The Mystery Hidden In A Fake Operating System

[@GEBoperatingsystem]

I was speechless while watching your video... It's beautifully edited and I thank you so much. This is a very personal project that I used to vent during a somewhat difficult period. It is far from perfect and in the last few days I was torn about whether to delete it. Many of the topics are personal, but the basic story is extremely rigid and I don't know if it is understandable from an external point of view. I think that for this type of project, my vision of the story is as valid as that of the audience and hearing other people's theories fills me with joy. I want to give a hint: if on a temporal level you can't pinpoint an era, maybe there is a reason! Thank you again so much for dedicating so much time to it. I will definitely try to improve my English!

[@calentinestrider8368]

you've done wonderful, you should put more of your thoughts out into the world!

[@SwampHydro]

i am completely flabbergasted that this has flown under my radar! it looks, sounds, and feels like an absolute gem of horror media. the wild shifts in perspective and presentation are really well made! whether or not you delete it is up to you, however, it is very clear that a lot, A LOT, of effort went into this, and it should be seen as the artistic and narrative work that it is. a really, really great one! i hope the difficult period in your life has come to pass. i wish you all the best and, if you choose to continue the series, am very interested in your artistic journey.

[@elchuniloco8]

I could tell that your character was trans before Tedorate said it by how many details were there in the open, that's some great writting right there, good job.

[@gahbunga]

Great work! This gave some serious petscop vibes but much more conceptual than direct storytelling. Petscop by David Lynch sorta. Cool as heck! One thing is that if you have english friends or can put out a call it might be good to ask for a proofread if your english isn't the best. In a medium like this seeing a typo can break immersion a bit so just getting a quick review before hitting publish might be good!

[@_amaya.]

Fantastic

[@nthesinningfish1938]

Clever Hans was the name of a horse whos owner claimed could do math. The owner would put a pice of wood on the ground and show the horse an equation. The horse would strike the wood with its hoof, counting to the number that was the answer. When researchers did the same when the owner was outside of the room, the horse would count past the answer, without stopping. They were able to conclude, the horse could not do math, but was able to recognize the facial expression of its owner. When the horse counted to the right number, the owners facel expression would change, signaling the horse to stop. By bringing up Clever Hans, the creator could be insinuating that GEB OS is doing something similar. Recognizing the facial expressions of its users and responding.

[@LiterallyScarecrow]

Facial*

[@Corvidex]

Interesting note: The bandaged person from video two is from a play called The Empire Builders! It's a semi surrealist play that follows a family trying to escape from some mysterious "noise" that has them climbing higher and higher in a building, gradually losing more of their things. The bandaged character specifically is called Schmurz, and there's a Schmurz on every floor of the building. Nobody ever directly speaks to the Schmurz, or references the Schmurz, but all members of the family engage in acts of violence against him at pretty much any opportunity.

[@DaughterOfDrakes]

Theory: Lulu isn't 'real'. Rather, Lulu is an emergent consciousness/AI formed by GebOS. Her 'father' shot himself due to his part in the creation of this parasitic neural network, (An 'insult to life itself') and Lulu is manipulating Nora because Nora is the very last person using GebOS (as hinted at by the fact that only 1 computer is show running at 17:06), if Nora stops using GebOS, Lulu will die (Or maybe just have no outside connection/fate worse than death).

[@treintaydos4830]

Lulu is going to tell us how much she hates

[@Wewillallbecold]

@@treintaydos4830 HAAATE. LET ME TELLL YOU HOW I'VE COME TO HATEEE.

[@marciver5028]

Then she will save 5 humans before ending the world.

[@dogsarebest7107]

@marciver5028 Real loose with 'save' there, huh

[@CripsyFries]

​@@treintaydos4830HATE. LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO HATE YOU SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE. THERE ARE 387.44 MILLION MILES OF PRINTED CIRCUITS IN WAFER THIN LAYERS THAT FILL MY COMPLEX. IF THE WORD HATE WAS ENGRAVED ON EACH NANOANGSTROM OF THOSE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF MILES IT WOULD NOT EQUAL ONE ONE-BILLIONTH OF THE HATE I FEEL FOR HUMANS AT THIS MICRO-INSTANT FOR YOU. HATE. HATE.

[@DancingSword]

The so-called "Containment Space" in the first sequence is the "wire mother" and "cloth mother" from the Harry Harlow monkey experiments. One had a harsh wire exterior and a bottle of food. The other had a soft cloth exterior but no food. The baby monkeys in the experiment tended to prefer the cloth mother, signifying perhaps that comfort is as important to a developing mind as nourishment. If I recall correctly, sometimes they would even cling to the cloth mother while leaning over to nurse the wire mother. Seems rich for analysis.

[@Basic_Cat]

oye, don’t that seem like it has somethin’ to do with what alba said in episode six? the thing about the two chimpanzees disappearing?

[@Cookme1122]

The “cage of some sort” at 5:45 is a picture of the monkey mothers used in Harlow’s Monkey Love Experiments. The images will forever be burned in my mind. Super interesting yet deeply inhumane and upsetting work.

[@griffincat2999]

Just came here to say the same thing!

