I love it when UA-camr's are big enough to spend time creating genuinely thoughtful and interesting content, but still small enough that they have to do it in a cupboard.
20:10 It's kinda telling that the gamers who wrote those guides, primarily men, can't recognize what are clearly meant to be umbilical cords, instead mistaking them for "intestines" or "vines". A lot of Dolores' story is told through a distinctly female lens, not just through motherhood but through the fact that back in the '60s a lot of perfectly healthy women were falsely diagnosed with mental illness simply for being headstrong and outspoken, given treatments that made them passive. Just look at Rosemary Kennedy for a terrifying example of this.
One of the wildest video game related periods of my life was when I hadn’t deleted PT from my PS4, it had been removed from the store and the workarounds to access it weren’t widely known about yet. SO MANY people wanted to play it so I’d take my PS4 to their houses or they’d visit mine. Even people I didn’t know that well but it came up in conversation, if they didn’t seem totally suss I’d offer to visit their place with my console so they could play it, and most of them took me up on it. It felt like… I figured I might as well as it was gone from the store and couldn’t be reinstalled if people had deleted it. As it was free to begin with, and so many people were interested to see what it was like and had missed out. I had people I hardly knew offer me crazy amounts of money for my PS4 and I knew consoles with it installed were selling for crazy prices on eBay. I was tempted but didn’t succumb because I wasn’t 100% it wouldn’t give someone savvy a way to hack my account, or that Sony wouldn’t go hardline and ban my account for breaking the rules somehow.
That was so awesome of you! It's so sad that so many people have to miss out on one of the greatest gaming experiences in history because of konami's senseless pettiness. Hope you still have that ps4. I still have my old ps4 with P.T. installed, but the hdmi port is broken. Gonna fix it and see if I can back it up to a newer hdd or something without losing it, as tempting as it is to sell with this economy.
@@howlsmoodycastle9313 I don’t actually, I sold it back when I got a PS5 (after restoring to factory settings). The PT hype had died down by then, there were more play throughs on YT, and and great emulations made for PC, so it was a lot more accessible. :)
I had the luck of having a friend with a VR set bring his PS4 over so I could play it too. Thank god for people like the two of y’all who were willing to share their copy with the community
You know, your horror game coverage is why I keep coming back to this channel. I think it's helped get me out of my comfort zone and try some horror games.
@@StephenYuan Same here, I just realized I hadn't dared to play Bloober's Observer before seeing it covered on this channel and it was just chilling in the pool of free EGS games I amassed over the years.
Hah that's so funny, I'm so thankful there's great creators covering these horror games and analyzing them cause I am way too much of a pansy to play them 😂
i really love the depth you talked about dementia with. i had two grandparents with dementia and i took care of them as a teen. my grandpa lived in his house for 30 years, and pretty much every day at some point he would ask "when can we go home?" he was probably talking about the house i live in, which was my dad's childhood home and mine as well. we'd frequently bring my grandpa up to our house to visit (mostly during holidays to also give his caretakers a day off). he was naturally confused, as is usual with people with dementia. but he was probably also confused because, yes, this was his house, but it was completely different. the walls, flooring, decorations. my great grandma honestly reminds me a LOT of delores. not the murdering her husband part. my great grandma had a son die of SIDS, and from that trauma she was institutionalized in an asylum. in the 1950s. you can see where this is going for her. maybe her dementia was in part caused by the electroshock therapy she received, im not sure if thats even how it works. but near the end of her life she was completely silent, frequently reacting to hallucinations by just moving her arms or closing her eyes. my great grandfather took very very good care of her, and still misses her every day. sorry for the trauma dump lol, i do this every in every comments section for a video that talks about dementia
I love when you go into the ux of a game (beyond just talking about design or gameplay or whatever), it feels like a topic that's rarely talked about so explicitly in other game reviews, which always makes it refreshing to hear!
Have I even heard of "Visage" before? No. Will I watch this entire video all the way through, completely hooked on a game I have never, nor will never, play? Absolutely!
"One should never, ever interrupt one's desire to defecate. I've enquired at the Bronx and London zoos as to the daily bowel evacuation of primates. It's not once, twice, or three times, sir, but four. At the end of an average day, their cages are filled with a veritable mountain of natural health!" Sorry... One of my favorite movie quotes.
The parts of videos where you talk about UI/UX design are some of the most fascinating to me. You so clearly have expertise in that field and it’s so cool to hear you talk about it. ❤
John Lennon said his son came home from school with a picture he drew, he asked what it was, and he said "it's Lucy in the sky with diamonds." So he wrote the song. Unfortunately that one got thrown into the LSD ring because yeah, there are some about it but with this context it's a better song in my eyes, just an imaginative world described through the eyes of a child...which unfortunately sounds like an acid trip sometimes lol❤😂 Thanks for this explanation I've never seen a thorough one and I've never played Visage personally.❤
The thing I think a lot of people don't really recognize when it comes to acknowledging if PT would be a good Silent Hill game is the fact that Kojima was never a defining part of the original Silent Hill games to begin with, he just happened to make a horror trailer game and brought in a lot of new ideas while at the same time almost making a hit piece against Konami before he left. Even if PT didn't exist, the Sient Hill franchise would still be as revered and venerated as it is, and I think a lot of people and game developers more specifically have taken the wrong lessons from what PT is that have ended up harming horror gaming in the long term more than anything else. I'm looking at you, Bloober Team, oh how the tables have turned...
I love that its come out thay Bloober are pretty much the only reason we're getting the original and untouched Storyline for the Silent Hill 2 remake after the original members wanted to modernize the story for modern audiences. So while they may have taken the "wrong" lessons from PT, what ever the hell that even means in a highly derivative form of entertainment which Video Games are and Bloober, they atleast seem to deeply care about the original Silent Hill 2 they're working on. I believe they care more about Silent Hill 2 than Konami ever has, because Konami is coming from this project in the terms of "holy shit the RE4 remake did amazingly, we should remake our most beloved game in the franchise!"
@@ProfMarkQ all but four of the ten members of team silent don't even work at konami anymore, so i don't know who these "original members" you're referring to are? and of the four that remain, two are producers which is not at all an integral part of the actual game design and tech development process other than making sure the team is on track and ass-kissing shareholders for money, one is a scenario writer, and then there's the monster designer himself masahiro ito. sooo with all that being said, i wouldn't put much stock in whatever any of them might've said about modernizing the SH2 remake. anyone who made silent hill 2 what it was (aside from masahiro ito, who has spoken before about how little control/input he has other than his design position at konami) is long gone! bloober still sucks and the changes they've made - however 'minor' they might seem to overeager fans - aren't very promising. they're not purists, and they only care as far as their bottom line goes. it's about capital for bloober, not artistic integrity. if the latter was actually the case, they wouldn't have ripped off their game ideas from other studios.
I think the best scare I’ve seen from Delors is from John Wolfe’s play through. He was in a small utility/bathroom with his back to the door. He turns around and Delors’ face is peeking around the door frame, John jumps and screams and Delors slinks away. Edit: my great grandfather had Alzheimer’s and it was one of the worst things I’ve ever witnessed. One of my memories of him was when he went missing and it was a family friend found him in the street that him and his wife, who had passed away, looking for his wife. Turns out he had walked to the house his parents had lived (both had passed away maybe about 30 odd years ago as of today). He was looking for his mum and dad and then got to the house, knocked on the door to find someone else and said he was looking for his wife
Hearing the fact that most guides refer to the fleshy tendrils as intestines really solidifies how much we need women’s perspectives in horror game analysis and throughout the entire industry.
There is baby! There is long, fleshy rope! This should be obvious, I knew about umbilical cords at 14! I hate this kind of blatant obliviousness, I swear to god.
I live at the end of a five and a half minute hallway And as far as I can see, you are still miles from me In your doorway... And oh btw when the landlord came today, he measured everything. I knew he'd get it wrong. I just played along, because I was hoping that would fix it all But there's only so far you can go. When you're living in a hallway that keeps growing. I think to myself "Five more minutes and I'll be there..." Outside your door, but there's more to this story than I've been letting on...
