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There is no way to thank you enough.

"It's no secret that a lot of you listen to my videos rather than watch them" Me, making a grilled cheese with my phone in my pocket: 👁👄👁

Fun fact about Apollo: His blood can cure any disease. Fun fact about Apollo: It is impossible for him to bleed. I see what you did there, Diminish.

Even his name. Will. The will to survive. The will to go on. The will to take the pain and keep on swinging. It’s the subtle touches like that in unfiction that I adore.

Nick: it’s a nice night, isn’t it? Me, watching this at 2:09pm: it really is Mr. Nocturne, perfectly dark as nights usually are

I really like the touch of “Deaths” changing to “Tries” after the... one moment.

I find the detailn where "deaths" becomes "tries" after the spikes incident really touching this is a great narrative and I'll try to fully experience it when I have time

Something I noticed; the character’s name is ‘Apollo’, which is the Greek god of the sun. He lives on Mount Olympus, and is therefore an Olympian. And what did Teddy describe herself as? An Olympian.

I think Diminish is exactly what it sets out to be. It really feels like an inexperienced let's player growing as a person while being tormented by his dead sister. It's the most realistic unfiction I've ever seen and it actually has something to say. It's not just trying to be cryptic or spooky for the sake of it

As someone who had been diagnosed with cancer at 13 and has underwent a lot of trauma, I genuinely started to tear up at the scene where Apollo falls into the giant spike pit. It hit so close to home for me.

William describing Theodora and how she started going by Teddy legit made me misty-eyed. FUCK that's some good writing.

At first I didn't like how Will was kind of... seemingly ignoring things on purpose, and not getting to the point when he wanted to share thoughts or stories But the more you watch the playthrough, the more you understand how he feels When he first hit start after 4 years of procrastinating his promise out of fear for what's inside Whenever he gets reminded of his sister and how she left I don't think a pain like that would let you speak clearly, if at all And just as you explained, yeah, every single death he takes, it's growth He keeps going and lets his dear sister show him what she wanted him to see and learn He moves on God, the moment where you can hear him opening a jar of peanut butter I was so fucking hyped, I legit shouted "let's fucking go" as my eyes teared up It's such a good journey. And apparently it's not even done yet. I really wonder how much more Teddy wants to teach him, but so far, she 100% succeeded, probably even more than she thought she could have. The tears, man. To end this on a lighter note, my absolute favorite moment of the series so far was when Will first opened the "Apollo's Notes" menu and said *THE BEANS*

29:40 i had to keep listening to over and over. what a concept. “If you let pain die while you still live, something goes wrong... I choose to make this moment a gift. I’m forced to survive this, but I will grow from it on my own.” an INCREDIBLE outlook on trauma omfg..

"she wants to kill God with her bare hands" I loveeee that and the feeling it invoked

As someone with a twin, it's heartbreaking hearing about Teddy and Will. Losing your twin takes a part of you with it, and one of my greatest fears is losing my twin

For anyone who doesn’t know: Act 2 just started a few hours ago. I tweeted Nick because he deserves to get a heads-up on it! I can’t wait to see the content they both produce on this fantastic series.

36:20 ok but look at Apollo smiling and wagging their tail when they get the carrots

This hits pretty close to home unfortunately. The way Will talks about his trauma in a nonchalant/almost lighthearted way is really relatable and well done.

god damn will's sister's writing is actually incredibly moving, i almost fucking cried.

the whole thing with them being twins but the older brother being the one that the younger sister had to protect and be there for hits me harder than almost anyone. im a year older than my sister but her birthday is the day before mine. growing up we were always mistaken for twins because of how similar we looked. as a kid i was always bullied for the tiniest things because my family was extremely poor and had to move a lot on top of me having to deal with my autism and not really understanding social cues or being good with people. it was my sister who always had to come in and hit the bullies back for me and, because she was small and sorta frail, no one could really do anything to her without it being bad. dont get me wrong though, she carried herself like a boss every day and made it known she was the baddest girl in school who no one messed with. but anyway that part really hit me right in the sensitive spot. legit had to pause the video for like 5 minutes trying not to burst out crying

That part when Apollo got out of those spikes I felt chills down my spine and at the same time I felt inspired to get out of the hole I'm stuck in right now.