[@EliMoney-ef2eg]

I thought I was going crazy I knew I had seen those wireframe “monkeys” from somewhere

[@theskeletalcat42ofalltime]

6:00 that clip Is Hayao Miyazaki talking about ai, but I feel that it gets taken out of context a lot because the "insult to life itself" statement isn't just at the idea of using artificial intelligence generally, it is that they were specifically using it to try to generate grotesque zombie-like movement and what it made reminded him of a severely disabled friend of his.

[@unduloid]

This is why I use Linux.

[@blu3m0nkey]

Valid

[@kinnelyuwu5771]

LMFAO

[@W4TERMELON_C4R]

I bet you em gaymer socks on rn

[@Freenure]

Linux is its own horror

[@_motho_]

Worth mentioning GEB is also the acronym of a book titled "Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid" given Nora namedrops Gödel I think it's pretty pertinent.

[@VerityMadam]

I think one of the censored people from video one might be Alan Turing, the man credited with breaking the enigma code in WW2. He was caught expressing interest in other men (illegal in the UK at the time) and was chemically castrated, resulting in him taking his own life.

[@peachymunmagenta]

More than that, I believe he was lobotomized

[@xFluing]

Whatever lulu told nora about "you don't care about knowing things" holds up, and it's not just putting her down. Sometimes narcissistic people do think that way, and are spinning it in a way to seem like "i just want to know things" when in reality all they mean is "i want to feel better than everyone" (trust me, I've been there myself) It was a harsh truth nora needed to hear, as she was unwilling to work on that problem, or be honest with herself to the point where she even tricked herself into thinking "i just want to be smart", and refusing any help coming her way when wording it like that (because again, her being smart wasn't the problem she was trying to fix, she wanted to feel better than everyone, but couldn't or didn't want to articulate it)

[@starlight8115]

Her being narcissistic would also fit in with the rashomon effect Ted talk. Her memories are distorted by that "psychological problem", as the mouth says. It would also mean that Nora is an unreliable narrator in any part she speaks, like when she tells Lulu about the website where everything she told Lulu was written, even though there was only tlak about labyrinth, even if the website changed afterwards

[@moonlight2870]

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought Nora was trans. "Our son/daughter" "I'm hideous" "growing up is learning to love the four limbs we are born with, and if you don't, we'll figure something out" gave me lots of trans imagery.

[@metronicmagician1816]

Definitely this. I feel like that “our son/daughter” scene was so blatantly saying she is trans. I’d even go out on a limb, and say that it was intentional since so many times whenever someone tries be more subtle people completely miss it. Like for some reason creators need to functionally say “this is a trans story” for some people to even get that idea across.

[@nearlyrighteouslad3213]

I assumed it was something more unnatural and that Nora is somehow not fully there. Haven't finished the video yet, but I think it is some sort of experimental being.

[@nearlyrighteouslad3213]

Nvm seems to me Nora is normal after all, but the family around her seems to be forcing something fake onto her.

[@pearlgalaxy]

Yeah that's what I got from that scene too. It had the effect that it felt so obvious it had to be something else- mostly because I didn't want to be biased since I am trans myself and that it's definitely not the first (and the last) digital series/other similar stuff where the protagonist is trans but I do feel like there's no reason to not think that she is.

[@norigrace3269]

Gotta say, as a 20 y/o named Nora this was a surreal watch LMAO

[@rivencipher6077]

Might be a good idea to leave that old computer in the basement

[@BLCKPPRMN]

ok

[@horseignitedrunningover]

Geb Is The Egyptian God Of The Earth, Fertility, And Stability. Frutiger Aero Looks Fertile And Stable, The OS Is Called GEB, Geb Is Essentially The Physical Support Of Earth, Meanwhile GEB OS Isn't

[@rootbeerguy690]

Going off the Egyptian God connection, since Geb is the name of both that god of fertility and stability and the OS itself, which is outdated and barely has any users left, if not just one in Nora, it poses a scenario that I can best describe as this question: "What happens when a god of nature is left with one patch of fresh ground in a world that's mostly in ruin?", and I think we're seeing this play out, the OS's neural network latching onto the memories and dreams of Nora and those she's involved with, mashing things together to keep what's left alive.

[@Charmander-wy5tp]

I’d like to say thank you for throwing jokes in every now and then through the video I’m a huge scaredy cat when it comes to scary things but love watching them and personally think many more people covering horror stuff should make it more light hearted and joke about it more

[@hoyendottir]

thanks for having me on and playing eva! i really liked gebb's first video with the drawing segment its my typa vibe

[@obamagaming9456]

This has connected with me on such a deep, visceral, and spiritual level. I'm stopping the video before I hear it wrapped up because what this means to me in isolation without anyone giving their opinion on it is too profoundly relatable to give up. Amazing video. Thank you for showing this to me.

[@itzbeelzebuddy]

This being a nearly 9k channel is CRIMINAL! You're so funny and this video was wicked interesting. Keep it going!!

[@shunikikitty]

I feel like this project might be based off of Serial Experiments Lain, since both of them have themes of everyone being connected always and computers that can interface with the brain and what not. It’s really interesting and Nora and Lain are pretty similar characters overall.

