drawn to life is such a cute kid's gam--...wait, what???

[@sirnesbit1285]

Honestly, this ending is actually hinted at from the first game. Think about it, Wilfre is covered in a black goo substance resembling CAR OIL along with his minions, and the “darkness” resembles smoke to a T. Smoke is mentioned as a choice, “there was smoke everywhere” in the beginning of DTL 2 when you start the game and speak to the police officer. Plus, you know the ending song of the first game? Well, if you imagine that song in the context of Mike/Heather, it fits PERFECTLY. Most notably the line, “I’m already missing you.” A line that is followed with THREE ER BEEPS. That’s about as much foreshadowing I can muster from the first game without looking like a complete lunatic, so I’ll move unto the second game. Aside from the police bit at the beginning of the game, and Wilfre’s mildly-badass conversation between himself and you, the creator, the main source of foreshadowing comes with Mary’s actions in helping Wilfre, and trying to figure our Wilfre’s hinted motive. However, there is a good amount of foreshadowing in Rose’s song, “Light of my life.” A song that she *conveniently sings to her son before dying.* Kind of reminds you of Mike and his mother... But anyways. Just like the song from the first game, this one can be viewed PERFECTLY as a song between Mike and his mother. In fact, a line from the song is, and I quote, “And you’ll wake up my darling, _with the light, on your face!”_ This seems like a weird line for her to sing to her son when SHE is the one dying... Until you see what Mike does when he wakes up from his coma. He squints his eyes, as the *sunlight is in his face.* ... ...Yes I have spent way too much time piecing this crap together. But at the same time, I LOVE this ending for all of the effort that was put into it. Hell, symbolism and detail in this game goes much farther than the ending. I could write a full paper alone on Wilfre! He is heavily inspired by biblical Satan; his past is left mysteriously hidden minus the details given by the mayor. Wilfre’s motives for fighting the hero in the games are some of the best in gaming, he doesn’t want us to erase his world to save one person! I could go on and on about other pieces of symbolism in these games, but I’m tired as hell so I’m just going to get to my main point. These games have great lore, but they have a horrible audience for said lore. While yes, some kids that played the games did get a grasp of some of the hints and thoroughly had their hearts crushed at the ending of the second game, another half had no clue what was happening and were left going “wtf” at the seemingly random bs happening on screen. If the foreshadowing had been made a little more clear, and Mike had been given a much bigger role since the first game or second game, the games would have been MUCH more enjoyable for the people that didn’t rip apart every single piece of dialogue. Although the gameplay was meh, the soundtrack was amazing, and the story was spectacular!

[@DoujinShinji]

I’m not sold on the darkness/smoke/oil thing, but I’ll certainly give to you the ending credits song in the first game. Never noticed that. So if this was the plan since the start, to have this sort of ending, I just wish they went about it a bit... well, better, honestly. But it’s clear you are very passionate about these games, and I certainly don’t mean to take that away from you. Wilfire wanting to keep Mike under so that everyone else can continue to exist is pretty interesting. All in all, still pretty neato games, at the end of the day. Thanks for commenting!

[@sirnesbit1285]