So I never cry at emotional stuff, like, ever. I've only ever cried at a piece of media three times that I can remember, twice for an episode of a TV show I really liked, and once for a documentary I found about the thalidomide babies. But that bit in the middle? I just started crying. Like unprompted, I wasn't even directly paying attention to the video but that line "You have to get up and keep going" just fucking destroyed me.

every time i hear will laugh i get so nervous that its going to turn into crying

My brothers are twins. They’re almost two. This honestly destroyed me emotionally. My biggest fear is losing a sibling and I can only imagine how much heightened it would be to lose your twin. My brothers are best friends and worst enemies, they bash each other with cars but they also hold hands while they sleep... my heart is shattered, y’all. This is amazing. Go Diminish, honestly.

This is wild already, thanks for sharing, Nick! Edit: I just realized the sister is an olympian and Apollo is a god who was believed to live on mount olympus (aka an olympian as well). One of his "powers" is healing plagues... ouch Edit 2: Apollo also happens to have a twin sister, Artemis, another olympian... god this hurts

I'm heartbroken for Will's loss, but the overwhelming love she had for her brother is so wonderful and comforting.

God... I cried in the shard part... Thank God I chosen to leave the surgical scar on me. I was diagnosed with colon cancer in fourth grade. (It's a genetic mutation in my family tree which a few die in a really young age of 30. Thankfully we have good technology for this issue.) I got it removed in 2018 which I was 17 of course and told my doctor to make the surgery happen fast. She was stunned at my determination and many years of planning and sadly for my small body, we have to see what we can do. And yes I am small which had both the doctor and surgeon AND my colonoscopy therapist concerned for my rib cage is a little too big for my body too. Gah it was painful. I got 24 hour diabetes which I did well cause it was normal for that. I fainted when I left the hospital for 3 days. I got a strange tube taken out in me which was terrifying feeling. But I was brave. I told on my dad's grave I'll get the surgery and live a life which he couldn't get cause cancer got him bad. (Screw that health insurance!! FUCK YOU!!!) I hated that health insurance company. I know it clearly since my dad applied for them but he never got his card until he passed away and his card barely came in... Atm I'm feeling well and gain strength very slowly. Sadly it hard for me to gain weight for that's the large intestine job but now I don't have any left. Though I'm taking a certain medicine to make my body go slowly. Hhhhh Pepto

I really like Diminish. I watched it a while back, and a lot of people were critical of the hokey, dramatic writing from Teddy, but as someone who has chronic illness that is progressively damaging my body and has brushed up against death, and as a caretaker for my dad in his final years, this flowery and sometimes contradictory inner monologue mixed with angry outbursts is exactly how one behaves through the process of grieving, whether for the self or for another. And the player's anxious energy really feels legit, honestly reminds me of myself. Basically, I've been in both character's shoes and I think the author does a great job at nailing behavioral quirks. Also, I've seen more boring actual let's plays than Diminish lol. I'd recommend 1.5x speed for anyone concerned about it though.

I swear if you don't speak for my funeral with that amazing voice I ain't dying

This really touched me deeply. I've got Ehlers-Danlos and live in constant pain. On the days I can't live for myself, I live for my family. I wouldn't choose to be here were it not for them, but I am grateful that they make every day more bearable. Every day I keep living is a day I win.

39:40 When I first started Diminish, I was intrigued by the premise, but felt put off because of all the downtime and a main character I found annoying. By Diminish 17, I was surprised at how much I was rooting for Will to succeed. A rage game really does work perfectly to tell this kind of story. Like you said, being alongside Will for all of his failures really makes it all the more satisfying to see him succeed. The endings of Diminish 17 and 18 are genuinely awesome. I’m really looking forward to when the next act comes out and I’m so grateful you put this series on my radar. So thanks. Also Apollo is a cutie.

