Worst MMO Ever? - Animyst

Patreon: / joshstrifehayes
Twitch: / joshstrifehayes
Discord: / discord
Twitter: / joshstrifehayes
Reddit: / joshstrifehayes
#####
Travel the endless desert and find the 8 pages of the book of lore.
While fighting boredom and madness in equal parts.
Animyst is a mystery, a cursed game, an experience you should not have, and yet, i kept playing.
Thank you the the supporters on Patreon, Twitch and KZbin who keep the channel alive x

[@JoshStrifeHayes]

During the video premier, enough people logged on that we actually broke the player peak record: twitter.com/JoshStrifeHayes/status/1670156752170393600

[@Blobby90]

I'm not surprised. I was already forming a battle-plan in my head to round up some trailblazers and explore this world in full

[@undertyped1]

If U want a cursed mmo, try project gorgon. The developer is a diehard trump fan, and if u mention anything negative about trump in global chat, u get an instant permaban. It also has something like 90% upvotes, enjoy the curse.

[@fappydabear1774]

@@undertyped1 I love Project Gorgon. It’s a surprisingly competent mmorpg for a husband and wife team.

[@onekun5233]

@@undertyped1 To be fair, I don't think a developer's political opinions necessarily make a MMO or any game bad, but it's unfortunate if they let that influence their moderation decisions.

[@undertyped1]

@@onekun5233 I don't think its a bad mmo, just cursed.

[@Tarpit_]

Hey! Tarpit here, one of two Animyst devs. This weekend has been surreal! We had moved on creatively years ago, taking a huge amount from the experience of making Animyst, and contentedly assuming that a very few people would ever go into the world. Our pre-Josh upper limit was 14 players on a PvP event (going back to 2018.) The game is designed and balanced for an average of 5-10 players constantly, a number that still ended up being overly ambitious for us to attain. Josh was absolutely right pointing out that a multiplayer game without a community literally never gets experienced, no matter how good (or scuffed.) All that to say, we are so thrilled that people are playing Animyst! We both adore the video. Writing this on the Monday after it dropped, we have patched 6 times since the video came out. (All of the glory for that goes to Ded; I made the game worlds but can't assist with programming labor) Lag, and other issues resulting from these hitherto unseen server loads are much better than they were feeling Saturday. The game is built for group PvP, and we will keep turning the screws on networking and optimizations to make that as possible as possible. Neither of us thought we would ever update again. We are still disoriented and need to think deeply about what the future holds. Josh, you made instant fans out of the both of us. The video is hilarious, awesomely done, and perhaps overly generous.

[@Telepathic_Snail_Overlords]

The game looks awesome dude. If my pc wasn't dead I would cjeck it out!

[@Tarpit_]

@@Telepathic_Snail_Overlords thanks a ton! It is not the most optimized game of all times so even people with good rigs aren't performing like they should

[@leempo1]

All I could think while watching this video was how fucking awesome this game looked. You guys did a great job ❤

[@Isacmartins1]

The tab thing really does make part of the text, doesn't it? Anyway, I will call some friends and try to play it, my morbid curiosity got the better of me

[@allecio]

I cannot believe I am saying this about a game that shows up in this series, but I think this games has massive potential. It's creepy, intended or not, and honestly, I'd love to see more out of it.

[@boinjamoin_860]

I actually like the voicelines, it feels so wrong and raw exactly what you would expect from someone who has been dead for 10.000 years. It adds to the uncomfortable atmosphere

[@wouju9600]

Agreed, it feels unnatural and forced. Which I guess is what would happen if a pair of reanimated bones tried speaking

[@Hardworlder]

You expect dead people to sound like broken robot children?

[@HorsesArePeople2]

Same, it's really fucking creepy and fits well

[@taoofjester4113]

Samies. It was so damn weird it made me think of that one twisted MMO Josh did the series on. It definitely set the mood and made it so much more creepy than what an actual voice actor could have done.

[@Archangelm127]

I concur. If that was a deliberate design decision, it was exactly on point.

[@Tarpit_]

We are making Animyst 2!

[@Loki-]

Weird to now be seeing this video 9 months later, and 4 days ago this was posted. Good luck and glad to see it!

[@cartoonishidealism582]

YOOOOOOOOO

[@skyjack1]

For real? Just when I considered playing this in the future? Sweet.

[@jimmyzimmer8118]

Awesome

[@Shepherd_Z]

I'm already enjoying this game as it is and can't wait to see what the next game looks like.

[@imran8880]

Out of all MMOs he reviewed, this one is the anti-thesis of the usual aftermath. Instead of shutting down a dying game for good, he breathed life into it.

[@sneakycactus8815]

@@LVZKV bozo

[@JustATanneriteDummy]

I was gonna say I'm about to try this shit lmao

[@Simplemalk]

There's something poetic about it given the concept and setting of the game.

[@BM03]

Josh Strife Hayes is officially not the MMO Grim Reaper, but the MMO Necromancer. He commands them to die and to raise from their graves in equal measure.

[@jafd239]

90% sure this game's dev had glimpsed beyond the veil and was compelled to create it after witnessing the eldritch truth underneath and enveloping our reality

[@vorpalkickass8825]

He has seen the far future. the realms beyond time that will overcome our earth after humans have gone. and that future is Animyst.

[@luisernestochaconguerrero778]

They have seen beyond the veil, a horrific truth, they found it there and in that moment of brainblasting realization they ceased to be man.. and become a herald.. an avatar of the crawling chaos..