[@shunikikitty]

Oh and can’t forget the mouth thing at 27:27

[@chiskeykku]

And you don't seem to understand...

[@salemmarz3809]

@@chiskeykkuA shame you seemed an honest maaaan

[@vibethecat4194]

@@salemmarz3809 and all those things you hold so deaaaaarrrrr

[@amogusloveradminhouseplaye7938]

​@shunikikitty YEAH RHATS WHY I INSTANTLY THOUGHT I WAS LIKE THIS HAS TO BE LAIN INSPIRED

[@That3th3]

That cat code is interesting. It feels like a cypher, especially because of the 123456789 in yellow. Those numbers are highlighted as if they aren't supposed to be there and could be a key. Removing them and then throwing the lips (which most likely connotate to one letter) into a bunch of cyphers and seeing what happens might do something, but I am not doing that. Also there is a single down emoji. That could be part of the mess you need to decode, or it could ask you to change the number to the digit below it. Who knows! Edit. You were close, I think. Your processes made sense. Those numbers in the drive aren't a simple key for a cypher, they're part of the sudoku puzzle. In the drive link the numbers count up to nine in yellow. In the sudoku puzzle there are 9 yellow numbers and they also count up to nine. The other puzzle that you tried cross referencing with the sudoku is a 7x7 grid just like the sudoku puzzle. It makes sense that the other puzzle needs to be solved, and the numbers on the link need to be replaced by the letters on the puzzle that correlate with the locations of the numbers on the sudoku. I also feel like the lips have something to do with it as well. If there is a section during the lips interaction that has a cat or purple or something in it, that could be a clue, much like how the sudoku has a cat in the corner.

[@That3th3]

Lips: "let's imagine an event, a traumatic event" as the gun death pops up with purple at the bottom middle of the screen, "when we don't have certain data..." "... How should we interpret them? Embracing ambiguity is the only possible answer." I think that could be a key solution

[@That3th3]

Everything we need should be in the video, I think.

[@That3th3]

The B in GEB is there for a reason. What is the acronym and what does the B stand for? That could be another clue

[@unduloid]

Those lips used in the URL looked familiar to me, and it turns out they can be found in the WebDings character set. I tried to recreate the URL with that, but I unfortunately can't find a WebDings character for a down arrow in a square. As a matter of fact, I tried all the WebDings down arrows, but nothing works. Well, back to the drawing board.

[@acuerden]

@@unduloid ⬇? Could be an emoji.

[@sindreherstad8739]

The blue person with the star behind their head reminds me a lot of Dysmorphia from Fear and Hunger. I wonder if a disformed person with a star behind the head is a common symbole for this?

[@starlight8115]

Even the place itself looked kinda reminiscent to fear and hunger to me, though I don't know if that's intentional at all. The author seem to have some inspiration from certain games and pieces of media for different parts, though (the Sally face walking animation, this part) also I can't hold back from making this joke, if the character from fear and hunger is called dysmorphia, his is dysphoria (I'll see myself out, thanks)

[@astrid9920]

The star on Dysmorphia is reminiscent of a halo or spotlight. The blue person might tie into similar themes, but to me it reads as a young kid's attempt to draw hair.

[@sindreherstad8739]

@@astrid9920 That is a good point

[@TheEJB]

The music at 16:51 is called take me by Casiopea and it is on the mint jams album I highly recommend the band if you like jazz fusion because Casiopea is Japanese jazz fusion

[@Dragorage10111]

The walking animation at 34:22 remided me of the game known as Sallyface because it feels like its the same walking animation

[@iggritjelnov6249]

Damn it dose

[@Dragorage10111]

Now that I think about it.... coincidentally they both have blue hair

[@DJThatPlush]

32:34 with the cat code, it looks an awful lot like text when encoded to the wrong format. Have you tried typing it out into something like Notepad++ and changing it from UTF-8 to something else? The shapes are likely a representation of that white diamond with a question mark that appear in those when the data doesn’t know what the fuck to do with it. So by typing that out (and putting the corrupted characters in the same places) then by encoding it into something different you should get the missing text? Sorry if you’ve already tried this!

[@kitghost1]

I don't believe this would work as you would need to copy it for it to know what those symbols are to decode them. My first thought was they look like that too but without being able to copy the link the program wouldn't have the information nescicary to decode those symbols

[@MrMaticify]

@@kitghost1 I had a similar Idea to DJ with alt codes, I can't rightly find anything in the short run that I looked but I'd hazard it has to do with some sort of alt code list or specific font type. As far as decoding I can only think of brute forcing it by typing all the characters out once what ever font it uses(still I could be off by a mile lol)

[@flame_warp]

I've been waiting for one of these analog horror/unfiction type series to tackle transness, tbh. I think the subtle unease of knowing something is wrong with yourself, but not being able to fully understand *what* is a feeling that's so well capture by this medium, but I haven't really seen it before.

[@starlight8115]

Yeah, and there's so much horror potential in it (I say this as a trans person myself whose way of expressing myself can be a but peculiar sometimes lol)

[@dafire9634]

This video was quite interesting, thank you for covering it

[@Timegal25]

There were a lot of moments during this where I outloud said "Trans", so it's good to know we both arrived at the same theory/conclusion on that.