I think people shouldn't skip through a single second of anything in this series, because it'd diminish what happens in episode 17, no pun intended. I love how every time there is a soup of the day, you can expect to be hit with some genuinely emotional ruminations, like it's an event. I like how it does the "haunted game" trope but it feels more like it's haunted more by Teddy's final thoughts than it does her actual honest to fuck ghost, but there's still moments _that make you wonder_ on occasion, and not just in the moments where it'd be spooky, but in moments of catharsis, like when you see Apollo's expression in the pause menu after Will gets to the top of the vertical climb. I also think the fact that the character is named Apollo is quite interesting, considering the parallels in the story with those of the Greek god Apollo, who was a a twin brother themselves, and also a god of truth, prophecy, and healing, among other things.

So glad Diminish is getting more attention. It's so good.

i lost my dad unexpectedly last year. there wasnt any time to say goodbye since he just dropped dead. it's something ive been running from for the last year because i can't face it and the abusive household i live in doesn't give me the privilege to freely cry and process it. there's something about the way will and theodora loved each other got to me and now i'm just sitting here sobbing, but it feels almost cathartic. it's a cry i've been holding back for a year. we are finite, but our love is eternal. thank you, night mind and diminish.

I don’t think I’ve ever cried at an arg before- the closest I got is EverymanHYBRID when Evans wife dies- but the line “pain is mortal” and the discussion about pain.... wow. This has some of the most beautiful writing I’ve ever seen, ARG or not.

Bruh imagine this game actually getting released to the public as soon as Will finally finishes it and speedrunners get a hold of it

I do enjoy the tough, poetic badass character admits that, yes, it really REALLY hurts to be stabbed through by spikes

I just learned my partner of 5 years died in the EC. I needed something to help with this. Thank you for the content Night Mind

I fully understand the people who get incredibly frustrated from watching someone struggle with a game/not making any progress for a notable chunk of time and chose not to watch this series because of it. I understand it because that's *how I live* as a person with severe hand dexterity issues due to chronic illness. It's incredibly difficult, sometimes even painful, for me to play games that require precise timing and skill. For the longest time I barred myself off from even trying games that I might have otherwise really loved because I was afraid that I'd fail at them. Watching Will's journey with this game was really inspiring in that sense; even if I'm 'no good' at a game and it takes me way longer to complete it I shouldn't give up.

Currently losing my best friend in hospice to a third stroke. Been really beside myself, and struggling hard through my days. This was a very therapeutic watch at a very lonely time in my life. I'm going to go watch the entire series now. Thank you for introducing this beautiful work on your channel.

I swear, nightmind makes some of the most high quality content on KZfaq.

The scene in the spikes really hit me. Had to pause the video for a minute. Damn. So so well written

I've just finished the extent of the playlist in full. No skipping. I found it surprisingly watchable. Will feels so human to me, to the degree of doing the things I fell like I would try had I been the one playing. The story is perfectly paced for the actual grieving process. I've never identified so much with the emotions expressed between Teddy and Will (though I haven't been through situations quite as hard as presented). Will is surprisingly real in the emotions behind his voice. You can hear his slouches, the disdain in how he moves papers, the frustration he hides while reaching for his cat. It's impressive. The game is beautiful. I want it. The art, the music, the physics, it looks so nice. There's an atmosphere to it I've never seen captured in a video game before. Obviously, the nature of rage games would make it infuriating to actually play, but watching Will go through it is so very satisfying, and entertaining. I only got bored once, while he was trying to get up to Justin for the first or second time. The subtleties are numerous. I couldn't hope to compile the changes in status, pause-screen info, Bios info, death counter, Apollo's opacity, and likely dozens of things I didn't notice on first go. There is so much to analyze yet. Overall, this is my favourite unfiction project to date, by far. I will be following this one more closely than any other.

I won’t lie, I do watch this series sped up. But all the failures and frustrations and having to WATCH all the failures and frustrations really put you in the same headspace as Will. I think it’s pretty genius.

The Soup of the Day in video 11, Hot and Sour Soup, actually got me to cry, something that I find myself unable to do when engaging with most emotional media. The discussion of cringe culture hit way close to home, and I found myself remembering some painful memories. The whole thing solidified my love for this series, and so I highly recommend everyone to give it a chance.

