I love horror and Tom and Simon's horror series, but types of horror games are kind of lame. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy watching Tom and Simon play this, but if it weren't for them these games would be so dull. This and Layers of Fear are all the same. Enter room, experience something spooky, get some exposition in a note or memory flashback, enter next room and repeat. There's no build up of tension, there's no reason for why the character is doing this or why these jumpscares are happening (other than the excuse "you're mad") and because there's no characters - just the occasional dialogue or wall of text - you don't feel invested or immersed in the protagonist's story. Compare this to Silent Hill 2, or Penumbra. Those games, the character has clear motivation for why they visit the spooky place. When you enter the spooky place, there's a build up of maybe half an hour of tension before you meet any of the monsters, and after that you don't have to experience something scary every single time you enter a new location or new room. When you have spook after spook with no breaks, it ceases to be scary. And the things that this game does to try and spook you are - at best - cliched, and at worst, illogical. You enter a morgue, try to leave, and when you turn around there's blood on the walls. Ok, sure, that's creepy, but why is that happening? Why is that significant to the character? What makes this more scary than the previous weird thing you did in the last room, and what will make the next thing scarier than this in the next room? You can't just use the excuse "they're mad" as a way to shoehorn in every cliche horror trope into your game. If this was a movie, it'd be laughed out of the cinema with how uninspired and not-scary it is. At the very least, I love Tom and Simon's commentary. They're great, and I love watching them play horror games. I just wish that the horror games they play are, well, better. There are certainly many different good horror games on the market.
Good write up and points. I agree with you, although I still would love to see Tom and Simon play these games just due to their commentary as mentioned.
Finally, someone else who actually understands how horror works. Good thing people like you don't make horror games or else developers making games like this would actually need to put effort into their work to compete.
Agreed. This relies entirely on jump scares. Just to play devil’s advocate for a sec, Tom and Simon specified earlier in the series that this type of game is what they want, because they don’t want to have to run away or fight anything. They are finding games that are like a haunted house that you walk through, to give them some good jumps for the viewers. Generally that means it’s one like this that is a story driven walking sim with some cheap shots for spookums. Absolutely agree with your analysis though. Tom and Simon are such a great duo, and could make anything worth watching!
These are part of a new genre of horror games collectively known as "walking simulators". They're the equivalent of walking around an overlong haunted house at a carnival.
You guys should absolutely play The Infectious Madness of Dr Dekker. It's one of those FMV goofy horror mystery games I'm sure you would have a blast picking apart.
Thanks for the extra vampire info there Tom :D Do love these different 'legends' of how vampires/werewolves came to be, and for anyone who wants a bit more; Such as the one mentioned, Judas being the original vampire, punished by god after the betrayal, identifying Jesus with 'the kiss of Judas' to those soldiers seeking him, for 30 silver.. and upon later hanging himself was revived to forever walk the earth in regret. or.. the story in which archangel Gabriel, Michael and Lucifer (brothers) are all present with their own roles in heaven, but Lucifer being banished to earth yada yada, creating hell and his own creations.. which ended up turning Gabriel human once he visited hell. Gabriel then teaming up with Vlad the Impaler to hunt monsters, but later killing Vlad after he turns bad.. Vlad making a pact with Satan as he unbeknownst to Gabriel gets resurrected, though cursed, becoming the first vampire Dracula. Gabriel then gets his memories removed in a plea to god to forget all the wars, and ends up as Van Helsing. Then, the queen of the damned & Interview with the vampire version, in which the ancient king and queen of pre-egypt, I believe quite vicious and a warring people invade and destroy a small village. Seeking knowledge from two witches who live there by incarcerating them.. and after the queen is offended, ends up putting the witches through some nasty stuff. The witches then cursing the King and Queen with an evil spirit.. The queen just about to meet her demise then overtaken by the evil spirit being turned into the first vampire, and by allowing the king to drink from her blood, equally saving him.. and.. more or less going on a killing spree; happy vampy fun fest. And lastly, from the stories of which I know.. The hungarian Nobleman, Alexander Corvinus who during a plague is the sole survivor due to a genetic mutation, which also happens to make him immortal. His wife eventually giving birth to three sons.. two immortals, and one mortal with the latent version of the immortality gene in his blood. The first son gets bitten by a mountain wolf, interacting with his biology, hence the werewolves. And the other bitten by a bat, hence vampires. I believe, the descendant of the third son in modern history later gets bitten by both vampire and werewolf, turning into the 'hybrid'. And whew.. that was a lot of typing :D
This is just like the SpongeBob episode where Patrick is watching SpongeBob at a dark intersection and telling him there's a maniac there; SpongeBob doesn't know he's the maniac and everywhere he moves Patrick says the maniac has just gone there
The reason vampires show no reflection is due to the fact that mirrors were considered reflections of your souls, and thus the Vampire who has no soul will have no reflection. The concept of silver impacting a mirror reflection due to it being a vampire is a more modern variation.
