Fun fact: Spec Ops: The Line features you in the opening credits as a "special guest". Also, turns out, there is an ending or two that involves briefly addressing the player in The Stanley Parable. It doesn't change the overall point as most endings don't operate in that way, but I'm annoying that I didn't find this while researching.

Any game that has microtransactions automatically hate you and treat your wallet like their golden child.

"when a house is both hungry and awake... every room becomes a mouth" is one of the scariest/hardest things I've ever heard LOVE IT

One great detail about Spec Ops, is how the game constantly berates you for your "choices" with things like the tooltips on loading screens being replaced with quotes like "Do you feel like a hero yet?" or "If you were a better person, you wouldn't be here" the further you get into the game. Or how during the phosphorus scene, you can see Walkers face subtly reflected in the screen as you burn everyone alive. God, I love that game.

This is exactly why I love the Genocide Route in UNDERTALE. You only do it because you want to see what happens, and then you get punished for it. Stuff like this is great and I'm amazed other games have similar punishments if you do something the game doesn't want you to.

The "You are making the characters suffer by playing" thing is also in hotline miami 2: When you finish the game all the characters die but when you choose to replay the game they are seen all sitting in a room with jacket, jacket is like an embodiment of death. Jacket speaks to the characters about their actions and kills them then turning on the projector, starting the game and their torment once again

I've read that in the beta build of Spec Ops: The Line, you can actually obey the order to return to base, which just causes the game to roll credits. This was removed because Beta Testers kept doing that, thinking it was what they were supposed to do, then complained the game was insultingly short. A shame, I wish they kept it, because it actually would make the game more effective imo, if a choice existed in-game beyond just shutting it off... to have never done this in the first place.

7:30 "The only thing left to do is glaringly obvious." *Sets up chair like he's going to hang himself *Cuts to him grabbing his trench coat and hat saying "is to go and see what's outside..."

No game company hates their players more than Nintendo

When I played Spec Ops: The Line, I really didn't want to shoot the white phosphorus and even tried to see if there were any other options. But it was clear that it was the only way forward, even if you knew it was the wrong choice, and personally that made it feel like there was a disconnect between what the character would do and what I would do. Some people make the argument that the character is being forced to do what the player chooses, but this is one instance where the player is forced to do what the character chooses, because the only alternative is to turn the game off or stay at that spot forever.

Spec Ops: The Line is the kind of game that recontextualizes all the other games. It unfortunately did not do well in sales, because for its purpose it had to look just like a normal shooter. But it is the one game which made me really consider it "art" as cheesy as it sounds. It made me reflect, think, and learn about myself. For one, "in a time of crisis, no one put me in power" is a takeaway I have :D Thank you for covering it, I can always go for more SO:TL content! :D

I have no other ways to describe the cursed judge other than he is probably the most talented video essay youtuber on the platform.

I too hate myself. Edit: AYOOO MY MOST LIKED COMMENT SHOUTOUT TO ALL MY SELF LOATHING HOMEBOYS!!! 🎉🎉🎉

I think Delta Rune would be another good example. The game literally tells you that your choices don't matter because the end result is always the same.

I would like to point out that the narrator in the Stanley Parable will absolutely acknowledge the player, at least in the broom closet ending. Probably a few other times too.

I think Deltarune would've been a perfect example of this, since its a game where it makes it clear that you, the player, and Kris, the protagonist, are two very different entities, and Kris is very much aware, and also absolutely hates, the fact that you are controlling them.

Devs, don't hate the player, hate the game.

*EVERY ROOM BECOMES A MOUTH* gives me chills every time i hear it oh my god

If you haven't played Spec Ops: The Line and are a fan of shooters, play it and then come back and watch this video. Don't have it spoiled for you it's a very unique experience that will stick with you and only takes about 5 hours of your time

Depression Quest seems shockingly accurate. I've been struggling with depression for years now. Sometimes it's worse, sometimes better. At the worst times it really does feel like my life is almost on autopilot, that I don't have any decisions. I just sit in my room feeling like complete shit while I waste my life away online. I can afford a therapist, but I don't go. I have friends I could text, but I don't. I just feel trapped a lot of the time. I've been getting better, but very slowly.

