What is that uneasy feeling when playing alone?

[@tarkusbruford9096]

You know he is serious when his background isn’t in the white void.

[@Polygonfella1662]

Herobrine will build a sandcastle AHHHHHHHH

[@Glizzychopter]

LolXD

[@JulianWuzHear]

Lol

[@Dookieman1975]

In hindsight, I kinda wish there were no monsters in the back rooms. Just slowly starving and wasting away and the only monsters there are either the rare change you meet someone else or the monsters in ur head. Going insane from paranoia and seeing/hearing things that aren’t really there but you can’t even tell

[@Happy_doggo]

Bro if that happens It'll probably just die the day it was created like do you think anyone would see that as an acceptable concept in this gen? (Ironic or unironic your choice)

[@chet_irl]

@@Happy_doggoto lean into the loneliness of liminal spaces and the inate existentialist of liminal horror is scarier than a lot of the monsters made up by the backrooms community.

[@Happy_doggo]

@@chet_irl you made little jimmy really made

[@PlayerZeroStart]

The best part about this channel is that every video is either a genuinely well written Video Essay or a complete shitpost, and it's impossible to tell which.

[@cypressmilligan3585]

The fourth image in the backrooms segment isnt a liminal space or anything, its the fucking dashcon ballpit. For those who don't know what that is, in the early 2010s, 2014, I think, blogging platform tumblr held a convention for their website focused on the community of it (home of fandom yadda yadda) and a lot of people were going to go it, but... tumblr couldn't afford the venue they were planning to use, so they canceled pretty much the whole thing (popular bloggers who had their flights and such paid for by tumblr got stuck for a bit in the city it was happening and a lotta other stuff) in the end, however, in a space they could afford, tumblr put up a ball pit, I assume as a consolation prize. Allegedly, somebody urinated into the ball pit. Seeing this image fucking blindsided me goddamn

[@KuruSeed]

that's the joke

[@burnin8able]

I started DYING laughing at that image when it came up, holy shit thanks for writing this so I don't have to

[@karfunkl.]

lmao

[@youraveragechroma2139]

Then there’s the Never Gonna Give You Up set after. Some are scary, some are sanity cutting.

[@oxfordcommaisthegreatest]

to clarify: it was NOT Tumblr that hosted this convention, but rather a random group of people that also scammed everybody there. Yeah.

[@nordicfatcheese]

I had the "someone in your single player lobby" thing happen for real once in Deep Rock Galactic. The space rig lobby is exactly the kind of place you described, lots of little things to do like visit the bar or kick barrels or dance at the juke box. DRG is a very social game and the lobby is likewise a very social place. I thought that it was always private before you started a mission, but apparently it's just unlisted, so anyone can join even if there's no mission (they just normally wouldn't see it through the mission browser). I don't know how, but one time someone joined my lobby while I had gotten up before starting a game. I came back and was wandering around and stumbled upon them also just wandering around and it scared the shit out of me.

[@makowiecmakowiecki4565]

The dashcon ballpit is the scariest part of this video

[@Osiem]

Fr

[@youraveragechroma2139]

The absolute *discrepancy* between whether a scene is a shitpost or instilling fear makes me feel Weird-Elbow-Bump. But then I fucking lost it on the backrooms image because it is way too much both (thanks slmccl).

[@LawIsLow]

It’s a Necessary Discrepancy

[@toucantoast6936]

"the scariest monster is the one your brain makes for you"

[@CelestialMothess]

That Rad Chad jumpscare got me

[@Genny_SSB]

^

[@sebihahah1147]

Fr

[@thedudethatplaysgames2686]

Same lmao

[@fb1877]

The mad lad?

[@joat6774]

Somebody’s Dad?

[@JackL.Carlos]

The charm the backrooms had for me was 2 things: the unreal places and the adrenaline rush. I'm a huge fan of arts that aren't "normal" (shout-out to studio Ghibli) like aquatic life swimming on the sky or land vehicles being on water and the concept of the backroom is that it's a place that humans aren't supposed to be and those who accidentally clipped through the world, witness it. And the layout is so random with no consistency and I love it, from a room with multiple pillars to a pool with no sunlight oh how it feels like a dream and the second thing about adrenaline rush is I'm a bit of a masochist, being in a place where there isn't anyone but you gives me a rush of feeling that something is coming but since it won't the feeling just doesn't go away. I agree with the guy, the monsters....ruined the feeling of loneliness

[@anotherdnb]

I think that's why the Stanley Parable work so well. Not only do you have the increasing paranoia of being alone, but you also have the narrator factor, which makes even more questions.

