The Genius of Non-Traditional Horror Games - OFF and Subnautica Analysis

[@viola8422]

I never liked the fear part of horror (I'm pretty easily scared) ,but I really like designs and themes you can get from it

[@alzzarla4610]

Very much same. Love horror themes, hate being scared xD

[@MaIinche]

I watched your videos years ago and rediscovered your channel a few days ago. OFF and Subnautica are both very dear to me, so I'd be super interested in your insights :) Also I just wanted to say that I'm very happy you're still doing your super wholesome content! It's hard for me to put into words how happy and moved I am you and your content exists. I'll be honest, I cried a little. Keep doing your stuff, I wish you the best 🍀

[@EmceeProphIt]

Aw geez. That made my night, thank you. :D I'll keep going for a good while yet, I really love my work.

[@MaIinche]

@@EmceeProphIt Thank you so much! I'm glad you love what you do and it really shows in the quality of your content :)

[@certifiedsorcerer3826]

I'm not particularly fond of horror, but I _love_ OFF, for many of the same reasons you bring up. The Batter is one of my favorite protagonists also. I'm glad to hear you still plan on doing more in-depth analysis videos, and I'm sad to hear they don't do so well. Those are my favorite king od vids, and also how I first discovered your channel. Take care, and have a great day!

[@sirrealism7300]

I highly reccomend you look at Darker and Darker, the second playtest is free and available from the 28th to the 30th, so dont hesitate...

[@SableGear]

I would love to see your analysis of OFF eventually! It's a favourite of mine for how surreal but still... intuitive it is. If you talk to the Elsen npcs enough your understanding of the world starts to go from "this is weird" to "yeah I kinda get it." Their world is made up of almost synthetic elements instead of natural ones; plastic, smoke, metal, and meat - it's like a fantastical extension of highly urbanized, corporatized life and the kind of people it produces (or perhaps, fosters. The fact that the poor Elsen are so broken and anxious, but everyone above them has actual personalities and goals feels like some pretty scathing commentary on corporate jobs and structures).

[@EmceeProphIt]

Hope ya'll enjoy the new vid and have a good spooky season! If you wanna support my nonsense here's the best ways to do so~ Patreon: www.patreon.com/EmceeProphIt One-Time Donation: streamlabs.com/emceeprophit/tip Lemme know what ya think of the new episode :D

[@scattau41]

@ 5:00 “Most intellects do not believe in God, but the fear is just the same.” - Erykah Badu, “On and On”

[@EmceeProphIt]

I used to love Erykah Badu as a kid. A lot of wisdom in her songs.

[@A_Red_Pyramid]

As a long time fan of horror games, I was skeptical when I heard of Subnautica being scary in the slightest - but when I finally gave it a try, I had quite a few moments of dread, suspense, and outright fear. At 10:27, when I saw where you had been swimming, I'll admit my stomach lurched a bit. The scariest (most disturbing?) non-horror game I've played is DEFCON. The sound design in particular, when combined with the simplistic and cold visual aesthetic, makes for a really off-putting rendition of launching nuclear missiles from an underground bunker. I will need to give OFF a try - thanks Emcee!

[@alzzarla4610]

God fucking damn I need to finish OFF and play Subnautica xD The way you describe *why* the horror worked was incredible, and then coupled with the clips of you seeing the huge monsters was *so* fucking terrifying lmao

[@adamvancleave9200]

1. In a world of cartoon cutouts, we get introduced to a FMV character (rotoscoped or plain filmed) or something with a 3D model. And they linger too long to be a "jump" scare. 2. An eldritch force in the area has been feeding from (and often feeding INTO) religious fanatics, serial killers, druggies, and more recently your (or someone you know. Like an adopted daughter) personal drama (like Silent Hill or Echo). Like your car going at top speed got ripped apart by the imaginary friend of one of your companions. 3. It's like destiny itself really wants you dead and sometimes the whole world with you. I find collecting bad ends in these kind of fun though.

[@chrisrichards7063]

I don't think I knew what I was getting into with OFF (so I've no idea how I did in fact get into it), but I absolutely love it. It's so surreal, and I think those things that sit at the intersection of Not Actually Horror and Deeply Peculiar And/Or Creepy are some of the most effective to me.