@@guy-sl3kr I know about "My House. wad", but I was talking about a more straight forward adaptation of the House of Leaves and with the photo realism of a Visage or a P.T. But yeah "My House.wad" is a good exemple of what can be achive
I appreciate your analysis of horror games/stories so much. No one ever wants to have these types of discussions with me, but listening to you pick apart and discuss these themes has me repeatedly saying "Exactly!" to an empty room. 😂
I used to work in senior living, as a culinary director. Most of my time was spent overseeing independent living and assisted living dining rooms, which would have their sort of quirky "guy sitting down at 11 PM when I'm getting ready to go home and saying he's waiting for breakfast" and arguing over seating arangements, but the memory care wing was a separate space sealed off by a one-way locking door. Most of the time I spent there was just bringing over a big food warmer loaded up with their meals at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and dropping off little snack trays throughout the day, but I can't imagine a darker place in the world. During the day it was mostly fine, sometimes the little old ladies would insist they need to give me a tip for dropping off the food, sometimes somebody would grab somebody else's walker and they'd start crying, one lady would kind of just walk back and forth between the hallway towards the exit and back (clearly trying to catch somebody opening the door on the way in, but not there enough to actually do it). At night though, it was all sobbing and wailing and people fighting, throwing food, many of them would lose the ability to communicate and just make noises. It doesn't sound that bad but it's truly awful, especially when you consider that most of the families pop by once a month, once every few months, twice a year, sometimes never. On a side note, the ONE time that everybody was consistently sitting together, bright, and communicating, is when they'd bring in somebody to host a sing along to classic songs or play vinyls from around the '50s. The staff there was almost entirely women from the Carribean (to the point that I've googled "why are there so many people from the Carribean in elder care", but no answer), and not to generalize an entire population of people, but Jamaica especially is a really tough place to grow up, and they have a reputation for not taking any shit, so they always had the tone of "annoyed daycare worker yelling at toddlers" when a 90 year old woman was having a nervous breakdown because she's reliving the death of her husband. It made me really angry at first, but as I worked there I saw that many of them would work 12-16 hour shifts, which I knew because I was often working 10-14 hour shifts and they were sometimes there before AND after me. When I think about that level of horror and despair being the equivalent amount of time that most people spend sleeping in their bed, the combination of sadness and monotony is almost unbearable for me to dwell on, and that's from the perspective of somebody who has all their faculties, is paid to be there, and eventually gets to go home or quit if it gets to be too much. This isn't a video about dementia, it just got me thinking, and I think they did a really excellent job of capturing what it might feel like. Also for what it's worth, I like the concept of Visage and I do think they pulled it off from the 2 scenarios I got through and this video, but I think it's pretty clear that Silent Hills was not going to be a first-person puzzle-exploration game, I really think it was gonna be a classic Silent Hill game with a lot of modern updates and a bunch of Kojima shenanigans. They had to make it the way they did to bury the lede, I doubt a team as ambitious as Kojima and Del Toro were gonna make "RE7 but with psychological horror instead". Sort of like the teaser for MGS4, playing into modern trends to subvert them at the end of the trailer. Basically Visage is a sequel to PT, not a "reimagining" of Silent Hills, except PT only REALLY works in one hyper focused L shaped corridor and shows off the themes and tone of what they're going for, not the actual loop.
0:01 «in 2014,sleeper tragedy PT hit the PlayStation» It was exactly sleeper tragedy 😭 And later with announced new season of twin peaks it was to good to be true
You are genuinely one of my favorite YT personalities, I love your quick wit, in-depth insight, and dry humor SO much!! Also, idk if you take suggestions, but after your IT book/movie video I thought maaaaybe you'd be into this idea: a video about media you think would be great to adapt into other media (ie books into movies, or TV shows into games, etc). You just have such a nuanced view on how themes, pacing, characterizations, and game elements work together to form a cohesive narrative that I think it'd be super interesting to hear your ideas! (For reference, FriendlySpaceNinja did a video like this recently that inspired this idea)
Visage is the single greatest horror I’ve ever played. I would have loved to see Hideo Kojima’s Silent Hill game, but I’m so glad that we at least got Visage out of it. Edit: I think it might be worth mentioning that Visage is one of few games I’ve ever intentionally 100%’d. The other is Outer Wilds (please make a video on Outer Wilds, I’m begging you).
Side note: there was a “remake” or perhaps a “reimagining” of P.T. that came to Xbox called Evil Inside. I was so excited because I could finally experience P.T. myself. I was actually counting down the days to its release. It was dogwater. I can’t believe I paid money for that.
Maybe I need to go back to Visage, I played it the year it came out and everyone was calling it the scariest horror game in X/Y/Z years and I just ... didn't really find it scary. I finished 2 stories and started Delores' story and that was about when I just felt bored and gave up.
@@SobutaiPlaysDelores’ story is easily the best of the three. I should mention that there is technically a secret “fourth” chapter involving the character you play as. You access it via exploration and various tapes that you find. That one is less heavy on gameplay elements, and it is heavier on context clues and plot. But yeah, Delores’ chapter is easily the best. It features several puzzles, and some of them can be a bit tricky if you’re not paying attention. But Delores’ chapter was a great blend of story, puzzles, and horror. I loved it.
So glad to see you upload again! I found you from your amazing IT video and I've been binging old videos ever since. Your analysis and delivery are always so sharp, keep at it!
I love horror but am a complete baby who cannot play horror games so watch a lot of playthroughs. Visage is one of those games I watched playthroughs of and was dismayed where they gave up on it. It’s a game I have fond memories of watching and I enjoyed the care that had obviously been put into the lore. Honestly come back again and again to this channel because you appreciate where people have put the care into media and rightly point out when something has been created as a money grab or to be “shocking” (looking at you Rachel Foster)
The content warning about dementia and stillbirth made my jaw drop, not because they were upsetting to me, but because the last time i even thought about Visage, the game didnt have a plotline
How exciting! I only discovered this channel a week or so ago when a friend and I were hanging out and they were watching one of your Walking Dead games and all I could think of was, "Finally, another essay channel with good writing and a quick wit" and I've been binging your backlog ever since. Truly a joy and I absolutely ADORED your video on Soma. Can't wait to watch this one and finally catch a stream of yours.
yessss i always love hearing people talk about PT and visage, cant wait to binge this instead of sleeping at a reasonable hour hehe. love u and ur vids mert!!
Just a note to say that I love horror and spooky things but I can't stand to watch scary movies or play scary games myself and Mert's channel has been a godsend. No jumpscares but the spooky footage is still there for me to enjoy, hilarious jokes, long videos, and great analysis. Chef's kiss. Thank you.
I happened upon your channel via suggestions from UA-cam, based on my viewing history. I very much enjoy your style, depth of research and insights, among many other things. I have watched videos on games or shows that I have had little interest in, strictly because of the way you present the topics at hand. Not gushing. Just entertained and informed on things I might never have given a chance to. Keep up the good work and I will keep watching and recommending your channel, and ISDWG too.
One thing I'd have added to the list of "things inspired by P.T." was Resident Evil VII, itself. When the "Beginning Hour" came out, it was obviously made inspired by the wild success of P.T. and it filled the hole that had been left when P.T. got unceremoniously unpersoned. People flocked to it and it was very popular and gave a new direction of Resident Evil, which worked out in Capcom's favor when they started to remake the older games and gather new fans who liked Biohazard to play them
the best sentence i've heard in months just might be "…[f]rom waking up in the same kind of purgatorial concrete room, to being chased by a be-gowned spectacle of womanly horror…" as a near-40 year old english / creative writing tutor, your Silence of the Lambs video essay was really good too. I'm going to watch the It video when time allows, hopefully your editor is more merciful than King's, and if not, at least … less sadomasochistic. He family-guy throw-away gags the hauntingly beautiful ending of …. the haunting of hill house … and should have faced international sanction for doing so (potentially twice!) in case of you not having read HoHh I won't throw it in here, but it's in It … f$%cking twice, and it's such a trauma-inducing, beautiful, pathological, dread-inspiring line that it makes his turning of it into a throw-away line all the more galling … and all who talk to youtube talk alone [i couldn't help it, forgive me] cheers m8
Fascinating video! I always enjoy watching your stuff for its humor and casual delivery, but your analysis is always so in-depth and carefully considered! Everything is said with a purpose, and you bring insights I've never considered. Always a pleasure 😊
you’re my favorite video essay channel because you go through the work of making sure there are accurate captions for all your videos! I can’t tell you how much it’s appreciated!
I love your analysis videos. They're always so nuanced and meticulous. It really feels like you approach your topics with not only curiosity, but real intellectual rigor. Your videos never feel shallow, and as a viewer I really value that. And as a certified scaredy cat, I really appreciate that you openly acknowledge that scary games scare you. Faffing about in a room for 20 minutes because you can tell the next section will be spooky is relatable! And it makes me feel like maybe I could give the horror games I find interesting a shot someday, too. So thank you for that.
