LOVECRAFTIAN MURDER MYSTERY | Darkness Within pt. 1

[@S-CO7-T]

I made a Vote 4 Holt bingo board: Mr. F causes chaos "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen" "Ahoy, mateys!" Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul reference Someone takes a sip of Bang Energy "Sussy Baka" Julian calls Jamie a "silly goose" The neighbor's dog starts barking "The numbers, Mason!" Attack On Titan reference Jamie mentions H.P. Lovecraft Julian choir lore Problems with the stream Jamie defends Midnight in Salem Julian gushes over Final Scene Jamie burps weird Batman villain impressions Pepper-free playthrough Danger by Design gets shat upon "Based Mel" Kayleigh physically abuses Jamie Jamie unintentionally gaslighting The whole house gets covid Jamie somewhat translates Latin "Erm aCtUaLLy" Simping over Holt Scotto Jamie dreams of living in spooky nautical environments

[@vote4holt]

Kay and I are fucking crying reading this

[@amelieh9499]

i wanted to say thanks for posting playthroughs of these types of games. i have pretty severe chronic pain that makes it hard to play video games more than a few times a month or less. these videos are scratching the itch for playing adventure point and clicks! also, loved the scratches video. that's how i found your channel. much love! :)

[@uros.u.novakovic]

Just saw your Scratches video so KZbin recommended this as the next thing I should see. And I couldn't pass on it because I love the two Darkness Within games. Then I saw your face cam and that made me want to watch even more! Happy belated birthday!

[@vote4holt]

My most recent playthrough! Darkness had its ups and downs for me, but damn am I glad I played it if only for the music and atmosphere

[@uros.u.novakovic]

​@@vote4holtDo you have plans to continue with the sequel?

[@vote4holt]

@@uros.u.novakovic in time, yes - though I’ve heard mixed things so it’s not super high on my priority list atm

[@uros.u.novakovic]

​@@vote4holt That's absolutely understandable. Well I'll be looking forward to seeing what you play next!

[@vote4holt]

Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes!!! You guys are the greatest 🥲

[@TypeZeta2]

Happy late birthday bro. I just got home from work and I was recommended your KZbin channel

[@sophinda6292]

Also, so glad that house freaked you out as much as it did me when I played, I grew up in a house with a well in the basement and it was very cold! Scratches was influenced by Dark Fall 1 and 2 (2 being better imo) that both came out before it.

[@cmaliga]

A few years back, Narragansett made a series of special edition beers inspired by Lovecraft. They'd commission a local Rhode Island artist to make the can art and each was a different style of brew based on Lovecraft or one of his better known works. I managed to collect the cans from the whole series while they were being produced.

[@vote4holt]

that is so damn cool. I'm sober but love N/A beer, and would love it if those showed up on the shelves again. I doubt I could drink them but they'd make a sick display

[@sophinda6292]

Happy Birthday 🥳 I LOOOOOOVVVEEE this game! I recommended it to you in my comment on your Scratches part 1 video years ago, so pleased you are playing this. I hope you enjoy it. There is a sequel as well.

[@tricia2718]

happy birthday jamie! I’m so excited for this playthrough.

[@CloudEnvy]

Found your channel recently and I’m really loving this whole genre of gaming. Thank you for the introduction!

[@vote4holt]

Nice! I don’t quite know what to call it myself, but there’s a vast and rich world of indie-made mystery and horror games that don’t get talked about - probably because most are point and click

[@ZombiiChix]

Happy birthday! And awesome to see you playing Lovecraft on your channel 😁 Also I saw an august Derlith sigil in the opening sequence 👀

[@BrawlerZant]

I really like how you fade your camera out to mesh with the video more naturally. I enjoy it. Thanks for being cool

[@vote4holt]

thanks that's my response to not being able to green screen my face cam lolololo

[@ginginami]

Happy belated birthday 😊 Just found you. love watching horror playthroughs. Especially older games.

[@tuondaughteroftheninemoons1754]

Happy birthday! This game seems super cool. Thanks for playing it. Can’t wait for the next episode.

[@Welther47]

loci ˈlō-ˌsī plural: locus : the place where something is situated or occurs : SITE, LOCATION

[@housecat7982]

This is so close. Scratches had the energy of being a secret, a mystery unfolding with us as you discovered it. Each discovery told in its poetic significance. Channel that and this would have hit just as hard I promise

[@StarlasAiko]

38:05 Huge mood improvement when you switch to your narration voice. if I ever manage to make a game, I'm gonna have you record the Narator (or if I ever manage to finish one of my novel, have you voice the audiobook)

[@hobbesfield1082]

damn the in-game narrator got that al's pizza palace sound.. no idea if thats the same voice actor as mystery of the druids or just coincidence

[@StarlasAiko]

44:10 the page is not blank, there is an arrow poiting down on it.