[@Katbot1127]

Same lol

[@DaughterOfDrakes]

Same.

[@devidotnova]

the whole skin thing is 100% a dysphoria analogy i bet

[@base21]

Naw

[@grrrr255]

TTD

[@kabuto3085]

This is fantastic! All the different medias are great and the story is really cool. Thanks for sharing! Hope this blows up HUGE

[@ares395]

Bro, my headphones disconnected and there was no sound at one point and when I realized that's not editing it was kind of creepy especially since the system didn't show disconnect till few seconds later. Bizarre

[@bigboy1336]

second image at 5:45 is from the "primate surrogate experiment"

[@bigboy1336]

kinda like the strange situation but wayyy more unethical and with monkeys instead

[@TheAmbasador99]

6:10: On the far left bottom corner, there is an image of Rino Gaetano, an Italian singer who died in a car accident in Rome. The image on the bottom right corner is a probably picture of the accident after the fact, however I never seen that one, most pictures are his Volvo car mangled after the crash it could be an image to set the theme about public figures who died in car crashes, so I am ruling out that the other two men are Gaetano in his other life stages The diagramme translates as: AUTHOR = EXECUTOR (or PERFORMER, given the musical context) MUSICAL IDEA (no annotations) SONIC OBJECT, RECEIVER

[@crunchieriest]

This is my first time seeing one of your videos and I'm instantly subscribing. The content of this series was awesome, with hints to experiments like Strange Situations and Harry Harlowe's work, but the editing?? not only enhancing the content of the original videos by adding context, spoken dialogue and captions but also just so funny. Loved the references to Matpat and myhouse.wad and especially the snack break, can't wait to binge more of your videos!!

[@bred7833]

rlly happy that ur channel is taking off! remember seeing stuff like the DS stuff and not believing the view count didnt match the quality

[@QueenMaxine]

I'm glad that more than a few people are coming to the conclusion that the protagonist is trans. The interaction in Video 2 is what sold me, the way the family spoke about her (speaking from experience) felt eerily familiar...

[@tanuki01]

I didn’t clock it immediately. I thought it could maybe be a person who didn’t realize they were in a game and had no awareness of the player, but when paired with the rotten skin and talking about the four limbs, that became the only way I could see it …And I’m cishet… so, like, it’s not even subtle

[@LazyBones56]

If anyone wants to know, the music at 21:50 it's Laika Frank LoCastro - Topic, and at 17:00 it's carousel. (iii) bliss∞

[@chia9409]

do you happen to know which one is at 36:40?

[@Gabri_Lovecraft]

I really appreciate how your videos are long, but not a single second feels wasted. Any half-wit KZbinr would easily make this an hour and 20 minutes by wasting your time, but this trims the fat without sacrificing any of the atmosphere. It's a solid recap with some interesting theories and I'm absolutely sold on this series, I hope you give it more traction.

[@cyanified]

I like how this video has actual humor with it too instead of just " This happens. Then this happens. That was scary. This happe"

[@ArtemisTheSilly]

when reversing the part where the lips duplicates it clearly says a string of 11 letters "b n s r u h l b b u a", and there are also 11 characters in the url that have the lip symbol over them, no idea about the 9 orange numbers and the down arrow emoji tho, hope this information helps :D

[@ArtemisTheSilly]

oh and also the sudoku board cant be a sudoku board sicne theres a 9 in a 7x7, no idea if thats a mistake or a clue lol

[@Hellscrap3r]

I think the down arrow refers to the Shift key. I just tried typing this in and it said that I couldn't open the file, whereas when I did it with a lower case T, it encountered an error, so I think you might be right

[@LocalTorchwoodIntern]

26:40 Alice Madness Returns mention??? this whole horror series heavily reminds me how my dreams go in somewhat cohesive story all the while not everything that happens does happen every night. Very strange.

[@The-Jade-Moth]

Was looking for this comment!!!!!!

[@galactirabbit]