[@AlterLynx]

I hate to confirm your fears, but I actually have seen Herobrine in a single player world he wasn't supposed to be in this year.

[@Superstylishm]

Bet Bro, tell me more I’m interested

[@anotherdnb]

Do tell.

[@AlterLynx]

Well, I don't mean to advertise my channel, but there is a video there with all the sightings. I will explain further here that it was my friend's singleplayer world and he had a mod in a different world with Herobrine's code. While exploring this separate world without Herobrine we would occasionally see something flash on screen as my friend turned around and it was dismissed as a zombie despawning. I ended up using shadow play and we found out Herobrine had spread to the world like a virus and we performed tests.

[@AlterLynx]

^

[@cking4869]

Can confirm, I was Herobrine

[@mrhalfsaid1389]

This is literally the entire reason why most movies, shows, etc. often put a janitor in empty spaces, which is pretty funny to me

[@dannmcdan2185]

I had a really scary "someone in the single player lobby" moment in Apex Legends shooting range. It was when the new character revenant who is very horror themed was just released and i was training in the single player shooting range. I was just shooting when i heard running behind me and of course no one was there. Then after that someone shot me somehow and after that i randomly got the revenants special debuff whitch jumpscared the crap out of me. I left the shooting range because i was so uneasy. Later i told someone about this and they theorized it was because there was so many players playing at the same time the serves couldnt handle it and some singleplayer instanses overlapped so someone shooting in their shooting range could have hit me.

[@nidgithm]

yeah this is a bug, i remember it also happened with valkyrie's rockets when she was new, and possibly with other legends as well.

[@thebananapikmin9160]

the firing range actually is a multiplayer game every tine you join it's just that the other players are hidden from you unless in your party so occaisonally this can glitch out and cause some wierd things to happen such as seeing other players sprays/the visual indicators for valkyries rockets/etc. but I imagine at the time of season 4 this was all way less documented.

[@ZeekarPRIME]

Generally in regards to your psychological points, I believe the biggest reason is something being *off* in a world. For gmod, it's the sudden and unexpected darkness from the creepy areas in that map, in contrast to the bright daytime areas of the rest of the map. For minecraft, you are already uneasy going through the darkness in the mines alone, but the cave noises that might play, hint that something else is out there. You said another player, and while that can be true, I think something scarier to people in general is simply the fear of the unknown, not that it might be a player, but that it specifically might NOT be another player. That it might be some entity or some monster that you know nothing about, and with that doubt planted in your brain, your thoughts start to run wild, taking from similar pieces of media that have dark uneasy places or sudden creepy sounds that stand out, where a monster, something specifically inhuman, DID reside in or produce them. Again, it's primarily "the fear of the unknown" (proper psychological term) that lives inside us all. Not to bust your balls, dad, you are mostly correct with your stuff i wager, and you did mention some of this already, i just felt like this was important to include

[@nidgithm]

im pretty sure this is it yeah

[@Slinaro]

Another good example of this effect is the puzzle game "The Witness." The environment of the island is sunny and calm, and you are alone there, but there is this constant feeling of something being wrong and fake in some way. Add to that optical illusions integrated into the environment, and it creates this feeling of not being welcomed here, even tho nothing in the game will ever directly or indirectly threaten you.

[@et1033]

10:15 dashcon piss pit jumpscare

[@blacklight683]

Honestly i think its horror games and cave man brain that tell us when its too quite there must be a tigger/jumpscare around the corner But actually i get it more in minecraft cuz i played mutiplayer but i never played gmode and never thought of this

[@dravsky]

I've finally realized Rad Chad is Pyrocynical and Internet Historian in a trenchcoat.

[@pachurro2762]

Dad Chad is pyrocinical if he was less mentally ill

[@sebastianherrera6514]

@@pachurro2762or more!?

[@Glizzychopter]

Hahaah

[@StafkiGTN]

joke about fat pyro here

[@morningbell3690]

Don’t half insult Rad Chad please.

