dead giveaway (heh) from thereon out. At the end of everything though, that final cutscene still brought some amount of horror and sadness to me. Sure, I figured it out, but what victory is there in being right about something so morbid? It didn't make me feel better that I was right. It made me feel worse. I'm sure the writing team was aware of what they were doing with such willing placements of information. Time doesn't pass for Selene. She returns home, she spends the rest of her life with her family, she dies in peaceful retirement. Selene wakes up, once again, still trapped in this infinite recursive limbo. Only, now, since time passed for everyone else, the next time she returns home, she'll likely have no one left.

@YeprilesteR

Жыл бұрын

Oh, you are right, damn

@KingRidley

Жыл бұрын

"I don't think most people who are normal know that fact" kind of an odd opinion. Anyways I'm sure the writers understood that they were not writing a happy ending. That may have been the point.

I love when games serve all the explosions with sides of art and philosophy. Nier: Automata, Bioshock, The Stanley Parable, SpecOps: The Line, I adore that kind of stuff. Also, Returnal works as a great metaphor of mental illness, one of the symptoms of depression is being "stuck". You are unable to do anything and everything feels like it's the same day over and over, that leads to downward spiral with little means to do anything about it. That ending just nails that

@DavidSartor0

2 жыл бұрын

*The Stanley Parable

@R1ckDeckard

2 жыл бұрын

@@DavidSartor0 fixed 👍

@DavidSartor0

2 жыл бұрын

@@R1ckDeckard Thank you.

@charlestonobryant807

2 жыл бұрын

Also the Metal Gear series and SUDA51’s works (killer7, No More Heroes)

This essay pairs really nicely with Dan Olson's one on Annihilation and metaphor. I expect that there's no shortage of content attempting to "explain" the plot of this game, but it's so transparently a thematic and metaphorical work that it feels like doing so would cheapen it.

@bpansky

2 жыл бұрын

interestingly, this channel also has a video that touches upon Annihilation ("Fear of Depths"), and that video also talks about another game (Dear Esther), and i was reminded of that while i watched this video. EDIT: but it looks like he hardly talks about Dear Esther in that video. After searching, I think I'm thinking of the video about it made by the channel Innuendo Studios.

This is legitmately the best video essay I have ever watched, and I am amazed, thank you for this masterpiece

Bless the algorithm for this video I love essay channels and just becouse of this video I can tell I finded gold

After winning (or dying) for the nth time of playing Returnal, I woke up as Selene again and shut the game down. In that instant, Selene makes the choice not to abandon Helios. Her eternal hell, the one that we -- that I -- forced her to go through, ends.

@henriettereines6273

2 жыл бұрын

Like Oxenfree

@safetyc2949

2 жыл бұрын

@@henriettereines6273 I don't hear anyone talk about Oxenfree yo that game was dope.

@henriettereines6273

2 жыл бұрын

@@safetyc2949 It was, I played it in 2016 and to this day I still think about it. I can't wait for the sequel

@wyleong4326

2 жыл бұрын

I wonder if there’s a hidden game mechanics that upon waking up *yet again but do not proceed to do anything... another level opens up and whatever after that. That’s would be very cool.

@chexfan2000

2 жыл бұрын

nope even by thinking about it you’ve made her suffer. my god what a terrible person you are. playing Bideo Gane… thinkig about it… truly you should feel heaping helpings of guilt for what a cold and bad and cruel person you are,

"Back on the planet, if we can still call it that-" How did you distill so much dread into a few innocuous words?