[@HybridAngelZero]

I also took a pretty long time to get into horror, largely because I generally don't find the standard execution of what people normally thing of as "horror" all that engaging. Not a diss, just more in the "I guess that's not for me" kind of way. But several years ago I took a chance in Resident Evil 4, which at the time had just become a Player's Choice on GameCube, and I just absolutely fell head over heels for it, as it largely subverted tropes I didn't like, and showed me the genre has so much more depth and breadth than I had thought. While I'm still very picky about what horror media I engage with, I've gained a deep love for horror motifs and designs, especially in juxtaposition to brighter styles or "cool" protagonists

[@jonshoberg2714]

Oh boy new vid! OFF is one of my favorites of all time for sure, I don't think I can put into words all of my thoughts on it, but frankly I'm in love with the game and I would be overjoyed to see a symbolism video on it. As for Subnautica, that's a game I greatly appreciate and admire, but I cannot for the life of me play it. I tried it once, and it's very good at what it does, but I happen to have the specific fears it plays upon pretty damn bad, and I physically couldn't get myself to play much past reaching the crashed ship.

[@TheGamerGeek128]

You're bringing me really close to trying OFF again

[@CCNeverender]

I agree with what you mentioned during Subnautica. I don't suffer from a fear of the ocean (thalassophobia i think?) but there is just something so primal about the deep waters. I had a similar experience in The Outer Wilds on one of the planets that you can explore. Its dark and murky, and predators lie in wait. That moment REALLY spiked my anxiety lol. It was not long after that where I decided maybe I'll just watch a let's play of this one...

[@MusicalBloodDrop]

A couple of my favourite games! So happy to have played and conquered OFF - I was a little disappointed to know I'd already been spoiled on the twist going in, but even with that it still has one of the strongest aesthetics I've ever had the privilege of experiencing in an RPG - super fun to draw! Definitely looking forward to your symbolism video when you get there :D And Subnautica, when I was still watching gameplay on the reg that was always the one series I'd drop anything I was doing to hop straight in. I couldn't explain it, other than I always wanted to know more, and be scared more - the Dead Zone is still one of my absolute favourite areas just from the sheer terror it instilled in me, seeing those ethereal and deadly creatures just beyond liveable space. I also deeply relate to horror moreso invoking feelings of sadness than terror, I wonder if that's a Depressed Kid vibe or what lol. I think for me, body horror is the type that both scares me in the moment and sticks with me, and it doesn't really need to be graphic to get to me. The scene in Doki Doki Literature Club where Yuri's eyes are not her own but instead just a little too realistic and wrong and piercing through the screen made sleeping difficult that night haha. Really enjoyable, keep up the great work :D

[@nanardeurlambda]

My most recent interesting horror game piece is Perfect Vermin, which you should probably discover as blind as possible. A good creator of very strange horror would be kitty horrorshow. she specializes in hostile places and low-poly 3D.

[@EmceeProphIt]

I'll look into Perfect Vermin! I've sampled some of kitty's work and it's amazing. I'm a big fan of her stuff, it's so...uncomfortable, in a good way.

[@alliesfrench]

This is when you’re at your best, dude. Just doing things how you want it, and providing such a unique perspective on your subject. I really dislike the horror genre in any medium because of how uneasy it makes me. But I think diving (heheh) into a “non-horror” like subnautica to describe why it’s so uniquely terrifying has me intrigued! If you’re gonna branch out into other mediums in horror, the two that just destroyed me and scared me silly were the original Alien, and the original Dracula novel. In both, my dad recommended (don’t show 4 year olds Alien!!) them, and described them as horror not in what you see, or what’s described, but in what you can imagine. Terrifying.

[@DylanYoshi]

I'm usually not scared by the horror genre in any medium, but I find the visual novel/anime series Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni to be terrifying. Each story arc it tells depicts the main character of that arc starting off in a cutesy slice-of-life environment before things go to hell and they slowly lose their sanity. You always see the world from the perspective of that character, so you never really know what's real and what's a result of their insanity. The result is the feeling of empathy for that character, while also having severe doubts about whether their take on the world around them is accurate. "Did the main character actually just randomly discover a dead body that was brutally cut up, or did they do it themselves?" I was reminded of this in the description of OFF, in how the protagonist there believes he sees the world in the "correct" way but is a bit of a monster. On an unrelated note, this is just a slight suggestion, but I notice a lot of your video titles use a format stating exactly what the video is about. I'm not saying to go totally clickbaity or anything, but I think more effective titles are ones that pose a question that demands an answer (even if not phrased in the form of a question), especially for a more analytical channel like this one. Something like "How being unusual makes games scary." or "These unusual games devise an unsettling horror." Something like raises a question that you can answer in the video, and I think doing that would draw people in out of curiosity better.