[@EliaszekEN]

At 10:15 this image REALLY reminded me of when i was younger and our mom bringed us to a big building with tons and tons of games and inflatable castles and stuff, but now when i see this image with nothing expect a singular ball pit gives me a uneasy feeling.

[@Mdrapsy]

That image really remimded me of the time when a bunch of tumblr people went to a convention and spent one extra hour in the ball pit

[@mladen7641]

You have no idea how terrifying that image truly is.

[@Mdrapsy]

Also, trust me, you did not want to be in that ball pit

[@glitchingeclipse9850]

To me it feels like walking through a ghost town. In places that are usually lively with many people, you have an expectation that there will be someone there, but in that case, nobody else is there. It's empty and soundless except for you.

[@lorddasani8707]

Loving the increase in variety content lately!

[@T4nkE-ng1ne]

3:45 you are litterally describing how the training area in Apex works

[@Graynsilo]

I just realised radchads shirt is the lazerkiwi flag and i love it

[@Orkunkadunk]

Not as scary when you’re single and alone all the time

[@Soapromancer]

We could change that

[@rodrijolly5417]

AYO WHAT@@Soapromancer

[@L0K1K1N6ST0N]

No bitches?

[@BucketGeek]

@@rodrijolly5417 We both are invited to their wedding, canon event.

[@gilbo5957]

​@@BucketGeekcan I come too?

[@cking4869]

I haven't seen many others share my opinion about the state of the backroom until now. It frustrates me to no end how there was this space that just gave the overwhelming feeling that no human was ever meant to inhabit it, that it was just some glitch in the matrix that you could just fall into one day, a half finished dev room made and forgotten by whatever creator reigns over our lives, but the next minute there's a 50 page wiki about how the entire place is infested with smilers and glorbos and safe rooms because I guess this is a video game now, sure why not.

[@georgegideon3788]

I discovered you about 2 and a half hours ago and have DEVOURED all your longer videos. I don’t think I ever played a single game you’ve talked about even in passing and yet I’m hooked

[@r15835]

I love that you're discovering your own brand of content outside of Guilty Gear Strive. While i love your (i dont wanna call them shitposts, as you put in actual effort), I'm really happy that you've been able to use them as a jumping board into stuff like this.

[@Parostem]

I have felt this exact way several times before, but it's never been from a multiplayer game. I feel it specifically in 1st person point and click adventure games without NPCs. There's always a feeling that I will find someone in the otherwise empty rooms. This is then combined with a new fear: The fear of something breaking the unspoken rules of the game. The rules say that I move from room to room by clicking on doorways, or arrows, or something, which implies that nothing moves in real time. There's no health bar, which implies that I'm not supposed to be hurt. The game's pixelated art style implies that nothing else will move, or be animated. Which means that the worst thing I could encounter would be something that breaks those rules, something that moves towards me in real time. Something that would actually be pretty easy to for the developer to implement into their game... something that's *RIGHTAROUNDTHISCORNER-* oh, wait it's just another puzzle. Right, this isn't a horror game... whoops.

[@regrettspaghettt]

Why did your comment actually make my heart rate go up 😭

[@exzyyd392]

Myst genuinely scarred me as a kid because it's so empty. As far as I'm aware there's never even any 'enemies' or anything, just you and puzzles, but it still terrified me.

[@The_Dying_Rose]

Experienced this while playing the stanley parable the first time, despite knowing it wasn't horror, didn't help once I got a random Easter egg with another person walking around in another hallway

[@Gnonne]

7:42 as a kid, when I herd cave noises, I thought it was him, and I would leave the game

[@justv7536]

The backrooms portion of the video - This is why I follow Kane Pixel's version of the backrooms. While, yes, there are some of the spooky's, there's a lot more existential dread in knowing that, some people are stuck in there. Have been stuck in there. For MONTHS. YEARS even. And yet, there is nothing, just 400,000 square kilometers of damp carpet and buzzing lights. With the same shitty yellow wallpaper. That is the backrooms for me. One, maybe two or three, levels of paranoia. Of the unknown. Of real, anxiety.

[@ArthaGachaADDICT]

1:49 my cat jumped on my bed exactly at this time, i shit my pants

[@90zillas34]

i had this similar feeling in something like the isle where even though its a mutiplayer dinosaur survival game the map is so big that encountering another player will be more surprising than anything. even worse when that player is a carnivore.

