Blips: A Not So Spooky Halloween Warm Up

[@brycebucher1895]

Hey, thank you for checking out Fatum Betula! I actually grew up on the n64 and have a lot of nostalgia for that era despite being born in 2001, and I can go ahead an confirm that the game was not even a little bit inspired by LSD (although it probably subconsciously influenced me). The influences for the game instead include Lego Island, Anodyne, various n64 titles, and my own lack of sleep. Also, I am really glad you enjoyed the experience!

[@lucas56sdd]

Bryce Bucher Congrutulations on your work!

[@ErrantSignal]

Good to know! I'd seen that circulating around a number of sites, but it's always better to get it straight from the dev.

[@brycebucher1895]

@@ErrantSignal Yeah, I guess one site just made that (admittedly fair) assumption and other sites just ran with it. I found it kind of funny because Neko Yume, which also released on the demo disc, is heavily inspired by LSD. Really enjoyed the video in general by the way, I will be checking some of these games out.

[@xystem4701]

You just had to mention Lego island and get me all nostalgic, didn’t you?

[@RadioactiveMoth]

It reminded me of FromSoftware's PS1 games, myself, which is cool because I love those games.

[@comababe]

THIS IS THE FIRST YEAR I GET TO WATCH THE HALLOWEEN VIDEOS AS THEY COME OUT

[@masterdesattardes1055]

We all feel privileged to partake in this

[@morrighanlefaye559]

Extremely over the moon to see someone talking about Necrobarista. I had a fantastic time crying my eyes out at it earlier, and if you want a similar emotional beat I highly recommend Spiritfarer.

[@barryherbers6090]

Cloud Gardens looks sick. I love an "art" game that's not afraid to be game-y

[@ArchiveTheMyth]

Thought you meant cloud meadows for a sec, so that "art" took on a different meaning lol

[@JaesadaSrisuk]

I’ve been waiting for a relaxing gardening game for ages, and the apocalyptic theme is really unique and interesting.

[@kawaiiconcept7479]

it's out in full now and it's really fun. I super enjoy it

[@noonehere8416]

I adore these blip episodes, they show me so many short little games i just wouldn't of known about otherwise. Thank you for producing them and putting them out. Like Fantum Batula sounds right up my ally! thank you for recommending it!

[@EggBastion]

_"wouldn't_ --of-- *_have_* _known about otherwise"_ (sorry) You're dead right about these episodes being very useful though.

[@exquisitecorpse4917]

"I don't think I can get you Communism, sorry" - 2020 election

[@timothymclean]

Shame. Some properly-brewed communism would really hit the spot right about now.

[@The_Jovian]

You're a terrible comrade, Kishan

[@jonnil1997]

Lmao

[@AlyssaTheHuntress]

It's really sick to see you cover Fatum Betula because I'm actually good friends with the guy that helped the dev do the promotional material and some other art design for the game.

[@that1geekychick]

Cloud Gardens is sincerely the most relaxing game I have ever played.. The puzzle mechanics somehow serve to make it more soothing than just a straight creative sandbox would, since they give you a purpose to work towards and help break you of the desire to make everything aesthetically perfect. As the levels get more challenging, you're increasingly nudged to let go of your human need for order and give in to the peaceful chaos of the new, botanical age. And that's just so lovely.

[@wusashicat1]

Fatum Betula Is this first time I've seen people have burrowed nostalgia for the '90s. WE've been living with borrowed 80's nostalgia for so long that it's a breath of fresh air.

[@EggBastion]

*'burrowed'* nostalgia _...cos you really_ *_'dig'_* _it?_

[@thegustbag]

"Making it stretch" is how I played ALL of Life is Strange. I loved living in that world. It's also how I play a lot of other games that give me unique worlds and interesting characters to inhabit/interact with. It's how I plan on playing Necrobarista even, when I finally get my hands on it! It was on my radar before watching, but now I REALLY wanna get it sometime soon.

[@grammarmaid]

Nice to see someone else who enjoys just _being_ in game worlds, at least for a while. I always say that there are two types of gamers: those who voluntarily move the character at gentle walking speeds when it serves no "gameplay advantage," and those who have the control stick/shift key at full tilt from start to finish.

[@Skullkan6]

The "idol" in post void isn't an idol. It's your own head leaking blood.

[@ErrantSignal]

It kind of plays loose with this idea! The intro says "Your head in your hand" and clearly shows you running with a bloody mess for a head and a bloody head in your hand... but then also when you squeeze the idol it shatters like glass, and is referred to in the upgrade screen as "more liquid for the idol" and even the Steam store page mentions an "idol" rather than your literal head. I wonder if at some point it was straight up your head, and then maybe that was deemed *too* off putting and kind of got abstracted away to be a glass idol? Or if it's intentionally kind of abstract and inconsistent, leaning into the bad trip like quality of everything else?