I am struck by how much the story of Returnal reminds me of the movie The Machinist -- including the slow-paced hints of the truth culminating in a reveal that gives you many answers and leaves you with plenty of questions. A horrible accident leaves the main character in a metaphysical hellscape. Returnal sounds like it's got lots more details and layers of creative decision-making, but I really appreciate how both stories are so similar but presented in such incredibly different ways. That said, I loved hearing it compared to I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream and thank you very much for the knowledge that there's an audiobook recording by Ellison himself that is clearly incredible. Thank you for your awesome videos ~

I just found your channel a few weeks ago and I've been LOVING IT! This is the first video I won't be finishing just yet because Returnal has been spotted in the Steam database and I want to play it before I come back and finish this. Thank you for the amazing videos, even though you won't see a comment on a 6 month old video :)

I disagree with "only when you've proven that you don't really need health the game rewards you with it." The idea is that as you get more familiar with the game (evidenced by being able to clear some rooms in the first biome without taking damage) the extra health you're given allows you a bit more leeway in the next area, and so on. Once you're very comfortable with the game's mechanics it becomes feasible to get an end-game capable healthbar that can take a few hits from the more dangerous enemies there. This mechanic helps to ensure that you don't get too complacent, you still need to pay attention even in the first area because if you mess up and take damage in the first couple of rooms it will make your end-game attempt more difficult.

@312bigbeanburrito

2 жыл бұрын

Agreed. You're playing to give yourself more margin of error for later; careful and observant play is rewarded

@luzcro7345

2 жыл бұрын

I think he said that as more of a reason why most players give up early on the game, which leads to them not experiencing the overall story and being oblivous to it.

@franjaff6919

2 жыл бұрын

And there's also optional items that can be bought which assist you, including healing items.

@DrunkenCoward1

2 жыл бұрын

I thought he meant it as a criticism of the gameplay mechanic, until he said it's a roguelike, then it made perfect sense.

I'm only 19 minutes in, but I love how Thea's daughter is the MOON and Selina's SUN is Helios. Space puns are cool

One of the best gaming video essays I've ever watched. Thank you.

When a game is hard enough that you can’t continue, and you must address and change your strategy, that’s when it starts to get really fun.

@Toxic_COB

Жыл бұрын

Massively agree with this in theory. Depends on game as well though.

This does remind me of one of the most brutal flavor texts from Magic the Gathering. From Yoiji, Who Bars the Way from Betrayers of Kamigawa: "As I died, I rejoiced. I would finally see my family again. But then I woke up back on the battlefield. Back in Kamigawa. Back in hell" -Kenzo the Hardhearted Now this flavor text works wonderfully for the card, which does cause a lot of permenant cards to be returned to their owner's hand instead of going to the graveyard, thus preventing death tiggers in the game's ruling. But, perhaps more importantly, it captures the desperation which the mortals of the plane felt during the Great Kami War. A summary of it would be that the balance between mankind (and the other mortals) and nature was broken, so the kami, literal forces of nature, turned on them.

@rhymeswithmoose228

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, it's such a raw flavor text. Though it's unrelated to this video, I also like "You have a family. Mine died at Sea Gate. You go to yours, and I'll go to mine." from Reckless Cohort for horrifying but incredible flavor texts.

@essneyallen6777

2 жыл бұрын

Kamigawa was when I got into MtG and I still love it dearly. If I remember correctly, there was a previous card or a previous flavor text that had the name "Kenzo the Kindhearted", which makes it even more haunting.

After my first few deaths I remember wondering why the game kept warning me that i abandoned Helios. Of coarse I have to abandon Helios, I can't continue if I don't. That thought really struck me back

When Selene revives over and over, always remembering her past life even after escaping the planet, living the rest of her days, die peacefully of old age only to return to the planet, we call it "Hell". And this i find ironic, very ironic since your video on the Simpsons' best couch gag it can be argued that this is what we really strive for, to live forever and be reborn with a new body holding the same memories and personality and desires, being the same person over and over. Even when we wish really hard to live forever, it seems that as human we can't stop wishing for our own destruction

Saw this video when you first released and I still think this has to be the best video essay I've ever seen on the platform. Absolutely fantastic.

This reminds me of an episode of twilight zone called judgment night. The premise is a man find some self on a boat which he has no knowledge of. As the story progresses he learns more about his identity and his past which eventually leads to the twist and The stories conclusion. It has a similar feeling of a personal Hell created by the the sins committed by the guilty. It was the episode that really stuck with me. Give me a feeling of dread for what the character was going through. Probably my favorite episode of season one. It is a fascinating and unique way of creating a hell with no demons, on Angels, just the shock of what was done and the dread of what will happen. again and again.