Haven't commented on your chanel in a while, but girl, do your scripts get better and better 😁 I absolutely loved this video. And it got me to finish the game last week after pausing it for two months, just to see the last chapter. Loved the Virgin Suicide and Silence Of The Lambs ones too. Really bangers videos! Very happy to see you getting more and more traction.
i have been lurking on this channel for a good few weeks. i really enjoy your content! im happy to see this game get covered as well i felt it didnt get discussed as much as it shouldve
Great video! I’ve been saying to others when recommending Visage is how it’s like what I’d imagine a full game of PT would be as like you said it’s not like Silent Hill but more like PT which says at its end it is just a playable teaser and doesn’t reflect the final game at all meaning Silent Hills was likely never meant to have any relation to PT but this is why I love Visage as how it expands on something that as it seems wasn’t going to be expanded on. Also a theory I made during my first playthrough with the three character chapters you find as Duane in my opinion has a reflection on popular trends in the horror game genre with respect to each character’s age for example Doris represents the more subtle puzzle horror games that were popular pioneered by the original RE and Silent Hill trilogies almost 30 years ago. Rakkan is the action horror that became popular with RE4 RE5 and Dead Space about 20 years ago. And Lucy represents the current trend with horror games heavily influenced by PT and the Amnesia games.
I got stumped very early by a frustrating puzzle where I was directed to go to the attic, but couldn't reach it. I explored a bit, found a stepstool, and spent over half an hour trying to use the stepstool to climb up under the attic door, which you cannot do because that perfectly sensible solution is not what the developers intended. Instead, I had to wander around aimlessly for another hour until I noticed the hook jammed into the wall in the chapel. This was well after I tried picking up the various tools in the garage--any of which would have easily opened an attic door--and kept going back to the stepstool. I found this so frustratingly obtuse that it soured me on the game and made me distrust every single puzzle, because if plenty of obvious solutions won't work if they're not the very specific solution the game wants you to use, then what's the point in trying to figure anything out? EDIT: Oh, I see you mention this exact problem at 1:04:50. Ha.
Thank you for making a video dedicated to Visage. Its an extremely uderrated game and i rrally dont understand why their isnt more videos about the lore of the game.
your horror coverage makes me feel so much better about the fact that i, too, am constantly terrified and can't look at the screen when something might be scary. i would love if you could do any kitty horrorshow sometime as i have anatomy but am too scared to play
I have been yearning for a true essay of this game since I played it 2 years ago. I love this game so so so much. And I say that while also being able to concede that all of your criticism is spot on. I just love this game, I love the house, I particularly love Dwayne’s story, I love the modularity of the other stories. I’m just a really big fan. Thanks for covering it.
@@MertKayKay omg, I can’t believe I missed this! Of the main 3, Dolores for sure. Then Lucy. But my very favorite were Dwayne’s story with the video tapes.
It’s kind of amazing that they haven’t put PT back up, especially when we went so long without any Silent Hill content. I guess they’re saving it for the mother of all preorder bonuses. I also don’t think Silent Hills, if it was ever going to exist, would’ve been like PT. At most it might have been in the same location, but with new characters because there wouldn’t be any point in telling the same story twice.
❤ I enjoy listening to your game reviews as i do my school work or any other thing im doing, as your voice is soothing and you're really funny! You make my day and help me when i feel down, thanks for being an awesome content creator! ❤
Oh man, I missed hearing your analyses on horror games. Your perspective is always so thought provoking and I heavily agree that this sounds like a combination of MK Ultra and demons, instead of just one or the other. I also LOVE the analysis of, "how much work do demons really have to put in when humanity is a cesspool of greed". I can't describe how your words make the imaginative recesses of my brain spark to life. I'm always so invested into what you have to say that I didn't even notice an hour and a half had passed and now I'm devastated that the video is about to end.
I played this together with my brother (okay he played and I hid behind my hands but whatever, in my defence I’m very light sensitive and the flash of the camera literally blind me. But I’m also a wimp so-) and we played Lucy’s chapter first! I still remember the two of us literally yelling when that lil gremlin girl just popped up and chased us in that basement. Visage is a good game, I enjoy it even if we never finished it but it could get really frustrating during some puzzles which sucked because we did really want to know what was going on! We both moved away before we could finish it so we’ve never seen the end of the story. I’d never be able to play on my own because I’m a freak but- anyway! So this video is great! It’s nice to know what happened and your analysis is always so interesting to listen to. Great video 😊
A few days ago I was watching your 'Martha Is Dead' and 'Town of Light' videos and was really wanting to watch a video of you discussing Visage, and then a couple days later, this comes out! So excited for this one!
I’m so happy Mert did a vid on Visage because it’s one of my absolutely favourites. Sure it does have some gameplay problems, but I get the impression I’m more forgiving than most on these issues. The video was still great, and I did wonder about Dolores’s menopause meaning she couldn’t have a baby and what it all means, but I never noticed the rat poison before! However, is George Dolores’s husband? I actually thought he might be her son and she’s remembering him as a baby AND her presumably deceased partner - a double moment of pain for George. I wondered because their use of language is very different. But I urgently need to ask someone: 50:44 “Monitor and Abuse”. Is this a reference to anything? That’s a specific phase and my spidey sense is tingling...
I never considered that about George! He does look much younger so that could be true. Truthfully I have no idea My best guess could be the Monitor and Abuse trait from Dead by Daylight? The Doctor has it! Beyond that, no idea I'm afraid :(
@@MertKayKay Dolores used the line “I’ll show you, you damn scoundrel what bread your worth” (for example). No one under the age of 80 talks like that. In George’s cassette tapes he never uses terms of phrase like that and instead sounds relatively modern. He also strikes me as late-middle-aged Boomer not Silent Generation elderly. It’s just another tragic layer to his character, and complimentary to the disorientation and confusion of the Dolores chapter. DARN! I was hoping it wouldn’t be DBD. I thought both you and Behaviour were making a reference to something else. Maybe a book (or chapter) about MKULTRA or something? (Doctor and Dwayne are both connected to it) I’m doing a series of videos on the DBD killers and I’m all about little clues like that. I should've known you were a fellow Fog Walker! Anyway, loved the video, love the work, all the best! - BPA
There's a lot of visage I missed on my first couple of playthroughs. Examples being that there is always a subtle breadcrumb trail leading you to where you have to go next, you just have to be paying super close attention to spot the clues sometimes. Another is the maze: you're still meant to be spamming the camera flash in the maze, and your brightness is probably turned up too far if you are not. Anytime the flash catches imaginary boy, it seems to take him off your trail for a generous amount of time.
Yesss Visage--the game that I cannot play myself without dying of fear 30 mins in (especially with the controls haha) but adore everything about it! I especially love Dolores' chapter! It was just the right amount of build-up and excellent horror that plays with your mind! This was such an interesting watch thank you so much!
oh man was i waiting for a video like this, my gf and i absolutely loved visage. i've barely seen anyone cover this game in general but this is incredible, i adore how in depth this video is. such great content.
I love horror game coverage from the perspective of someone who appreciates the art but hates when it actually scares you. It makes me feel really seen. I used to play horror almost exclusively until I got pregnant. My daughter was born in May, and my anxiety is still just too high to enjoy horror games anymore. They are physically not good for me. But I still really love and appreciate what makes a horror game good, and I feel like your videos really encapsulate what that means.
I'm gonna break the weirdest lance here for the game developers about the glass ball and the hammer: if you tried to do that IRL, it would likely shoot off like a giant marble or a bowling ball if you miss the right angle or lack the proper force. That's why the vise would probably be more effective, it holds the spherical surface in place while applying pressure on the right angle. I'm guessing dropping it from a second story wouldn't even leave a dent either, it looks super thick, too. I get exactly what you mean with your example, of course, different people will attempt different solutions to the same puzzle: maybe if the developers had included some sort of text comment on why the other tools aren't useful in this situation, it would've worked slightly better imo.
My first and only playthrough of visage (on Xbox) was problem free save for one issue. In the prologue I decided to gather up every single item in the entire house before starting a chapter, then sorted and stored them in the foyer, right next to the staircase. As soon as I started the first chapter every single item clipped right through the floor and I had to play through the entire game with nothing but the few items that landed on the floor below instead of completely falling out of the map, and the very sparse item respawns that periodically happened
PT sent me a mental health episode for several days after I played it. It was so well done and so tragic, there was one scene that I couldn't get over for a while.
I am both Furious and delighted to find that I have 6 months worth of your content to watch. Since apparently YT took it upon itself to unsub me from your channel. Can't Wait! Excellent work as always!
Watching this in a separate room to my bf and I can hear him laughing, agreeing and commenting on it from afar. Evidently, this is phenomenal video essay
I remember going nuts over this game when it came out and then I forgot about it. But the camera looking for Lucy segment forever stuck with me I just lost where it was from until now.
Visage is such a great game for the subtle story telling. Even as someone who isn't a fan of the "walk around" horror game genre, I thought it was great.