[@NegaHumanX]

Since you mentioned deep sea horror it got me thinking of Universal Horror again. Specifically the Gill Man. I don't know how people view them now but when I was younger Werewolves and Vampires were the cool ones everyone loved, the Frankenstein monster was about 50/50 on people liking him and the others all got shoved back into lame territory. I always hated that because the other monsters are really cool and have a lot of potential. The Mummy has a whole culture and pantheon of gods to back up his history and theming. The Invisible Man is unhinged fun and a neat peak into the depravity hidden under some peoples surfaces. The Gill Man was the odd man out for me. As soon as I thought about a fish-man my animal fact loving mind started racing with possibilities. Is it venomous? Can it snap a man in half with its jaws? Does it paralyse its prey and slowly rip them apart or does it ambush them, going for the vitals with sharp teeth and claws? Camouflage? Is it parasitic? Can it shoot a bullet of water from its body like a pistol shrimp? Discharge electricity like and eel? Bioluminescence? Does it hatch its eggs inside of other life forms? None of that. It's just a guy with scales. The scales even come off in one of the sequels. Easily my least favorite in how it's been depicted. But it could be so much more. Not only does it have the entire ocean as inspiration for horrifying ways to kill, unlike the other Uni monsters it doesn't need to be/have been human at any point. It could be a completely inhuman thing so alien to us we could never hope to understand it. Dracula talks to Jonathan and revels in tormenting him, The Werewolf is the animalistic side of humanity, the Mummy just wants to be with the person he loves, the Invisible man is driven mad by either anonymity of his own ambitions, the Gill man could be a more Alien franchise type of horror. Also Lovecraftian horror and fish people. Kind of ties the whole thing together.

[@Zerox_Z21]

One of my favourite ever games is Ecco the Dolphin. It's not a horror game really, but as a kid it definitely has plenty of moments that are fear inducing. The entire game has that eerie ocean vibe with a brilliant soundtrack that often puts you on edge. Enemies can be just off screen, there is often a great sense of isolation, the ice zones are particularly uncomfortable in many ways. And then there's the vortex levels at the end of the game. The music, visual design (and difficulty) gave kid me nightmares when not a lot did. Even now I adore the game for it's bizarre vibes that are really fitting for what it is. Another younger memory is the original Halo. I played it blind. The level 343 Guilty Spark immediately sets you up with uncertainty and creep factor. Where are the elites? Where are the marines? What's with all the cowering Covenant in hold outs? That's a lot of blood. Sounds cliche but the game prior to this was a rather bombastic alien shooting affair and it's this drastic change of pace that makes it so effective. The weirdness of the flood compared to the Covenant you're used to fighting is concerning the moment you engage them, and realising how the flood actually operate only deepens the terror. Also shout out to the original Dead Space. It's basically the cliche of all cliches but damn if it doesn't excel at what is does.

[@viola8422]

Omori is probably my favorite horror game very well written interesting uses of horror to strengthen the story

[@UnseelieFaelass]

Personally in terms of books, aside from Lovecraft's work that I recently began reading on my own, The Last Unicorn novel & Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer definitely surprised me. Now I grew up with The Last Unicorn as my favorite animated movie, that movie in hindsight is dark like the novel before it, but it didn't scare me like it did other kids. And my dumbass skimmed through parts of Blackbringer for whatever reason, so despite loving what I didn't skip I didn't appreciate it properly. I have recently tried again on Blackbringer to give it the proper read it deserves(still need to work on that), and before that read and finished(albiet slowly) reading The Last Unicorn. One type of horror they both share(The Last Unicorn film can also be included in this) is existentialism. Major Spoilers ahead for each story for those unaware of them, I'm giving brief summaries for each so don't read further to avoid spoilers. Hope you enjoy both stories though. In The Last Unicorn, the Unicorn is treated as a Lovecraftian creature to humans, and she views humans in the same way...at first. Later on, her perspective is challenged & even changes when she's forced to become human herself. She even starts to lose herself in the human girl she's become. Her memories as the Unicorn she truly is fading away as the human girl begins becoming more and more human in a true sense. Whilst in Blackbringer, a Lovecraftian type creature is sweeping over the land. In his wake he leaves nothing but death, unnerving quiet, destruction, and pure fear in any survivors left over. One survivor even offs himself out of fear and despair, for he outlived his Master, a Djinn. Whom despite real world mythology are treated as creator deities by the Fae in the book, deities who up and left by going to sleep, whilst being rather indifferent to the world's state.

