The Well - An Unsettling Lovecraftian Body Horror Game from YAMES (Creator of Discover My Body)

[@spase667]

Yames seems like the kind of person who would make a really good game about exploring Mystery Flesh Pit National Park.

[@ransnorkel9322]

I particularly enjoyed the amniotic thermal springs.

[@jarvis5552]

YOU'RE RIGHT

[@JaesadaSrisuk]

@@ransnorkel9322 There was nothing better than an order of the Outrageous Nachos at the Chili’s Too after a long soak in the amniotic baths.

[@johnr4836]

Discover my potty

[@emilykapallen4979]

PLEASE YAMES, only you could do it

[@the_broly_arms]

Yames is just... on another level entirely when it comes to horror and I mean in EVERY aspect -- audio, visual, dialogue, all of it and then some -- I've yet to come across anyone else who can make a game that leaves you feeling... delightfully unsettled well after you've finished it. Water Womb World still has me feeling that way and it's been MONTHS. 11/10.

[@FeekyChucker]

Oh hell yes, water womb world was my favourite, it was simultaneously relaxing and disturbing.

[@bellum1080]

It's been over a year actually, but he's got 3 more games he's been working on before he released this that are coming out

[@the_broly_arms]

@@bellum1080 Well, I meant since I experienced the game myself! Yames is a machine when it comes to developing his games. I'm sure there's even more secrets we don't know about yet!

[@lovemonkey646]

There was one he played, not sure the name or creator, that your a gate guard at a test facility and lets cars in and out, but I can’t for the life of me remember what it was called 😤😤😤

[@Ranzord95]

I like to think this should be called post-horror or vanguard horror or something, media that seeks new, subjective ways to induce fear and anguish

[@rainphee]

at 11:16, the dialogue box that ABG accidentally skipped reads: “BUT DON’T IT LOOK GOOD? LOOK HOW DARK IT IS. ATHOOD DUG IN HERE BECAUSE HE KNEW HOW DARK IT WAS.” just in case anybody was curious about it like me!

[@CoratMcRed]

I really like Yames's art style where, while you can still make out key details, it still leaves a lot of the nightmarish stuff to the imagination, it's such a cool artstyle for horror stuff.

[@mbsb1376]

No it's not. It's bad.

[@kosherre6243]

The wood was anything but wood. It was cursive pixels.

[@clownvomit5416]

The rapid-fire cat patting sent me into such an unexpected laughing fit I started wheezing.

[@richroberts7512]

I love how the rope starts sounding like a Geiger counter crackling.

[@shadyone6620]

That's not Geiger counter, that Giger counter.

[@YodaZemunski]

@@shadyone6620 I applaud both of you

[@frds_skce]

Gigger counter

[@yames_games]

Thanks for playing!

[@udobybreak6393]

Keep up the good work!!

[@mothratemporalradio517]

Hello Yames! Can i please ask what software you used to create this and what you'd recommend to people interested in creating something original themselves? (From the audiovisual perspective rather than writing.) In as vague or specific terms as you like. Thanks! ✌️

[@AlphaBetaGamer]

You're welcome! Love your games. They always have a very unique feel and truly horrifying subject matter. Awesome work! :)

[@Jon-ei4st]

It's Yames 😱🤩

[@woeisme3018]

Keep making games

[@Jose-ic3er]

Why does he pat the cat like a bag of rice?

[@holedplot]

Probably because the cat is a bag of rice. Only things is the rice moves.

[@2dheethbar]

Cat rice likes being patted like that.

[@Ezekiel_Allium]

Why do you pet rice?

[@Jose-ic3er]

@@Ezekiel_Allium pure spite against the world

[@Ezekiel_Allium]

@@Jose-ic3er good a reason as any I guess

[@frds_skce]

I honestly dig the creator's vibe in his games. It's just, unnerving, tiredless, grotesque-those elements just blend in with his body horror concept. It felt squishy and putrid, despite i'm seeing only a screen rn. Good work, Yames

[@TheJared38]

The rope looking like sinew and flesh is a wonderful touch.