Spec Ops: The Line is still, after many years after it released, my favorite video game for just how memorable the story is. I've never played a game like it since that's been as memorable that's stuck with me over a decade later. I almost wish that in a second playthrough (and only on the second) they'd actually let you do as your mission stated; as in after the first altercation turn around and leave. To show just how far "trying to be the hero" in a misguided attempt harms more than helps.

3:16 Star Wars Republic Commando does exactly this. I remember when I was a kid I got curious to see what would happen if I shot my own teammates, they basically turn on you immediately and even have dialogue to go with it. Literally never experienced anything like that at the time and it gave me chills. It felt like I was being watched lol. Didn't help that I was alone in the room.

I personally always thought that at the end Walker is aware of the fact that he's the bad guy here, as shown by the epilogue, and who gets shot is just whether he decides to live on with it, or takes the easy way out. Also, I didn't expect this video to mention a game that IIRC was basically a catalyst for GamerGate.

There's still an "option" not to use phosphorus: you Can try to take down all soldiers with usual guns. But in such case the game decides to endlessly respawn shooters on roofs, who aren't even there if you decide to annihilate the place.

You are such a genius when it comes to video essays, the intro of the video talking about Spyro Year of the Dragon and revealing the topic of the video, transitioning to a collage of games that perfectly define and explain the topic further, just to come back to Spyro, showing that it is practically eating away at itself because you the player are playing the game. Absolute goosebumps, this moment alone in the video is so amazing that I cant help but applaud you with this comment. - Truly amazing work, keep it up!!!

The first game that comes to mind with the “players are designed to be blamed for the wrongs of the characters” format with the map Mob of the Dead from CoD Black Ops 2 Zombies. 4 characters to play as, 3 of them have some vague memory of doing things “before” (over and over again) and 1 remembers everything that happens to the group, where to find specific objects, what happens next etc. and that was a really enjoyable experience

Solitude reminds me of how i feel when I'm suffering from existential depression, not like you want to disappear, but that you never existed at all, that the bed you're lying in would just swallow you whole, and the lights would just gently fade away, as the darkness becomes all you see.

I have my own experience with a choice that has always stuck wit me. In Ender Lillies, your goal of clearing the infection is put into question, where the knight that's been following you says that you don't have to finish, you can leave and no one would be there to judge you. Once I reached the first ending, I stopped playing for about thirty minutes because, I wanted her suffering to end. It's the only game I've played where I wanted to stop early and not finish.

Cursed Judge casually returning after a month with quality milk puts a smile on my face

I thought The Line was a really good story, but that phosphorus launcher scene really forced the disconnect for me. It was presented as if there WAS a choice, and I spent a considerable amount of time on what are apparently endless waves before realising the story wouldn't move on unless I used it. Honestly, taking the choice out of my hands would have been better as I felt no guilt for being forced to do something.

You're very quickly becoming my favourite videoessayist on youtube. It seems like a very accessible format so there's a lot of them out there, but yours always build towards a very satisfying and interesting "point" and engage me so well. The effort you put into the writing and pacing of these doesn't go unnoticed, excellent stuff!

I love the games that aren’t horror, but make you acutely aware that something isn’t right. One of the most unsettling things I remember from a game is a loading tip from Spec Ops: The Line, that reads “Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two conflicting ideas simultaneously.” I saw that on my second playthrough of the game and the pit it put in my stomach is one of the most unique ways a game has unnerved me. I need more PTSD, trauma inducing war games please. Edit: Forgot to mention how much I enjoyed the video! You did an awesome job here dude

One of the best parts of video games is that they have been branching out into playable experiences rather than just trying to be fun. Movies aren't always meant to make you laugh, or cry, or cheer for joy, sometimes they are meant to say something. The best literature has always been the kind that has something to critique or expound upon. Now, games are increasingly becoming vehicles for more than just "fun" or entertainment. Granted, it's almost solely tiny indie games that go this route, it's still fantastic to go through an experience that isn't about having fun, because the subversion of your expectations makes the message hit that much harder

dude that last game sounds so good holy crap i got shivers from just your description of the events in the game. 10/10 video makes me want to play that game so bad

I want to say something about you and your videos, something that I, in my broken English, find kind of hard to do, but I'll try my best. Your videos take me back to when KZfaq and I were young-not because of low quality or something like that, not at all. But because I feel like, despite having watched a lot of spec ops videos, this made me feel like the first few I watched, I felt like you were speaking from a place of genuine passion or interest, and I also felt like my attention span wasn't destroyed like it is. I didn't feel distracted, and I felt interested in the video, just as I did when I was 14 and watched my first text-to-speech loquendo analysis on stuff. Today I turn 27, and despite everything, I feel like content creators such as yourself can still make me owe in amazement, just like the very first time. For that, I've got to thank you.