[@taoofjester4113]

​@@luisernestochaconguerrero778so...a typical Tuesday.

[@agoogleuser8492]

That is a high degree of certainty. I'm with this man.

[@brandonwilt5125]

Started playing the game right after the video was posted. Managed to gather all 8 pages in about 6-8 hours. Now the real grind begins! The 2 guys who made the game were actively in the game communicating to players, answering questions, replacing items lost by server resets, and just general being cool dudes. They’ve dropped at least 2 performance patches in the 48 hours since the population has boomed. Super awesome to be a part of!

[@server1ok]

Patch 2.0. Grass is now green, instead of red. 😂

[@kulbrez4884]

Even if this game doesn’t really go anywhere, the new players gave these 2 guys motivation and a spark. This game may not be it, but maybe the next attempt they will carry that spark with them to something amazing. They clearly have a passion!

[@Earth2McKay]

Wholesome af

[@parcol576]

What happened when you found all 8

[@server1ok]

@@parcol576 Josh said that you unlock flying and the last boss.

[@0xXMagnusXx0]

"This is the Afterlife, but it is not eternity... But then where does the soul go next?" Come on, this line alone has give this more character than all of Ubisoft's games over the last decade together.

[@SadBrazilianNoises]

All of the weird cryptic musings of the npcs voiced in that horrible uncanny TTS threw me into a state of complete awe at just how atmospheric it all is. That's dark fantasy done right.

[@PIKL_Creep]

@@SadBrazilianNoises What the developer was going for with the voices is actually pretty good but could've been executed a lot better.

[@ctdaniels7049]

@@SadBrazilianNoises They put the Mork and the Borg together--

[@davidrymwar5812]

as a professional writer, that is a bit of incredibly haunting writing given the setting

[@AllfatherBlack]

tons of those lines were genuinely great writing imo (considering the overall theme and atmosphere). i would be proud to have come up with this weird stuff

[@potenviking]

Somehow this "worst mmo ever" turns into "forgotten world explorer" type of series and honestly, this is what I am here for!

[@amixofgeekcontent]

You might be interested in Josh's "Otherland" series (it's in his playlist section).

[@HighPriestFuneral]

@@amixofgeekcontent This is how I found Josh way back when. There was something about it that seemed similar to dot hack, an incredibly in-depth reviewer who outlined his time with the story, characters, and a legitimate enthusiasm that didn't feel forced or self-absorbed. I remember reading a comment at the time where some one was complaining "You should put these into 15 minute chunks. You don't have the charisma and the game isn't interesting enough to be given this much time. If you do fix your style I could recommend you to..." And so on and so forth. Oh, it was so nice to see how quickly Josh's channel grew, and how varied his wheelhouse really became.

[@Urpuss]

@@amixofgeekcontent Thanks! Will check it out :)

[@thegrayyernaut]

@@amixofgeekcontent That series is the stuff of legends.

[@namebrandmason]

@@amixofgeekcontent I half expected this video to turn into "Otherland 2"

[@cameronmathews9338]

Just so you know, this video almost singlehandedly brought this game back from the dead. After watching, I downloaded it and played and we had about 60 players on the server. It got enough attention that the two devs who made the game even pushed out a new update to help with the lag that having that many people on the server caused. This game is awesome and now that there are a few people playing, it's one I'd recommend people actually look at.

[@professor0reo700]

The video was just released a day ago

[@tianzhou1244]

​@@professor0reo700thats how powerful this video is, it effects things retroactively...

[@EJ_Red]

As of 7 PM/19:00 on June 18 2023, Steamcharts says it has 61 people. Because of the surreal and empty yet disturbingly interesting potential this game has, I hope this game actually is carried by these people.

[@And-ur6ol]

@@EJ_Red there is a fair chance it will, since they are a lot more prepared for the game, after this video, than if they had stumbled upon it randomly on steam.

[@Keurosaur]

It's all those homeless Tera Online players...

[@Dingusdongus257]

"Made by 2 mortals" Keeping the server up for 5 years is an accomplishment in of itself and shows their dedication.

[@perryborn2777]

I'm not sure how the game's servers worked, but it simply could have been a server hosted on the dev's own computer. They said themselves it was never supposed to have tons of players, so that would be a relatively low-cost method of keeping the server up

[@Wampa842]

The consistently weird portrayal of the game, intentional or not, is one of its greatest strengths. It's like the player is experiencing the game in an actual state of undeath - you can't properly comprehend the world and its characters, you can't interact, everything is *wrong*, like a fever dream that never ends.

[@MagicAlfi]

Josh... this needs a series... we need to form a group and find all pages.... there is no other way....

[@richardfrederick6009]

I'm in

[@JohnSmith-ox3gy]

@@richardfrederick6009 You have my femur for the expedition fund!

[@thechugg4372]

Lets overload this guy's only server!

[@eduardopena5893]

This is the way.

[@ucantstoptheflopp4387]

I have a life mission now

[@Messametti]

The text to speech madness oddly fits in this game, sounds like a transmission from a hellish dimension or something.

[@MononymousM]

My honest first thought about it was; this is so bad, it can't _not_ be deliberate. And I agree with you - it's fitting in an odd way.

[@ThommyofThenn]

Yeah it has a definite "Black Lodge" vibe to it

[@rbwbr]

Yea, and its definetely done on purpouse. Fits the game perfectly

[@ThePhantom4516]

This is totally an indie horror trope, the archaic text to speech voices used for an unsettling effect. and it really does work

[@EndertheDragon0922]

Yeah, it’s jarring but I dig it! Ofc I haven’t experienced it firsthand, maybe it gets old quick, but it’s kinda cool to me!