Was Tom talking about the shoveler from the movie Mystery men? because if so, I am really spooked, as i have just finished watching it before i played this video.
I'm excited to see how the rest of the series goes with Tom and Siman. I played through this on my channel just a couple of months ago and it was pretty great. I swear to god the yogscast is shadowing my content, lol!
The light-boosting was 10/10. Those edits are like having a third commentator, and I love it.
Can we just take a minute to appreciate Josh’s editing?
The frikin' banana phone startled me more than anything in the game.
2:20 you know its a quality horror game when the spookemy violin kicks in
I love horror and Tom and Simon's horror series, but types of horror games are kind of lame. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy watching Tom and Simon play this, but if it weren't for them these games would be so dull. This and Layers of Fear are all the same. Enter room, experience something spooky, get some exposition in a note or memory flashback, enter next room and repeat. There's no build up of tension, there's no reason for why the character is doing this or why these jumpscares are happening (other than the excuse "you're mad") and because there's no characters - just the occasional dialogue or wall of text - you don't feel invested or immersed in the protagonist's story.
Compare this to Silent Hill 2, or Penumbra. Those games, the character has clear motivation for why they visit the spooky place. When you enter the spooky place, there's a build up of maybe half an hour of tension before you meet any of the monsters, and after that you don't have to experience something scary every single time you enter a new location or new room. When you have spook after spook with no breaks, it ceases to be scary. And the things that this game does to try and spook you are - at best - cliched, and at worst, illogical. You enter a morgue, try to leave, and when you turn around there's blood on the walls. Ok, sure, that's creepy, but why is that happening? Why is that significant to the character? What makes this more scary than the previous weird thing you did in the last room, and what will make the next thing scarier than this in the next room? You can't just use the excuse "they're mad" as a way to shoehorn in every cliche horror trope into your game. If this was a movie, it'd be laughed out of the cinema with how uninspired and not-scary it is.
At the very least, I love Tom and Simon's commentary. They're great, and I love watching them play horror games. I just wish that the horror games they play are, well, better. There are certainly many different good horror games on the market.
Good write up and points. I agree with you, although I still would love to see Tom and Simon play these games just due to their commentary as mentioned.
Yeah, I definitely think these games are made specifically with LetsPlayers in mind
Finally, someone else who actually understands how horror works. Good thing people like you don't make horror games or else developers making games like this would actually need to put effort into their work to compete.
Agreed. This relies entirely on jump scares. Just to play devil’s advocate for a sec, Tom and Simon specified earlier in the series that this type of game is what they want, because they don’t want to have to run away or fight anything. They are finding games that are like a haunted house that you walk through, to give them some good jumps for the viewers. Generally that means it’s one like this that is a story driven walking sim with some cheap shots for spookums.
Absolutely agree with your analysis though. Tom and Simon are such a great duo, and could make anything worth watching!
These are part of a new genre of horror games collectively known as "walking simulators". They're the equivalent of walking around an overlong haunted house at a carnival.
You guys should absolutely play The Infectious Madness of Dr Dekker. It's one of those FMV goofy horror mystery games I'm sure you would have a blast picking apart.
Good suggestion!
Guys IHOB is actually going to be house of burgers not breakfast... Just saying .. Like so they can make an apology video thanks
berrypie45 At least they said the change was temporary...nobody goes to ihop for a burger.
IHOP isn't actually changing their name. It's for a promotional period for their new burgers they are releasing.
Hextech Art & Gaming And just as I said: nobody goes to ihop for burgers.
Hextech Art & Gaming Also, have you checked their Twitter?
I'll be your pokéMan they're trying to change that.... hence the temp rebranding of IHOB
**Tom and Simon see bald eagle**
**Both do British Army salute**
"Good thinkin' Abraham Lincoln" XD I've never heard that before, that's great, I think I might use that, haha
Album: 629 Simion Lane
All rights reserved ©️®️
Didn't jump the entire time watching this until the Banana phone bit...
No josh, no you did not, you just blinded me as I was watching in the dark and I now have no retinas left RIP
I adore all these horror games with these spooky boys
Thanks for the extra vampire info there Tom :D Do love these different 'legends' of how vampires/werewolves came to be, and for anyone who wants a bit more;
Such as the one mentioned, Judas being the original vampire, punished by god after the betrayal, identifying Jesus with 'the kiss of Judas' to those soldiers seeking him, for 30 silver.. and upon later hanging himself was revived to forever walk the earth in regret.
or.. the story in which archangel Gabriel, Michael and Lucifer (brothers) are all present with their own roles in heaven, but Lucifer being banished to earth yada yada, creating hell and his own creations.. which ended up turning Gabriel human once he visited hell. Gabriel then teaming up with Vlad the Impaler to hunt monsters, but later killing Vlad after he turns bad.. Vlad making a pact with Satan as he unbeknownst to Gabriel gets resurrected, though cursed, becoming the first vampire Dracula. Gabriel then gets his memories removed in a plea to god to forget all the wars, and ends up as Van Helsing.