[@MosesLeadzy]

Rad Chad the mad lad strikes again with yet another W video! I experienced something like this taking a walk down to a usually bustling park by a big road. I sat there for a bit, in the dark, no kids in the playground, no lights on in houses, no crickets chirping, no cars passing by. I started to get a little freaked out so I walked away, happening to walk under a cicada tree, and the cicadas made the loudest fucking noise I have heard in my entire life. Like come on cicadas you really had to do me like that? Anyway now I flinch whenever I hear cicadas.

[@mkol1998]

Using Fear and Hunger music for this feels funny to me, since I can somehow never feel like I'm alone in that game...

[@Mdrapsy]

10:15. I feel like laughing when I see this one. Lmao.

[@blacklight683]

Sometimes when i play alone in tf2 my party chat makes a sound it shows me a blank message, no name no massage just a blank box with notification sound, Now i know it is steam reconnecting my acount to the server but i still loke to think someone is spying on me, when i played alone on a hightower server my chat did it i was jumping around then chat just appeared like someone sent a massage but there was nothing It feels like someone watching me play alone

[@yserareborn]

Ok you got me with that ball pit. So, read House of Leaves? It's a fun book full of this very spooky thing you were discussing...

[@Jackiemizukifan]

BRO 10:22 NO WAY THEY TURN DASHCON PISSBALL PIT INTO A BACKROOMS

[@just.Harley]

for me the first time i got this uneasy feeling was modern warfare 3. On some maps there are teddy bears as fun easter eggs and one day i wanted to go find them on the different maps. That first time i was just walking through the empty maps of mw3 i got this insane dread. i was like 8 years old and this feeling was the worst. i didnt get it again until i saw no players online which is to this day the scariest thing ive played (the first section before the goofy ghost atleast)

[@zan821]

this also applies to bonelab sandbox maps, swear i cant go a minute without doing something before getting uneasy

[@ZeekarPRIME]

A single critique that stands out is that i feel like music and sfx sometimed could be like 5-10% lower volume cause sometimes it makes it sliiightly hard to hear you. Other times it's perfectly fine, but some audio feels slightly too unbalanced

[@thefanboy3285]

I've got a secret to confess to y'all : whether is it Minecraft, the Backrooms and liminal spaces, I've actually never felt the uneasy feeling of being watched from afar and around a corner. No. Each time I did, I faked it all. You see, I was the "weird kid" growing up so I've grown accustomed to being lonely in crowded places and alone in empty spaces. I rarely play multiplayer games or multiplayer modes in games. To the point that when I log in to my Minecraft world, I just know there are nobody around to help, critique or witness my works. Growing up, I've built some toughness to loneliness; I think I've become self centered enough not to consider a potential menace from an unseen entity when I know there are no entities.

[@ninetails8471]

Whilst I most certainly do feel uneasy at 10:18, it is in fact because I am seeing the fucking Dascon ball pit described as a liminal space, and the fact that descriptor fits causes me immense psychic damage

[@Nyadlabaoth]

10:16 DASHCON?????

[@cyanidepizza]

this reminds me of when i played around in those zelda 64 beta maps that were dumped a few years ago. it was all so empty and the maps didn’t have music. it was just link running around in these empty levels. something about it already makes me feel really on edge.

[@doctoreggg]

12:34 An idea I just had. What if you made a backrooms game that’s completely normal. Many of the rooms have been put in, you wander around and eventually you escape. But you put no entities in it? You even say, in the description of the game, that entities can chase you and kill you. But they never do. Because they don’t exist. First, you turn every corner, scared that some entity is going to pop out of nowhere. But there never is one. You make it through a few rooms. No entity encounters. Still expecting something to happen. But then you start to doubt yourself. You think about how you haven’t encountered anything, and you say, “What if I am alone?” But you continue to think that surely, sometime, something will pop out at you, that you just got unlucky, that something will happen soon. But you also feel lonely still, as nothing has happened. And this fear slowly builds until the end of the game. I think that this game would be the most utterly terrifying game to ever exist.