DoujinShinji DoujinShinji DoujinShinji I agree to a PERFECT T. The story itself is GREAT, but the way it’s told in the games is crap. For the entire first game and second game Mike is pushed as a side character that doesn’t matter. Most likely this could have been to create “surprise” at the second game twist. However, instead it makes the ending feel absolutely random. They should have given him a MUCH more inclusive role in the games. Same thing for Heather. While yes, she is more important than Mike, there is NOTHING hinting in the first game that she had such a massive roll in the ending. They should have had Wilfre allude to Heather being “something much more dangerous than they think...” or at the very least more than just a cute little cover character. If they had done that in the first game, this game would have had a story LEAGUES BETTER than UNDERTALE’S. I love the games for the great lore behind them, and for the sheer mountains of details and backstory hidden in the games. DEFINITELY NOT for the presentation of said story. - - - Now, I’m going to state my FAVORITE PART of these games lore. The story told in the song, “Real Life.” In the second game during the not-traumatizing-at-all car-crash scene, the song, “Real Life” plays. THIS SONG HAS THE ENTIRE STORY OF MIKE AND HEATHER INSIDE IT’S LYRICS. And the story itself is A LOT more heart-wrenching than, “kid gets hurt in crash, has coma, vietnam war happens in head, wakes up, yays-“ Basically, Heather is hurting after the tragedy. Her parents have died, and now her brother is nearing death. So, in order to allow her to escape her pain, she creates the world of Drawn to Life, and SHARES THE WORLD WITH COMATOSE MIKE. (Create a place through shapes and shades Build a blinding stage where beauty is made But when your colors fade Everything will change I'm trying hard to imagine better Daydream him. I'll wait forever! I'll pray that our paths blur... together. It might not be true, but it's the best I can do, If only to keep a little piece of you. I can't keep it inside. I'll have to shout it out loud; All of the things I couldn't live without! And I'm pouring my heart, and I'm spilling my soul And I'm taking a breath, and he's giving his all And I wanna walk out from the trouble I'm in 'Cause I'm really not sure where to begin... And if make believe will make it better; Better than it was before And lines could bring us close together So I won't be lonely no more. Pretending it doesn't matter Could help me pass the time. Make-believe! He'll hide forever! This is real life This is real li-i-ife This is real life Oh oh oh this is real life Oh oh oh) But eventually, she realizes that she’s still lonely despite her attempts to hide through her and Mike’s dreams. However, Mike, despite wanting to break free from these dreams, is kept in his coma-dream by Wilfre. Heather begins to “hold him close” in order to speak to him, and continue telling him her make-believe “real-life.” Paint your world full of tones. Write the story so you know how it goes. But my heart's alone, 'till he comes home. He'll make a decision, he'll have no choice. And I'll hold him close, he'll hear my voice. And I'll pray we're together, Forever. Take a deep breath. Go for a walk. I wish you were here, 'cause we've got to talk. I can't keep it inside. I have to shout it out loud; All of the things I couldn't live without. And I'm pouring my heart, and I'm spilling my soul, And I'm gasping for air 'cause he's (he has) given it all, And he wants to wake up from the dream he's been in, And start it all over so we can really, begin making it, we'll make it better; Better than it was before. And lies could bring us close together So I won't be lonely no more. Pretending it doesn't matter Could help me pass the time In make-believe he’ll hide forever, This is real life! (I'm just trying to survive) This is real life, ohhh (Every day in my re-al life) This is real life, oh oh oh (Taking one step at a time) This is real life (in real [drawn out] life) Heather realizes that the make-believe world she’s created is not enough. Although her dreams have real love, they cannot hold Mike in his mental-prison any longer. She realizes that what she’s doing is selfish, and sees Mike begin to fight for consciousness. He wants to wake up and “see the Real Life.” And as Heather prays for him, he wakes up. She hugs him, and they walk away from their make-belief world. He's taking a step And he's making a stand He's pulling down walls And doing all that he can He's through with black and white And drawing the lines Between make believe and Real life This is real life This is real life Oh oh oh This is real life Ooh ooh My real dreams Have real love You make the things That you can't touch This make believe Is not enough It's time to see The real li-iii-ife. - - - - - - - - - - - - - That story is amazing on it’s own, but then you realize the other aspects of it. Do you know who you play as in these games? You play as the God of not just the Raposa universe, but of the ENTIRE universe. (Heather prays to you to bring her brother back to her at the end of DTL II) YOU draw the Raposa world into existence. YOU vanquish Wilfre in order to save Mike. YOU clear away the darkness choking Mike’s mind. YOU extinguish the eternal flame at the end of the game to end the Raposa world, and YOU _DRAW MIKE BACK TO LIFE._ - - - - - - - - - - As I said before, the story of these games is honestly one of the bests I’ve ever seen in a video-game. IF ONLY they had executed it better. Because they failed at execution, most people looked at ending and thought “...wait wtf?” Instead of “HOLY CRAP WTF WHY ARE MY EYES LEAKING!?” THAT’S the main flaw with these games. Both story-wise and game-play wise. The ideas and lore were AMAZING! Being able to draw your own items, and use your drawings to play through a game sounds absolutely amazing. Same thing for the story. An epic about the God of the world struggling to fight back a dark force wishing to keep one child trapped in a never-ending make-believe world because the child’s waking up would possibly kill all life in their world, a world created by the child’s sister in an attempt to hide from her loneliness pain and trauma caused by a horrible accident that killed her family aside from the child is a dark, epic, yet heart-wrenching story that I’d LOVE to see. Yet, the game has gameplay of a passable plat-former, and the story has poor execution in terms of the twist and buildup. ...Despite this though, the Drawn to Life franchise is still my favorite “kid’s game” of all time. It’s the ONLY GAME that nearly left me in tears at the end with it’s amazing soundtrack, and great story. I had a LOT of fun with it as a kid, and I will always love the moments it gave me. 9/10 ----------------- SIDE NOTE: No I am not mentioning the tree-ending. AND NO I AM NOT MENTIONING THE SPONGEBOB KNOCK-OFFS. ------------------

[@tlg1310]

@@sirnesbit1285 technically the spongebob game was made by fifthcell, it just had nothing to do with DTL. Also another bit of symbolism i liked was the fact the color was draining from the world, which could allude to the fact that Mike might be dying (Which is rather ironic due to wilfre wanting to not make the world end, but Mike dying would for sure do it).

[@Shi_gai]

I remember reading that there were originally meant to be 3 games rather than two, but uncertainty in a third game forced them to end it with the second game. I’d assume the foreshadowing would’ve been easier to understand it they had another game to work with.

[@DoujinShinji]

God, a third game would’ve really helped with that. AND would’ve been nice to play so they wouldn’t have just become “The Scribblenaut studio” after Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter.

[@SonyaLeivick]

That ending sequence SCARRED me as a kid. I remember I must’ve been 8 or 9 when I finished it and I did not see it coming at all. It bothered me so much that I put the game away and didn’t touch it for another 7 years...