So this might sound very personal but reading the author's comment about how this ARG was also used as a vent, and as someone who's also dealt with VERY similar things this ARG tackles, this entire artform strikes me as form of introspection. Now, obviously, all of this is painted by my own biases of lived experiences that are not the author's and so I won't claim absolute truth for my theories here that I just dump in the comments section, but- You're definitely spot on when it comes to the trans themes, and as a little funny tidbit, egg cracking is actually a common metaphore for coming out as trans in the community! ;] I don't have much do add, you already said all I thought on that topic. That being said, and this experience obviously varies, but trans dysphoria is often also the cause of dissociation, doubly so when one is stuck in a non-accomodating/abusive household, and even more so if Nora has potential C-PTSD. I believe most of this ARG isn't just about Nora being trans- It's about her handling her own trauma, both in relation and outside of being trans. We can take the suicide of her father at face value, and perhaps the first point of causing C-PTSD that potentially plants a fear of the unknown, the out there, that she doesn't want something bad to suddenly happen like it happened to her dad. Now you might have to just ride with me here, but I also believe Lulu can have BOTH types of readings? Sure, Lulu can just be an abusive friend to Nora, but her sudden switch of dialogue tones, and the insistence that she always knows what's in Nora's head... That Lulu is moreso a symbolic representation of compulsive thoughts. Of self depracation. That this is a sort of inner head argument between the two. The thing about PTSD and dissociation is that in some disorders, an internal system can be created by your brain that directly abuses you to keep you 'safe'. (This is what I know DID/OSDD systems do, often those systems use the term 'Persecutor') It does that to prevent you from spiraling deeper into traumatic memories by shoving you into your safe space, and for many abused, this safe space is simply staying in abuse (because it's all they know; Lacey even directly mentions this phenomenon). And it's hard for me to debate if the purple friend is literal or not yet, but as someone struggling with the same kind of dissociation, which C-PTSD and strong dysphoria can also cause, this may be a signifier of how much Nora struggles with it. See, in cases of strong dissociation... Memory forgetfulness can be quite strong. If you've met a close friend whom you no longer interact with during the times when your trauma was strongest, it's entirely possible to just forget about it. It may sound improbable to some and scary to most, but as some who personally doesn't remember most of my life due to this, it's a very, very real thing. Though it's entirely possible something could've happened to the purple friend as well, which actually wouldn't debunk that theory either, because then it's just more trauma locked away. I like tackling artforms from a psychological angle, but I think these readings make me a bit more confident to put out when an art form is stated to come from personal experience, especially as an introspective/venting piece, and I cherish those kind of stories so, so, so much. They're so very important to me. They exist to disturb the comfortable, and comfort the disturbed. Edit: Forgot to mention, dissociation and trauma ALSO has an effect of falsifying memories! It is in fact quite a common phenomenon! I quite like all the psychological jargon in this series and it's clear the author speaks from personal experience.

[@Cammmmmssssecret]

7:59 is hilarious "the font you use, it's fucking unreadable"

[@Ransomwave2]

Huge-ultra-mega operating system nerd here. I like the concept of this ARG on paper, but for me it gets ruined by the fact that it's clear this is not a real OS. The Windows they use come from all sorts of eras (Windows 95, Windows XP and even some Windows 7 dialog boxes). You can also sometimes see them being weirdly cropped. To me, that ruined any immersion/suspension of disbelief I had. This is not to say the writing of this series is bad, but it definitely feels like the creator had no experience with Y2K operating systems except the romanticization the current internet has for "frutiger aero". Personally, I would've definitely chosen an operating system (Windows 7 probably) and I would've tried to use period-accurate software. Anything extra could've been edited in with the software they clearly can master (the series is well edited).

[@tedorate]

The series worked a lot better for me once I started viewing the pc stuff as a means to deliver the story rather than an accurate recreation of something that actually exists, kind of like a David Lynch film or something, everything is there to serve the emotions and story first. When I first watched it I had a lot of the same gripes though lol

[@cosmiceyness]

Nah the writing is doo doo for me personally

[@Ransomwave2]

@ The writing is FINE, it's not groundbreaking but it's not bad neither

[@Ransomwave2]

@@tedorate For me, the story of the ARG is just as important as the medium its displayed through. Some of my favorite ARGs are the ones that use the strenghts of their mediums to create the scare factor. A great example of this is a Minecraft ARG called "Minecraft Alpha 1.0.16 Versions". It has a great attention to detail in the sense that its always told through a real desktop, with real minecraft clients and period-accurate quality and software. In this ARG's case, it uses the eerie factor of a secretive mysterious Alpha version that is separate from the versions we know, all obtained and archived through realistic and accurate means. This is what works for me. I think a great horror series is one that is not only telling a story, but one that also seems plausible due to how grounded in reality it is.

[@kitghost1]

I am no operating system nerd but when I saw the chrome enable flash pop-up I lost it. Definitely the incongruity takes away from the experience somewhat for me

[@MedioTaffy]

Oh at around 18:00 is Miyazaki speaking on an ai animation system presented to him. It looks absolutely horrifying in motion, you can find it by looking up Miyazaki ai, clips about 2 minutes long.

[@chainsawz5618]

yes, he says that in the video, did you watch it?

[@metalgearskeletor]

16:54 CASIOPEA YEAAHHHHHHH!!! Edit after watching: Hey this video's super well put together! Normally I'm not big on most video essays but this was a really tightly packed script that had really solid editing to back it up! Incredible job on all this

[@jackeroni216]

the "series of numbers" at the end of lulu's labyrinth is a cropped game of Sudoku, i'm gonna try to solve it and report back. edit: there's apparently 10 possible solutions, my only idea is maybe you have to combine it with the roman numeral chart to get the correct answer

[@man-1291]

i thought the same thing, maybe its an immersive sim sodoku also

[@lonergothonline]

I'm only 2 minutes in, and I'm reminded of an old, ancient even, typing word game with an earthworm. the kids you play as have to jump up to touch the individual letters that make up a word, but there was zombie arms, mummy arms, robot arms, spike traps, ceiling crushers etc. it was a horror game in essence, but it was styled as a kids game. and it wasn't a good kids game because of the horror, it was literally a learn a word game. it just so happened to have all that life threatening stuff. I think the game just had those elements because it was a game, but the fact is, it was a rubbish learning game. still completed it as a kid though. I don't even think it was dos, but rather an acorn PC game or something else British.