[@approachingetterath9959]

this game almost perfectly captures a genuine feeling of early gaming, something that is extremely rare to come by now due to how fast people take games apart to the last file and share their findings online. just look at how Mario 64, early Pokemon or Zelda used to have all these rumors, some innocent, some very creepy. and the endless gaming creepypastas back in the hayday. early Minecraft was the last game i really ever experienced this subtle horror in: the fog, the endlessness, the loneliness, the lack of online resources and your young self's inability to think very critically and so you soak up the scary rumors and try to figure this game out by yourself while you feel watched. i think Animyst channels this exact energy: there are no resources online, you can't apply some long standing gaming knowledge just like when you were young, the endless empty world, and this inability to really make sense of it paired with the low graphics and fog, the loneliness with structures made by someone but there's nobody there. this feels like a game i could've played in 2006 and share rumors with friends on the school yard as we collectively shit ourselves. and i think that's beautiful.

[@EndertheDragon0922]

You captured it perfectly. I couldn’t put a finger on what this game made me feel, but I think that’s it. A sense of wonder and curiosity that can’t be answered as easily as games that have been picked apart.

[@yaya_is_real]

The early Minecraft part is so true , thanks for putting into world I love u

[@PlumingerNylon]

"try to figure this game out by yourself while you feel watched" this right here made me feel like I've felt this before without knowing, some early 2000 games really had that feeling of angst and I was never a brave child

[@EinDose]

A tiny interesting thing about all this: I love the subtle storytelling and worldbuilding that all the fancy magic you get pales in comparison to the weapon the first boss drops, which is just an ACTUAL WEAPON, made of steel and wood. The rest of Animyst deliberately makes very little sense, but that one detail speaks so clearly and loudly that I adore it.

[@paulmahoney7619]

I don't even know if that's intentional, but it so much captures the feeling of being in a dying, fading world.

[@alexgac1801]

Fancy magic : - throw bouncy rock - sends flies bothering your foes - chute of flaming material Regular weapon : Big, deliberate, hammer strike to the face. It all makes senses.

[@0neDoomedSpaceMarine]

Makes me think of what Conan The Barbarian was taught by his father.

[@femthingevelyn]

it's kind of evocative of how in Dark Souls, it's heavily implied that miracles, or holy magic, used to be a lot stronger, but because you cast miracles by reciting certain legends basically, the legends are getting further and further from the original truth, and further and further from the divinity they draw from

[@fizzplease6742]

the idea of a character being formed from the reconstituted bits of a variety of people in a mass grave is horrifying and inspired.

[@GrimSawyer52]

The idea is incredibly horrifying yet they are friendly(I think). I am going to use them as a basis for a type of undead.

[@elvingearmasterirma7241]

I am frantically taking notes tbh

[@2ley695]

So basically Espada from Bleach?

[@straydogfreedom7795]

@@GrimSawyer52 I guess it would be hard not to be friendly when you're made up of other people

[@ulture]

but that's just real life

[@redlunatic2224]

As a partially blind person, this is amazing. That TTS is basically what we had in the 2000s and its pure nostalgia.

[@golemgolden4670]

What do you mean partially blind? What is that like? sorry if this is rude

[@LordOfMadness]

@@golemgolden4670 Tiss like a loooot of dioptries if I understand it correctly. Far too much to compensate with glasses. So you see basicaly just smudges of color

[@jungtothehuimang]

​@@golemgolden4670partially blind can mean only one eye is affected or they can see some things but not very well. Most people who have blindness don't actually see blackness. They have some amount of sight to varying degrees. Sorry if that was rambly.

[@hogandromgool2062]

@@jungtothehuimang Yes most people that are blind can distinguish high contrast e.g. shadows on bright ground. Usually takes a lot of concentration to figure out what the shapes mean.

[@belstar1128]

2000s more like 1970s

[@LyaksandraB]

To be honest, if you're going to use text to speech, this is the way. With the characters, voice and speech patterns being quite detached from human, there's no space for the uncanny valley to set in. This works, unlike people making photorealistic human characters with realistic sounding text to speech.

[@Sytaal]

Now I know in which type of evil Josh turned after playing this cursed game, cause now it has a hundred players peak and 50 playing right now, it was brought to live it had never seen before. Truly a work of Master Necromancer, hats down.

[@anlak1318]

i have to say, with every passing minute this video became more entrancing, and looked like a 10/10 creepypasta. And after watching the video, i'm 100% sure that this game is a memetic agent.

[@Tarpit_]

It could definitely be played as a skeletons war meme generator

[@LiveLNXgaming]

It is absolutely an SCP

[@shpee8443]

A little over a day of this gem being posted, Animyst playercounts skyrocketed to a staggering 94 player 24 hour peak at the time of writing, may those brave soldiers find all the pages

[@the_Googie]

funny, for me it reads 86 all time peak

[@300SonsofOdin]

This cursed game has evoked something in me, the desire to tame the desert and venture through the tombs of the undead... What have you done to me, Josh? Why have you shown me this cursed piece of the internet? Why could you not stop, when there was a part of your humanity left?

[@Jiub_SN]

Such a cringe comment

[@b.w.s3165]

​@@Jiub_SNAnd yet, your reply is somehow more cringe.