"Definitely warmer than it was last" me, in Minnesota where it just snowed last night: "Sure is buddy"

I watched the whole series and I gotta say... wow... just wow... I cried, had a huge smile, felt annoyed, and felt enlightened. The writing, execution, and ESPECIALLY Will's delivery were phenomenal and was 110% worth sitting through it all

I love how the cancer theme gets integrated here, from the notably marked leukemia-cell "comb people" to the piles of distended skinlike laser-shooting things, to the patterns in the background. The game is actually pretty well designed, too- it teaches you what you need to know for later, like "tree = pits you can't see", and specific jumping skills. It's unforgiving, but largely fair. The way things happen is very realistic to what could be done in gamemaker, and it wouldn't surprise me if an actual copy existed. The way Will reacts to it, it almost seems like he had someone else program and code the game, or build the puzzles in it. He does react a little unrealistically at times, like near the aqueduct, where most people would have figured the solution would be the same as the area before the skull- grab-drop-grab-jump, using the spike hitbox issues demonstrated in the very same area to climb the spikes, or at a few points where he's acting frustrated. Overall though I think this is possibly the best performance of this sort that I've seen, and I'd absolutely buy it if told this was a true story, were it not for the bandcamp page. Will and Ted's relationship throughout manages to be really dynamic without being "oooh spooker game talk across grave oooh" which takes a TON of skill and ends up being REALLY refreshing to see. The attention to even the least consequential detail in the UI and design is marvelous. The dialogue through the game is on-point, and the emotion shown through little ticks and pauses is monumental paired with the careful amounts of animation involved. Ecco the dolphin sucks okay, I'm sorry, it has to be said, you have to move on and take off the nostalgia goggles. The bonus more than makes up for this.

Finally someone big is covering this hidden gem

When he says “welcome back to Night mind” you know your in for soemthing

Wow this hits hard. I have a twin sister who can now only communicate to me via letter. Took me two years to be able to read her letters, and another year to write her back. While its not the same as death, the changes over the years for both of us have been immense. Thanks for exploring this Nick, I've got to go write a letter.

As someone who's partner has cancer and is around the same age as his sister and lost a friend to suicide last year, this... hits in a special place. A painful place..

This is the first time I've seen a Night Mind video where I've already seen the subject. Diminish is absolutely amazing and emotional. I recommend sticking with it through thick and thin. It's all apart of the experience.

I LOVE this. A lot of unfiction, even some of my favorites, have a problem with grounding the events of their story. This one nails that aspect PERFECTLY. Excited to see more!

I guess some minor spoilers for ep 17 when Will said that he was scared to beat the game because it would mean he had to accept his sisters death and finish this final bonding experience with his sister was the saddest and most true feeling I've felt from this series. Him saying that changed this entire series for me as the reality and dreadfulness of this playthrough finally began to kick in for me. This game, like Will said, is almost like him spending time with his sister again. Laughing with her while making fun of tomato soup, reminiscing over past experiences, and laughing with eachother about things from when they were kids. It's almost like the viewer is also a part of their lives, experiencing everything with them. The good. And the bad. This series is absolutely beautiful to me, and I guarantee I will be changed after I finish this final episode. I know finished the episode and all I can really say is just "wow"

I have no words to describe what I feel right now. This game is a young artists soul burning so bright it hurts to look. This is so uniquely human, this wouldn't exist if we didn't live in the fucked up world we do, but is living like this worth the stories? I'm so glad Teddy put her soul into this game, after all, because of whatever cosmic power happened to create us, after we're gone all that will be left the stories. And fuck is this story so painfully human, full of pain, misery, and yet also full of hope and desire to care for each other.

There’s always some wave of relief upon seeing a notification from here, even if this stuff can be from realms of nightmares.

Diminish is honestly the most refreshing series I have seen in a while. I think the execution is amazing, the music is excellent, and the acting is honestly shockingly believable.

I actually did stop this video to go and watch the original “let’s play” and I’ll tell you that personally, i feel like the frustration of watching the player fail over and over again gave me such a wave of relief and genuine happiness when he succeeded. There are so many little hints just beautifully scattered throughout the “play through” that it made it all worth while, especially in the end. If you’re like me and you’re used to playing rage games (getting over it, cat Mario, etc) or like watching people on KZfaq playing similar games, you might be able to handle the long, drawn out moments where the player constantly keeps jumping too early next dying on the spikes. Also, my favourite quote of his was “BALLS IN MY SOCKS, ANKLES EVEN”

This hurts so much. I lost my 19 year old cousin to Leukemia last January. This hurts so much. Thank you. Rest in Peace Kirke.