Then, the queen of the damned & Interview with the vampire version, in which the ancient king and queen of pre-egypt, I believe quite vicious and a warring people invade and destroy a small village. Seeking knowledge from two witches who live there by incarcerating them.. and after the queen is offended, ends up putting the witches through some nasty stuff. The witches then cursing the King and Queen with an evil spirit.. The queen just about to meet her demise then overtaken by the evil spirit being turned into the first vampire, and by allowing the king to drink from her blood, equally saving him.. and.. more or less going on a killing spree; happy vampy fun fest.
And lastly, from the stories of which I know.. The hungarian Nobleman, Alexander Corvinus who during a plague is the sole survivor due to a genetic mutation, which also happens to make him immortal. His wife eventually giving birth to three sons.. two immortals, and one mortal with the latent version of the immortality gene in his blood. The first son gets bitten by a mountain wolf, interacting with his biology, hence the werewolves. And the other bitten by a bat, hence vampires. I believe, the descendant of the third son in modern history later gets bitten by both vampire and werewolf, turning into the 'hybrid'. And whew.. that was a lot of typing :D
IHob is actually for International House of Burgers. RIP.
I love you guys by the way, best horror game duo ever.
I'm always hesitant of taking a sip of anything while watching these
Really just loving this series! keep it up boys and THANKS
I think Simon's OHH FUUUUUCK would make an amazing alarm clock
This is just like the SpongeBob episode where Patrick is watching SpongeBob at a dark intersection and telling him there's a maniac there; SpongeBob doesn't know he's the maniac and everywhere he moves Patrick says the maniac has just gone there
hahaha, the banana phone cut made me jump.
Oh no, no no no this isn't a video for eating my dinner.... too scary
Why did that banana phone edit scare me more than the actual game
Well, I take sips_'s stance on spooky games: I can't, I just can't.
I almost died when the phone rang and tom ran over to the t.v. and tried to answer it lol.
Those weird inkblot pictures remind me of the rorschach test.
4:50 you obviously never played Far Cry 5 guys!
Josh my eyes, why?!
The reason vampires show no reflection is due to the fact that mirrors were considered reflections of your souls, and thus the Vampire who has no soul will have no reflection.
The concept of silver impacting a mirror reflection due to it being a vampire is a more modern variation.
I wonder how much of this is actually simon being scared and how much is him just playacting for the crowd.
Was Tom talking about the shoveler from the movie Mystery men? because if so, I am really spooked, as i have just finished watching it before i played this video.
Mirrors are also meant to reflect the soul and in doing so suggest that Vampires don't have one.
International House Of BURGERS! It's complete insanity
thought this was going to be a puzzle game putting pipes together or something xD
You need to play IB next it's so good I think you would both enjoy it!
Watch 2:40 at 0.25 speed. You'll thank me later xD
LOL that torturous scream
You lied to us!
"He...he...he...he...he"
Wow that laugh was the scariest thing in this video.
2:39 what a brave boi
Simon: Hahaha that audio queue didn't match up---- FUUUUUUUCK
TOM...you misspelt
'off' in your description...
2:22 I guess it's _that_ time of the month.
hey danjo danjo, the cat and the banjo...
IHOB is international house of burgers
I feel like if you clipped the audio from 1:01, it would make an excellent, inspirational message for Tom's Twitch stream for donations and such.
Lovin this series! When is stardew valley coming back??
Simon "Spoke too soon" Lane
LOL I thought it was a rise of industry video, just spelt wrong. Plumber boy got my hopes up to XD
soooooo, whens the podcast coming out?
Child @ 6:01: "Daddy! Play with meee!"
Simon/JK Rowling: FUCK OFF!!!!
Im suprised nobody is being salty about them thinking ihob is international house of breakfast.
So this is basically the story of male Harley Quinn?
This ones good
When are you and Simon going to play more Stardew Valley again?
yea josh that fixed it totally
0/10 was expecting hypnotoad and was massively disappointed
#DucksForDavis
Daaaaviiiis
Its International House of Burgers...which is dumb
play master reboot? unless its only on console ofc :(
its on steam actually
ZoeyShovel
PLEASE WE DON'T WANT STARDEW VALLEY REFERENCES WE WANT STARDEW VALLEY EPISODES
Shut the fuck up
Crabby Potato yes we do.....
I can't like this as it's on 666 likes
8:25 I thought that rocket was a headcrab
I hate how you make me choose between this and TTT
I choose this cause there's usually nothing but TTT.
I'm excited to see how the rest of the series goes with Tom and Siman. I played through this on my channel just a couple of months ago and it was pretty great. I swear to god the yogscast is shadowing my content, lol!
Stardew valley PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEE
oooh this game sucks, thank god we have tom and simon to keep us watching
Ok Josh blinded me. IM SUING.
i miss ben
369... not 629.
Also pleasse play games where simon is forced to play also so you are both playing at the same time.
_play games where simon is forced to play_
where is the stardew valley? Im getting very Angory!
to be Honest im not the biggest fan of simon...