[@UnseelieFaelass]

In terms of games I find Hidden Objects scare me pretty good when they use the genre. Their quality does vary between them though, even when they're in the same series. Although there's two games I really want to play, but I'm also too big of a pussy to just do it. The Path & Year Walk. They're also both games that scare the crap outta me and oddly soothe/lure me in with their osts. Creepy feeling I gotta say. Although Emcee if you play The Path be forewarned, it touches on real dark shit and is one of those you interpret as well, which may not help matters. I warn you because I know and highly agree that Doki Doki had a piss poor warning and given the similarly fucked up stuff in The Path's stories. It also comes from a dev group known for making games they got bullied over, i.e. people loved calling the games 'walking simulators'. I don't believe The Path is just that mind you, but I also can see why it's called one despite feeling bad for the devs. The bullying even lead to their closure, and the devs growing toxic towards fans and each other. Sad situation imo. Year Walk just has spooky af references to Scandinavian folklore and even features one of my fave mythological beings, the Huldra. It is a point and click tho, so naturally there's some hard ass puzzles and like in Myst you're on your own in remembering shit. And a hint on the Huldra's puzzle for when you're inside the tree, listen to her theme Locksang(fyi I'm on my computer so can't make language specific letters) to get an idea of how she sings and the notes themselves, trust me. Lots of KZbinrs got stuck on her puzzle back in the day. P.S. I'll post a final thing for music in general later.

[@ultimaoportunidadVEVO]

Thank you for the video friend, inspiring me to write my own video essays

[@EmceeProphIt]

Yooo that's my favorite kinda feedback to hear. Good luck on your vids!

[@Noonycurt]

Horror is not my favorite genre either, but here are some (mostly lesser known) horror movies I like quite a bit: Repulsion (1965) Angel Heart (1987) Misery (1990) Berberian Sound Studio (2012) Under the Skin (2013) Gerald's Game (2017) Suspiria (2019 - remake)

[@VashdaCrash]

There's this VN game that came out recently, or at least its demo, called Slay the princess. Check it out, it's about something going wrong with the story you're trying to play.

[@mewpsy1000]

Just saw the movie Midsommar. Had a very unique type of horror.

[@Specuh]

Subnautica hits different.

[@EmceeProphIt]

It really does. Nothing quite like it.

[@seanjohn159]

Just checked back in , love your videos , especially the symbolizm stuff when you did ocarina of time and majoras mask , those were a long time ago and they were so good I checked back in for another fix 🤘

[@mogscugg2639]

i've been here since the first no more heroes PAHNalysis and would love to see a symbolism video on off oh my god

[@EmceeProphIt]

It's def on the horizon. I'm aiming for sometime next year. I got a lot of stuff already planned out for the next couple months, but OFF has always been something I want to do a symbolism on~ :D

[@duckfilms3662]

@@EmceeProphIt Yes full OFF and subnatica videos absolutely.

[@FrankFrankly711]

Eternal Darkness for GameCube is pretty cool! Very Lovecraftian

[@jewthulhu]

OFF is the reason I know you exist and that’s rad of it imo

[@EmceeProphIt]

Nice! I guess from the stream I did a few years back, or something else?

[@jewthulhu]

Someone got me on to Errant Signal and I wasn't about to miss something called "The Gaming Symposium" and after attempting to play OFF I will never forget that event even if I try (I have not tried, to be clear)

[@DaviddeBergerac]

If y'all love OFF and haven't played the spinoff, HOME, you owe it to yourselves to play it

[@Mix03814]

you should play crystal project

[@EmceeProphIt]

I tried it and it's pretty interesting. I'm not super into gameplay-centric, classic style JRPGs these days, but when I'm in the mood for one again I'll def give it a go.

[@xBINARYGODx]

You should play SOMA.

[@CCNeverender]

I think the link for "our new podcast for fun gaming discussions and junk" in your description is broken btw. (I was hoping it would link to more episodes of Player's Place that i wasn't aware of!)

[@EmceeProphIt]

Fixed it! Thanks~ And for now the series is on a hiatus, but we wanna do more in the future.

[@budbear4127]

Wow imagine being a NERD that likes horror content! Couldn't be ME! Also I saw some RE7 footage. It gets significantly less scary the less it starts playing on real phobias and the more it starts getting into regular RE territory.

[@budbear4127]

@Grima the Fell Dragon I thought 7 was pretty scary until it turned into a Resident Evil game in the back third.

[@an2qzavok]

OFF's "you are the baddie" theme is also the kind of thing I get enough of in my daily life. (Other games do it quite a lot too nowadays as well, even AAA blockbusters, really tired of this shit)