[@lindinle]

The visuals are so fucking bad everything looks gross. And not in the good way

[@charliemacchia970]

"Farmer Seth Atwood was past eighty when He tried to sink that deep well by his door, With only Eb to help him bore and bore. We laughed, and hoped he’d soon be sane again. And yet, instead, young Eb went crazy, too, So that they shipped him to the county farm. Seth bricked the well-mouth up as tight as glue- Then hacked an artery in his gnarled left arm. After the funeral we felt bound to get Out to that well and rip the bricks away, But all we saw were iron hand-holds set Down a black hole deeper than we could say. And yet we put the bricks back-for we found The hole too deep for any line to sound." -HP Lovecraft, "The Well"

[@stevensonbak]

Not YAMES's strongest work, but I think about Discover my Body and Water Womb World all the time, and I genuinely appreciate any content that comes from this guy. A lot of the visuals in this particular game are straight up incomprehensible though, but maybe that's the whole point

[@KnakuanaRka]

Yeah, this is a lot weaker than those other two works. The minimal graphics end up making a lot of things incomprehensible (and not in the way you expect from eldritch horror, especially with the glitchy graphics on the final object you pull from the well), the story is a totally disjointed mess with nonsensical pacing that barely links anything together (particularly at 16 minutes, where you get a whole bunch of nonsensical talk with no visuals and suddenly go from trying to measure the depth of the well to helping to awaken the eldritch god that sprouted out of the cat, with little in-between; speaking of which, is it ever explained how the cat got that way?), the “gameplay” is boring as heck (Discover My Body didn’t pretend to have any real gameplay, while Water Womb World was at least somewhat engaging), the phonetic accent and missing punctuation in the dialogue is obnoxious, etc. I get that eldritch style horror like this is about leaving most of it to your imagination, but those other two were excellent at giving just enough information at the right time for maximum creepiness; this is just an incomprehensible mess that leaves me more confused than disturbed.

[@samouflage99]

Just a note, this is supposed to be one of YAMES's "secret games" that he makes exclusively for Patreon supporters. They are meant to be short and weird, so he can still keep working on the "Discover My Body" sequel "Discover Our Bodies". Anyways, this one ruled! I like the amount of interpretation that this game allows, as it's not entirely explained what some of it meant but could definitely get the imagination jogging.

[@lindinle]

He changed money for this fucking garbage?!

[@ayyydriannn7185]

@@lindinle cope

[@lindinle]

@@ayyydriannn7185 hows it cope?

[@lindinle]

@@ayyydriannn7185 in my defense i dont know his Patreon prices. It could be a reasonable 1-2 dollar tier. My mind went straight to "5 (or more) bucks to get access"

[@ayyydriannn7185]

@@lindinle because you’re so civil about this, the real reason is that this is more of a side thing you get as a patron benefit, instead of subscribing specifically for the game. You get a few of his patreon games too, smaller ones he makes ok between releases

[@calmexit6483]

“When his pelvic girdle separated”. That one did it for me.

[@Lucas-db2jq]

I think this game needed some more colors like Water Womb World and Discover My Body. I honestly couldn't quite comprehend what was even going on for most of it.

[@AntipaladinPedigri]

That's the point of lovecraftian horror. You go insane, because you can't comprehend what you are even looking at.

[@Lucas-db2jq]

@@AntipaladinPedigri I think I need to understand why I am even going insane in the first place. The visage of the Elder Gods causes insanity because it is juxtaposed with the mundane and normal of everyday life. Here, there is no everyday life. It looks like nothing. I actually can barely figure out what is what so when the "insanity" begins it doesn't even feel like it. A little bit of actual color would have helped tremendously in grounding the well exploration in reality.

[@AntipaladinPedigri]

This is aesthetics reflecting Lovecraft's approach of not describing monsters too much, becayse they're undescribable. Not only in the poem the game is based on but in his entire body of work. If Lovecraft was making a game, this is how he'd probably go about it. Shadow of the comet tried to portray monsters in a stereotypical way with white eyes and sharp teeth and it fell flat.