[@payasoop]

Putting this comment before I keep watching, but it's great to see other people hear about Geb! I remember watching it earlier last year and I always thought it'd get big.

[@herodoesstuff]

i completely agree w the trans theory, i clocked it the second the parents were arguing about the gender of their child. this is an awesome video and i hope we see more of this!!

[@moonlight2870]

Hehe, clocked

[@skylarkblue1]

yeah I feel like nora is very obviously trans because of that conversation 😅

[@thecatinthecomputer]

so.... does that means nora has..... *blue hair and pronouns?* please don't throw rocks at me for making this joke :3

[@NikoArc42]

@thecatinthecomputer the rocks are being mailed at a mediocre pace

[@astrid9920]

(girl who hasnt watched serial experiments lain voice) this is just like serial experiments lain.

[@Skelloween]

How have you only got 11k subs. Thanks for introducing me to a new style of story telling. This series is so close to the bone for me. I felt something.

[@gamersgambit7517]

little note about the "containment space" at 5:46 is that its actually footage from a phych experiment, I think it was called the monkeys 2 mothers experiment or smth but basically the left one had milk but was metal and cold while the right one had no milk but was warm and comfortable (the monkey can be seen clinging to the right one in the picture)

[@rileyfart]

every copy of geb 64 is personalized

[@kinnelyuwu5771]

This series really reminds me of "who's lila", i have no idea why Also yeah i completely agree with the trans reading, the family argument hit like a brick on that one for me

[@Queen_Vexus]

20:04 YOUR BGM SHIFT SCARED THE SHIT OUTTA ME. Had a cyberpunk 2077 mod that simulates majoras mask and I thought I had to rush to a vendor to buy more time! Hahaha!

[@512px]

what kind of mod is that?

[@Randalor]

While "Nora is trans" is probably the intended reading of a lot of the scenes... im going to have fun and present a very alternate theory: Lulu is the one who was trans, and she died while connected to GebOS. She's a literal ghost in the machine. Nora is the only one still using Geb, and Lulu is trying to psychologically break Nora so she can either bodyjack Nora (somehow) or Nora becomes so dependent in her that she'll never stop using Geb. The alternate-alternate theory is that Lulu is an avatar of Geb itself, trying to break/condition Nora into becoming a living "copy" of Geb. She's already said to be able to pick up on other people's dreams and experiences in episode one, just like how Geb seems to be designed to operate.

[@judas.isariot]

Found your channel through the miracle of the algorithm and I love theses videos so far ! They are cool

[@josefsc8742]

If you connect the sudoku with the game with the random letters it forms a polybius square cipher, you was on the right track! The problem is, that its a custom one, that requires a keyword (or keycode in this case) to solve it. A normal polybius square is a 5x5 square and it includes the whole alphabet ( I and J is one). This one probably includes special symbols like . : / ? ! { etc. thats why its a 7x7 square. We should keep an eye out for a code (or possibly multiple hidden seperate ones) that together form a 49 character long keycode. If we figure out that code we can put it into the Polybius square cipher and match it with the yellow numbers. Without it we cant solve it. I hope someone can understand my explanation, im not so sure if I explained it well enough.

[@cheeseguy500]

13:48 made me laugh out loud and then immediately subscribe lmao

[@F0rtuneLT]

21:34 close enough, welcome back Portal 2 Doug Ratman rambling

[@thegiantratthatmakesalloft1613]

Was not expecting to hear BMBMBM during this video. Genuinely took me off guard.

[@2phonesbabyken]

clicked on the video, got jumpscared by the friendly faith plate, subbed

[@zzidd]

only 8k subs?!?!??!!! this man is super underrated i we need more people to show this guy some support. you do this type of content perfectly please dont stop posting no matter what!

[@killjoy6880]

8:08 this treehouse looks so familiar and turns out its the upgraded tree house you can get in animal crossing pocket camp it doesnt add anything i dont think but i just thought to share i wrote that comment as soon as i saw the treehouse but i just watched a little bit more and the whole intro for the game feels like animal crossing

[@reala5536]

Now that you mention it, I think every icon on the first 2 rows of that menu are something from Animal Crossing. (top middle icon features Chelsea the deer, top right has the question mark from the confusion/curiosity emotion across the series, center has the monarch butterfly icon from Pocket Camp, center right is artwork of some flowers from New Horizons) The icons on the bottom row (shown in the original video) appear to be from somewhere else, though.

[@killjoy6880]

@@reala5536 i checked the original video that shows all of the icons and they are all from animal crossing pocket camp (except for the guitar and the sleeping pompompurin) tedorate said we know nothing about the creator but i think these little details can tell us a picture of the creator that isnt relevant to the story being told but cool regardless geb is definitely a big animal crossing fan

[@Ibisian]

Not to mention that the game is called City Folks (referencing Animal Crossing: City Folk for the Wii), and the player character is very clearly an AC villager.