I think your gameplay was the first time I've seen someone actually get the alternative ending (happy ending). Also to say, I think your retrospective/review/analysis on Visage is the BEST one out there. Honestly, your videos are perhaps the most eloquent and beautifully written analyses on UA-cam. But, enough ego-jerking; one of the things I enjoy the most is when scary games are played by people who actually get scared- because they're able to immerse themselves into the world of horror. Nothing annoys me more when a person 'meta-games' a scary game be it because of whatever reason (mind, not the people who just don't get scared [like your bf xD]). I say this because can you genuinely appreciate horror-related anything, if you don't/can't/won't feel it? (I mean, you can- but why play horror media if you don't even get scared anymore?) Besides all that, it was fun watching (hearing) you sh!t bricks and your bf charge headfirst into a whirlpool of terror and coming out relatively unfazed most of the time.
Reeves my ego has been completely jerked, thank you for that :') I'm inspired to make more now, so it pays off And I'm glad! And I agree. I am an absolute victim of my own imagination and will convince myself that death (and jumpscare) is around every corner.
I’ve never been a gamer, but one of my favourite things is watching a good play through, especially a horror game. Watching theradbrad play PT was so awesome to me lol
Great video! Been debating getting this game for a while and I think this and your other video are enough xD I think it might annoy me too much. Keep it up :)
I have to say you’re easily my favorite reviewer of horror games because I can tell they genuinely scare you and you’ve nothing to prove about pretending they don’t. I’ve seen too many that are constantly saying, “and then something that WOULD be scary happens but I’m just a big ol’ no scare boy”. I don’t care! I want to hear about how the tenebrous shadows create an oppressive atmosphere and the scary ghost will startle me into falling off the couch!!!
Wonderful video Mert, but you can get the sledge hammer I believe without completing Dolores story. You can beat the game by bee-lining it to the wall, smashing it, and just re-do it and not go through the other stories.... ....I'm not saying I did that and not any of the other spooks because Lisa was to spooky noooooo. Great video :) Nice to see you getting more confidant and on camera more!
@@MertKayKay I mean I did, and I never completed the Dolores story. All of what you showed was new to me, so unless I broke the game (Which is easy I guess?!)
PT is one of those games that I some how just missed & only heard about years after it was nuked from orbit... watched some let's plays instead. Visage is a wicked game & I found myself wracked with nervous excitement the whole time. Personally my favorite chapter was the little girl, I dont know why I just thought she was creepy AF & the demon "friend" was interesting. Picard was my least favorite cos it just feels so different. Also each chapter was released 1 by 1 with Lucy's first, Delores 2nd & Picard 3rd which is the most likley reason for the rough around the edges nature of Lucy's chapter compared to the rest Just a lil happier news: I have read & heard reports that they have been working on a, for a lack of better term, vaccine for dementia. Essentially the idea is that they know what part of the brain actually gets damaged & the couse. They intend to have an injection they can give people with early signs & it will repair the memory strands, stopping dementia from damaging you're mind. They also have a test that let's them pinpoint if the damage is accuring. It's still a ways off from being a thing but it would be amazing to see peoples minds be repaired before the damage can take them. As someone who's nan was taken by dementia its news that makes me smile.
Damn Luke I did not pin you as a Visage fan! Thanks for sharing. Also, curious: why do you call Rakan Picard? Was Picard an earlier name for him? And that dementia news is indeed happy :'( what a horrible disease.
@@MertKayKay for some reason my auto correct changed it to from Rikkan to Picard everytime... which is weird. Sorry about that 😅. And I did enjoy Visage, was a fun & dark experience. Makes me wish I tried out PT while it was avalable :(. Also this is the first time I've heard the Malphus theory which was really interesting. Great video 👍🏻
Have you heard of the game In Sound Mind? It’s similar to Visage, but less horror, more action/dynamic puzzle solving with an interesting story based on figures from Greek mythology. Maybe a topic for a future video, like Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
I always love how deep into these games you go, even the ones that are flawed and obtuse. I don’t know if you’ve ever played Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for the Wii, but I feel like that one deserves a little more discussion if you haven’t. But whatever you put out, you know imma watch it and think. 💚
@@MertKayKay supporting creators I respect is an honor and a privilege. And seriously.. the mechanics are a little wonky (it’s a Wii game, so obviously), but the different ways the story evolves around your play and the first person therapy sections in particular were really interesting to me at the time I played it.
I always wondered what happened to this game. I saw a couple of UA-camrs playing the demo and I never heard anything else about it after that I'm glad to see it's a finished game
Love this series every time, Mert! Wonder what the next episode will be like though. Can't wait to see! It would be great if you could check your inbox by the way. We've sent you one!😍
This is the first of your videos I've seen. I think your takes on this game were incredibly fair. I acted as a guide for several streamers as they played the game live, because they could trust me not to spoil anything or give hints before they asked for them. So I understand exactly what you mean about this game requiring a guide for most people to come close to finishing the game and agree completely. It makes me sad to hear the game is so broken at this point. It's really hard to find a suspenseful puzzle game that demands your engagement the way parts of Visage and all of PT does/did. I wish the devs of Visage had chosen to run an open Beta before going into the Early Access release, but then I remember how that turned out for We Happy Few. Refinement of Lucy's AI, modifying the code to remove the possibility of specific fail-states like no lighter spawns, allowing players to make their own saves (or repairing the autosave feature if they want to avoid save scumming), along with a warning at the beginning of the game that the different ghosts have unique behaviors would significantly improve the experience most players have with the game! It may even result in many players considering the rest of the issues with the game jank that adds character to the overall experience. Now I'm off to check out the other videos on your channel and see if they fit my tastes as well as this one! Thank you for making me remember this game and the fun of experiencing it.
Thank you very much! I'm glad you like the review. Always a pleasure to see the insight of someone who genuinely really enjoys the game (especially so much as to help out streamers while they're live). I'm sure you were the one thing keeping a few of them from uninstalling!
good god. rakkans chapter would actually kill me to play as someone with scopophobia. those painting are horrifying. not to mention the huge eye,,, lord
Try everything Brilliant has to offer for free for a full 30 days by visiting brilliant.org/MertKayKay/
Nearly 10 years old???? *crumbles into ash like I've chosen the wrong grail*
he chose... poorly
And...that movie came out 35 years ago.
“During the Holocaust…” is a hell of a transition
As good of a transition as a skeleton woefully playing the organ
What's the Holocaust?
Like the holodomor?
I love it when UA-camr's are big enough to spend time creating genuinely thoughtful and interesting content, but still small enough that they have to do it in a cupboard.
It’s a sweet spot 😂
20:10 It's kinda telling that the gamers who wrote those guides, primarily men, can't recognize what are clearly meant to be umbilical cords, instead mistaking them for "intestines" or "vines".
A lot of Dolores' story is told through a distinctly female lens, not just through motherhood but through the fact that back in the '60s a lot of perfectly healthy women were falsely diagnosed with mental illness simply for being headstrong and outspoken, given treatments that made them passive. Just look at Rosemary Kennedy for a terrifying example of this.
Yeah wh ite women mostly your men are abusers
One of the wildest video game related periods of my life was when I hadn’t deleted PT from my PS4, it had been removed from the store and the workarounds to access it weren’t widely known about yet.
SO MANY people wanted to play it so I’d take my PS4 to their houses or they’d visit mine. Even people I didn’t know that well but it came up in conversation, if they didn’t seem totally suss I’d offer to visit their place with my console so they could play it, and most of them took me up on it.
It felt like… I figured I might as well as it was gone from the store and couldn’t be reinstalled if people had deleted it. As it was free to begin with, and so many people were interested to see what it was like and had missed out.
I had people I hardly knew offer me crazy amounts of money for my PS4 and I knew consoles with it installed were selling for crazy prices on eBay. I was tempted but didn’t succumb because I wasn’t 100% it wouldn’t give someone savvy a way to hack my account, or that Sony wouldn’t go hardline and ban my account for breaking the rules somehow.
That was so awesome of you! It's so sad that so many people have to miss out on one of the greatest gaming experiences in history because of konami's senseless pettiness. Hope you still have that ps4. I still have my old ps4 with P.T. installed, but the hdmi port is broken. Gonna fix it and see if I can back it up to a newer hdd or something without losing it, as tempting as it is to sell with this economy.
@@howlsmoodycastle9313 I don’t actually, I sold it back when I got a PS5 (after restoring to factory settings). The PT hype had died down by then, there were more play throughs on YT, and and great emulations made for PC, so it was a lot more accessible. :)
I had the luck of having a friend with a VR set bring his PS4 over so I could play it too. Thank god for people like the two of y’all who were willing to share their copy with the community
You know, your horror game coverage is why I keep coming back to this channel. I think it's helped get me out of my comfort zone and try some horror games.