[@saebelorn]

@@AntipaladinPedigri Honestly, I have to agree with Lucis in that I don't think it worked - I just finished it and the visuals didn't really register anything with me. There's a very fine line between horrific insinuation and just arbitrary shapes, and I think it fell on the side of arbitrary for me. I think it would really have helped if there was a much clearer distinction between things that we understood and the elements that weren't to be - the cat neither blended in with the horrific aspect nor was really distinct visually from it, it just kind of looked like a sock with a pentagram sticker cut out of it. The same with our well-delving friend, I kind of expected to see fleeting elements of his body, or at least some sort of vague outline of what used to be a skeleton, but it kind of just looked like a circle that had two arbitrary sectors wiggling in a way that didn't resemble what a human could look like to me (especially with the anatomical references, I expected something a lot more like Discover My Body) I think the part where this fell short was that it didn't really describe the indescribable or the describable, and went much too far in the direction of obfuscation.

[@AntipaladinPedigri]

Each to their own. If I were to reflect the insanity constantly referenced by by the story and which is the foundation block of Lovecraft's writing, I would blur the line between what is actually there and what your broken mind tells you there is. The effect of a stroke photo where everything seems familiar but actually can't be identified fits the theme.

[@liammiller6247]

Yames never misses. His games can be pretty veiled, and this one is no exception. However, they're always an interesting experience, though the gameplay is often limited. They do great work!

[@zoraarian2581]

So glad I've decided to watch Yames' games through a no-commentary playthrough; watched Markiplier play Discover My Body, but it didn't feel right with his commentary, so I decided to watch it again through ABG, and it was a waaay better experience! Watched Water Womb World next, and now I am about to watch this.

[@moth-corpse]

YAMES is so fucking good in horror. like genuinely he gets everything right. its impressive.

[@digitaldash222]

at least he didnt get the inspiration fo the cat's name from lovecraft too

[@MusicoftheDamned]

Huh. I was wondering what YAMES was doing after discovering that the _Applesauce Apartments_ game wasn't something he (?) did. I am unsure what I think about this one as of yet, especially visually, since it seems less polished than other games by YAMES, and I don't know how intentional that was (or if I agree with it even if it was intentional). All I know is that the sound design is really good and that it was interesting to learn that "immanentize" is actually a word. That poor cat though. The pentagram collar certainly didn't protect it.

[@MalfunctionWhocares]

"Less polished" is probably intentional, cause this is meant to be the first in a series of short and simple games for people to play while he works on larger projects. Said larger projects currently include "Discover Our Bodies", a sequel to "Discover My Body", and a point and click game called "Family Vacation".

[@MusicoftheDamned]

@@MalfunctionWhocares Hmm...noted. Thank you. I look forward to the sequel for _Discover My Body_ then given all the unsettling aspects and implications of that game.

[@VELVETPERSON]

I really don't understand how he manages from the very first seconds to make me feel creepy. This developer is a genius of suspense.

[@nothanks126]

It’s an eldritch horror game we’re you could pet a cat. What more could you want?

[@Sid_Streams]

I was watching this while on the edge of my bed, half asleep, but then I got it. This is when human beings get dragged towards some Lovecraftian entity. Our senses still work but they are stirred by something transdimensional that we were never meant to comprehend. So now our senses are off kilter. Like when you connect old and new technology say a PS5 to a tube from the nineties. You can get something out of it but it will be skewed by the limitations of the receiver. This is what this communicates.

[@Vandheleister]

Yames games have another level of aesthetic that's just so good

[@murrfeeling]

To win the game don't mess with the rope and just spend the day petting the kitty.

[@PossessedGlitch]

The green style games just make it so much more scary and enticing, like Gone Fishing or The Third Shift

[@monoxide13]

I really appreciate how Yames is literally an author that makes intractable books with disturbing visuals

[@flux1940]

dude this guy is GOAT Whenever you discover a game or art which lets you FEEL something brand new you know...

[@_Digishade_]

God, I love love LOVE Yames' work. Truly a talented and unique mind.

[@The1of1000]

I like how you can pet the deformed monster cat.

[@ReiverBlue1971]

YAMES: Sir/Ma'am: You've become the go to source of weird and creepy gaming with a WONDERFUL originality in graphics presentation! You've seemingly hit the sweet spot of uncertainty and "oddness"/limited information that creates a fear from the uncertain and instinctive (and thus generates a universal form of creepy horror). Limited information (normally visually based as we are as a species) is always the way to genuine fear as it allows the imagination to take over....genius!

[@RavenRedwood]

Aw, poor Jingles

[@DrilArm]

Yes, I'm on leave from Miskatonic University to help you clean the estate.

[@xuannguyenpham939]

By the seeing the quality are improved, but making it very disoriented and hard to see but that the charm of it, I love the sound design!