[@angeldevil110]

same!! it scared the hell out of me and I thought it wasn't actually supposed to be part of the game lmfao

[@lordvegetables]

I was a dumbass so I never understood what was happening in the ending and didn't think about it until years later

[@leilaca8217]

Same... this game came back to my mind recently and I did'nt remember anything of the story, besides the fact that I was so disappointed at the end. I know why 10 year old me was so sad after finishing this... but I think it was more the fact that all the characters I met and that ment something to me were just products of mikes imagination and practically “died“ when he woke up that upset me...

[@denjismissingnut2222]

I remember I cried a lot with the ending and the middle song with the lady's child

[@hankhill1964]

I played drawn to life as a teenager and I was really perplexed by the ending. But now I only have more questions.

[@GamerBoy870]

I played this game when I was in the 8th grade still have the game

[@hankhill1964]

@Skullfuck Lobotomy Not really in the grand scheme of things. You want old go play gameboy color games. Now that's old.

[@Ti_kriss]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[@shrekshrekson6237]

Well, the first drawn to life game did hint at Mike being in a coma. For example, Heather essentially only says "kemi Kewa", which is an anagram for "Mike wake".

[@mackstax4440]

Also the entire beginning scene with the wind sound. ENTIRELY TALKING ABOUT THE CAR CRASH

[@theillusionist1494]

@Super Werewolf Frankly, I think they should have just bumped the rating of The Next Chapter up to E10+, maybe even Teen, and left everything unchanged. I think it's okay for kids to play a game that makes them cry; heck, my favorite game of all time, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky, made me cry plenty as a kid. But, at the same time, as a 9-year-old, I was NOT old enough to understand the melancholy ending of this game. I didn't even cry, I just stared at a wall for a solid hour or two feeling numb and dead inside. So, I understand not letting it be accessible to dumb kids like me, but I don't understand why the solution was "pull the heavy, weighted, but meaningful ending out and replace it with a cop-out" instead of "just raise the ESRB rating."

[@MASTEROFEVIL]

Talk about foreshadowing

[@atoaster9940]

@@theillusionist1494 even as a 20 year old I cried at the explorers of sky ending lol.

[@aquaticchaos1717]

I just played through both recently and that’s actually false. There was zero indication of Mike being in a coma in the FIRST game (Heather says that in the second game). If I recall, Mike was just created as a joke about a human in a world full of Raposa. The inverse actually happens in another THQ / 5th Cell title called Lock’s Quest; he’s a Raposa in a world full of mostly humans

[@metrozeegle4985]

Also, the world is losing it's colors because Mike is slowly dying !

[@genericstickman5967]

Based

[@Kimarnic]

@@genericstickman5967 based on what?

[@genericstickman5967]

Kimarnic based on Transformers Cybertron

[@thegreatrobin2329]

O__O Jesus H. Christ that’s dark…

[@NateMcCloud]

Also, the reason half of Dream!Heather's face is blackened is that that half of Real!Heather's face was badly damaged in the crash.

[@unofficialmeme5972]

Seriously though, the original end of The Next Chapter is pretty unsettling for a kids game.

[@Just_your_average_writer]

honestly i think the scariest part of the ending is that freeze frame of his shadow mother. Good lord, i would have had nightmares as a kid. Good work on the new vid though bud, glad you are working hard!

[@cynthia4943]

When no one understand the burden of killing all your creation just for a cute coma boy to wake up.

[@teppet4119]

so this game wasnt just a fever dream I had as a kid. huh. interesting

[@kasserole738]

It was just a fever coma after the crash

[@holybamboozler]

I played this when I was like 10 and it SCARRED ME, just because all the raposa had no choice but to DIE AND STOP EXISTING. I even remember Heather saying, "Jowee, I'm scared." And then he says, "I am too" before the entire world shakes and they all disappear. When the end credits played, I was really confused as to what was happening with the car crash until I figured it out a year later, but still, god I was expecting an ending like the first game but nooo it got REALLLY dark

[@YowLife]

The Wii version is the true successor.

[@holybamboozler]

@@YowLife fight me

[@OrangeOwl1000]

It be interesting to see how they'd continue this story if they ever do try to make a sequel in the future. Maybe Mike in reality went into therapy after the car crash then after a number of difficult years he begins to remember the fantasy he experienced in his coma. He along with his sister, then decides to re create his world through drawing stories and painting art. Mike is willing to do this not only as an emotion and artistic outlet but because he feels he owes it to his fictional friends. For the sake of Mike, the Raposa accepted their fate and extinguished the flame but now for that very same reason, Mike must re-kindle the flame.

[@c4productions5959]

Kinda crazy but now they’re actually making a sequel for the game franchise. Mike woke up out of the coma so idk how they could continue the story

[@bensarchminion]

@@c4productions5959 They could just retcon it again.

[@Septor-xc4xr]

Well well well, it's time to found out next month

[@cheerjoy]

@@bensarchminion They've confirmed the DS sequel is canon and the Wii version isn't

[@coppermustache5677]

Chuck Sweeney the way I understood it is that the world exists in mikes regulare dreams as well

[@joshuaxiong8377]

This whole video is a dream sequence after shinji fell off the tree in the end. Good stuff Shinji. :)

[@walnzell9328]

The original is he and his family got into a car crash. His sister was disfigured and his parents died. F*ck the tree ending. But also bless the tree ending. They did kind of have to tone it down in the re-release.