@johnraitt2555

Жыл бұрын

There's another episode of The Twilight Zone where a robber gets shot and ends up dying. The place he ends up seems to be amazing, he can do anything he wants to. As the episode continues on he starts to realize that he's actually alone, he's trapped in essentially a Groundhog Day scenario. He eventually discovers that he's in hell, eternally alone

@RandallReedJr

Жыл бұрын

Judgement Night is an excellent episode!

@Wolfman-rd1pv

Жыл бұрын

I just went to watch it, and really enjoyed it. Thanks for the recommendation!

So this game is like Pathologic, in that it does something amazing (i.e. story, theme, etc) but most people just *cannot* play it

@noahbogue1934

2 жыл бұрын

Also The Witness

@kevinm5940

2 жыл бұрын

@@noahbogue1934 The Witness isn't that hard. You do need a decent computer though, because the game isn't very fun if it takes a minute to load whenever you go between different areas.

@noahbogue1934

2 жыл бұрын

@@kevinm5940 mate im just a dumb person

This is a great example of a game that breaks my heart because despite the 40 some hours I’ve sunk into it, I just cant have faith that I’m ever gonna make it past the first section to deeply enjoy the nuanced powerful story

@jebril

4 ай бұрын

Holy fuck 40 hrs and you haven’t finished first part? The game makes me feel like I’m fucking retarded I beat it in under 30 but I’m typically really good at hard games like this. This was definitely a hard game for me though even just moving around the world without enemies is challenging.

I love how I get lost in your videos. It's like reading a great book and being transported to that world. The atmosphere you create with visuals and other material that relates to the topic is amazing. keep it up.

The only winning move is not to play. By further searching and fighting this beast of our own creation, we make it impossible to escape. She was unable to let go of her mothers dreams, she was unable to let go of her sons death, she is unable to let go of what is actively ruining her life. Her inability to move on, and with each new attempt she fails to do the only thing that could let her finally be at peace.

@o-wolf

Жыл бұрын

The most anti video game video game ever

@Demmrir

Жыл бұрын

Well, the second and most final ending of the Tower of Sisyphus DLC has her reconcile her relationship with her mother somewhat (or accept that it couldn't be reconciled, anyway) and the reward she earns is a respite from the pain and suffering of her recurring journey. Not an end, but a break.

@friedmandesigns

Жыл бұрын

Greetings, Professor Falken. :)

My relationship with Returnal is weird. I appreciate how cohesive the health and checkpoint system are with the narrative/themes. At the same time, it's this massive asterisk for recommending this game to literally everyone. I understand that any change to the systems result in a fundamentally different game, but perhaps one I would more wholeheartedly endorsing. Still my GOTY though (disclaimer: I did not play that many new games in 2021).

@dopaminecloud

2 жыл бұрын

I believe how recommendable a game is to the average player should never inform its design. Especially considering how easy it is to prove that it's fine as it is and makes the experience more impactful for everyone that goes through with it.

@312bigbeanburrito

2 жыл бұрын

Can you say more about how the health and checkpoint systems are cohesive with the themes and narrative of the game?

@sleeves2604

2 жыл бұрын

The weird thing about this is that the game is much easier and less extreme than your average shmup or other bullet hell, but the fact that it's "triple AAA" implies a more broad appeal, so players go in expecting it to appeal to any skill level. Take this with a grain of salt as I've not played the game due to exclusivity, I'm just deriving this from the video.

@sleeves2604

2 жыл бұрын

The previously mentioned increase of health when the player doesn't need it could be taken as reflective of the learning curve in the game's parallelism to the story; the fight only starts to really become easier once you learn you're trapped, thus rendering your progress as pointless.

What an incredible video! Thank you so much for making. I got stuck after the natural death and couldn’t get to the first boss. Picking it up again after watching this