[@WusterWasti]

Im sorry but sometimes i cant see whats going on. Some images are way to obscured by the art design that im more concentrating on what im seeing than being immersed in the setting.

[@AntipaladinPedigri]

That's the very point of lovecraftian horror. You go insane, because your brain can't comprehend what it's looking at.

[@WusterWasti]

@@AntipaladinPedigri Yes but in this case i cant even realize what im seeing, not because the design of the image is otherworldly and disturbing but because its muddy and grainy. I like the style but in my opinion less is more.

[@rozanfaust2967]

@@AntipaladinPedigri yeah, but you literally cant see whats happening. Its like being 80% blind without being blind (i dont know if that made sense but you know what i mean)

[@AntipaladinPedigri]

Again, each to their own. I like the idea of not knowing if I'm looking at rags or a badly mangled corpse and the game not telling me if I'm right or wrong on the corpse. If you can't imagine or interpret things check yourselves for a condition called aphantasia, an inability to imagine.

[@datatsushi2016]

@@AntipaladinPedigri Hi Yames

[@craigjoiner08]

I get a Yorkshire accent in my head reading the text

[@gypsymagic9912]

Aight this one veered a bit too much into 'what the fuck am I even looking at' territory, and not in a necessarily good way. Maybe having more than just 1 color could've helped, but I just had no idea what I was even looking at most of the time

[@thesupreme5999]

Tomar what would you do if you got bit by a pagan artifact that makes you turn into a worm?

[@adellerulli]

I was wondering when Yames was gonna make another game. I love the concepts of what they do.

[@ImFangzBro]

This almost feels like it went in the complete opposite direction of Water Womb World- in that, a man is undone because he dug too deep. In this one, a man is undone because he didn't dig deep enough into the situation.

[@kucimaka8092]

Omg I love this guy! He makes pure nightmare fuel.

[@friendformationbot]

REALLY good. this dev is one of the best in the medium right now

[@mrbellthebutler]

An excellent combination of MR James and Lovecraft. Seriously good and creepy!

[@theelltrain8985]

“Would you still love me if I was a worm?”

[@MoogMonster554]

Damn, I love these Yames games! Such a unique visual style and narratives that are genuinely horrifying.

[@chiqrp]

The pixel art is stunning 😍

[@hmorton490]

The moment I saw 'Yames' I said "oh no..." bc ik this shit is about to make me queasy

[@Rohtix]

Yoooo Yames Games This mans knows his stuff.

[@mantha6912]

Yeah, I'm gonna need an explanation for this one. I have no idea what the heck happened at the end.

[@AntipaladinPedigri]

Cat: *defiantly won't stop being cute* ABG: so you've chosen... pets.

[@UlvenDagoth]

Where'd the cat go? O-O Edit: Okay cat, you can go back where you went now...

[@giantseamonster8485]

Honestly, I'm a big fan of Yames' work. Everything they've made so far is awesome.

[@sixrats]

Audibly shrieked "yes!" when I saw the video title. Yames is a frighteningly good storyteller. I'm beyond excited to see what twisted delights his career unleashes unto the world.

[@teenageoperator7246]

NO! NO JINGLE! HE LIVES WITH ME NOW AND HE’S FINE!

[@Ninebreak999]

I really love what Yames comes up with but honestly this one was the worst. It seemed a bit too incomprehensible, also wasnt that sick or weird. Just random. I felt like there wasnt enough context which the other two games he made had more of.

[@KnakuanaRka]

Yeah, this one is definitely weaker than the others, with unintelligible graphics, a disjointed story with horrible pacing, boring gameplay (Discover My Body didn’t pretend to have any, while Water Womb World was at least a little engaging), dialogue with an obnoxious phonetic accent and missing punctuation, etc. I get that eldritch horror is supposed to leave a lot to your imagination, but this went a bit overboard and only manages to confuse me.

[@rozanfaust2967]

It was too hard to see whats happening too, when they said it was just a wood that he saw, i didn’t even know that it was wood.

[@kosherre6243]

@@rozanfaust2967 it looked like .

[@boi5499]

Okay so my tired ass mind (it's almost 1 AM here) could not properly comprehend what I just watched so if someoen would leave a long in depth comment with theories and what not, it will be highly appreciated.