[@АлександрБагмутов]

ye right what am I playing with then

[@AlexandraOrlando]

I watched this video for the thumbnail

[@edoartworks]

YES. Blips is good. Thank you!

[@oceansoul1986]

I started playing Necrobarista because of your video and I am already in love with it. Thank you for all your interesting suggestions over the years!

[@the9file]

there is a TON of gaming content on KZbin. Blips may be my favorite gaming series

[@sethzard]

First Five really is the equivalent of the comedian's comedian but for people who talk about games (not widely known/followed, but well known amongst people in the industry).

[@xystem4701]

He really doesn’t get enough recognition. His viewpoint on games and time really rings true with me.

[@barryherbers6090]

ah yis, spooky time with Christopher Franklin. I have lots of cozy October memories with this channel

[@garbage-boitrash-man1489]

I’m 19 and I was raised on the PS1 and N64. I don’t think it would be so far fetched that those low res low poly aesthetics were what was prevalent when he was a kid. For me, a lot of those aesthetics can tap into parts of games that scared me and the comfort of my early gaming memories.

[@ForeverMasterless]

That's sooooooo weird to me. Why are kids a decade younger than me being given the same consoles I had as a kid? Are you parents just super fucking cheap or something? PS1 would've been like eight years old by the time you were born, let alone old enough to play it. Hell, the PS2 came out a year before you were born, why didn't you at least have a PS2? Why weren't you playing Xbox 360, you would've been like four when it came out. Does not compute. Your parents must suck ass or have zero money, that's the only thing that makes sense.

[@atquinn1975]

This is the first time I've seen Questionable Content referenced on KZbin. Thumbs up!

[@rumos5719]

not to mention Megatokyo!

[@DraggyBDragon]

I just bloody love this channel so much.

[@Dialgadude]

Thumbnail gave me a good laugh after you mulled over whether to do it or not.

[@divergentclouds]

i'm so happy to ser a new episode of blips!! wonderful way to wake up ^-^

[@Pietreszcz]

I love you for mentioning Questionable Content. It's the only webcomic I haven't stopped reading (started like 6 years ago). Great vid as always!

[@phelanii4444]

I am really loving these blips episodes! Nice to see you post more often as well :D

[@nilshagberg7386]

My face lights up everytime I see a new Blips video :)

[@TheLucanorian]

This is the first time a game I was already interested and got (Cloud Gardens) has showed up on Blips. Usually I'm getting indy game wishlist ideas from you.

[@alexescalante9810]

I was over with this channel then I saw the new thumbail and was like I will like, view and share the crap out of the video.

[@nexra0]

26 minutes of video game goodness... Already can't wait for the next one!

[@vincentlance]

Thanks as always mate, always look forward to your content

[@SmileySuperSam]

i've actually read more horror than ever before during the pandemic, so particularly pumped for this yrs spoopy vids

[@elsa_g]

I love these blip reviews

[@meekaboo_]

Just looking at the description I'm already excited. Feels like this October I'm more in the mood for somber/creepy games, especially ones with a message, as opposed to more outright horror games, they just don't really feel the same right now.

[@xystem4701]

Love first five! Great to see him getting more recognition

[@benjaminlefkowitz9463]

I'm really digging these blip episodes

[@FortressMagic]

First I've heard of Spirits Abyss. Spooky spelunky with an art style I actually like? Yes please.

[@christianhelgeson3712]

Just here to support the new thumbnail 👍

[@Small_Leviathan]

I played Spiritfarer last week and loved it to bits, so I might just check Necrobarista out since a lot of people compared the two (and they certainly seem to occupy similar thematic spaces even if they've got radically different tones)

[@ProUnderachiever]

Alright that comparison between Necrobarista and Life is Strange convinced me to pause the video and buy it. That scene is one of my absolute favorites in any video game.

[@computersocsci]

I love Halloween Blips! Can't wait for more!

[@ask5118]

Great video as always Campster and I look forward to more blips!

[@NotLegato]

one hundred million percent am playing necrobarista instantly. i love these videos.

[@Jekyllstein_Gray]

Loved that connection to the Life Is Strange video!

[@FeatherWait]

I was thinking about that exact moment in Life Is Strange JUST before you brought it up!

[@dawsonescott8428]

Hey, i’ve been playing demoncrawl ever since you talked about it. One of the best roguelite games mechanically i’ve played in a long time. Thanks for the recommendation!