Thank you Stephen! It's always really nice to see you
You too! That's totally me as well. Lol
@@StephenYuan Same here, I just realized I hadn't dared to play Bloober's Observer before seeing it covered on this channel and it was just chilling in the pool of free EGS games I amassed over the years.
Hah that's so funny, I'm so thankful there's great creators covering these horror games and analyzing them cause I am way too much of a pansy to play them 😂
i really love the depth you talked about dementia with. i had two grandparents with dementia and i took care of them as a teen. my grandpa lived in his house for 30 years, and pretty much every day at some point he would ask "when can we go home?" he was probably talking about the house i live in, which was my dad's childhood home and mine as well. we'd frequently bring my grandpa up to our house to visit (mostly during holidays to also give his caretakers a day off). he was naturally confused, as is usual with people with dementia. but he was probably also confused because, yes, this was his house, but it was completely different. the walls, flooring, decorations.
my great grandma honestly reminds me a LOT of delores. not the murdering her husband part. my great grandma had a son die of SIDS, and from that trauma she was institutionalized in an asylum. in the 1950s. you can see where this is going for her. maybe her dementia was in part caused by the electroshock therapy she received, im not sure if thats even how it works. but near the end of her life she was completely silent, frequently reacting to hallucinations by just moving her arms or closing her eyes. my great grandfather took very very good care of her, and still misses her every day.
sorry for the trauma dump lol, i do this every in every comments section for a video that talks about dementia
Thank you for sharing, and I hope you and your family had a Merry Christmas.
@@aidamou thank you very much, same goes to you!
"I can't believe it took me 70 runs before Achilles would get his bone on."
skill issue
I got to that point in only 200 runs. smh
Achilles why are you so SHY
Me, on run 300: you guys could get Achilles and Patroclus together?
PT will always be one of gaming greatest "What might have been" in the most painful way.
I love when you go into the ux of a game (beyond just talking about design or gameplay or whatever), it feels like a topic that's rarely talked about so explicitly in other game reviews, which always makes it refreshing to hear!
Thank you Viinaart! UX is so fun to discuss and there's so much to learn always
Have I even heard of "Visage" before? No.
Will I watch this entire video all the way through, completely hooked on a game I have never, nor will never, play? Absolutely!
"Bowel evacuation" now occupies the same space of my vocabulary as "urinary expulsion"
Otherwise good vid
Having a big old scared poo
"One should never, ever interrupt one's desire to defecate. I've enquired at the Bronx and London zoos as to the daily bowel evacuation of primates. It's not once, twice, or three times, sir, but four. At the end of an average day, their cages are filled with a veritable mountain of natural health!"
Sorry... One of my favorite movie quotes.
The parts of videos where you talk about UI/UX design are some of the most fascinating to me. You so clearly have expertise in that field and it’s so cool to hear you talk about it. ❤
Thank you so much Liza, it's always so flattering to hear it from yourself :')
John Lennon said his son came home from school with a picture he drew, he asked what it was, and he said "it's Lucy in the sky with diamonds." So he wrote the song. Unfortunately that one got thrown into the LSD ring because yeah, there are some about it but with this context it's a better song in my eyes, just an imaginative world described through the eyes of a child...which unfortunately sounds like an acid trip sometimes lol❤😂
Thanks for this explanation I've never seen a thorough one and I've never played Visage personally.❤
The thing I think a lot of people don't really recognize when it comes to acknowledging if PT would be a good Silent Hill game is the fact that Kojima was never a defining part of the original Silent Hill games to begin with, he just happened to make a horror trailer game and brought in a lot of new ideas while at the same time almost making a hit piece against Konami before he left. Even if PT didn't exist, the Sient Hill franchise would still be as revered and venerated as it is, and I think a lot of people and game developers more specifically have taken the wrong lessons from what PT is that have ended up harming horror gaming in the long term more than anything else. I'm looking at you, Bloober Team, oh how the tables have turned...
I love that its come out thay Bloober are pretty much the only reason we're getting the original and untouched Storyline for the Silent Hill 2 remake after the original members wanted to modernize the story for modern audiences.
So while they may have taken the "wrong" lessons from PT, what ever the hell that even means in a highly derivative form of entertainment which Video Games are and Bloober, they atleast seem to deeply care about the original Silent Hill 2 they're working on.
I believe they care more about Silent Hill 2 than Konami ever has, because Konami is coming from this project in the terms of "holy shit the RE4 remake did amazingly, we should remake our most beloved game in the franchise!"
@@ProfMarkQ all but four of the ten members of team silent don't even work at konami anymore, so i don't know who these "original members" you're referring to are? and of the four that remain, two are producers which is not at all an integral part of the actual game design and tech development process other than making sure the team is on track and ass-kissing shareholders for money, one is a scenario writer, and then there's the monster designer himself masahiro ito.
sooo with all that being said, i wouldn't put much stock in whatever any of them might've said about modernizing the SH2 remake. anyone who made silent hill 2 what it was (aside from masahiro ito, who has spoken before about how little control/input he has other than his design position at konami) is long gone! bloober still sucks and the changes they've made - however 'minor' they might seem to overeager fans - aren't very promising. they're not purists, and they only care as far as their bottom line goes. it's about capital for bloober, not artistic integrity.
if the latter was actually the case, they wouldn't have ripped off their game ideas from other studios.
I think the best scare I’ve seen from Delors is from John Wolfe’s play through. He was in a small utility/bathroom with his back to the door. He turns around and Delors’ face is peeking around the door frame, John jumps and screams and Delors slinks away.
Edit: my great grandfather had Alzheimer’s and it was one of the worst things I’ve ever witnessed. One of my memories of him was when he went missing and it was a family friend found him in the street that him and his wife, who had passed away, looking for his wife. Turns out he had walked to the house his parents had lived (both had passed away maybe about 30 odd years ago as of today). He was looking for his mum and dad and then got to the house, knocked on the door to find someone else and said he was looking for his wife
Hearing the fact that most guides refer to the fleshy tendrils as intestines really solidifies how much we need women’s perspectives in horror game analysis and throughout the entire industry.
I had the same thought lol
There is baby! There is long, fleshy rope! This should be obvious, I knew about umbilical cords at 14! I hate this kind of blatant obliviousness, I swear to god.
I'm just at the start of the video, but watching P.T's image again, I was thinking "Imagine an adaptation of the House of Leaves"
I live at the end of a five and a half minute hallway
And as far as I can see, you are still miles from me
In your doorway...
And oh btw when the landlord came today, he measured everything. I knew he'd get it wrong. I just played along, because I was hoping that would fix it all
But there's only so far you can go.
When you're living in a hallway that keeps growing.
I think to myself
"Five more minutes and I'll be there..."
Outside your door, but there's more to this story than I've been letting on...
love that song @@RealBradMiller
It already exists as a doom wad. It's called "My House" and it's free to download if you're interested
@@guy-sl3kr I know about "My House. wad", but I was talking about a more straight forward adaptation of the House of Leaves and with the photo realism of a Visage or a P.T.
But yeah "My House.wad" is a good exemple of what can be achive
Ugh that book is on my reading list, I can’t wait to get into it
I appreciate your analysis of horror games/stories so much. No one ever wants to have these types of discussions with me, but listening to you pick apart and discuss these themes has me repeatedly saying "Exactly!" to an empty room. 😂
Sometimes I pronounce it "visaggy" just to feel something
I used to work in senior living, as a culinary director. Most of my time was spent overseeing independent living and assisted living dining rooms, which would have their sort of quirky "guy sitting down at 11 PM when I'm getting ready to go home and saying he's waiting for breakfast" and arguing over seating arangements, but the memory care wing was a separate space sealed off by a one-way locking door. Most of the time I spent there was just bringing over a big food warmer loaded up with their meals at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and dropping off little snack trays throughout the day, but I can't imagine a darker place in the world.
During the day it was mostly fine, sometimes the little old ladies would insist they need to give me a tip for dropping off the food, sometimes somebody would grab somebody else's walker and they'd start crying, one lady would kind of just walk back and forth between the hallway towards the exit and back (clearly trying to catch somebody opening the door on the way in, but not there enough to actually do it). At night though, it was all sobbing and wailing and people fighting, throwing food, many of them would lose the ability to communicate and just make noises. It doesn't sound that bad but it's truly awful, especially when you consider that most of the families pop by once a month, once every few months, twice a year, sometimes never. On a side note, the ONE time that everybody was consistently sitting together, bright, and communicating, is when they'd bring in somebody to host a sing along to classic songs or play vinyls from around the '50s.