[@N4ikel]

I'll appreciate too

[@biwarayoganata]

Marking this thread in case someone helped theorizing the game's plot.

[@DarkTree]

i think it's intentionally meant to obscure as much detail as possible while still having a somewhat legible story. i think it's meant to be interpretive, but what i got was the following: -two family members are entranced by some sort of eldritch consciousness, they are then instructed or inspired to build a well which then either is a gateway to whatever place holds the eldritch consciousness, or the well itself holds it. -second family member kills the first, attempts to use their body as a vessel for the eldritch god. snaps out of it at some point. doesn't use the body as a vessel & bricks up the well to prevent the plan from being furthered. -a pastor de-escalates situation(?), sends second family member upstate. after the funeral, two people get the job, under the pastor's instruction, to retrieve things inside of the house for the family's next of kin. -other person suspects that there'll be valuables in the bottom of the well, coerces player character to assist in attempting to retrieve them. other person also has a cat. -as they attempt to gauge the depth of the well before heading in in-person, they're either 1. getting snagged on things, or 2. the entity in the well is rejecting further progress. the first item they get snagged on is extremely difficult to make out, but by the description the other person gives, it's either 1. a root, 2. just "a piece of wood" in an odd shape, 3. some sort of hand-carved wooden effigy. this specific one seems unimportant. -second object pulled up is an idol of the entity. back of it had an eye affixed to it. uncertain what exactly it did, my random eyes-closed dart board throws are 1. was meant to be a literal vessel of sight for the entity, 2. marked the other person to be a vessel, or 3. made the player character immune/an accomplice/something. a "toothed worm" bites the other person, marking/inseminating them as the vessel for the eldritch being, and either changing their ability to perceive things or beginning their metamorphosis. after pulling this up, the cat "disappears", having fallen down - or was pulled down - the well while the two human characters were transfixed by the idol. -other person begins acting in the interests of the eldritch thing, comments on the quality of the dirt (as in, where the being would be summoned/born from), perceives the next object entirely differently than the player character -next object is described by the player character as "just a rock". graphical fidelity makes it hard to discern anything in particular. other person sees that it's a "womb, filling with unborn or infantile slugs", akin to the way the eldritch thing looks at the end of the story. other person mentions that it's beautiful, specifically that it reminds him of the beauty of childbirth (as themed further). calls himself "just a worm", refers to the eldritch entity as "she". either means that the being wants to instill the fact that the other person (or maybe humans/other life forms in general) are below them/lower life forms, or referring to it more literally as in the "toothed worms" that are seen twice which appear to do the bidding/further the plans of the being -"cat" returns, actually a different entity infested by said toothed worms. other person comments on "wanting to lay in a deep dark hole" as in to incubate themselves for metamorphosis/birthing of the entity -next object is the corpse(? it's not moving, at least) of the actual cat. other person comes to a realization about that. upon mentioning this to the cat, it transforms. either the cat-impersonator knocks you out, or the game just cuts to later on. -i cannot discern what the pastor is saying in many scenarios without googling like, at least a word per text box. apologies, but i think it's esoteric on purpose. in essentiality, the pastor intended to assist with the entity's birth (it's unknown if he was entranced at some point after helping the second family member or if this was always the intention), likely intending himself to be the incubator originally, and envies the other person because of this. at this stage, the other person has entirely become a meat cocoon/womb for the eldritch entity and has fully transformed. -mimicking prior gameplay, the pastor... does, something? while you pull on what is highly likely to be an umbilical cord to birth the entity. after a couple tries, you successfully force its birth, and its form is similar to that of a slug. i may be incorrect about some things

[@ericmikesell5252]

All hell broke loose when doppleganger cat went beserk 😰

[@toperotoperoprrrtthanos2571]

Everybody gangsta til Yames make a new lovecraftian-body existentialist absudirst horror game

[@ebonhawken574]

Man I’ve been waiting so long for this dev to release another game.

[@QuantumTelephone]

Yames is a horror god

[@verruxlunox8438]

Simple, atmospheric, visually disturbing game Cool little project, i must say

[@do3807]

Dude, even the dialogue box sound effects are unnerving...

[@spookysleepyghost]

All games are good if they allow you to pet the kitty/puppy!