[@kexaroni]

@@Jiub_SNI am begging you to read a single book.

[@justwastingtimeonyt9952]

​@@kexaronida book of lore

[@salt2387]

Gotta be honest, I’m diggin the text to speak. It has a detached eerie sound, perfect for reanimated beings. It’s just intriguing to me and I like it. Id love to see you do a small series on this 😅

[@A_Stereotypical_Guy]

Yeah you gotta think that any voice they had would be surreal and detached being that they have no lungs or vocal chords. It would almost be a property of the landscape more than the character. So it does fit. It's like something that should never be able to speak struggling to do so.

[@larrymantic2635]

At least it’s not as bad as AI voices.

[@zulascrown]

Josh’s ability to find cursed gems is legitimately unmatched, these videos provide something invaluable, recording small forgotten pieces of gaming history that are more than worth preserving and for that im incredibly glad to have found his channel

[@Tarpit_]

Seriously curious how he came across Animyst

[@7Beanss]

​@@Tarpit_I'm sure the community helps. He probably has a long list of emails with good suggestions

[@Askanon]

Right? Think of how many projects never see the light of day. They either get shared in private only communities, are never shared period, or like Animyst they just get forgotten. Lost to the sands of time. The world of low budget, indie games is fascinating.

[@3cheesebits]

I think this game is deserving of a mini series. This has to be the most interesting MMO you’ve done as of late and it’s absolutely worthy of more attention

[@flame4864]

Same actually. Having watched the video, I really want to see more of it. It's obscure enough that I can't find anything like it.

[@Methdemon]

@@flame4864 cruelty squad

[@TheNavigator4552]

​@@Methdemonthat game is definitely not obscure

[@Tftmt]

You can play as a skelly. Absolutely bone-rattling choice. 10/10

[@Mangoroxas]

Thanks to you the game is alive again. You can't imagine how much joy you bring to the creators with your work. You really did something great with this

[@zaggoth]

If anyone is curious, that jittery effect on the weapons is floating point error. Towards the end of the video you can see a lot of jittering. Basically the player character is so far from the center of the world that you start getting math-rounding errors in the vertex position of 3D models. Fun stuff! Modern engines (or modern systems) sometimes (not always) "re-center" the world coordinates periodically to avoid this when traveling very long distances.

[@angiee33]

Wow, interesting

[@Eta_Hoyimi]

This man speaks truth; If you play FF14 this is also why your furniture shifts slightly after modelling your apartment sometimes. The decimal points are rounded off to a certain position meaning it'll shift a few pixels randomly once in a while.

[@oliver_twistor]

Floating point errors, the bane of every programmer. So incredibly hard to debug.

[@Amir_404]

@@oliver_twistor Just make everything a double and pray nobody notices.

[@flomojo2u]

Yep, I expect when the game engine devs created it they weren't expecting a continuous coordinate system across enormous distances. Eventually the number of bits in the mantissa gets stretched thin as numbers get very large. It's the same reason on your average scientific calculator if you add 1 to 10^99 you still only have 10^99.

[@thatoneweirdbish6364]

I just love how Josh becomes increasingly more intense in his tone throughout the video. It really makes it feel like there's an obsession with the game slowly building up and adds beautifully to the vibe of the video over all.

[@Poldovico]

Man's an actor and it bloody well shows :P

[@thatoneweirdbish6364]

@@Poldovico oh damn, I didn't even know that. Yeah that makes sense lmao

[@AuricomSystems]

We listened in real time to a Lovecraft protagonist experiencing some Events

[@thatoneweirdbish6364]

@@AuricomSystems Damn you're so right with this. Also Lovecraft is my favourite author so thanks for reminding me to read some of his stories again!

[@Blisterdude123]

I adore how this one slowly shifted from 'review' to 'narrative descent into madness with uplifting if flawed finale'.

[@swanofnutella4734]

Congratulations. You've officially transcended the format of the show and discovered a true piece of cryptic internet mystery.

[@zarax6826]

This game is coming back, josh. Simply by creating this video, you have brought it back. The devs are patching things, fixing bugs, and i think they have plans down the road to finish it.

[@Alresu]

In the end Josh sounds like some Lovecraftian protagonist. Caught by the madness, going deeper to find and get to know something unknowable, leaving behind, shred by shred, their sanity.

[@sadhappy8860]

The idea of waking up with skeletal body parts not your own was fantastically creepy, the silhouettes of larger things across the plains looked great.

[@_JellyWalker]

I love that the faction of mixed up skeletons killed in a mass execution are just called "Friends."

[@server1ok]

@@_JellyWalker Comrades. The pleb.

[@connerblank5069]

Man, that skybox is _gorgeous._

[@battlebots1]

The ending here was exactly what an MMO adventure should feel like. Hats off to your playing and writing

[@pixeltrash5098]

Josh played up the voiced dialogue like it was going to be unbearable but then it played it was the most genius thing the developer could have done

[@bertoandon9681]

It's so unnerving, it's Perfect

[@JK-gm6kk]

it kinda reminds me of twin peaks. In terms of unsettling on a budget, im inclined to agree

[@Jollofmuncher2000]

Glad to see everyone agrees. The voices match the atmosphere extremely well. The game has a few good designs/ideas it just plays like an alpha. Got some potential

[@Makrillo]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/p3rXppqeYst5nck

[@schnek8927]

Typical josh... I mean i'm enjoying the series, but there's a lot of "THIS IS THE MOST INSANE/ANNOYING/STUPID THING EVER GUYS, LOOK!!!" Thing: *Just below average or even somewhat good. (like in this case)*

[@ZedNull.]