I went and watched it, and seriously, this series is an emotional journey so far already, and it's only in act 1. Will's character is entertaining to watch, but understandably awkward in places as he's said to be. The premise is one that hits really close to home, and the Soup of the Day monologues are huge character building moments for both Will and Teddy. It's an incredibly interesting watch, albeit filled with A LOT of trial and error on Will's part. Will's acting really drives it home as well, and Diminish - 17 as a whole was AMAZINGLY done. I recommend anyone who is interested in this to go watch this in it's entirety. While the game sections can be frustrating to watch, the payoff is big, and Will's struggle to reach that payoff is insanely well done.

Don't worry about suffering I'm the kind of person that plays pathologic 2 on extra hard mode

that first soup of the day section hit really hard. this gets a little heavy. just a heads up. i'm disabled and experience chronic pain, even when medicated. no clue how it's going to affect my lifespan, but i have a feeling my friends are going to outlive me. 11:07 the combination of "I'm dripping away. I can feel it." and "It's not supposed to chill quite like this." really gets me. except in my case, i dont remember what it feels like to be healthy. it's been too long since i last felt consistently healthy, even just for a few days.

Strangely enough it was your reticence to suggest watching this one through that ultimately compelled me to do so, and I can't say I regret it even a little bit. As someone who genuinely finds enjoyment in games that force you to hone extremely niche skills and challenge your problem solving abilities, watching Will struggle through his personal Hell was deeply relatable, and I found even the quiet, "boring" segments to be enjoyable. Will's personality makes the series a genuine joy, and several parts really hit the emotion of his situation home. I even had to stop at part 11 to take a few minutes to cry. This is one I'll be staying on top of for sure.

i dunno about you all but i genuinely loved the "downtime" between story beats where it was just him playing a rage game. like, straight up, a lot of moments made me chuckle, and it set in even more how much the joy of the experience was gone by the last episodes of act 1. they weren't really grating or boring, at least to me.

Ok Nick. You asked for our reactions for the 'personal journey' style of watch through. I watched it from the jumping off point you gave us and I have to say.... Wow. Wow.... Just.... Wow. I don't think a skim or summary can really capture that emotional journey in the slightest. Yeah you can get the 'facts'. But grieving is never about the facts. Every single step of this grieving process that Will enters us into is heart-breakingly real. I don't know where the unfiction starts and where the origins for the raw, unfettered, emotions that come through Willl's commentary, but if this is all acting. Give this guy a fucking Oscar. Let's address one of the 'splitting the room's you allude to. Will is a flawed character. Will is heart broken. He is impulsive. He is self hating. He is so hard on himself that he breaks with every mistake. Every mistake sends him into hours upon hours of self hatred, self abuse, useless talk, and the many wounds of his life story show through. It's easy to dislike Will for his weakness. But it's equally easy to love Will for the charm, the personality, the pure utter humanity in his highs and lows. So much of his sisters wish for him to learn comes through. Will grows as a person through out this series. I think why Will's character works is because of the game itself. If you have ever played a game like this or watched other amateurs play a game like this, that level of visceral self loathing, dismay, and frustration are extremely common. They are relatable. People who play a lot of these sorts of games can grow to become more compassionate, or at least more detached from the failure. He recognizes that each death is a learning experience. But it's hard to cling to when you so desperately want to move forward. When you don't know when the reprieve will come. Using a relatable experience like this to tie into confronting all the negativity that comes from the grieving process is quite remarkable. This is why Will's commentary works so well. Why it's so emotionally engaging. Why his struggle with all his feelings mix in with the way he plays the game. I don't think you can truly understand the weight and context of the climax points of the story without them. Let's address the other split. Teddy is quite a multi-faceted character in her own right. Her own response and way to cope with grief is to try and help the one person she can reach most clearly. The one she wants to save, and knows NEEDS to be saved. To save her other half, her twin Artemis through Apollo. The grief of dying, of no longer functioning the way you once were able to, is a heavy thing, that everyone will need to deal with at some point in their life if they do not have a swift death. She lashes out quite a few times in her many soups of the day and dead trees. There are a lot of extremes and possibly triggering parts of Teddy's story. The loss and despair were always palpable. Her sense of humor mixing with her level design choices and desire to reach out to her brother... I feel like there is more to her story than is being let on. In summary, thank you for bringing this story to our attention. It is very much like Mary Mary in some ways. A look into how one deals with being in the darkest part of your life and hopefully finding a way to deal with it. A personal journey of dealing with negativity and grief. I highly recommend everyone who takes this journey go beyond episode 17 as 'Trying Suggestions in Level 1' gives the clearest message and evolution of Will's character. There is real closure in it in some ways as Will finally understanding what his sisters last days, his greatest fears of what she might have gone through then, are the most important thing to take away from the experience. Not everyone will have the same answer or realization. But I was glad to see such a insightful take away at the end there. I hope that gives you the information you wanted. Thank you again for all that you do Night Mind.