[@DynoSkrimisher]

Everyone: *Draws family-friendly stuff.* This guy: Raposa: "What is this white stuff in the sky and why does it say 'cUm jOke'?"

[@madden225]

lowest of the low

[@scootysauce4453]

I remember me beating the game and crying as a kid because of the last scene and rushing to show it to my Mom, she was confused incredibly.

[@aquaticchaos1717]

I will forever stand by this ending and the fake-out hero drawing at the very beginning of the sequel as some of my absolute favorite moments in video games.

[@Kirbio]

Important note: The alternate ending is also on later releases of DLC:TNC, not just the collection. And now to defend the original ending, seeing as it did impact me as a kid. So massive spoiler alert. It is likely that some form of a dream ending was planned from the start, as one of Mike's lines in the first game, right after you finish the level you find him in is somewhere along the lines of "This has to be a dream." The Car Crash ending is being built up to from the start of the second game, as certain characters say "Kemi Kewa" or "waKe miKe" Wake Mike. Along with the prologue-esq section right at the start of the game heavily hinting at something much more than what's presented. It is possible, however, that Mike could have played a bigger role, which is hinted at by one of his lines during the second world. That line being somewhere along the lines of "Bad things always happen when I leave the boat." Mike isn't seen leaving the boat at any other time during the game, so it is possible that Mike had a bigger role, but could have been cut due to time constraints. Mayor Rose's song could have been hinting at the ending as well, as it can be taken as a song Mike's mother had sung to him. When? No idea, but it was likely sometime soon before the crash. Overall, was the ending justified? Probably not, but being something presented to children, it could have been done intentionally. Perhaps to give kids the message to cherish what they have, cause no one knows when it can be taken away. Or something else. The games are filled to the brim with symbolism, so anything is possible at this rate. Sorry for the rant, just felt the need to say something to counteract this video, despite a lot of it making sense in the end.

[@SevvyCubed]

I remember playing the DS version of DtL2 when i was a kid and being so confused as to why they went for the “it was all a dream ooOOoOoOo”

[@pixilmon]

Seven Cubed it played it off real well.

[@davidwilson4446]

Spectrum well to be fair it’s a lot less cliche when you realize the entire game is trying to keep a kid from dying while in a coma and that the color fading from the world is literally Mike slowly dying

[@Cute___E]

@@davidwilson4446 hoLY SHIT

[@thegreatrobin2329]

My finest memory was crying my eyes out when I think a mother was singing to her child… never finished the game tho

[@anna-lz8jd]

The first game was incredibly nostalgic for me, it was the only game other than Pokémon that my sister and I both enjoyed playing. I remember we spent our entire christmas holiday playing it together the year it came out. I even enjoyed the wii game although I think it kinda sucks now. I loved the next chapter too, but for some reason I never ended up completing it. I didn't decide to pick it up again until 9 years after it first came out. All that time I had fond memories of drawn to life being an adorable game with a heart warming story. I sat down with my old DS and marathoned the first game. After becoming attached to all the characters again I was really excited to see how they would end up at the end of the second game. My god did that ending fuck me up for a couple days. All that time I'd been remembering it as this innocent, brightly coloured and charming kid's game, that morbid ending had been sat there waiting for me.

[@lisnobody]

I still have a cartridge with the original ending from my child hood

[@robertogonzalez6083]

kinda strange that just today i was thinking about this video game so i searched youtube and found this recent upload. great video!

[@kirby_ketchup]

same

[@pgarcyt8482]

Same

[@HellishSpoon]

Oh no it ends with "Was all in le head"

[@Link3000XD]

i like the dark ending much more.

[@Zen_Note]

Finding this channel was the best accident of 2019 so far. Granted its been only 4 days but still.

[@davisprater4731]

(WARNING. MAJOR SPOILERS FOR BOTH DS GAMES.) Though I can't comment on how well thought out the coma ending was, I can say with 100% certainty that the biblical implications were there from the start. I feel the Creator was obvious, literally being the creator of everything and being spoken of as an all knowing, all hearing, all powerful entity. The Hero in extension makes sense by that account, too, being a "chosen one" of sorts, created by the Creator themself, meant to rid the world of evil. But to me, the most interesting character by far is Wilfre, who is very much implied to represent the devil. Besides being this shadowy demon looking guy, his backstory is the first implication. He was once the most respected raposa in the village, being looked up to by all, even the mayor, but one day, he began to question the Creator, questioning why everyone should follow under their law and not be allowed to create from the Book of Life, themself. In a fit of rage, we went against the Creator and attempted to play God, and in doing so, was banished from the village to live in darkness, causing him to lose his original form in place of the shadowy demon he is today. That's not all though. Wilfre was not an equal to the creator. Not even to the Hero. He honestly wasnt even that strong, simply stronger than the average person. So he resorted not to brute strength, but to corruption, manipulation trickery, and any manner of underhanded tactics. According to the Christian belief, Satan is not simply some unstoppable force of evil. In fact, he has very little power. He can only corrupt you if you allow him to, so he plays into insecurities and weaknesses to exploit the weak into doing his bidding. Much like Wilfre, who rather than attack himself, sends out those he's managed to corrupt to cause havoc. Notice in the game, Frostwind, Deadwood, nor any of the other bosses are stated to have been originally evil, rather influenced by Wilfre's power. Furthermore, in the second game, Wilfre constantly undergoes disguises to trick the mayor of Watersong, the people of the Galactic Jungle, and even the Hero and their friends. Even without his disguise, though words alone, he's able to convince Mary to help him. He's honestly one of my favorite characters ever written, and it's simply due to how cunning and manipulative he truly was, not to mention, he wasnt simply "evil". He did what he did because he truly believed it was right. He knew that if Mike woke up, his world would die like any other dream, and so in his own twisted way, he wanted to save his world from the biggest threat against it, the Creator. Wilfre was an amazingly written character who had so much symbolism and personality behind him. He's the reason Drawn to life and its DS sequel are two of my favorite games I've ever played, even if the gameplay itself wasnt phenomenal.