The staff there was almost entirely women from the Carribean (to the point that I've googled "why are there so many people from the Carribean in elder care", but no answer), and not to generalize an entire population of people, but Jamaica especially is a really tough place to grow up, and they have a reputation for not taking any shit, so they always had the tone of "annoyed daycare worker yelling at toddlers" when a 90 year old woman was having a nervous breakdown because she's reliving the death of her husband. It made me really angry at first, but as I worked there I saw that many of them would work 12-16 hour shifts, which I knew because I was often working 10-14 hour shifts and they were sometimes there before AND after me. When I think about that level of horror and despair being the equivalent amount of time that most people spend sleeping in their bed, the combination of sadness and monotony is almost unbearable for me to dwell on, and that's from the perspective of somebody who has all their faculties, is paid to be there, and eventually gets to go home or quit if it gets to be too much.
This isn't a video about dementia, it just got me thinking, and I think they did a really excellent job of capturing what it might feel like.
Also for what it's worth, I like the concept of Visage and I do think they pulled it off from the 2 scenarios I got through and this video, but I think it's pretty clear that Silent Hills was not going to be a first-person puzzle-exploration game, I really think it was gonna be a classic Silent Hill game with a lot of modern updates and a bunch of Kojima shenanigans. They had to make it the way they did to bury the lede, I doubt a team as ambitious as Kojima and Del Toro were gonna make "RE7 but with psychological horror instead". Sort of like the teaser for MGS4, playing into modern trends to subvert them at the end of the trailer. Basically Visage is a sequel to PT, not a "reimagining" of Silent Hills, except PT only REALLY works in one hyper focused L shaped corridor and shows off the themes and tone of what they're going for, not the actual loop.
0:01 «in 2014,sleeper tragedy PT hit the PlayStation»
It was exactly sleeper tragedy 😭
And later with announced new season of twin peaks it was to good to be true
You are genuinely one of my favorite YT personalities, I love your quick wit, in-depth insight, and dry humor SO much!!
Also, idk if you take suggestions, but after your IT book/movie video I thought maaaaybe you'd be into this idea: a video about media you think would be great to adapt into other media (ie books into movies, or TV shows into games, etc). You just have such a nuanced view on how themes, pacing, characterizations, and game elements work together to form a cohesive narrative that I think it'd be super interesting to hear your ideas!
(For reference, FriendlySpaceNinja did a video like this recently that inspired this idea)
Hey Siobhan!! I'm really flattered, thank you so much. That's a really good idea I never considered, thank you for that!
Visage is the single greatest horror I’ve ever played. I would have loved to see Hideo Kojima’s Silent Hill game, but I’m so glad that we at least got Visage out of it.
Edit: I think it might be worth mentioning that Visage is one of few games I’ve ever intentionally 100%’d. The other is Outer Wilds (please make a video on Outer Wilds, I’m begging you).
Side note: there was a “remake” or perhaps a “reimagining” of P.T. that came to Xbox called Evil Inside. I was so excited because I could finally experience P.T. myself. I was actually counting down the days to its release.
It was dogwater. I can’t believe I paid money for that.
I love Outer Wilds! I have no idea what I'd add to the conversation though. If I ever find inspiration, I'll cover it for sure
Maybe I need to go back to Visage, I played it the year it came out and everyone was calling it the scariest horror game in X/Y/Z years and I just ... didn't really find it scary. I finished 2 stories and started Delores' story and that was about when I just felt bored and gave up.
@@SobutaiPlaysDelores’ story is easily the best of the three. I should mention that there is technically a secret “fourth” chapter involving the character you play as. You access it via exploration and various tapes that you find. That one is less heavy on gameplay elements, and it is heavier on context clues and plot.
But yeah, Delores’ chapter is easily the best. It features several puzzles, and some of them can be a bit tricky if you’re not paying attention. But Delores’ chapter was a great blend of story, puzzles, and horror. I loved it.
So glad to see you upload again! I found you from your amazing IT video and I've been binging old videos ever since. Your analysis and delivery are always so sharp, keep at it!
Thank you Riley! It honestly means so much :'(
New Mert vid, we’re eatin good today
Has it really been 10 years? Fuck, I’m getting old
I love horror but am a complete baby who cannot play horror games so watch a lot of playthroughs. Visage is one of those games I watched playthroughs of and was dismayed where they gave up on it. It’s a game I have fond memories of watching and I enjoyed the care that had obviously been put into the lore. Honestly come back again and again to this channel because you appreciate where people have put the care into media and rightly point out when something has been created as a money grab or to be “shocking” (looking at you Rachel Foster)
The content warning about dementia and stillbirth made my jaw drop, not because they were upsetting to me, but because the last time i even thought about Visage, the game didnt have a plotline
To this day I am unable to fully articulate how *shitfuck terrifying* PT was/is and I will forever mourn the game that could have come after.
Nearly 2 hour video about horror games yes please
always thought the experiment theory was a big stretch but it makes lots of sense now 😭
Yeah same! When I heard it I was like "that is embarrassingly contrived" and when I played it I was like. Wow yep. No. That makes sense
Reality is often far more crazier than fiction.
I appreciate the visuals that your chosen expressions evoke. Well done.
How exciting! I only discovered this channel a week or so ago when a friend and I were hanging out and they were watching one of your Walking Dead games and all I could think of was, "Finally, another essay channel with good writing and a quick wit" and I've been binging your backlog ever since.
Truly a joy and I absolutely ADORED your video on Soma. Can't wait to watch this one and finally catch a stream of yours.
Damn, welcome to the channel! Really flattered that you like my videos Scumbom, thank you for being here
yessss i always love hearing people talk about PT and visage, cant wait to binge this instead of sleeping at a reasonable hour hehe. love u and ur vids mert!!
Just a note to say that I love horror and spooky things but I can't stand to watch scary movies or play scary games myself and Mert's channel has been a godsend. No jumpscares but the spooky footage is still there for me to enjoy, hilarious jokes, long videos, and great analysis. Chef's kiss. Thank you.
A video talking at all about the greatest horror game of all time, PT? Instant watch.
I happened upon your channel via suggestions from UA-cam, based on my viewing history.
I very much enjoy your style, depth of research and insights, among many other things.
I have watched videos on games or shows that I have had little interest in, strictly because of the way you present the topics at hand.
Not gushing. Just entertained and informed on things I might never have given a chance to.
Keep up the good work and I will keep watching and recommending your channel, and ISDWG too.
:o thank you so much Chandra!
One thing I'd have added to the list of "things inspired by P.T." was Resident Evil VII, itself. When the "Beginning Hour" came out, it was obviously made inspired by the wild success of P.T. and it filled the hole that had been left when P.T. got unceremoniously unpersoned. People flocked to it and it was very popular and gave a new direction of Resident Evil, which worked out in Capcom's favor when they started to remake the older games and gather new fans who liked Biohazard to play them
the best sentence i've heard in months just might be "…[f]rom waking up in the same kind of purgatorial concrete room, to being chased by a be-gowned spectacle of womanly horror…"
as a near-40 year old english / creative writing tutor, your Silence of the Lambs video essay was really good too. I'm going to watch the It video when time allows, hopefully your editor is more merciful than King's, and if not, at least … less sadomasochistic.
He family-guy throw-away gags the hauntingly beautiful ending of …. the haunting of hill house … and should have faced international sanction for doing so (potentially twice!)
in case of you not having read HoHh I won't throw it in here, but it's in It … f$%cking twice, and it's such a trauma-inducing, beautiful, pathological, dread-inspiring line that it makes his turning of it into a throw-away line all the more galling …
and all who talk to youtube talk alone
[i couldn't help it, forgive me]
cheers m8
Fascinating video! I always enjoy watching your stuff for its humor and casual delivery, but your analysis is always so in-depth and carefully considered! Everything is said with a purpose, and you bring insights I've never considered. Always a pleasure 😊
you’re my favorite video essay channel because you go through the work of making sure there are accurate captions for all your videos! I can’t tell you how much it’s appreciated!
I love your analysis videos. They're always so nuanced and meticulous. It really feels like you approach your topics with not only curiosity, but real intellectual rigor. Your videos never feel shallow, and as a viewer I really value that.
And as a certified scaredy cat, I really appreciate that you openly acknowledge that scary games scare you. Faffing about in a room for 20 minutes because you can tell the next section will be spooky is relatable! And it makes me feel like maybe I could give the horror games I find interesting a shot someday, too. So thank you for that.
Haven't commented on your chanel in a while, but girl, do your scripts get better and better 😁 I absolutely loved this video. And it got me to finish the game last week after pausing it for two months, just to see the last chapter.
