The experience of waking up being half asleep to some wacky thing on adult swim or an infomercial is such a fever dream.

you don't even know how much I wanted and needed a list of plotless games like yume nikki or lsd dream emulator. thank you SO much dude I'm for sure gonna play them.

I really feel like Minecraft used to give me that same feeling which made it really special to me. When Minecraft was first made it didn't really have a reason to be made besides that Notch wanted to make a block game. It was "about nothing". Later it gained a point with stuff like the ender dragon. However, it was the first game that could be engaging to me without really trying to make me feel anything specific. It's just a world presented to you which was free from marketing intent. You were free to experience it the way you naturally wanted/tended to. It enabled you to create your own meanings of its content along with friends you may be playing it with.

The vibes of these “games” feel really similar to ENA! I wonder if dream barbecue will be a similar type of game with a bit of a story

unironically one of the greatest videos I've ever watched and I found it by accident. Bravo

These games have a certain feel to them. Its sureal in a way but not all in a bad way. I didnt even know such games existed

this is such a fantastically scripted and edited video, i was so shocked to see the view count once i was done it. this deserves way more attention! really well done overall

Thank you very much for including Fugue in Void into this video 🖤

This video sold me so hard on Indigo Parallel.

This video is very, very well done. Please keep producing videos of this quality so I can continue to have something to watch. Thank you!

Not sure if this was the goal but, now I want to get The Indigo Parallel too.

How have you not blown up yet? Such great content with each video getting better and better! I find it so cool how these "games" can capture very strong emotions from seemingly nothing. All these games have such a strong feeling to them that something is fundamentally wrong, but it's somewhat overtaken by the utter strangeness that these games seem to portray so well.

proteus basically falls under the vague and broad category of "walking simulators" containing first person exploration games that aren't combat focused or platformers or any sort of difficult challenge or danger. some might have light puzzles, some might also have a story, but all are mainly about just walking around and experiencing the sights

I remember stumbling upon LSD Dream Emulator back at around 2008 and played it on a PSX emulator. I must admit the nightmare parts were kinda creepy. I still have that ISO, too bad the original is so rare and expensive.

I feel like Fugan Void looks a lot like NaissanceE. It also plays a lot like NaissanceE, from what you show and describe here. The architecture, the footsteps, the pushing of buttons. Breathing. It has a... resemblance? of a story. It has nothing to do with the gameplay. I think. The memories are fuzzy. It was all moving lights and deep pits and unsecured staircases and moving walls and what might have been concrete but was way too clean and uniform to actually be one and how different shades of 30% Gray made up the entirity of the lighting, like an Eskimo who's learned to distinguish the colours of snow.

Love the existential crisis that your videos give me.

I believe Solar Sands set a new golden standard, and I'm glad other people are finally following in his footsteps. Actually, I think I like Cresendex even more.

Fugue In Void has a similar uncanny vibe to me that the book Annihilation by Jeff Vandermere had. That eery, made by something unhuman in an attempt to mimic humanity. Highly recommend that book and the movie that came after it. Its vaguely cosmic horror but in such an abstract sense of the term.

Hey Cesendrex, Your videos are always entertaining, your videos are fun to watch and you explain things really well, I just wanted to say your videos are wonderful! 😄

i like how all of these games seem really united by the feeling of eerie uncanny emptiness. like you have derealized/dissociated from your environment and are interacting in a world that doesn't make sense to you. i haven't played them so don't know for sure, but that is the vibe i get. edit: adding on, proteus feels like it is an acceptance of that loneliness/lack of substance. very cool

My favourite commentary creator. I never ever leave comments or anything like that but your videos are really my favorite and I always anticipate them. Keep up the good work and never stop because honestly bro, you're one of the best KZfaqrs on youtube in a looong time. ❤

14:55 I can see Istvan Pely at the center of the back row. His retro games had a profound effect on me growing up.

The time station only having trains leading to the future was so fucking funny I couldn't move on for several minutes

I would probably define the genre as Abstract Game, inspired by the term Abstract Art. By the way, I went to an art exhibition just now and suddenly thought what if there is an Abstract-art inspired game, and then this video pops up as if you read my mind. 😂

I’ve been watching many of your videos lately, so happy to see that you uploaded just now! 😃

To explain what I think The Indigo Parallel is (having only watched 3 minutes of the video and not having played it), I think it is a collection of psychedelic-like experiences, whether recreated from memories of an actual trip, or making trippy things that make no sense that could possibly make sense when under the influence of psychedelic compounds. Edit: seems I was right

I love these games because you can almost project your own meaning. They're like exactly like my dreamscapes. I've been a vivid/lucid dreamer since i was a toddler. Some of my core memories are dreams. These games literally get RIGHT into that psychological hole that ive had. Nobody really talks about dreams or these realms in a satisfying way. How my dreams are always creepy even if nothing overtly creepy is going on. I am always lost or feeling like i have to finish some unknown task.