I just watched through all of Diminish - no skips. I'm here to tell you that Night Mind is wrong. He says that it could feel like a chore or an irritation to get through. For me, every single moment, I felt like I was on a journey. Some moments were so funny that I was cackling. Sometimes I was on the edge of my seat. I even cried. I can count on my hands the amount of times a series has made me feel this way. Watch this. It is worth it.

i watched this series a few months ago and i remember thinking that the writing and acting were a little unrealistic. my sister died last month. i was wrong 🙃

I can't put my finger on I'm tearing up, but I am. I think many people refuse to acknowledge that pain is integral to life. Not headache and failed test and argument pain, but the dead sibling kind. The kind of pain that sends you down to the dark, heaving depths of your own psyche and locks the door is crucial for life, and it is unavoidable. We are all doomed to suffer immensely, and we are all blessed with the ability to survive.

So I binged Diminish before I watched this, and I have to say I enjoyed the experience. I felt the pacing of it was necessary; the rage game is very indicative of grief. He gets better, feels good, and then fails and falls back to despair and pain. It reminds me of the metaphor for grief: Picture a room with a button. There's a ball bouncing around the room, and when it hits the button, you feel pain. Some days, the ball is very small and very rarely hits the button. Sometimes it doesn't hit it at all. Other days, the ball is large and hits the button a lot. You have good and bad days, but there's always a ball, bouncing around the room. I think there's likely to be a deeper meaning about Will being capable by the end, given how they talk about his lack of drive, and he talks about failing and being useless / bad a lot. I look forward to Act II.

thinking about it more. once the game ends, and will has found everything she has to say, she dies again. she has nothing left to give to the world. it all becomes memories.

I hate how much this unfiction makes me feel, but that’s what’s so good about it. The emotion is intense and genuine that leads to a meditation on pain and mortality. It’s so beautifully done

"It's time to press Start... But before I do, I'd just like to thank today's sponsor, RAID SHADOW LEGENDS!!!" Sorry, I had to.

Saw this on the Index last month and checked it out. As soon as I saw Apollo I immediately thought "Yep, he's definitely covering this one. Better watch it now so I'm done before the video comes out." And I was right.

I finally plucked through the whole playlist and I gotta say... I love/hate how genuine it feels. It all feels so natural. It feels like... sloppy, emotionally. Like, aside from grief, going from video to video with entire shifts in tone and emotion felt so real to me, because I've been through that rollercoaster. Going to bed depressed, waking up ready to fight the world, feeling the sails ripped from my mast only to start running on spite and anger alone. I really want to be posting my thoughts about the series on the comments of the videos themselves, but the lines between fiction or reality is so blurred, I have no idea how to even formulate what to say. Instead, I'd rather just post here, operating under the assumption that the whole thing is a work of fiction made by someone who genuinely, truly understands what it's like to be Will. Maybe not through experience, and I'd rather hope it's not through experience. But they understand and appreciate it, for one reason or another. Even down to the fact that over the course of the first act, Will's abilities as a content creator grows exponentially. From basically raw footage to getting into simple, fun edits towards the end, and being more confident to just speak and regret saying something than never speak at all and it's quietly unacknowledged. He's putting more effort into it bit by bit, no longer speaking to a void, but realizing people are hearing him and seeing him, even if he believes it's all because of the game and not him.