Loved the Virgin Suicide and Silence Of The Lambs ones too. Really bangers videos! Very happy to see you getting more and more traction.
i have been lurking on this channel for a good few weeks. i really enjoy your content! im happy to see this game get covered as well i felt it didnt get discussed as much as it shouldve
Thank you!! Welcome B)
Great video! I’ve been saying to others when recommending Visage is how it’s like what I’d imagine a full game of PT would be as like you said it’s not like Silent Hill but more like PT which says at its end it is just a playable teaser and doesn’t reflect the final game at all meaning Silent Hills was likely never meant to have any relation to PT but this is why I love Visage as how it expands on something that as it seems wasn’t going to be expanded on.
Also a theory I made during my first playthrough with the three character chapters you find as Duane in my opinion has a reflection on popular trends in the horror game genre with respect to each character’s age for example Doris represents the more subtle puzzle horror games that were popular pioneered by the original RE and Silent Hill trilogies almost 30 years ago. Rakkan is the action horror that became popular with RE4 RE5 and Dead Space about 20 years ago. And Lucy represents the current trend with horror games heavily influenced by PT and the Amnesia games.
Visage has been the only game in years that actual got me scared, i praise this game to all my friends
I got stumped very early by a frustrating puzzle where I was directed to go to the attic, but couldn't reach it. I explored a bit, found a stepstool, and spent over half an hour trying to use the stepstool to climb up under the attic door, which you cannot do because that perfectly sensible solution is not what the developers intended. Instead, I had to wander around aimlessly for another hour until I noticed the hook jammed into the wall in the chapel. This was well after I tried picking up the various tools in the garage--any of which would have easily opened an attic door--and kept going back to the stepstool. I found this so frustratingly obtuse that it soured me on the game and made me distrust every single puzzle, because if plenty of obvious solutions won't work if they're not the very specific solution the game wants you to use, then what's the point in trying to figure anything out?
EDIT: Oh, I see you mention this exact problem at 1:04:50. Ha.
Thank you for making a video dedicated to Visage. Its an extremely uderrated game and i rrally dont understand why their isnt more videos about the lore of the game.
your horror coverage makes me feel so much better about the fact that i, too, am constantly terrified and can't look at the screen when something might be scary. i would love if you could do any kitty horrorshow sometime as i have anatomy but am too scared to play
I have been yearning for a true essay of this game since I played it 2 years ago. I love this game so so so much. And I say that while also being able to concede that all of your criticism is spot on. I just love this game, I love the house, I particularly love Dwayne’s story, I love the modularity of the other stories. I’m just a really big fan. Thanks for covering it.
Thanks for being here Nathan! Which chapter was your fave?
@@MertKayKay omg, I can’t believe I missed this! Of the main 3, Dolores for sure. Then Lucy. But my very favorite were Dwayne’s story with the video tapes.
It’s kind of amazing that they haven’t put PT back up, especially when we went so long without any Silent Hill content. I guess they’re saving it for the mother of all preorder bonuses.
I also don’t think Silent Hills, if it was ever going to exist, would’ve been like PT. At most it might have been in the same location, but with new characters because there wouldn’t be any point in telling the same story twice.
❤ I enjoy listening to your game reviews as i do my school work or any other thing im doing, as your voice is soothing and you're really funny!
You make my day and help me when i feel down, thanks for being an awesome content creator! ❤
Aww thank you Kota!! It's great to have you here
Oh man, I missed hearing your analyses on horror games. Your perspective is always so thought provoking and I heavily agree that this sounds like a combination of MK Ultra and demons, instead of just one or the other.
I also LOVE the analysis of, "how much work do demons really have to put in when humanity is a cesspool of greed". I can't describe how your words make the imaginative recesses of my brain spark to life.
I'm always so invested into what you have to say that I didn't even notice an hour and a half had passed and now I'm devastated that the video is about to end.
Thank you so much :'( you have no idea how flattering that is to hear. If you like my horror analyses you'll love this month's video!
I played this together with my brother (okay he played and I hid behind my hands but whatever, in my defence I’m very light sensitive and the flash of the camera literally blind me. But I’m also a wimp so-) and we played Lucy’s chapter first! I still remember the two of us literally yelling when that lil gremlin girl just popped up and chased us in that basement. Visage is a good game, I enjoy it even if we never finished it but it could get really frustrating during some puzzles which sucked because we did really want to know what was going on! We both moved away before we could finish it so we’ve never seen the end of the story. I’d never be able to play on my own because I’m a freak but- anyway! So this video is great! It’s nice to know what happened and your analysis is always so interesting to listen to. Great video 😊
A few days ago I was watching your 'Martha Is Dead' and 'Town of Light' videos and was really wanting to watch a video of you discussing Visage, and then a couple days later, this comes out! So excited for this one!
I’m so happy Mert did a vid on Visage because it’s one of my absolutely favourites. Sure it does have some gameplay problems, but I get the impression I’m more forgiving than most on these issues. The video was still great, and I did wonder about Dolores’s menopause meaning she couldn’t have a baby and what it all means, but I never noticed the rat poison before!
However, is George Dolores’s husband? I actually thought he might be her son and she’s remembering him as a baby AND her presumably deceased partner - a double moment of pain for George. I wondered because their use of language is very different. But I urgently need to ask someone: 50:44 “Monitor and Abuse”. Is this a reference to anything? That’s a specific phase and my spidey sense is tingling...
I never considered that about George! He does look much younger so that could be true. Truthfully I have no idea
My best guess could be the Monitor and Abuse trait from Dead by Daylight? The Doctor has it! Beyond that, no idea I'm afraid :(
@@MertKayKay Dolores used the line “I’ll show you, you damn scoundrel what bread your worth” (for example). No one under the age of 80 talks like that. In George’s cassette tapes he never uses terms of phrase like that and instead sounds relatively modern. He also strikes me as late-middle-aged Boomer not Silent Generation elderly. It’s just another tragic layer to his character, and complimentary to the disorientation and confusion of the Dolores chapter.
DARN! I was hoping it wouldn’t be DBD. I thought both you and Behaviour were making a reference to something else. Maybe a book (or chapter) about MKULTRA or something? (Doctor and Dwayne are both connected to it) I’m doing a series of videos on the DBD killers and I’m all about little clues like that. I should've known you were a fellow Fog Walker! Anyway, loved the video, love the work, all the best! - BPA
There's a lot of visage I missed on my first couple of playthroughs. Examples being that there is always a subtle breadcrumb trail leading you to where you have to go next, you just have to be paying super close attention to spot the clues sometimes.
Another is the maze: you're still meant to be spamming the camera flash in the maze, and your brightness is probably turned up too far if you are not. Anytime the flash catches imaginary boy, it seems to take him off your trail for a generous amount of time.
That makes sense!
Yesss Visage--the game that I cannot play myself without dying of fear 30 mins in (especially with the controls haha) but adore everything about it! I especially love Dolores' chapter! It was just the right amount of build-up and excellent horror that plays with your mind! This was such an interesting watch thank you so much!
oh man was i waiting for a video like this, my gf and i absolutely loved visage. i've barely seen anyone cover this game in general but this is incredible, i adore how in depth this video is. such great content.
Thank you very much! I'm really glad you enjoyed it :D
I love horror game coverage from the perspective of someone who appreciates the art but hates when it actually scares you. It makes me feel really seen. I used to play horror almost exclusively until I got pregnant. My daughter was born in May, and my anxiety is still just too high to enjoy horror games anymore. They are physically not good for me. But I still really love and appreciate what makes a horror game good, and I feel like your videos really encapsulate what that means.
I'm gonna break the weirdest lance here for the game developers about the glass ball and the hammer: if you tried to do that IRL, it would likely shoot off like a giant marble or a bowling ball if you miss the right angle or lack the proper force. That's why the vise would probably be more effective, it holds the spherical surface in place while applying pressure on the right angle. I'm guessing dropping it from a second story wouldn't even leave a dent either, it looks super thick, too. I get exactly what you mean with your example, of course, different people will attempt different solutions to the same puzzle: maybe if the developers had included some sort of text comment on why the other tools aren't useful in this situation, it would've worked slightly better imo.
Yay! New Mert vid!
Your vids always bring a smile to my face
oh my god this will be my life for the next 2 hours thank you so much
My first and only playthrough of visage (on Xbox) was problem free save for one issue. In the prologue I decided to gather up every single item in the entire house before starting a chapter, then sorted and stored them in the foyer, right next to the staircase. As soon as I started the first chapter every single item clipped right through the floor and I had to play through the entire game with nothing but the few items that landed on the floor below instead of completely falling out of the map, and the very sparse item respawns that periodically happened
Loved this breakdown! Perfect blend of explanation and commentary. I would love to hear your thoughts on Until Dawn. Thanks!