I've already watched all your videos great work and I just discovered you yesterday 😺

Surrealism, impressionism, brutalism, absurdism, and avant-garde. Truly the finest examples you have brought up. Well done!

These videos depress me but I can’t stop!

My KZfaq was on autoplay and I ironically wake up half asleep to a video about the liminality of dream-like games...

Fugue in void is EXACTLY the kind of game NaissanceE is. I will find and play it, and I recommend anyone who doesn't know NaissanceE does the same

The train one reminds me of a creepypasta about a guy who gets duped into being stuck on an interdimensional subway. He runs into all sorts of random crazy nonsense, and I don't want to spoil the end.

Believe it or not I’ve seen a lot of games like this. Some examples of this are games like LSD: Dream Emulator or Stanley Parable(?). There’s a game no one’s talking about these days titled “Everything.” Everything is not more of a game than it is a journey of life and philosophy. I’d say the only thing you could do other than “ascending” and “descending” is simply be. I love that game and it NEEDS to be talked about more. Also thank you for reviewing ‘The Utility Room.’ It’s a really great exploration game. It doesn’t even feel like a game. It feels like a story with no end. That’s what I love about ‘Everything.’

I gotta say I don’t watch KZfaq that much anymore but I always get excited about your videos. They always inspire me, help me find new ideas and ways to word feelings. “Nothing” to me just means the lack of something. “Nothing” doesn’t truly exist on its own, nothing can’t exist without something. There can’t be a lack of something out of nothing… but these games make me feel like there is a lack of nothing within the lack of nothing. So much nothingness it makes me feel like the nothingness isn’t a lack of game or story, but almost more like the lack is within our knowledge and capabilities to understand. I don’t know if I’m just talking nonsense but maybe you think it makes sense lol. These are games to me. Games of so much nothingness that we fill our lack of knowledge we feel playing it that we reflect and put ourselves in it. Maybe that’s what I’m doing right now. Like you said what you say about it says more about the person than the game. I really want to create a story with a liminal feel, and I want to capture the feeling of just a bit of inhuman touch. Could you play Stray in a video? That game inspired me a whole ton, it’s about a futuristic world where you fall into a city that was trapped from the real outside world for years. Robots gained their own consciousness after time and they live in this walled off city. It’s super atmospheric and it looks beautiful in my opinion. I think how there’s no humans and only robots who will sacrifice themselves for others to find the outside world, it all seems almost innocent. And I really like that. You play as a cat which also helps get rid of any human feel. I’ve never gotten so quickly attached to almost completely unknown characters in anything before. You immediately love the characters and the places and really want to help them even though you know barely anything about them. I think you’d really like this game. I cried at the end lol. It does have more story than these though. I’d be really really happy if you had this in a video! Thank you for inspiring me and helping me learn more and understand my interests better. Who knows maybe I’ll make a book or game some day you’d really like! Im trying to get into this now at 14 and your videos helped. I’d love to know what you’d think of Stray and hear what you have to say about it!

i cried a little thank you for making this video and finally giving me a way to name to one of my favorite game genres that has been ever made

❤️ your videos

4:13 - I think a sun is meant to burn? I'd be very concerned if that wasn't the case.

Awesome video! I love obscure themes in games like this

The beginning of Fugue in Void seems similar to the beginning of Rapid Eyes

The Indigo Parallel is similar with me and another indie game that I thought no one else would like or buy for it’s asking price, Fear and Hunger. It too fills a very specific niche, however it’s probably one of the most popular indie games on Steam, and I don’t know how it and it’s sequel achieved that.

Really great video! I'm definitely checking out some of these games

Such an interesting topic! Love the vibes of games about nothing

Loved this video. Can't wait to check out these games. Subscribed.

Reminds me of "NaissanceE", one of my all-time favorites. I'm happy to learn that this is actually a genre.

3:47 you could say it draws a lot of PARALLELS

I can't watch this video right now because I need to sleep but I will for sure enjoy it later !

Another cool game I played before that was quite different back then, was the transformers armada game on the ps2, it was a really cool fun toy box like game where your just roaming around with transformers. Love the video man keep it up!

For practical purposes, I just call most of these "abstract walking simulators" which as the name implies, is a sub-genre of walking simulators. Most walking simulators have similar qualities to these games you mentioned; unsettling/uncanny or horror-ish elements, relaxing and/or meditative atmosphere, and a variety of shallow "gameplay" mechanics.

man ur content is incredible im gonna binge all of it

Create until nothing is left to create and the universe bursts with an overworked sigh and pretend to pretend to recrown the creation and sing the same songs till the clouds start to cry and then over and over and over again and then over and over and never again.