This series has been an adventure, thanks for taking us along on this quest of yours Josh.

[@107olivier]

PLLEASE DO THE MMO FLY FOR FUN

[@greed94]

@@107olivier Ask Josh, not Zed!

[@skrugtuggler]

The way their bones creak and scrape against eachother as they talk makes my skin crawl... I love it.

[@randm4246]

The voice over is not a failure, it's a triumph.

[@moonasha]

this is honestly a really cool setting, and if fleshed out as a single player game, could be really promising. I love this janky cursed aesthetic and the massive unsettling scale. There's an air of mystery about it. Totally untapped potential

[@Ilaydra]

"fleshed out" good one

[@spamuel98]

that game already exists, it's called Amnesia.

[@SilimsLetsPlays]

@@spamuel98 Amnesia wishes its aesthetic was actually this interesting, lol

[@pinkorcyanbutlong5651]

Kinda reminds me a bit of Wrought Flesh vibes wise, big desert, gorey aesthetic, ominous places and undertone, weird but interesting jank both visually and gameplay wise (which is quite hard). Though of course that one is more of action sci-fi

[@Beldarak]

Take a look at Lunacid. It got the same vibe but is a real game. It's like the King Field games.

[@voidlayern9368]

This is genuinely breathtakingly mysterious. It's full in an empty sort of way, and empty in a strangely fulfilling way. It's wrong in all the right ways, and right in a few wrong ones, but that doesn't take away the atmosphere of stepping into something truly different from everything else. Much like Otherland, I think we've found something here, and I think a series could be something a lot of people could enjoy.

[@AnthonyJClink]

Yeah it totally had some otherland vibes for sure. I really enjoyed the otherland series. This isn't as pretty but it does have the same kinda vibe.

[@namebrandmason]

One cannot criticize the game for being unimaginative. It's a truly refreshing setting in a genre clogged with store brand vaguely medieval fantasy.

[@luminary69revision2]

Five months later that review rating is up to 86% positive with double the total number of reviews lmao the spike in concurrent activity dropped off pretty fast but there are more people on average playing than before the video released, at least for right now I've been sorta binging these Worst MMO Ever videos out of sheer boredom and curiosity, but this whole story in particular is honestly surreal maybe it resonates with me because I've been cursed my whole life with tons of neat ideas for things and absolutely none of the skills or commitment to do anything with them honestly aside from the lag and straight up incorrect movement the game seems to create an absolutely perfect and captivating atmosphere mostly by accident or out of necessity, with that horrifying and ominous text-to-speech voiceover, the vast emptiness coupled with the suffocating feeling of the darkness simple, rough, unpolished games like this feel just as immersive as the more professional, detailed, properly finished stuff sometimes, and when they do they also have this feeling of personality that I love

[@Candlehearts]

Idk if im emotionally unstable or what but this video made me sob - I absolutely love how wild and dark and personal this game is. I've never experienced anything like it and im really happy that it was found by someone that highlighted it objectively and showed it to so many people

[@alkestos]

Maybe youre just a little unstable, sobbing and all, but I admit, it made me feel something. I can't really explain in language what it is. And I'm basically dead inside so it's not usual for something to actually move me.

[@Portablesounds]

The video mad me teary, but seeing the outpouring of the support afterwards really got me. Especially the devs being so enthusiastic about it. I'm so used to narcissistic game devs who can't admit their game is bad that seeing them recognize their limits and shortcomings openly is heartwarming.

[@sauceless6666]

This series is like watching an explorer discover weird unfinished worlds forgotten by most. It's so strange to realize that although these games are only digital they are still "real" places in a strange way with their own history and people who where part of it no less real then any of us

[@And-ur6ol]

There is a sadness, horror and loneliness to dead realms.

[@alexmendel1563]

You know what, if there's any MMO that deserves to be found on a random disc somewhere in the attic, it's this one.

[@LiveLNXgaming]

I read that as "Arctic," not attic and honestly, still works.

[@drawn_by_starla9462]

I don't know why but your personality is so comforting. You make me feel like I'm sipping on a warm cup of hot chocolate while being hugged. It's like your videos take the edge off my depression somehow

[@MononymousM]

I don't know why, because I see similar comments on various creator's videos all the time and usually don't perceive them as particularly sincere; but this one made me feel less like it's a bot farming likes, and more like a real human, a struggling one, saying something genuinely heartfelt. Iunno, maybe it's just my own MH falling off a cliff and a case of projection, but I feel for you. And if you're out there, I hope you're doing okay.

[@kaizokuAUTO]

​@@MononymousM I think it's a real human commenting. I hope so (:

[@QuantumTelephone]

Please go see your friends and family. I know we all got homestuck since the pandemic, but go out and talk to some real people. Josh is just a youtuber

[@seventh3211]

It always amazes me how a KZbin video can change the activity in a game, 94 players online at the same time after this video was released and 14 peak within last 24h with 4 playing while i type it. It's really interesting to see

[@KlyeKlyeKlye]

That text to speech really creeps me out, it's not spoken like it's even attempting to be human, it's just phonetically voicing the words it sees. I love it

[@420bobby69]

I found watching this video to be strangely compelling in an unsettling way, almost like a condensed version of the game itself. "Is he actually going to find a page?" "Why am I even watching this video?" Anyways, I made it to the end, and have now downloaded this cursed digital experience. Thank you, Josh.