[@miguel_H.C]

10:15 scariest image on the video

[@SomeSillyGuy47]

i had a terrible fear of herobrine in minecraft, Back in 2020 or 2021, i used to AVOID caves. Because yeah, this time, when i play minecraft i now don’t avoid caves, i usually go caves now. but something is wrong like someone is watching and stalking me, that’s why i don’t play minecraft much.

[@Dookieman1975]

Damn this hit way too close. I’ve always had an irrational fear of being watched or stalked or something possibly malicious being omnipresent. I always close the blinds at night and maybe during the day and constantly have a weird feeling someone is behind those blinds. One thing I hate is how the blinds on a clear glass door leading to my backyard don’t work and won’t cover it. And every time I look in it’s direction at night I’m afraid someone/something is there looking in at me or that when I look away they’re there and I just can’t catch them

[@nullvoid4193]

Somehow the silly man rad chad made me somewhat uncomfortable and paranoid while still being funny, how the hell man

[@MasterChef1957]

7:24 no im not that old herobrine isn't that obscure im sure the kids know about him. Right?

[@The4stro]

2:14 fuckin hell why did that get me?

[@itsgamingtime7439]

you know its intense when ashes of war starts playing in the intro

[@acc07723]

You know, There are reasons that we are afraid of this type of stuff…

[@TyrantToppat]

4:18 I could be wrong but the music here feels so much like it's from Pseudoregalia that it fucking gobsmacked me upon rewatching this video.

[@JulianWuzHear]

Man I’ve literally had that exact same rant at around the end of the video about the internet ruining the backrooms

[@panbo_]

omg its Rad Chad, the Mad Lad, and to some of you, quite possibly your Dad, I am very sad and I am really not that bad, however, I am glad that you are mad, Brad

[@Hey-im-Michael14]

There's a reason why. When playing alone in a multiplayer game, without anything happening in the server. Your brain will think something is hiding from you. Or a player is hiding and watching you.

[@Patononfan]

I love the non FGC videos thank you Rad Chad, the mad lad and to some of you, your dad.

[@BlockBlazer]

7:49 Blueberry ?!?!?!?

[@kreeperkiller4423]

This is some really good content, with the only things I didn’t enjoy being the “straw man” bits and the self depricating humor. You’re good at this, so it’s okay to be confident.

[@Thehuman_player]

*Thanks, I'm going to have nightmares now :)*

[@Soda_Drunka]

Can't believe Rad Chad called out Slop King Pyro, such a heroic move

[@Hyliabye]

I like the new type o video of rad chad

[@personyes8083]

I had this feeling when i was playing Doom (2016) a few years back. I was in the stage "Meltdown" and after i had finished all the encounters and fights, i would always run around to try and find secrets n stuff, but I'd always have that uneasy feeling that someone or something was just always there. Watching me from somewhere. The ambience of the level, lava bubbling, pipes steaming, and occasional screams is what i heard while running around. "Meltdown" is probably by far the level i dislike the most purely because of this one reason.

[@daniilikyay4949]

13:52 is this a voice acting audition for hollow knight silksong?

[@i_dont_pay_taxes491]

Another certified "rad chad banger"™

[@funny4052]

Nope I never play games alone. Sidenote, the voices are getting louder

[@lucatamburello4545]

What ?! There’s kids who don’t know about herobrine ? This hurts my soul because I was the kid who spread all the rumours about hero brine and other gaming myths to mess with other kids on the playground To find out my legacy has decayed to such a level To truly die is not to perish but to be forgotten entirely, is this what it’s like to truly die ?

[@So0fer]

This video is hella underrated

[@arandomspanishdude3849]

My Theory of gmod being a game so unnerving I even quit the game several times for being in one of the dark places of the maps, is the fact of the graphics. The graphics of gmod are pretty good for game from 2006 (Yes, I know they are original from Half life 2) but at the same time they feel strange, you clearly know they are false nothing is real but the textures tries to makes it look real or even feel real. The point that I am trying to get is that gmod looks like a false reality, you see buildings but you can't enter them the windows are just 2D textures, you see a city at the horizon but It is false there is no city It is also a 2D texture. And the same maps help with that, the original map of gmod doesn't have sense why is there is apartments buildings in some strange big playground, why there is a white void, why there is a giant room with a giant mirror, why is there a dark room with nothing there. Another point is the lack of things even If you go in a map where you can enter in the buildings there is nothing there or If there is It feels abandoned. And my final point is the fact from why the textures are like this, Half life 2, this game was literally made to look what would be a society where an alien invasion happens on the earth and the consequences of this same invasion, so clearly they had to make the textures look grey, sad, alone from the thousands or millions of people dead or how everyone had to abandon their places.