This series is something else, especially since I can heavily connect to it. My family has a history of Leukemia, my grandmother has had it twice and survived, but I am prone to it in the future. I understand the emotion, but I can't imagine what a twin would go through after losing someone so close to them. It might be boring at times but it adds to the feeling of it being real, if it isn't. It's honestly hard for me to actually believe this is just your basic story and not an entirely real experience. The episode where Teddy recalls Will being bullied for such small things by people who are dead set on mocking different perspectives genuinely made me cry because I know the feeling of not being understood and I can connect. Imagining having the one person in my life that understood what I was going through tears me up inside. Diminished is something I am excited to see updates on and I am ready to cry again if I have to.

hey, yknow, for once... im gonna take Nick's advice. im gonna go watch the series first. dedicate a night or two to it. this looks like just my cup of tea. will edit with my thoughts once ive finished! thanks for bringing this one to my attention, Nick!

i was gonna sleep but i think i've gotta change my schedule edit: wild how this video appears while i'm stuck in a harsh depressive episode. probably shouldn't have watched this at 3:30am, but it helped. will can do it, we all can too.

i binged everything uploaded for diminish so far. I have to say, never once did it feel like a chore to watch. And i usually dont bother watching the media before the nightmind video, because it feels like so much of a commitment, the man doing the voice in this series is so good at what he does, hes so emotional and comes off as so genuine after maybe just the first video, the series is funny and heart breaking all at the same time i highly highly recommend it

On top of everything, this is a beautiful macabre game. Seriously, it’s the kind of thing that gets you sobbing but smiling in those quieter moments. If I had to make any comparison, it reminds me of a song called ‘Hated By Life Itself’. Living despite the pain of the world, and learning to accept pain as a factor in life is something very few bits of media can portray in such an artistic and meaningful way. Art is a window into realities we never even consider, and Diminish is such a beautiful part of that.

Usually I just lurk on here, enjoy the good content, thank you as ever NM. You wanted shared experiences so here we go. When I was 17 I was diagnosed with cancer and the outlook wasn't too hot. I still remember the doctor pausing before telling us it was "a gooey mass pressing on the heart and lung". There's a lot about that experience I remember and Teddy's messages in the later episodes reminded me of the kind of depressive state I was in off and on during that time. It's funny, I found myself thinking more about how sorry I felt for people having to deal with someone they knew suffering more so than I really wanted pity from people. Thankfully the cancer responded well to initial treatment, then months of chemo to clear it from my body. It's been over a decade. I have scares from the experience still, obviously. But also the realization of just how fleeting my life is, and how much more it could have been. It's weird feeling a monologue I had internally being repeated by a pair of twins. I was Will when I was diagnosed, and while I don't have Teddy's drive, I'm far closer to her now. The episode with the spike pit scene had me sobbing for a while. I don't know if that hits as hard if you don't have similar experiences to settle on. Additionally, as an artist, the repeated theme of Will's creativity being trampled by bullies... I've known other artists I respect stop creating all together because of their content being mocked, or the person themselves. Hell the only thing stopping me from munching on a carrot with some peanut butter yesterday was that we're out of carrots. So yeah, hi. Thank you so much for bringing my eyes to Diminish. It hurt me in ways I can't put words to, but in a very good way. Oh also, let me share one last thing. Through most of my treatment, because of the location of the cancer, I couldn't be safely sedated for stuff like lumbar punctures... or bone marrow samples. Let me tell you, having basically a drill worked into your flesh, so they could take a sample of your hip bone? The weirdest thing I think I'll ever feel, and then the vibration of that drill going down my leg is a pain I can't describe. The worst part though, the WORST part of the experience was the doctor then saying "Could you roll over please? We need to do the other side."

I found this channel last night. It’s now noon. Good night y’all .