[@surg23]

PS. Props to whoever made the skybox. Those seemingly volumetric clouds look awesome when breaking to reveal atmosphere, especially when the sun is involved.

[@DryRamen]

Baffling seeing this game on my recommended when I was asked to stream this game back in my twitch days by the devs. They held events and such and were very kind. Tarpit was a cool guy. I unfortunately, just didn't have the time and fell out of streaming then. Great video and happy to see Tarpit is still updating the game!

[@ASIRA89]

Feels like the most unique games with lots of potential always die due to ... lack of copying what is popular? Money? Patience of the developer(s)? One day.. I hope to make something like this. Something that people will find randomly while bored, and will feel captivated by. It doesnt have to be a success. It doesnt even need to be good. It just has to be there to be discovered and maybe intreague a few people. Mysteries aren't meant to be known by many people anyway.

[@ariezon]

this game is unique but it's rough. all they need to do is to smooth the combat and button. let the rest be it, but the player should not be hindered by bad control first thing first.

[@marinakrae5505]

I dream of making something like this one day too

[@Tarpit_]

Genuine mysteries, in games like Mortal, were one of our very favorite experiences in gaming leading up to Animyst development. There are so many things we could have done better, trippy that it's delivering some mystery now in 2023, in some part due to its shortcomings.

[@Noordledoordle]

​@@Tarpit_ hello! Are you the developer?

[@Tarpit_]

@@Noordledoordle I'm the artist who built the game worlds. The vast majority of development work was done by Ded

[@joshs2734]

That text to speech is actually AMAZING. It's so good that I almost think it being so awful was an intentional choice. It adds a very deep layer of unreality, is unsettling as hell and fits perfectly with the vibe of this world. Paired with that background ambiance, and I unironically think it was a great choice....what a game..the whole concept of the story, world and the friends/cursed one is so unique and fascinating. I would LOVE if this game could be given a full team, a decent budget, and turned into a higher quality single player horror game. It could be incredible.

[@niceice6987]

I think an bigger budget and larger team would actually rob this game of its unique charm, a big part of what seems to make this game work as well as it does is that it looks off, like its not quite real.

[@skyking4557]

The game should look unreal and otherworldly,heck this game gave more Cosmic horror than any official cthulhu game

[@Poldovico]

With the objective being to find eight pages, the structure of the horror game creates itself.

[@Jrock420blam]

Imagine dropping 100 mil to finish some random guys fever dream game that he finished 2% of lol you'd basically be making the whole game because there's essentially nothing here but the idea of 8 pages and 4 enemy types.

[@fostena]

The "fake ending" to the video is a very nice touch. Great storytelling, Josh

[@idontapproveofyourlifestyle]

Ok the skeletons being called "friends" and talking like aliens from 1940 had me dying

[@leerylynx]

What a weird experience. This was cursed, disturbing and mesmerizing. I will be thinking about the concept of Friends for a long time.

[@claytonreeves150]

"The One Where Ross Gets Mutilated By a Human-Chicken Hybrid"

[@darkgn0ll587]

I thought the same- what a genius lore idea

[@alexbrowne9566]

Me too, I think about stuff like that. There's something really dark with a lot of flavour here

[@pseudonym8791]

Guys, I have a bad feeling that it’s actually an SCP and it’s already too late to OH GOD ITS BEHIND M

[@vaane19993]

It's always fun when Josh plays dead games. You can check the steam charts and see just how impactful his videos are. As of writing this, there are now 45 players online in Animyst

[@OmgBsitka]

😂 oh snap. I wonder if thr servers are okay

[@nicolasreinaldet732]

@@OmgBsitka The dev droped a patch today to solve this.

[@Laughablematter]

another thing I found amusing is you can basically see the days Josh played too with the random blips of 1 player online haha!

[@CharkieG]

I just found this channel a couple days ago and have been working my way through this series. Absolutely stellar work, I love that you've played all these obscure games and documented them for all to see. Great work

[@thatbottle8246]

I naturally had to go look at the game, and I love that the very day after this video came out, this patch note came out on their log: "began addressing the server lag encountered under today's historic server populations" One video drew in more players than the game had ever had, well done

[@GKSchattenjaeger]

This felt surreal. Reminds me of "that one game you played decades ago when you were a kid, can remember only vague images of having played it and can't remember what it was called or any strong detail and can never find out what it was, or if it was just a fever dream".

[@sodaspider130]

There was a crazy MMO i remember playing called Fung wan Online, it was a martial arts MMO where your class was based on what weapon skills/style you picked or trained with

[@eroze1129]

This reminds me of an old game called sacrifice, same level of creepiness and similar art style.

[@chaosgyro]

I have a couple of cartoons like that in my memory. Some early 80s anime stuff that managed to make it to US television and the like.

[@hjalfi]

There's a bizarre space builder sim game I saw on KZbin years ago which I've never been able to find since --- it's one of these resource gathering games where you collect the resources to build the machines to make the parts to create the harvesters to do the research to get the science to, etc. You start out on foot on an alien planet and eventually you build your own spacecraft and explore the solar system (and maybe nearby stars?). I remember it as a 3D first-person-view game, with terrible, amateurish graphics; blocky models, low-res textures, generally migraine-inducing. But I've never seen a trace of it. Now I have no idea whether I just imagined the whole thing.

[@dakotamayer1820]

​@@hjalfi sounds to me like you're describing no man's sky on release, not the version that it is today. I could be wrong though.