[@LizzieMcGuire-ml9ww]

So excited for this series!!! Loved this game. Happy birthday 🎉

[@zachprillaman649]

JAMIE BUYING ALCOHOL LIKE A HOOLIGAN NOW 🎉🎉🎉

[@vote4holt]

It’s literally called Hellraiser I’m losing money not buying that

[@zachprillaman649]

@@vote4holt a proper fiscal choice good sir 👌

[@FBIMOUS377]

HP is easily my favorite Author too!

[@MrSnowmanFR]

45:45 that means you can't read it, don't thank me it's natural in all seriousness you deserve more subscribers

[@spacehootle309]

THE CONSTANT CLICK SOUNDS. I am now mad too, and I like it. PS: May I fund you a silent mouse, sir?

[@vote4holt]

Happy to tell you that after this video I remedied that problem -- finally got myself a proper noise-gate set up on OBS, eventually in the Darkness Within series I start using it so the mic only picks up clicks if I'm also speaking (can't believe my goofy arr didn't set that up years ago)

[@healgoth]

Happy Birthday bro :) I hope each year treats you better than the last 🫂

[@arianaw5364]

Oh my goodness Happy Birthday!!!!!!!🎊🎁🎂🎈🎉

[@Welther47]

So looking forward to Asylum by the Scratches developers.

[@CellarDoor34]

Happy Birthday!

[@WaterColoredLies]

Happy Birthday! 🎉

[@sitraahra1979]

Enjoying your content. Have you played "The Last Doorr" ? You might enjoy tit quite a bit...

[@vote4holt]

Just found out about it the other day! Senscape had it recommended on their dev page, I love the art style and would go into it blind if given the opportunity

[@AlexOlinkiewicz]

Ah yes I remember this oldy, and Happy Birthday.

[@vote4holt]

Thank you!

[@pheonomon]

Very excited for this >:) Happy Birthday ✨

[@SennenTafkae]

Who is Howard's voice actor? I could swear I've heard him somewhere before, but I can't find a cast list.

[@Dani-tb7bk]

i thought he sounded like the narrator in the stanley parable

[@soarein]

Happy belated birthday!

[@vote4holt]

Thank you Fureal!

[@humbaba2762]

won't you play Darkness Within The Dark Lineage?

[@vote4holt]

Is that the sequel? Having just created the second channel yeah, I think I would like to play it! I had some issues with this game (mainly the puzzles and story) but I really loved the atmosphere and music and some of the more experimental detective mechanics and I'd love to see how they adapt in part two.

[@humbaba2762]

@@vote4holt Darkness Within The Dark Lineage is the direct sequel to the first game, and it's concluded the first game's story in a pretty lovecraftian way. Darknes Within in Pursuit of Loath Nolder is quite an old and clunky game from 2007, so I understand what you've been through with this game, but you can also try the same developers more polished and newer Lovecraftian games like Conarium and Transient. I'm sure you'll enjoy them more.

[@louisvoi2413]

Happy Birthday! Man I thought you were 25 and older than your brother.

[@vote4holt]

Nah he’s the older 💀 I am deceptively young and dumb

[@sarahrohrersy]

I need to teach you how to pour a drink, also hbd!

[@chrisr9764]

The constant clicking when there isn’t a hotspot is infuriating.

[@vote4holt]

Rip your ears - this game is the reason I put a noise gate in my future recordings to cut out needless clicks like that - apologies my amateur-ass hadn’t figured that out before

[@laracroft003]

I’m a day late but happy belated birthday! Hope it was a good one 🎉! In terms of the game, I’m not very far into the video but I already love the spooky vibes. We love a classic unreliable narrator!

[@AerodromAssets]

Buff captain sparklez?

[@tzeneth]

I'm surprised anyone would say Lovecraft is their favorite author. I appreciate some of his works but the quality is hit and miss (At the Mountains of Madness is probably my favorite). That's also not even acknowledging or looking at the serious problematic nature of more than a few of his works and himself as a person (he was incredibly racist). It's something that has to always be acknowledged when talking about him.

[@vote4holt]

The chief reason I like Lovecrafts writing is because all of his work contained a lot of very imaginative sci-fi horror before the cinematic medium took over - I’ve come to notice that once movies took hold, a lot of writers (particularly in horror) always wrote with the express purpose of their work being visual and possible to adapt to a film, whereas so much of Lovecraft (at least to me) is full of intangible ideas that have no regard for how difficult they would be to make into movies. This is why I think most of his stories feel fresh to me, and also why there has virtually never been a successful Lovecraftian movie adaptation. And yeah he was a bastard irl, but that doesn’t really impact how I view his writing tbh. I’ve always been an advocate for separate the art from the artist, and so I merrily enjoy the spooky leviathan cult horror stories :]

[@tzeneth]

@@vote4holt Ironically, due to how well known his works are now, it's actually harder to get the true Lovecraftian Existential Horror vibe that he gave. Funnily enough, I remember watching a video essayist explain why Subnautica actually touches on that modern existential horror, even despite how beautiful it is. There's an alieness to everything and you can't know whether something is friendly or an enemy and certain enemies jump at you and cause you to learn, rather quickly, not everything in the sea likes you.