[@attilasedon9593]

Cloud Gardens looks like one of my favourite game: Islanders. And Fatum Betula looks really interesting.

[@jamespicker2686]

The way you described the gameplay of Fatum Betula reminds me a lot of "The Norwood Suite"

[@moomoomang]

Omg, I nearly skipped, not realising it was one of your videos haha. That thumbnail! So good

[@levilukeskytrekker]

It's always a good day when Errant Signal uploads. I don't even necessarily agree super frequently with his critiques, but they're always intelligent and fascinating. One of my favorite video game critics of all time, definitely.

[@dominokos]

Damn, I literally *just* thought "What's Errant Signal up to? There hasn't been a video in along while." I click on the channel and *boom* there's a new video! Lol

[@Lookoutscience]

necrobarista is so good! The devs, if I recall, have said they are working on new episodes to better flesh out the characters that didn't get much light in the full game

[@jarmarmarn4323]

Dying at the new thumbnail

[@jonnil1997]

Bro all those small moments in Life is Strange hit so hard.

[@Spookybluelights]

Consuming constructed nightmares helps me cope with the real ones that exist outside of fantasy. On with the real spooks!

[@diegowushu]

"One day you will find a hole in your heart". Indeed.

[@andersdenkend]

Dang, Cloud Gardens is indeed really beautiful.

[@ler74]

I noticed you were struggling a bit to bridge the gap between visual novel style and sensibility and adventure game presentation ala the walking dead. Would it suprise you to learn that if you look through the history of what the west calls the visual novel it becomes rather clear they are a sub category of a much larger super genre? That the visual novel presentation is just one, until recently rather local, expression of how Japan views adventure games? In other words. Visual novels are adventure games in the exact same way JRPGs are RPGs. I mean, just one glance at the famitsu top adventure games shows mostly VNs (a term essentially only used in the English market). ABowlofLentils did a video on the history of VNs and one on the origin of the confusing actual words "visual novel" as it relates to the genisis of what the west calls visual novels today (which is more like a mechanic and it's own sets of subgenres thst aren't used in the west like ADV and Bishoujoge).

[@TylerJBrown192]

I might be far too in love with the Dreamcast generation of games, but Fatum Betula is breathtakingly gorgeous.

[@Werewolf906]

That Cloud Gardens games looks like it would be a super chill time lying in bed on the switch.

[@deadlandplacebo1695]

For some reason the 2 chairs on the highway made me cry

[@graefx]

And so the list grows.

[@aquanecromancer5776]

There's a growing movement online amongst young artists to emulate the aesthetics of the internet and computer graphics from before we were born. The aesthetics, scope, and intent of consumer digital products from the before time appear alien and crude compared to having our every movement and desire catalogued and sold by Google. I think we see a lot of naivety in the old internet, but we also desire to return to a time before our crippling social isolation and lack of privacy. Shit looks cool too. High fidelity is lame.

[@racercowan]

Early internet was the Wild West of technology. Not just in the "unregulated and anything is possible sense", but in the way that "westward expansion" and "manifest destiny" became "the wild west".

[@sharkofjoy]

It was absolutely the wild west. I didn't experience trolls for five or six years of being on the internet. It was a beautiful weird place. Weird and pure. And frames oh frames.

[@Renken_]

great episode as always. thanks for doing this show mr errant.

[@politicalnerdV]

Now I'm just thinking about the crows in Cloud Gardens saying something like "I thought they'd never leave!"

[@Psymon138]

"Like Questionable Content by way of Telltale Games" - Well I'm sold!

[@didnt_ask_for_handle]

Post void's looks fit the theme perfectly cause they give me a headache

[@auroralong5437]

Love this series so much :)

[@b0tster]

nice thumb. respect the hustle

[@AmyDentata]

I am happy to see the thumbnail is real now, also great vid ty

[@pseudo-orfeu]

"next time we won't be so soft..." I don't know why but this line triggered in me a desire to watch Chris' take on Pathologic 2. It would be so fitting this year...

[@spekticat]

Getting a John Allison's 'Scary Go Round' vibe from Necrobarista

[@Donyoku]

Happy to see Necrobarista getting attention

[@Donyoku]

I do have to give Dorohedoro a recommendation as well, even if the comparison to Post Void is entirely superficial

[@Olodus]

Haha for once I've actually played something on this list before the video. Take that! Kidding of of course, love these vids. And Cloud Gardens was as you said a relaxing, beautiful and enjoyable experience.

[@MegapiemanPHD]

Nice to see the First 5 mention, people should check that guy's stuff out!

[@JosefTrejbal]

6:07 They are called Moments of Calm and they are amazing!