[@usrevenge]

Im glad this series is still going

[@wolfwing1]

well is it? it's not been 7 days since this video.

[@flashviwr]

This was an interesting , hilarious and fascinating look into your descent into the afterlife in a Tim Burton and Morrowind love child of an afterlife without any answers , this definitely needs a series or even a live stream to collect the pages, I loved the video Josh , and i hope we get more .

[@osteophagus]

It may be a little rough but they managed some pretty great creepy ambiance and they definitely made you feel something lol!

[@spectre7009]

You’ve been super busy lately, thanks for all the hard work.

[@bowserbrowser6559]

Hes been posting so much on onlyfans too, guys busy

[@HeisenbergFam]

"my legbones are from Skyrim horses" You learn new things about Josh everyday

[@GrimMelvin]

Am I weird but--- I kinda like this. Creepy random shit where you're a skeleton or a skinless corpse? Sign me in. Also the AI voices really work for me in this instance. Adds to the creepiness.

[@S0namus]

This game looks so interesting, I like the idea of an ancient, decaying world where everyone in it is a corpse, the weird low-poly models, the way the sky is just billowing endless clouds, even the text-to-speech, it is really fascinating and weird looking. I really want to try this game now

[@luiz8755]

the sky is great

[@MiltonGagliardi]

This feels like a creepypasta/ARG come to live. A mysterious and disturbing game, long forgotten, in which lies a secret that no one knows about since most people weren't able to finish it, and those few who did were never seen again. Except now the game has a small player base, so happy ending.

[@LtnCorrsk]

This is what happen when you got more ideas than talent, but still passionate enough to do it. That's worth some respect.

[@toukoenriaze9870]

Saaame ... I don't want to build games ... I want to play them xD ... But I have some pretty great ideas (at least imo) for games I want to exist

[@The_Joestar]

​@@toukoenriaze9870Right? In my mind I have so many ideas to make the best games ever but in reality they'd probably be burned in piles because of how bad they are to play 😂

[@balazsvarga1823]

I could make a great game, but it wouldn't be feasible in the monetary sense and would need insane specs. At least these guys did better than Star Citizen!

[@aneffortlesssmile]

Honestly, I respect it. I, too, have such ideas and worlds full of stories I want to tell, but I lack the talent. I applaud the developers for being able to create as much as they did. It's not easy.

[@thaurane]

I'm in that comment and I don't like it lol.

[@reallyman6502]

i think the TTS makes this game even more atmospheric and, in some places, spooky

[@Shepherd_Z]

I played for 2 hours and met three "Friends". We began the tale of "The four Friends" and began to explore the starting towns. A portal opened up and led us to an arena with a fire boss. The four friends were victorious and soon went back home. This was the first 2 hours.

[@onyx.avenger]

On Josh's tombstone - "Here lies Josh Strife Hayes. He played Animyst, and then died (xx years later)"

[@TheDinis553]

This video made me feel very uncomfortable and I love it. There's just something very eerie about feeling like you're alone in such a big world when it's unintended to be so.

[@TheHalogen131]

Yeah. I feel like this game is an example of liminality.

[@AreimaYT]

Best video of yours, period. Not for its content, per say. But for your diatribe against yourself and against quitting this one. And for what happened with the community afterwards. Good freiken job dude. Seriously. I won't forget this game I've never played.

[@BaselardFE]

Watching this video and reading the comments has been one of the most heartwarming experiences I've had in a while :)

[@GYOJIBOT]

The idea of having factions all be undead, and the death mechanic allowing you to swap factions freely seems like a very interesting approach to how you can try to balance factions in an MMO while still making sense thematically.

[@Tarpit_]

And you can only really build full bases on one. So we were hoping you'd main one but be able to switch for the sake of group PVP.

[@ShadowTasos]

Eh in reality it'd probably turn out like WoW, where nobody wants to be in the minority faction so 1 faction is essentially dead on most servers. Except this game doesn't have servers so that'd mean 1 faction would probably just be dead period, who'd want to be in the faction that actually gets killed out there

[@InvadeNormandy]

I think the fact the world is so empty and was INTENDED to be filled with player creation between the POIs is part of the tragic solemn vibe too. It's a grim vibe with a grim setting that had the trappings of people making something from it but it never happened.

[@flame4864]

I feel validated in knowing I wasn't the only one who got stuck on the outer wall and had to reset.

[@brunosouza3326]

I opened the game's steam page and it started auto playing the video without me realising. When your video ended and i was still hearing groans and an ominous low music, i actually thought my computer was cursed lmao

[@IcyKali]

I honestly hope to create something as entrancing as this game. There's something really fascinating and genuine about it, like there's no withholding on the developer's part, and it proves that skill isn't required to make worthwhile art.

[@omgdisfunny4852]

this is like the guy you meet at a pub, and is the nicest person you have ever met, he says he likes to make games, you are friends for the next 30 years and you think you genuinely know everything about him. and then you finally see the game he was talking about

[@misad6308]

I drop down here, and you have sold me a game, Josh. I am also pleasantly surprised to see the devs are not just *here in the comments,* but have apparently returned to patch the game itself, and a community is now actually being built! This is wonderful! This is wholesome! This is EVERYTHING I could ever dream of a video like this doing. See you all in Animyst.

[@BearOverlord]

Gotta say, this video is one of your best. imo your most fascinating content are the videos that showcase dead worlds full of bizarre things almost nobody will ever see. Thanks so much for putting in the time to strange janky games like this and otherland, to preserve these worlds in some way.