[@radiotow3r]

I've been trying to find this game for 8 YEARS and now all the memories are flooding back, oh my god..

[@tabdeugo]

"The 2nd DTL ending has been changed beacause it was too violent" Ok why not ,it was inded a bit hard to take in or understand for 4-8 years old kid, let's see what it is now i guess "The cinematic is the boy mike faling from a tree faling unconsious for 10 min before waiking up" SO THAT MEANS THE NEW CUTSCENE SAYS THE TWO CHAPTER WERE JUST A 10 MIN DREAM !?!! THAT'S EVEN WORSE!!!

[@Hazearil]

Don't worry, the changed ending is not canon according to the guy who made the game.

[@NotAFakeName1]

Rip doujinshinji, killed by a long fall off of a short tree. 1 like = 1 prayer 🙏

[@tylercarpenter1772]

Drawn to Life the Next Chapter DS is genuinely my favorite game of all time

[@charls600]

Uncanny Shadow same, I’m currently playing it lol

[@abareamphibia6812]

Really I’d like to see you do a lets play of it and hear why you love it so much

[@OpposingPhoenix]

Glad I’m not the only one.

[@aquaticchaos1717]

Same! Might be one my absolute favorite DS title alongside Gen 5 Pokemon. It might not beat my all-time favorite Terraria, but it’s still REALLY good

[@zel___]

What !? I had this game as a child and I just remembered now, I search on KZbin for some gameplay of this game and found this video but I've never finished drawn to life because I was not good at it and... This ending is surprising.. I'm happy I've never seen it but I think it would traumatise me forever..

[@spudwilkins9440]

I didn't know for a while that these were Bible games. Actually good Bible games at that.

[@iggnifyre6333]

I remember loving the first game but can't recall that ending for the life of me. Maybe I gave up during the final boss. Edit: Wait I only played the first game, oops.

[@KalmiaJoy]

i only played the wii game and just learned that there was 2 DS games but i never got a ds

[@schrodinger1122]

I’m 14, and this first game was my entire childhood, and only recently was I able to remember the name of it. I love this game so much!!!

[@phasmine_]

This video needs more views, I love it

[@Decaticon]

how are we all getting here in 2019 right now great video btw

[@redrazorx-23]

This game has some amazing foreshadowing, the reason you need to collect color is because the color is fading away…and the color is fading away because Mike is dying. And the reason Heather’s face is half normal and half shadowy is because Heather‘s face was damaged in the crash. HOW WAS THIS RATED E?!?!

[@stevenrivera802]

Ironically, the avatar I drew when I played this game as a kid was literally Jesus Christ lol.

[@bdstudios6088]

It gets really dark, just like Undertale? Innocence juxtaposed with heaviness is uncanny

[@commander1suv492]

I remember this game on the DS but I was so young. I just remember a boat. Also now that I see this video I remember colourful ink bottles too. I also remember that you lost your clothes whenever you got hurt.

[@raulguallpa8688]

In short, the coma ending was shocking/depressing/confusing and creating stuff was cool. Also the music in the Next Chapter is amazing!

[@nidohime6233]

You know the funny thing about the ending? Is the one that every 2000s creepy pasta says how a series actually ends, yet no one mentions this game as the real deal.

[@cosmosayz5338]

I was honestly super young whenever I played through these games and I understood completely with the car crash ending??? And then I got a copy of the game with the tree ending and oh god did that just like. Completely dulled and ruin the impact of the original ending... On another note, I never ever got or understood any of the religious notes in this story haha,,, I was silly dense child who was just super emotional I guess

[@cybe9717]

Oh boy, 4:53 A.M!

[@smackflap992]

“He’s in God’s hands now!”