[@mario__265]

The mad lad actually did it

[@jdcoffeestreams4333]

I would LOVE a Questionable Content Telltale game. Necrobarista is added to the list

[@steampunkerella]

nice of you to give alex of firstfive a shoutout. nice guy

[@Goblincow]

Love some blips!

[@0Enigmatic0]

Damn, these games all look up my ally, I think I'll definitely play NecroBarista asap

[@Renken_]

figures spike spiegel would be in to a game about death

[@arryks]

Hi thanks for the video I want to let you know the clickbait thumbnail totally worked and I'm extremely glad it did.

[@JuliaSpeaksWithWords]

This is the second video that came out today that referenced Questionable Content.

[@sharkofjoy]

Gonna play all of these weird games, thanks!

[@qxyw]

campster's tolerance for anime is surprisingly high

[@RyanDB]

Wait, there's a part in Life is Strange where you can just hand out listening to Bright Eyes? Damn, I need to play that game

[@NotLegato]

there's also some mogwai in there.

[@KrystianMajewski]

Ignore the haters. That Thumbnail is *chef's kiss*

[@seeranos]

I cannot believe that in 2020 I'm hearing reference to Questionable Content. I read so much of that damn thing. I think I even owned the book for a while.

[@TheFrugalVideoGamer]

The premise of Necrobarista sounds a bit like "The Devil Is A Part-Timer!", which was a quirky, enjoyable show.

[@emari44]

Machinima Megatokyo has sold me on Necrobarista

[@temporalwolf7054]

Since it was brought up, I don't think the Dorohedoro comparison to Post Void has... really any legs to stand on aside from some surface level comparisons to the "proudly ugly" world design of Dorohedoro. The show is an action packed treatise on social class, those with power routinely victimizing those without power or those with less power, in one of the most oppressive yet fully realized worlds I've seen in... well over a decade if I'm being honest, while still having trippy and surreal imagery that at the same time feels grounded and real. It constantly toes the line of going into The Edge (tm) territory while never really crossing it.

[@benzur3503]

while its not as in your face as post void's combat and movement are, and lacking the much more complex camera positioning portrayed in dorohedoro, its quick splattery combat and a greater interest for the characters to hastly and violently resolve an immediate semi-mystically sourced circumstance than to dwell upon the reasons for them is kinda comparable imo. not that dorohedoro doesnt reflect on its characters motivations, but that those reflections often come long after many viscerally extreme actions.i wouldnt be suprised to see a gunman holding his own shining head running around in many of the scenes in dorohedero. that and the doom inspiration make me think it is an appropriate comparison, even if only in aesthetics and a protagonist lacking a memory of an identity. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rIrLoIesdtiiqLM

[@benzur3503]

that and losing heads. losing heads is a pretty core aesthetic theme in both

[@dotanuki3371]

there's a dorohedoro show now?

[@benzur3503]

dotanuki yeah on Netflix. They did skip the best fight scene in the manga (Johnson vs Mushroom man) but other than that it’s a surprisingly good adaptation

[@dotanuki3371]

@@benzur3503 a passable anime huh, sure has been a while

[@frocco7125]

I adore your content.

[@richmcgee434]

Hey, new Errant Signal vid. How timely, I was about to resort to 1960s Ultraman dubs for entertainment. :)

[@A_Panthro]

Cloud Gardens reminds me of Islanders

[@TXWatson]

Just bought Necrobarista on your recommendation here, and discovered that they appear to be about 10 days out from a major update! (It's a little confusing, there's an existing news post on the Steam page that says it's "OUT NOW!", but it's dated as an event scheduled to start on Oct. 28.)

[@enocescalona]

the people who are immortal, but still rot into skeletons are basically liches, but without the phylactery

[@abiprobably7630]

I nearly missed this video. I didn't recognize the thumbnail as one of yours.

[@nekkowe]

Necrobarista seems less like a Telltale game, and more like a Twine game with 3D visuals

[@winwinwe]

imo it would be fati betula for it to be 'birch of fate'. 'fatum' and 'betula' are just in the nominative singular so it reads like 'fate birch'.

[@Medytacjusz]

(Post Void) For some reason, the video has really low fps for me, but on steam page it's full 60 FPS and it looks SO MUCH BETTER. Really digging the aesthetic, another wishlisted item. EDIT: bought it, so cheap but SO GOOD! one of the best action roguelites I played, already getting better at it!

[@hish1238]

Comment for engagement but also you should play Umurangi Generation.

[@ErrantSignal]

I have! It is good! I've been experimenting with including some bigger-but-still-small-ish-and-in-need-of-more-eyes games on Blips lately (see this episode), and when spooky season is over it's on a shortlist of bigger indie games to potentially include.