[@torresmoblade]

Thanks for another game, Yummes.

[@datemasamune2904]

Well, add this to Markiplier’s 3 Scary games list.

[@dawsond4123]

You got your wish

[@Switcher1972]

Loved the aesthetics, loved the source material...

[@lunatic0verlord10]

4:07 You can pet the cat? 10/10 Game of the Year

[@mrwizard5012]

>Pulsating cat flesh PET THE C̶̹̈́Ȧ̸̺͓́T̵̺̑̽

[@petalcovus7405]

Stuff the guy says at the beginning is referencing a h.p Lovecraft story pretty cool

[@Brandon-yq1tm]

Damn these visuals are great

[@LordTelperion]

Run kitty! Get away from the hole! Run!!

[@NickiRusin]

lights: off headphones: on fear: dialed up to 11 time for some Yames content

[@sushitrash-dj9vq]

Dang this one looks scary and it's midnight here lol

[@DaRkLoRdZoRc]

-Lovecraftian -Body Horror -YAMES Oh boy, time for nightmares!

[@colinburke8389]

Okay, I wanna know more about this goddess and what happened here back before the Christian conquest.

[@Koioi]

How are you and ManlyBadassHero always so in sync with your uploads? Are you two sharing game recommendations or something?

[@nobodyimportant4778]

"Maybe dig a hole and throw it in." New sequel: THE HOLE

[@sushinuggets8475]

The face at the start reminds me of Edward James Olmos for some reason.

[@Oi325]

Oof

[@grimgrahamch.4157]

I... Can someone explain what happened here? I get up until the point the cat explodes, but after that I'm lost.

[@The1of1000]

The two guys help birth an eldritch entity from a mass of flesh that looks vaguely like a placenta.

[@nautilusbones980]

Also, the guy we meet at the beginning was probably pulled down into the well with the cat, and they’re the flesh pile we see.

[@grimgrahamch.4157]

@@nautilusbones980 So what about that rock?

[@nautilusbones980]

@@grimgrahamch.4157 Maybe an old artifact like the statue, or even a piece of “her.” They both seem to target the old man though, because he’s the one who gets bitten, and we see it as a rock while he sees it as an egg. “She” probably knows who’s more susceptible to getting lured in, and that’s why he goes a little crazy.

[@iliketurtles2531]

Maybe the rock turned into the fake cat but idk.

[@bamramon2704]

Man I've been waiting for too long

[@tkm5575]

I see Alpha Beta Gamer vid, I click. I see Lovecraftian in the title, I click faster.

[@Chaosian]

Now that's an aesthetic.

[@DynoSkrimisher]

Why do I feel like all of Yames' games are connected in some way, or at least most of them.

[@benny_lemon5123]

Huh. A magnificent short horror game, to be sure. But it makes for super uncomfy ASMR 😬

[@trishahouston3656]

This reminds me of siren. Vaguely, but it's there.

[@Ranzord95]

_[EXTREME CAT PATTING ACTION]_

[@muhammadhadid5904]

my fav youtuber✨✨✨ halooo from indonesian fansssss

[@udobybreak6393]

Soo can someone explain wtf I'm looking at? 19:29

[@NickiRusin]

her

[@quetzal_rainbow]

You are looking at unexplainable abomination, this is the point of lovecraftian horror.

[@carribob1992]

The Thing.

[@nina-fu9dc]

Our mother.

[@KajiCarson]

Very excellent.

[@ZuTheComCat]

Okay I barely comprehend what happened but PLEASE tell me that the real(?) Jingle the cat is okay.

[@IIEasyLivingII]

big ups YAMES

[@chumblesthecheese8580]

so the kitty cat dead? :(

[@kosherre6243]

The dude: What are you looking at it for? Me: Fucker, you tell me *what* I'm looking at. Dude: It's wood. *What damned wood are you guys making?*

[@kseniapomazunova9341]

Knew right from the thumbnail it's Yames

[@crimsonngb32]

I’ve never seen a game like this

[@SkorpyoTFC]

I am a simple, somewhat odd man. I see YAMES, I click.

[@babyskeleton499]

When is saw yames I flipped

[@CaptainSpork7]

Cursed Cat-Petting Simulator

[@yozzyozzie8584]

That's definitely unsettling..

[@hotpikachu]

i want yames to discover my body