[@ti2218]

I remember going to Blockbuster with my 3 siblings and we all got our own copies of Drawn To Life: The Next Chapter. On my first playthrough I could barely read and was very dumb so I thought the ending was just dumb weird nonsense. But I loved the game. I played it again, mostly for the soundtrack. Then again for the bosses. Then eventually I caught on to the story. I had to beat the game 5 times to somewhat understand the basic plot points and once I did I only loved it even more. Then I became obsessed with it (only to be disappointed by the fact that nobody I knew even knew about the game and my siblings didn't even finish it once so I was a lonely fanboy), but anyways I begged and begged for a copy of the first game and played that, and I loved it too! It was really amazing to see the roots of my favorite game, especially as a kid with a DS where the closest thing I had to a story outside DtL was New Super Mario Bros. But I got out of this phase pretty quickly. About four or five years after that and I lost both copies I had, to the original and the sequel. My mom had me clean my room, and by some miracle I found it. My DtL: The Next Chapter card! I instantly put it into my 3DS and played through the entire game in one night (It was already muscle memory at that point, but I actually got to 100% understand the story this time, even as a dumb 11 year old). Let's just say I was nothing short of shocked, and amazed! Suddenly everything made sense. The credits song and pictures of Mike and Heather, the religious ties to the "creator" and God, the characters all being pigments of imagination, Wilfre's goals to keep Mike in the coma to save the world, because once he wakes up it disappears forever, and so much more. NOW, 5 years after THAT, I'm 16 and I annually come back to enjoy the game. I am usually able to critically understand and explain if and why games and other bits of media are good or bad, but not this one, since it's too nostalgic for me to criticize whatsoever. So I don't know if it's actually a good game, but to me, it's the best game I've ever played. So I am SO happy to see you make a video about it!! Edit: Oh, also, I subbed. I don't agree with your thoughts on the franchise but this is a great, underrated video and your channel is even more underrated. You put a lot of effort into this.

[@DoujinShinji]

Thanks for sharing your little story! The games aren’t perfect, but they’re certainly solid, classic DS titles that are worth remembering and playing again. I sometimes wish that they gave the series a bit more attention than only two games. Thanks also for subbing and watching!!

[@psychopianist630]

@@DoujinShinji Good news: a third installment is coming out, called "Drawn to Life: Two Realms"! Bad news: it looks rather rushed.

[@Raddish-IS-Radd]

​@@psychopianist630random news a game called draw an epic stickman is kinda like this but for mobile

[@psychopianist630]

@@Raddish-IS-Radd I've played it and its sequel (there's also a third game but I've never touched that). Draw a Stickman: EPIC is just Drawn to Life at home, and its sequel blatantly rips off several aspects of Drawn to Life

[@Raddish-IS-Radd]

@@psychopianist630 k

[@theplanetsaturn_]

I beat the game when I was like 8 and didn't even process what the ending was

[@leafcheck]

I only played the collection so I never knew about this dark ending.

[@432hzjamz9]

When just seeing the DS card gives u immediate existential dread

[@walterthemighty7549]

I played this when I was 12 and just kinda had to internalize some healthy survivor's guilt from the ending. Almost wrote Jeremiah Slaczka, who did the story, an angry email

[@snowcloudshinobi]

so that's what survivor's guilt feels like...

[@abby-ve6jd]

i used to LOVE this game and was so sad it was unpopular and that none of my friends played it :c but it honestly had such a big impact on my childhood

[@ViddysVids]

I haven’t played Drawn to Life forever but I do want to say, I like your video. It’s very well edited, funny and informative

[@chase_h.01]

I dont think Mike is really a background character, he's just very unassuming at first. And his situation just seeming like a dev joke is actually brilliant if that was the intent from the beginning

[@CavinLee]

I had a suspicion it was symbolism for god

[@mairin6891]

this game always scared me lmaoo , finally i got a reason why .

[@selfishhero1208]

My depressed as hell 9 y/o self LOVED the original 2nd ds game ending

[@frank-2martialoffrankoslav151]

Wait, hold on, there's one where both are combined, and it's ending is WAAAAAY lighter than this, what in the 1,000 coins to unlock Dev Team fountain!?

[@sandysalina2881]

This is a really well-edited video. Good job man! also Drawn to Life is my childhood and that ending actually made me cry lol

[@allie2661]

Dude this game messed me up as a kid, and that goddamn soundtrack still gives me the feels

[@denisebrathwaite8259]

The ending would destroy me as a kid

[@YowLife]

The fact that the ending could so easily be replaced in the 2nd iteration shows that it wasn't an important detail. Personally, I don't take it as canon.

[@nileshollowthorn]

The original creator stated that it is canon. It wasn't "easily replaced", they were literally forced to change it because of censorship. They never wanted to do that. Not only this, but this ending doesn't just come out of nowhere and is set up across both games, and hinted at many times. The tree ending makes zero sense because the title of the series, "Drawn to Life" is literally Mike being drawn back to life by the Hero because he's slowly dying, seen by the color draining from the world. All of the character development that happens between the games, especially Mari's betrayal, wasn't for nothing. It made it so that you cared about the characters, and Mari only turns on the Hero once she finds out the world would end if Mike woke up. We find out she is with Wilfre during only the 2nd world, Lavasteam. Even Heather and Mike's inclusion in the first game, and Heather opening the 2nd game by speaking to the creator, sets up this ending. When you unscramble her words, she is talking about waking Mike up. Wilfre's entire journey is to make sure the Mike dies so that their world can live on. The entire story's impact is completely destroyed in the tree ending because they actually spent a lot of time setting up this twist/development. So no, it wasn't an unimportant detail.