I took the plunge and just watched all of Diminish and, holy shit. I've never watched something that so effortlessly swung me from bursting out laughing to legitimately crying. All while sporting some of the best writing, music, animation, and theming I've ever seen. The way Diminish deals with the concepts of existentialism through so many different perspectives is amazing, the scene of Apollo and the spike pit was phenomenal, and so was the heart wrenching pain that I felt every time both Will, and through him I, were brought to tears by something so deceptively innocent as the "Soup of The Day" I'm sure that my own experiences and trauma are a massive part of why the story resonated with me so much, but I'm also pretty sure that was the point. The way Diminish frames it's story around the experiences of somebody going through an unimaginably heavy trauma, and then filters that through the lens of somebody emotionally close to the core of the story. It manages to simultaneously tell two first hand experiences of completely different, yet inextricably linked traumatic experiences. All without ever coming off as ham-fisted or overly complicated. I can not wait for more.

As one of the people who found diminish before it was covered on NM or NMMC i now have a new perspective: Someone who finds a unfiction project through genuine discovery while its still small instead of just finding out about it through some big youtuber. Going on the channel and seeing their videos at multiple thousands of views instead of afew hundred overnight is staggering, i can only imagine how the author feels. This series definitely deserves the recognition its getting,

oof i got lucky to find this at the minute it was published

28:00 had me crying in front of my cereal, ngl

the way Apollo is drawn reminds me of the world ends with you :0

Thank you to both the creator and Night Mind. I lost my mom to cancer a couple years ago after month long battle. This video brought tears to my eyes.

Yes finally! I’m so glad more people are seeing this! This series hit me very hard, and I’m glad more people are able to bear witness now.

Will is pretty stoked that you highlighted Diminish, Nick. As to my thoughts on the project, I enjoyed it. Yes, it got REALLY repetitive and frustrating, especially in Ep. 17, but I feel that's part of the experience. And from personal experience, the way he speaks about Teddy is breathtakingly realistic. I've subscribed, and I'm looking forward to more of the grind.

after watching it all, it was intense. watching will fall into madness. the paranoia and doubt. the fun little moments with apollo being expressive. the part with talk about parents and high expectations that made me actually break into tears. this has to be one of my favorite series you have covered. i thank you and will. im so excited for more!

Well that pre-checkpoint death was the most harrowing thing.

I did it. I watched the whole thing. It was,,, both excruciating and oddly soothing all at once? At some parts it almost felt like attending a private memorial service you parents dragged you along to even though you’d only met the family once when you were like, five. I got teary when she asked him to eat his carrots with peanut butter for her, like he used to. I also cried at the end of episode 17. The acting was incredible. Cat antics 10/10, what a good boy

Coming from a depressed person. The creator/Diminish feels like he understands the struggle. So the story is honestly very interesting

the things you think about when someone you love is dying, the things that you feel, are captured so well. it's like how a picture of yourself isn't technically your real self, but it still is exact in its likeness.

It's not every day you come across unfiction that makes you get a bit weepy from just the kinds of vulnerability it presents and the simple, but still profound concepts a story like this can share. No scares, no supernatural stuff, just a game, a player, and art as a way to get around grief. Beautiful stuff, and thank you as always for bringing such amazing storytelling to our attention, Nick.

Absolutely bawling my eyes out. I cannot thank you enough, Nick, because I would NEVER come across this. But this is one of the most visceral things i've ever come across and it just... it strikes hard and i wouldn't have experienced this without you. Thank you.

I had to come back and thank you Night Mind for bringing this series to my attention. It is an incredible experience and I would never have found it without this video. Act 2 has been a delight so far.

Fuck. I was not ready for that middle part, because I know its a hard message I've been needing to hear and to be reminded of for a while now. As someone who strives to avoid pain, despite knowing that it isn't a bad thing, the message of Diminish hits home because it really brings to light just how bad my relationship with pain and trauma is. Having been hospitalised and experienced a lot physical and emotional pain, the beautiful words of Teddy regarding how the experience of pain is all too applicable for me, since I try my best to escape discomfort and pain and also forget it, when in reality, I need to be remembering that pain and taking it with me to grow as a person. Become stronger and not let my trauma keep me down. I've been lying on the spikes for so long wishing to die, but not being able to, when what I really need is to get up and keep going even though it hurts so fucking much and it's gonna hurt even more, and yet, I have to get up. Thank you NightMind, and thank you Diminish