[@LokiDuck]

@@vote4holt I totally respect Lovecraft being your favorite Author and I won't knock that as I am also a massive fan of his works, but personally I find "seperating the Art from the Artist" is kind of bullshit especially in cases like Lovecraft where he is very much baked in. All of his racism, his xenophobia, his sexism, and his antisemitism are all found there right there in the art and pretty much all of his most famous works have some flavor of hatred somewhere in the text. My favorite work of his is "The Shadow over Innsmouth" and while I absolutely love it and how it is written, it is also a story against interacial marriage lol. It's about how a proper and good New England town (I.E. White) was corrupted by something foreign and found from outside (the Innsmouth Look itself describes as eyes being slanted like stereotypes used with Asians) and via breeding, plus some good ole racism in the occult stuff being found from a foreign island (Scratches wouldn't be the only lovecraft inspired work to mention Africa as that trope came up a bit). The Rats in the Wall has the cat named after the N word which was based on HP's real life actual cat. Herbert West: Reanimator has a moment where a reanimated black man is described as "dragging his knuckles across the floor" You can love Lovecraft's work, you can acknowledge he was a dick, but you also gotta acknowledge the hatred found within the text itself while you do so. XD This is actually why when recommending Lovecraft to a friend, I made a list of his best works and made notes of what to watch out for (aka content warnings) because you honestly can not recommend his original stories without these kind of warnings except for like a few stories. Anyways, that's all i wanted to point out really, so i'll change topics a bit because I'm also curious and I would actually like to know what your three favorite Lovecraft stories are? :D I know I just typed up a lot, but i do love discussing his work with people and just want to hear your thoughts and because I always love asking this question XD.

[@vote4holt]

@@LokiDuck you’re right that his prejudice bleeds into his writing but it never gave me the impression that he was actively trying to persuade the writer to be racist- he always struck me more as the dumb, thoughtless kind of racist, back when that was common and conditioned behavior. I guess my point is that in reading Lovecraft I never once felt like the work was trying to corrupt me, it was just really cool sci-fi horror from a guy who already had an unusual and warped perception of reality. But you must know more about this, I’d really do well to read a book on his life. I’ve probably read about 15 of his stories now - long and short alike - and among the top 3 for me is probably Shadow over Innsmouth, The Thing on the Doorstep, and Color out of Space in that order. Shadow’s great for obvious reasons, Thing really surprised me because it was one of his story’s I thought I had figured out but then it had a super chilling and unexpected end, and Color was so cool to me because it was written in a way where you could see a lot of the writing he had done for scientific journals in his word choice (which made it feel like a real scientific study that was super freaky to me) and also because it was written with a complete disregard for visual (especially film) adaptation, which I really admire. Too many horror stories seem to bog themselves with contrivances to make them “shootable”, they all do it so often that you don’t notice it. But writing a story around a color that nobody has ever seen before and lacks a name is a concept you could NEVER successfully make a film out of, not unless it was black and white and even then it’s a maybe from me. That’s really one of the biggest things that appeals to me about his and poe’s and a lot of real old books: once movies came around writers and readers seemed to use their imaginations less, but predating cinema it feels like they really tried extra to make you see stuff; especially HP, who often describes things that can’t be shown Just read my above comment btw and realized I repeated myself about the cinematic medium part - sorry about that! But yeah Lovecraft was the first spooky stuff I came across in a longtime that felt fresh, because no horror movies were ever able to successfully replicate his horror to me

[@LokiDuck]

@@vote4holt You are honestly completely right. Part of why I feel comfortable reading Lovecraft (besides the fact he is dead and won't ever get my money) is i honestly can't take the man serious because of how silly of a man he seemed with all his hatred. The man moved to the city and hated that so much he wrote a bunch of stories about the evil of cities, and he got married and hated that so he wrote a bunch about hating on women and evil Jewish stuff lol. He wrote with hatred, but the man was clearly terrified of everything to a degree and in part that is what makes his spooky stories so spooky. XD (And also sometimes not. my favorite moment of At the Mountains of Madness was the giant penguins and how they were described as fluffy because lol that took me so out of the story and I'm sorry HP I can not find giant penguins scary). Also I just can't with a man who thought Rhode Island was the greatest place in the world. XD As for your top three you have great taste. The thing on the doorstep and Colour out of Space are some of the major stand outs for me in his writing, and I already mentioned how Shadow Over Innsmouth is my favorite of his. Speaking of my introduction to Lovecraft was watching an LP of a video game called "Call of Cthulhu: Darkest Corners of the Earth" and it basically adapts Shadow word for word with some scenes being straight out of the story itself along with some other references to his other works, and it's a high recommend. My top three personally are The Shadow Over Innsmouth, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, and The Whisperer in the Dark. And i do get what you mean about stories like that being good. I remember for years people discussing out Colour Out of Space was inadaptatable only for them to make a Nic Cage movie XD (still wanna see that).