[@YowLife]

@@nileshollowthorn I prefer the Wii sequel which ignores all that "it was all a dream" nonsense for a good story. I hope they make an official sequel connected to it soon.

[@nileshollowthorn]

@@YowLife The “it was all a dream” stuff is only a copout if it comes out of nowhere. It didn’t come out of nowhere. It didn’t come out of nowhere. It is the main story. They won’t make a story that follows the Wii sequel. We literally got a story that further explored the coma ending in Two Realms, as bad as that was, it canonized it even more.

[@Felixman128]

Dude, as someone who's loved this series since I was a kid, your whole commentary on the tree shit never fails to make me laugh my ass off.

[@Adercu]

I remember being an 8 year old kid and crying after watching the endind of the second game with its music and references to mike's dream...i love too much this game

[@froodian387]

Okay so I just got a Nintendo ds and played it for the first time and I checked it out on KZbin and found your channel and holy shit this is some top tier content you are genuinely one of the most underrated KZbinrs I’ve seen thus far

[@DoujinShinji]

Thanks, I greatly appreciate those kind words! c:

[@TechnoDragonGaming]

I'm very glad to see that somebody made a review video like this about Drawn To Life, cuz I've had this story bugging me for the past nine years. My dad bought The Next Chapter for me at Target or something back when it first came out. It was one of the two games I played very often while I was in chemotherapy. I just want you to imagine a 10-year-old in a children's hospital bed watching the ending sequence with the car crash in utter confusion... that's me. My blurry memory says my doctor walked in and asked how I was doing like right as it ended and for a split second I had no fucking idea how to respond. I was just so confused and as a young, atheist child I did not even notice the Christian connections and just assumed this was all just fantasy religion or whatever. A couple weeks ago, I went out to the city and found the original Drawn To Life game in a local nerd store. I thought to myself, "Hey, maybe this'll answer all of my questions!" and bought it. I managed to beat it in like a week and it answered some questions like who the mayor really was and whatnot, and since my memory was blurry, I replayed The Next Chapter and just beat it a few minutes ago and now I can finally say that no matter what I will not be able to fully understand what in the fresh hell is going on I'm so sorry. I actually had no idea that they had a Wii sequel and a collection pack until just now! And that's my weird and obscure story about this... weird and obscure game. Tl;Dr: Thanks for uploading this video so that I don't feel alone about this weird trip I had for nearly ten years.

[@taylorlynn3525]

This game has obvious references or hints from the actual Bible, I noticed it almost immediately when I was introduced to this game series as a child. Wilfre, being the most popular, perfect, well-respected Raposa in the village who questioned the Creator and tried to play the role of the Creator which led to him becoming a gooey, icky black shadow, is the representation of Lucifer, who was the most beautiful and perfect angel in Heaven, but went against God and his wishes, and thus, was cast into Hell and became Satan/the Devil; Wilfre is the villain, the embodiment of evil in the game, as also Satan. The Creator of course is the Rapo world's version of God, and the Book Of Life I believe that was what it was called, is the Bible itself. A cute kid's game series but with masked, subtle religious references in the game, but I LOVED it, one of the best that I have played :)

[@AndroidHarris]

To add to the last bit Mari is supposed to represent Mary from the bible and Jowee as Joesph. Wilfre is representing Satan as he is deceitful and hates the creator.

[@kawou4250]

I've been thinking about this for the past eight hours. I didn't think something could make me want to go through those games after all these years.

[@AsianAngelo-vp4eb]

Rip drawn to life. I stopped playing in 2010. The community needs to be revived

[@BlurbyDestroyerOfWorlds]

As a mid-2000s kid, I saw the car crash ending, and to be honest, as I was maybe 8 or 9 at most at the time, I couldn’t rlly process the full weight of it besides “o mike and heather ye I know them but what’s with the car crash?” But now I’m going back into the game as a teenager and I saw this video and remembered why I hadn’t re-played it sooner 😅😭

[@DOMINATION456STUDIOS]

The story did continue. It was my life

[@cubeman9766]

11 years later and another game was leaked lets go

[@CherriOasis]

I only ever played drawn to life the next chapter and I don't actually remember anything except crying my eyes out 😭😭 I'm assuming it's due to you know.. the ending

[@ValKob]

that moment when I drew Chucky from Child's Play as the playable character and this video tells me he's supposed to represent Christ

[@lukewilsontv]

I played next chapter on the DS at like age 6 and I remember rewatching the ending cutscene over and over trying to understand it

[@pastelblueboi4026]

I remember seeing the ending when I was 5 or 6. The first time I ever really sobbed from something that scared me.

[@GwainSagaFanChannel]

Wow someone who also knows about Drawn to life. Wild.