[@maximusharbour3463]

I have had Minecraft singleplayer fear before

[@NoobyTumble]

So liminal, ooooo!! I love this video

[@davidsarkisyan09123]

The only problem in this video is the fact that he sayed that in 2012 we were posting living toombstone fnaf songs

[@bikerguy__]

this whole video is just fucking chills unlocking a fear I didn't know I had the unknown I was watching just waiting for his cartoon character to pop up because it was so lonely when he did I was so happy that feeling of dread was gone and even after the video I still have this feeling this video was amazing and it proved your point of the uneasiness of playing alone 10/10 now after this video I'm alone in my room and cant snake this uneasiness

[@simplysoanso8503]

serious radchad is my favorite radchad

[@quincemince8931]

So true, the entities contradict the original horror of the backrooms. It's meant to seem desolate and devoid of life. Like, put the entities somewhere else tbh. I also think there should only be one monster per horror story so it doesn't get redundant and gimmicky. Like, IRL, no one survives more than one monster. Then that's more of an adventure rpg imo.

[@Blueqoose]

Im laying here in bed letting the intrusive thoughts win and I finally decided to google “Why did I feel like I wasn’t alone in single player games?” Your video popped up and I can sleep a little easier knowing im not an isolated scary cat weirdo. Thank you. Subbed.

[@Chucklestheechidna128]

7:50 "As you can tell, I have a strong passion for bullying children" -Rad Chad (great video)

[@whosthisrandom220]

i am infact NOT alone, happy chaos is in the bottom right corner

[@Hoodines]

I liked this video more of this please

[@cavedweller4111]

Minecraft somehow gives me the worst of this feeling

[@Ernie-Grimwall]

portal 2. my small smooth child brain was convinced there was a model of ratman somewhere watching.

[@gtbonebridlanius5907]

im sad when im alone in bed watching rad chad

[@protractor4906]

THE DASHCON BALL PIT???

[@bluegolisano7768]

should note that in a few versions of the game, the herobrine skin was part of its files. wasn't attached to a mob afaik though.

[@Cinetischannel]

Yes finally another video

[@YIPPEE-pv7py]

gosh this video made me remember why i was even subscribed to rad chad to begin with

[@morrissimeoncollier4396]

Loneliness or the existence of nothing bot himself is a primordial fear That Isn’t learned But Is instead goes inside of everyone like the fear of falling , or the fear of darkness

[@whizthesugoi]

I have killed for less. Also I could never play Minecraft alone cause I get so nervous for the chance that Herobrine could spook me at any time And I still can't, 8 years later

[@MooseChicken]

There was one game that came before No Players Online or Backrooms that I think also kind of encapsulates the "I'm alone...or am I?" type of feeling. It's called Nighttime Visitor. The premise is simple. You're in an office building and you need to leave. There is an intruder looking for you. That type of thing. I won't spoil anything more incase someone wants to try it out for themselves after reading this comment, but you might understand what I'm talking about if you try it for yourself.

[@Pofo1001]

I'm inside your walls Mr rad chad.

[@Sketchchess07]

the stairs bit at the start actually got me damn you rad chad the mad lad and probably my dad

[@BJ18J09]

soo, just wondering. Did anybody else see the face of markiplier in the darkness around the backroom part or did I really go insane?

[@jobulletchief8936]

Yes, I am Alone...

[@SchizoGuitarist]

not for long. check your floorboards

[@icyskelly204]

Get your telltale heart out o’ here

[@RamLeaf]

No you’re not, tear down your walls

[@areturandneon4687]

12:19 so ye here’s more prof that he’s right if you watch the entire video you wouldn’t have seen this you would have seen a man’s face yes this is true because it’s the uneasy feeling that someone is watching you and you wouldn’t have taught that was a man face if you didn’t have a feeling that some one was watching you or there are people in the shadows

[@SpectralT23]

Yeah- sleep can wait.

[@FiveHoursLater815]

I pity anyone who did not stay for the very last second of the video. The payoff that was built the entire video was absolutely worth it. 10/10.