PT sent me a mental health episode for several days after I played it. It was so well done and so tragic, there was one scene that I couldn't get over for a while.
I am both Furious and delighted to find that I have 6 months worth of your content to watch. Since apparently YT took it upon itself to unsub me from your channel. Can't Wait! Excellent work as always!
Aww welcome back! :D I hope you enjoy the videos
10 years?! Holy shit, I was a freshman in college at that time o.o
An upload on both channels in two consecutive days ?? We have been blessed!
thanks for putting captions on yr videos
I appreciate the in-depth analysis of my greatest fear. Thanks, Mert.
Watching this in a separate room to my bf and I can hear him laughing, agreeing and commenting on it from afar. Evidently, this is phenomenal video essay
I remember going nuts over this game when it came out and then I forgot about it. But the camera looking for Lucy segment forever stuck with me I just lost where it was from until now.
Visage is such a great game for the subtle story telling. Even as someone who isn't a fan of the "walk around" horror game genre, I thought it was great.
I think your gameplay was the first time I've seen someone actually get the alternative ending (happy ending). Also to say, I think your retrospective/review/analysis on Visage is the BEST one out there. Honestly, your videos are perhaps the most eloquent and beautifully written analyses on UA-cam.
But, enough ego-jerking; one of the things I enjoy the most is when scary games are played by people who actually get scared- because they're able to immerse themselves into the world of horror. Nothing annoys me more when a person 'meta-games' a scary game be it because of whatever reason (mind, not the people who just don't get scared [like your bf xD]). I say this because can you genuinely appreciate horror-related anything, if you don't/can't/won't feel it? (I mean, you can- but why play horror media if you don't even get scared anymore?)
Besides all that, it was fun watching (hearing) you sh!t bricks and your bf charge headfirst into a whirlpool of terror and coming out relatively unfazed most of the time.
Reeves my ego has been completely jerked, thank you for that :') I'm inspired to make more now, so it pays off
And I'm glad! And I agree. I am an absolute victim of my own imagination and will convince myself that death (and jumpscare) is around every corner.
Love listening to you while I waste hours crafting/grinding in ff14 but your horror videos are always by far my favorite
I hope FF14 gives you a hearty bounty >:(
@@MertKayKay That's what gather slaves, I mean friends, are for! 🤣
I’ve never been a gamer, but one of my favourite things is watching a good play through, especially a horror game. Watching theradbrad play PT was so awesome to me lol
I still cant play a full horror game since 2014 thats why i like watching people do.
I love the scene of you coyly suggesting your friends play this game that you sort of heard of and totally didn't try playing on your own.
Once again, a great video mert!
Great video! Been debating getting this game for a while and I think this and your other video are enough xD I think it might annoy me too much. Keep it up :)
I have to say you’re easily my favorite reviewer of horror games because I can tell they genuinely scare you and you’ve nothing to prove about pretending they don’t. I’ve seen too many that are constantly saying, “and then something that WOULD be scary happens but I’m just a big ol’ no scare boy”. I don’t care! I want to hear about how the tenebrous shadows create an oppressive atmosphere and the scary ghost will startle me into falling off the couch!!!
I'm so glad Mimikyu, it makes all my little heart attacks worthwhile. I jumped out of my skin seeing a Lucy jumpscare WHILST editing my own footage
Wonderful video Mert, but you can get the sledge hammer I believe without completing Dolores story. You can beat the game by bee-lining it to the wall, smashing it, and just re-do it and not go through the other stories....
....I'm not saying I did that and not any of the other spooks because Lisa was to spooky noooooo.
Great video :) Nice to see you getting more confidant and on camera more!
:0 you can get Sledgie without doing Dolores' story?! Omg. I need to read about this. Thank you!
@@MertKayKay I mean I did, and I never completed the Dolores story. All of what you showed was new to me, so unless I broke the game (Which is easy I guess?!)
going insane, I’ve been rewatching so many of your videos the past few days AND NOW NEW CONTENT!
Any time B)
PT is one of those games that I some how just missed & only heard about years after it was nuked from orbit... watched some let's plays instead.
Visage is a wicked game & I found myself wracked with nervous excitement the whole time. Personally my favorite chapter was the little girl, I dont know why I just thought she was creepy AF & the demon "friend" was interesting. Picard was my least favorite cos it just feels so different. Also each chapter was released 1 by 1 with Lucy's first, Delores 2nd & Picard 3rd which is the most likley reason for the rough around the edges nature of Lucy's chapter compared to the rest
Just a lil happier news: I have read & heard reports that they have been working on a, for a lack of better term, vaccine for dementia. Essentially the idea is that they know what part of the brain actually gets damaged & the couse. They intend to have an injection they can give people with early signs & it will repair the memory strands, stopping dementia from damaging you're mind. They also have a test that let's them pinpoint if the damage is accuring. It's still a ways off from being a thing but it would be amazing to see peoples minds be repaired before the damage can take them.
As someone who's nan was taken by dementia its news that makes me smile.
Damn Luke I did not pin you as a Visage fan! Thanks for sharing. Also, curious: why do you call Rakan Picard? Was Picard an earlier name for him?
And that dementia news is indeed happy :'( what a horrible disease.
@@MertKayKay for some reason my auto correct changed it to from Rikkan to Picard everytime... which is weird. Sorry about that 😅.
And I did enjoy Visage, was a fun & dark experience. Makes me wish I tried out PT while it was avalable :(.
Also this is the first time I've heard the Malphus theory which was really interesting. Great video 👍🏻
Oh hell yeah, I'm here for this one. 🎉🎉🎉
YAY A NEW MERTKAYKAY VID!!! Yes I know I'm 3 days late but new is new!
Have you heard of the game In Sound Mind? It’s similar to Visage, but less horror, more action/dynamic puzzle solving with an interesting story based on figures from Greek mythology. Maybe a topic for a future video, like Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
I always love how deep into these games you go, even the ones that are flawed and obtuse. I don’t know if you’ve ever played Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for the Wii, but I feel like that one deserves a little more discussion if you haven’t. But whatever you put out, you know imma watch it and think. 💚
That's actually the only one I haven't played! I'd love to give it a go someday. Thanks for always popping by my vids and saying hi Casey :D
@@MertKayKay supporting creators I respect is an honor and a privilege. And seriously.. the mechanics are a little wonky (it’s a Wii game, so obviously), but the different ways the story evolves around your play and the first person therapy sections in particular were really interesting to me at the time I played it.
I think another "P.T." inspired game that would've work is Alison Road imo.
I always wondered what happened to this game. I saw a couple of UA-camrs playing the demo and I never heard anything else about it after that
I'm glad to see it's a finished game
The mix of Purgatory/Afterlife, and MK Ultra instantly reminds me of Jacobs Ladder
When Dolores peaks at you in the study, is top 3 videogame scares of all time for me. Closely followed by her in the garage.
Love this series every time, Mert! Wonder what the next episode will be like though. Can't wait to see! It would be great if you could check your inbox by the way. We've sent you one!😍
This is the first of your videos I've seen. I think your takes on this game were incredibly fair. I acted as a guide for several streamers as they played the game live, because they could trust me not to spoil anything or give hints before they asked for them. So I understand exactly what you mean about this game requiring a guide for most people to come close to finishing the game and agree completely.
It makes me sad to hear the game is so broken at this point. It's really hard to find a suspenseful puzzle game that demands your engagement the way parts of Visage and all of PT does/did. I wish the devs of Visage had chosen to run an open Beta before going into the Early Access release, but then I remember how that turned out for We Happy Few.
Refinement of Lucy's AI, modifying the code to remove the possibility of specific fail-states like no lighter spawns, allowing players to make their own saves (or repairing the autosave feature if they want to avoid save scumming), along with a warning at the beginning of the game that the different ghosts have unique behaviors would significantly improve the experience most players have with the game! It may even result in many players considering the rest of the issues with the game jank that adds character to the overall experience.
Now I'm off to check out the other videos on your channel and see if they fit my tastes as well as this one! Thank you for making me remember this game and the fun of experiencing it.
Thank you very much! I'm glad you like the review. Always a pleasure to see the insight of someone who genuinely really enjoys the game (especially so much as to help out streamers while they're live). I'm sure you were the one thing keeping a few of them from uninstalling!
Damn, was just watching (and falling asleep to) your I Am So Done With Visage video yesterday! Can't wait to watch through this one as well!
good god. rakkans chapter would actually kill me to play as someone with scopophobia. those painting are horrifying. not to mention the huge eye,,, lord