[@holybamboozler]

I personally think the entirety of the second game is kind of depressing, but still very well put together. Like if it stood on its own rather than being a sequel to the simplicity and general upbeat vibe of the original game, then it would be perfect. The game doesn't just play out normally and end with the car coma scene. It's much more than that. It starts off kind of ominously with a few strange opening/foreshadowing cutscenes, and then it gets right into the heat of the conflict. One character (who actually represents the human's real life sister) is kidnapped, and briefly speaks in anagrams about waking the kid from his coma. After that,, half the village is kidnapped as well, and to top it all off, their entire village just sorta loses all color/life and becomes uninhabitable. Once the remaining villagers escape, they're mainly sad that they lost so much, and in a realistic sort of way too. A bit farther into the story, we come across a child who is trying to save his mom from dying. There's one scene where the mother sings one last song to him, but thankfully she ends up living. After that, one of the main characters goes missing, and another main character is very upset by it to the point where he spend hours looking for her, considers not going on, and jumps every time someone approaches him. He has nightmares about her and the character kidnapped at the beginning, and we see a repeat of the very first cutscene in the game, once again foreshadowing the car crash coma. Fast forward a bit more, we have hard labor, tyranny, this one island that's basically softcore North Korea, and then the drama kicks in full swing. The character that went missing turns out to be suddenly working with the villain, another character who was introduced earlier in the story turns out to BE the villain in disguise, he throws away a very important item that was helping everyone progress forward, and then the two of them just sorta dip, leaving the other villagers hopeless, lost at sea, and unsure how to continue. Suddenly one of the villagers just sorta knows where they need to go, and so they depart, ending up at this dark wasteland where the villain is. Soon they find out that the reason the one character is helping the villain is because they are all certainly going to die if they actually stop him. One main character finds out the whole coma situation, but doesn't actually explain it. He just storms up to the human kid and says "do you have any idea how involved you are in this!?" So after thinking it over, everyone decides that it's best to do the right thing and sacrifice their world so the kid could wake up. The final boss fight happens, they get back the character who was kidnapped at the start, and then they all go back to their restored village essentially to die and stop existing. Everyone fades away except for the human kid, his sister appears before him, first speaking gibberish and then saying "God, please bring back my little brother to me," and then the car crash scene in the credits plays. So overall, it was really built up throughout the story rather than just being some cheaply placed ending. Again, it was a bit of a dramatic development compared to the first game, but on its own, it's kind of amazing. The creators were able to have the game revolve around that secret without anyone knowing until closer to the end. And when the last quarter of the game did come, hooo boy was it depressing. There were large themes of loss, dread, fear, and uncertainty throughout the game, and it basically peaked at the end with the answer to all the questions. I do have a few critiques similar to yours, such as the fact that the human character should have played a bigger role in the game rather than suddenly being the important one at the end. They foreshadowed the tragedy well, but not his involvement specifically. They also could have done a bit of recap/background at the start of the story, so that the intro wasn't so jarring. This game was a big part of my childhood, and it really made me feel. I'm glad more people are finding it and talking about it despite its minor flaws!

[@Cyynapse]

i played this game when i was a kid and never beat it so finding this video is fucking insane

[@emeraldchild97]

I remember very vividly when i got to the coma part of the game telling my brother "this game is christian it turns out" i was like 9ish

[@ZorieZorieZorie]

I remember having that game as a kid Good thing I never finished it

[@AllIsFiller]

Next time I play this, I'll play as the crashed car!

[@tylerhylton4927]

9:09 you’re in our prayers.

[@loeffelatom]

tf. i think I found the root of my kids trauma.

[@zoomie7]

Maybe I should play it again but I thought it was so profound as a kid and I loved that.

[@5slistenup.a10isspeaking2]

There’s a new drawn to life for the switch lads!

[@CaptainWobbs]

How could Mike’s coma dream interpret half-shadow-face Heather from his sister’s half scarred face if he didn’t get to see it before going into a coma 0/10 coma dream not sensible

[@4t7music37]

Underrated video, good stuff, subbed

[@theshrekening2157]

I like how they made the uncensored version cannon

[@tank________]

i wish i never clicked on this video as i had no idea this game was this dark...

[@midtiermusician]

huh

[@a.p.official787]

Here because there’s going to another drawn to life 🗿

[@jamesbrincefield9879]

My dad had a friend who was a firefighter. One day he was changing a light bulb at their station with a step ladder that was about three feet off the ground. He fell on his back and hit his head on the ground and now he’s in a wheelchair for the rest of his life and basically retarded.

[@OsamonGaming]

This video is funny and all but I deadass cried at the ending when I played it as a child ngl. Good video

[@gavinpatchet6189]

This game deserves a real ending. Great vid btw.

[@King_G-dede]

I’m gonna commit fall 2ft out of tree

[@beansbeanie163]

I had that game. If you had a ds. Close the ds while the game is on. It make a cute sound.

[@ChillinVinillin]

The ending disturbed me as a child

[@multentlava]

i remember playing this when i was little and the ending made me cry

[@2knives1cook]

I'm happy that I'm not the only one who played this game and remembers the fever dream that was the DS ending. 8 year old me got fucked up

[@ewetwentythree]

Traumatizing children is exceptionally based. Never playee DTL2 but the ending is peak probably

[@shy_8427]

I remember an ending where the boy Mike was in his room and Mary and Jowee were two dolls in a box.