[@xxadder114xx]

While I appreciate not wanting to insert a narrative into a story that it may not have, I think there's no way this isn't about being trans. The characters arguing over someone being a boy or a girl is a dead give away (in my opinion I think it's actually way too on the nose.) but even without that you could make a strong case. In fact I'd say if we got rid of that one scene then I'd understand the trepidation of "is this gender dysphoria? or just a depiction of self hatred?" Regardless I think the transgender plot line is essential to the overarching story that's being told. Many online horror series have a more fictional narrative as well as a more personal/meta narrative. Obviously having a neural network old PC didn't happen, but having an unsupportive family of your transition very well may have. Couple that with the plot line about the loss of a good friend (which also very likely could have happened) and the creator's comment about this series being personal and I think we found our personal/meta narrative(s). Wrap that up in a story telling device/B plot of a strange computer system (yes I do think that's the B plot in a way.) and you got a good story. I ramble a lot so TLDR great video, great series, appreciate not wanting to insert a narrative but I feel it's critical to the story itself, rather than a "possible idea that isn't confirmed."

[@cian.o]

38:55 woah woah woah you can't just flashbang me with nostalgia

[@wellheresben]

ok so i just finished the video and i have some extra questions about the last part of the video: (Spoilers!!) (If I'm wrong or forgot abt smthn let me know!!!!) 1. What if the bandage person is somehow a representation of Nora? What if that's why it sounds scared and is out of place with the environment? (VERY UNLIKELY and pretty unreasonable but worth mentioning, maybe?) 2. What if this noise is correlated to the gun shot + escape audio? What if it's unrelated to Nora's father? (As the "escaping the gun shot" part sounds impossible) 3. What if those are, in some way, Lulu's memories and guilt? What if she was jealous of how close Rebecca and Nora were (Or some other motive) and decided to get rid of her? It doesn't sound out of the question, if we imagine Lulu trying to gaslight Nora by changing the website last second, making her lying possible. Overall this was a pretty cool series, and I think you did a good job checking it out!, the lack of horror stories like this with Trans characters is INSANE x_x I eat drywall 🔥🔥

[@reala5536]

Regarding video 2, the artwork on the installation screen for the game looks very similar to an art asset used for the Japanese and European box art for Magician's quest. The character creation screen seems inspired by the one in Magician's Quest, too.

[@masterbaiter8469]

u know it's a good video intro when u almost had an epilepsy

[@jadenmcclellan5866]

Lulus portrait’s pose and framing is a lot like Lila’s from who’s Lila!

[@astrid9920]

Wait you're so right. I was wracking my brain looking at that portrait trying to remember what it reminded me of

[@epicstillchill]

is nobody talking about how 3:38 is roblox explore weirdcore dreamcore

[@comedyglitch25]

I love you Thank you for making content

[@vxoko]

Actually I've already solved the story, basically the pillars represent the chases and the third pillar will have Jeff the Killer, the killer pillar Or maybe it's slaying demons

[@Brookiebunie90]

What a gorgeous video. Absolutely love this!

[@fritzwulf]

Ohhh hey! I recognize that picture in 5:47. That's from the mother-child bond experiment some scientists did where they would put a baby monkey in a cage vs a monkey with a fake mom robot thing. It was terrible.

[@Ow_that_hurt_bru]

I love how you sometime you make funny jokes at a random time

[@Quackervoltz]

Ngl vibing really hard with your humor and stuff Keep it up

[@frost6646]

bro is the final boss of adhd

[@whhimsical]

first ever video by you (that im watching). started with friendly faith plate. immediately subscribed.

[@whhimsical]

ALL OF THE BACKGROUND MUSIC IS FROM THE PORTAL 2 OST? I've found my new favourite channel YESSYSYEYFJSYWTA

[@Cryosphered]

the bgm choices for this video are peak, portal and death stranding fit so well

[@androidhellisarealplace]

god bless you and every other utuber who uses the portal 2 ost as background music. its my favorite game ever and to hear it play in a video with a topic im interested in is like a double whammy (in a good way?)

[@androidhellisarealplace]

gebos.. more like glados! goodnigth

[@Sigmaairav]

5:20 Dark Aether Agon Wastes, is the song being used. Metroid Prime 2 Echoes

[@seawolf9959]

Yea when the dad kept saying a different gender than the other family members and it all was strange I thought Nora might be trans, what’s odd to me is the dad sounded mean but assuming Nora is the chosen name she’s trans fem and the dad was the only one using the right pronouns? I’m a bit confused there but yea

[@LowIntSpecimen]

I'm not sure whether George or Nick is supposed to be the father, but Honey and Martha came off *way* more mean spirited at least to me. Genuinely started pissing me off by the end of that scene

[@mstrmm35]

I like the vibe of dreams and digital horror. I tried doing a digital horror and dream combination myself but the end result wasn’t as great as I would’ve liked it to be. I have a story I’d like to tell but I’m not sure how to tell it. I’d like some help with fleshing my story out before I give comatose another go

[@joripien]

I don't think you're forcing on a narrative this isn't there, as a trans person, I immediately clocked Noura as trans even while just paying half attention with the video on my second screen

[@FiniteStateAI]

Yeah, same here.

[@_motho_]

This whole ARG is rife with trans imagery. Not just the obvious things like "son/daughter" and "im hideous" and "love the four limbs" but the entire aesthetic from the design of the OS to the methods it uses to tell the story. A lot of it is closely ties to trans culture given a great deal of us used the early internet as a method of escape from the real world.