I think the purpose for this game is to recreate the feeling of a dream for example the non logical architecture can also be found in our dreams as dreams have no logic due to it being a fragment of our imagination and that is why people like it so much

I was very much expecting the classic Yume Nikki to show up here at some point, but it's certainly interesting to hear about some new games instead.

Sick channel

I dont really think these are games about nothing but rather games about something. These games are made by people and each asset was specifically placed for a reason. Just because the creator didn't disclose the reason doesn't mean it isnt there. These reasons don't have to be grand or anything like that, it could be that placing a cube in a certain place looked nice or added an element to a place that felt a little empty. A painting is an image created with many thousands of individual brush strokes that were placed with a specific purpose decided on by the artist. Usually this results in an image easily understood by a viewer but there are paintings that aren't so easily understood. There is meaning to every action we as humans make which means there is meaning in everything we create. Good video.

"A Game Golden, Thats not Gold because its made of gold, but because its affects onto the player is." - me quote it now

I know this may seem like an odd suggestion but I would love to see you cover soda drinker pro. During the second level you can walk into a wall which will transfer you to this secret… thing? It’s an assortment of “mini games” called Vivian Clark that is just full of weird bizarre… things

your videos remind me of my favourite youtuber exurb1a, keep up the great work i see that you are raching 20 k soon congrats

gotta steal that jacob geller title

My main issue with people saying "it's not a game!", people don't understand what a video game is. Its a interactive media. That's all that defines a "video game". There is nothing else to it. I will never understand what peoples problem with what a game is.

If you'd like to see more games that give the feeling of "more than the sum of it's parts" then I recommend CONCLUSE 2. It's really bizarre and fun

Hey really love the videos

Sweet spot between gameplay and feeling of the last one, Proteus will be No Man's Sky for me, I definitely recommend you to check it out if you didn't already. NMS is so comfy, tackles this existential questions through plot and the music is so fitting it all creates very satisfying experience. For me it only lacks mixed biomes and maybe seasons that are present in Proteus, but maybe this is what Hello Games described as "big thing coming up" :)

i love this video so much

Well think of Journey (there is no antagonist, no clear objective, communication between players except for a weird scream, nothing: it is almost a religious experience it was the only game I played in one sit and played again the next day), Rain, Unfinished Swan, Datura...

Is Babbdi a game about nothing? Because I feel like it is despite there being so much to do.

10:02 nice

Proteus; Stand in the stone circle.

This is my favorite "genre" of games, i wish it had like an actual name for it because like how do i even

take my sub. quality content

This video made me not want to play any of the 700 games I've pirated, bought or gotten for free, it somehow made me loose hope

He sounds like MatPat, that's my first thought on the video

This video is about zelda botw and totk, right?

indigo parallel was giving me some crazy Worlds Online vibes

“like the indigo parallel” will be stuck in my head all day check ur scripts, take care :3

LSD Dream Simulator is exactly what the name says. The game resembles a LSD trip in a lot of situations.

I dont particularly like (or dislike for that matter) playing these sorts of weird, liminal experiments, but I do love analyzing them with other people. The conversation around them is often much more fun than the thing itself, IMO. But perhaps thats my inner English major talking.

Fugue in void reminds me so much of limasse five's projects, especially in visual meaning

10:37 i personally like this room

Fugue in Void looks amazing!!!

These games are not about nothing, they are about everything, it just depends on who is playing

21:54 Fugan void is also very similar to NaissanE 😮 i love the game

24:27 I'm sorry, but I could NOT help thinking of Digital Circus

another amazing video

The genre should be called "Fever Dream"

This game reminds me of LSD dream simulator

I'm imagining Seinfeld, but Jerry and George are game developers....

LSD for the ps1 is a missed opportunity

oh my god, when you go to the Balls station you turn into.... a ball??? insane

Would this mean that Yume 2kki counts as a game about nothing?

"Ten minutes in and the game finally starts." Bro I know Triple A titles that take longer.

Drinking game: Take a shot every time he says Indigo Parallel. You'll be in the hospital due to alcohol poisoning by Minute 10.

First minute made me think of LSD dream emulator

10/10 just watched a video about nothing.

This video was so well done. I haven't even heard of any of these except LSD Dream Simulator, but I love games like this. I normally spend a lot of time in any game I play just walking around and exploring, so this genre is damn near perfect for me. Is proteus VR then? I'd love to play it but I don't have VR anything.

amazing video!

He clearly has not yet played "Nothing" and "Nothing together" but I am not judging for the second one since it recently gor released.

My favorite game about nothing is Everything.

Why I love Dreams by media molecule

All video games are art, some are just more well made than others. I'll still say gow 2018 was the equivalent of good deviantart pictures, and something like the original no more heroes is like a surrealist art piece