[@_JellyWalker]

On top of the eerie atmosphere everyone has discussed, "Resource Mode" is positively psychedelic. Seeing those infinitely tall beams of multicoloured light stretch all the way into the distance across that bleak and barren landscape makes me think of 2001: A Space Odyssey, or maybe End Of Evangelion.

[@rivus3358]

The staircase at 34:08 is what I would call a sky base, essentially the player deleted his own stairs and made it impossible for anyone to get to their base, so basically they have base that is impossible to raid.

[@thealmightyjack]

And the player has a home teleporter up there so they can teleport in there whenever they want.

[@Tarpit_]

You could raid it by building up to it with root or by unlocking flight and just flying up to it.

[@MononymousM]

@@Tarpit_ I think the point is that it's not possible to build on another player's site, thus the 'impossible' part of raiding it. edit: with that said, it's a good point about the flying. But that's also explained by the player _very likely having no clue_ that the game ends up involving flying if you get far enough. The idea is solid in theory.

[@picardsolo2471]

@@MononymousM That's a dev

[@MononymousM]

@@picardsolo2471 ​ Hey, so it is - I obviously had no idea haha. That raises further questions!

[@straydogfreedom7795]

I find the idea of playing through an abandoned arthouse MMO that few people have ever discovered and finding arcane secrets fascinating but don't think I'd ever actually want to try it. It would be an interesting premise however to do something like this intentionally and make it increasingly competent, higher quality and deeper mechanics for those who make the effort. Obviously it wouldn't be worth the investment to make that but it'd be an interesting art project.

[@chaosinc.382]

Ok I gotta say, I love the lore of the Friends faction. That's so unique!

[@Bo-kq8tn]

this is the most intrigued and mystified I've been by a game in a LONG time. I'm so glad you went deeper into it than the generic mmos, this really deserved it. I hope this video gets the game a mini revival and someone posts some playthroughs because wow there's so much here that's insanely interesting and unique, I love obscure games like this

[@sanctimoniouslocke3941]

There is something incredibly badass about finding -- as a random drop -- a magic staff that gives you the ability to summon a giant meteor. One that changes the ambient music while the spell is happening. Imagine if there was an item like that in Warcraft. People would spend hundreds of hours grinding to obtain it.

[@InvadeNormandy]

It ALMOST did really- Until everything became generic numbers and values. Remember how it was supposed to have "One per server" rarity items that never happened?

[@sirreznov7823]

@@InvadeNormandy Tbh when they didnt add them I stopped playing. The premise is cool af, even if only some massive orgs would be able to get one

[@InvadeNormandy]

@@sirreznov7823 On top of that, remember advanced or side classes too? Like arch druid is one that sticks out. And all these other side features that simply never happened to keep chasing a new gimmick or invalidated bit of work in one expac that will become redundant in the next.

[@j_corb]

Always love watching your videos, but for some reason this one just really stands out. It was honestly so great seeing your get one of the pages, I'd love to see you get a stream together to go and get all 8 pages, and maybe even kill whatever the final boss is. There's just something so interesting about the "world" they created here, it really does feel like there's something special there.

[@KARMAZYNA]

OK, as soon as I heard the voices, I was sold. Yes, it's wooden, soulless text-to-speech, but it meshes so well with the nightmarish feel of everything else. And it fits. Heck, I wouldn't expect reanimated skeletons and half-rotten corpses to have perfect control over their voices. And the reanimated chicken-things, made out of random body parts strewn across the land? Chef's kiss.This game looks like the prefect blend of unsettling eldritch shit and body horror for me.

[@SirVer51]

40:32 I've never really gotten the appeal of premieres before, but this moment? This made me understand. I was actually caught off guard by the genuine delight I felt, and it wouldn't have worked if I was watching it on demand. Really brings back that Otherland vibe.

[@HeresorLegacy]

I couldn't imagine any other kind of voiceover for these NPCs. The robotic sounds with the skeletal bodies remind me involuntarily of Necrons. Harbingers of a lost civilization, in endless suffering, cursed to rise over and over again.

[@Devilicious.]

What a treat! Lol i love finding out about obscure games like this. Makes me wish i still had a pc. This game gives me a creepy, uncanny feeling. Kinda sad too. Id love to see this worked on again. The sky is really stunning!

[@riatsila144]

From the start, you had me intrigued...or really the creators did. But then you shared the "voiceover", and I unironically love that aesthetic decision.

[@erwynnipegerwynnipeg8455]

The voicelines are a purposefully-made-monotone version of the Votrax SC-01A Speech Synthesizer. Usually they had a bit of tone to them, but there's a lot floating around that don't. The ones that don't are usually used for that creepy effect. For the whisper, it's either still Votrax with whisper settings or it's the Whisper from a DecTalk, which you can get for free (and is the same voice of Moonbase Alpha, but not the Whisper setting). It sounds more like a Votrax whisper.

[@cammywhite]

The voice lines give me the vibe that they're vocaloids and are very purposely used the way they are and that it was more of an artistic choice to fit the whole atmosphere than it being shitty text to speech

[@HorsesArePeople2]

That's what I was thinking. It's really creepy and fits too well to be done out of laziness

[@animefan7424]

Doesn’t sound like any vocaloid

[@cammywhite]

@animefan7424 kinda sounds like flower or fukase heavily distorted to me

[@Hendizzy69]

This was the best sell on a mmo game I need to try this now