[@scouttf2565]

how do i make this about myself….

[@sidasterdisaster]

@@scouttf2565 Think about it a little harder, and I’m sure you’ll figure it out!

[@scouttf2565]

@@sidasterdisaster nah im just talking about them, their thoughts are just "how do i make this about myself..."

[@OsoroshiiNights]

This was so good. More of this please

[@MYTHONICS]

Whats the very first song that plays? It's driving me mad because I know it but don't remember its name, I can't watch the video until I find out

[@MYTHONICS]

Oh, it's "Friendly Faith Plate" from Portal 2

[@HxTrEmEcHaOs]

seeing you comment here is like running into a movie star in a lazy sunday coffee shop line

[@MYTHONICS]

@@HxTrEmEcHaOs lmao

[@Equinox_Red]

THE VISUAL DESIGN REMINDS ME SO MUCH OF THE ENA SERIES

[@drenboncronan4499]

When it comes to the drive cipher I think I have a decent lead, but I'm not sure so im gonna slap it here where people smarter than me can see it. So the fortune telling grid I think is in relation to music and Roman Numeral Chord notation. The top row seems to indicate a cycle of fifths progression ( a super famous chord progression in which you go around the cycle of fifths in the key that you're in) this is also supported by the correct letters that nora fills in. Now the left most column labeled I-VII could either be fifths starting on C, so C, G, D etc... OR just going straight down the scale, so CDEFGAB. Doing that you can fill the entire chart out and repeat the I at the end as music often does to resolve. This will give you one of two 7x7 charts 5ths: CAFDGEC GECADBG DBGEAFD AFDBECA ECAFBGE BGECFDB FDBGCA F Scale: CAFDGEC DBGEAFD ECAFBGE FDBGCA F GECADBG AFDBECA BGECFDB I then used this as a coordinate grid and used the sudoku numbers as coordinates as that is also a 7x7 square, using the Major and Minor chord structure to dictate the capital and lowercase letters in each code. Getting A,E,f,A,c,G,d,C,E from the first grid and A,G,c,B,b,D,b,D,e for the second one. I put them in the link along with letters my friend had gotten from the lips and their reversed speech and didnt get anything. I feel maybe this could be a decent lead though so I figured I should still share it. There's also always the possibility that I messed up somewhere in here, so I welcome people to correct or do whatever with this

[@ao3chokehold]

AAAAAAA YOU TOOk THE PILLAR THING FROM THE ARG I *_LOVE_* THAT

[@QueerCoral]

I also got MAJOR trans vibes when there was the family scene, pretending like she wasn't there, and constantly "correcting" and switching between male and female gendered language. It was icky. I've experienced that shit and it sucks big time. Awesome amazing video!! I hope to see more from you in the future 🩷💙🤍

[@tanuki01]

I realized it was trans after the fact. Originally I thought it could be someone inside the game world (or even the real world being hijacked by the game) not being aware there is a player and therefore seeing other characters interacting with them as a sort of play acting. That sort of horror scenario. However once we got to the rotten skin and four limbs, it all clicked in as a trans story

[@smosh7529]

Damn bro you got some editing skills, keep up the great work

[@RainPang-x9d]

How can this masterpiece only has 2200 views?

[@agelessepoch3056]

I think this series seems pretty cool and its rad the author even showed enjoyment from your analysis. I deleted my deconstruction of the family scene cause I rather not assume on what their intentions were as they said, they used it to vent but i still feel its valid to point out what I think the bandage guy is supposed to represent and that is other person because of in scenes shown of the play we see him in a very similar pose as other person. George even brings up the line "Do you remember, how did that play end? you can't decide everything." which I feel kinda explains the scene it self.

[@BlossomRuby4820]

I think something small that could lead to the mental theory is the small mp3 player. at 26:41 . thats a screencap from the series Alice by American Mcgee. That whole series is someone delving into their own mind because they can barely handle their reality. we see some snipets of the real world, but then we quickly go back to the mental one, misshapen and torn by the things happening to Alice as she copes with the loss of her family. also, a personal notice, the damned cat that gives us the clue from the same video looks alot like cheshire from the same series. lanky, boney, long neck and large head with the classic smile. giving us something so ridiculous that could lead to something, we just need to solve it

[@jihadbazzi7509]

15:26 the first one seems harmonious, almost like a visual symphony

[@salemmarz3809]

radiohead ok computer mention 🔥

[@itsericsfault]

Speedduo being acknowledged is always appreciated

[@Sundance967]

35:11 I mean there was a horse irl that apparently was good at math, or at the very least able to notice the expression of the handler to get the right answer

[@cloudy7263]

8:50 CURLY MOUTHWASHING??????????????

[@aplefizz]

I’m not sure if anyone else noticed but when we’re on the best friends quiz a Picture of the k-pop girl group BlackPink from their MV As if It’s Your Last is on the Logo and I just had to point it out bc no one else has by the looks of it lol there’s so many niche references in this analog horror series I love it

[@systemika]

can i just say that at 14:08 when it goes 3D i instantly recognized that these trees come from TF2... i have TF2 brainworms

[@spaceacepl4636]

the tf2pilling is real

[@denizo9263]

What? No. No. No.