The stars alligned and you came back with a sick subject on my birthday! Can't wait to get home and watch this video!!! I'll let you know what I think when I get done! So happy to have you back, hope you're doing better

Depression quest really hit me hard… I have depression, recently went through a breakup, and I’ve already been obsessing over all those choices I could’ve made but didn’t… 🥺😭

There's an interesting contrast between Black Ops and Spec Ops I haven't thought about until your videos. Both games have totally non-sensical plots, it's just that one is about fulfilling the player's fantasy and the other one is about breaking the player emotionally. Neat

My favorite part of Spec Ops' finale is that after everything you and Walker push through, the final (and in many ways the first) true choice you get is deciding his fate, casting judgment on him, and the best part is that every option feels equally valid. Regardless of what you decide should happen they all feel satisfying as a path to choose for yourself.

I’m going to stop at Spec Ops because I’ve always wanted to play it myself, but I’ve got to say that I really love this video. What these games are doing is so intriguing; I love self-aware horror that involves its audience (with or against their will) and deconstructs its medium, and you’ve tied these examples together very nicely.

Lmaoo I fucking lost it when Zoey said spyro was playing a hacked game. Super unexpected. Great video.

Spec Ops The Line made me feel horrible and stare at a wall after playing it (happened a lot) And made me have continuous nightmares till this day I played it when I was 12 and I still play it today. Truly a masterpiece

I know barely anyone but me remembers it, but Starlancer (2000) for PC had you pilot a starfighter in open space arenas where you fought an enemy team of pilots alongside a few friendly pilot bots on your team. There are sometimes larger ships like freighters and cruisers. Your objective can vary between missions and areas, but usually it's to overcome a batch of enemies, destroy a certain objective or survive a gauntlet. One day I was just fucking around for fun, and deliberately chased down one of my friendly bots and chipped away at his health with my gatling guns until his fighter exploded. I killed my squadmate. And the devs accounted for that - there's special audio lines of dialogue from your friendlies, and a disturbing prerendered cutscene where your pilot is coldly blindfolded and executed via firing squad. I was 7 years old and the inclusion of this "ending" rocked me to my core.

I clicked on your unsatisfying endings video and have been binging your video essays for a few hours now. I have to say these are incredibly well written. Fascinating topics, well paced, somehow manages to leave me feeling all sorts of emotions. Incredible.

Bro had to play the cursed music in the background, my heart froze

Great video, man. Love your content. I love the discussions around spec ops, so many different takes on the same story, so much to talk about and so many theories, and i never actually disagree with any of them. One of the topics you could maybe do a video about is player avatars, and the dying of the silent protagonist? Idk that also is a very interesting topic to me and i would love to hear your opinion about it.

I've always been captivated by the element of the camera in movies, television, books and so on - the observer, the witness, the one for whom most stories are sort of blindly performed, and I wanted stories that deal with that in some way. This shows some such. Good video

Ironically enough, shooting Konrad is a valid action here - game wants to be meta and blame me for actions of a character in a linear video game claiming I could have stopped, but I can be meta too, claiming that since game is linear it's a movie with interactive combat and not a fully interactive project that can require me to take even partial responsibility for what is happening on the screen. Sorry game, you don't get to take my money, tell me I could've stopped and never played what I paid for and blaming me for what you created, Konrad eats the bullet.

3:09 honestly I've found it more realistic if the friendly NPCs turn hostile and start to attack you because that's a natural reaction if you get attacked by someone. Like NPCs in the world defend themselves against a threat. Many games I played had this mechanic like Deus Ex, Half-Life, Gothic 2, Halo, GTA, Fallout (Tactics) etc... Never really questioned it from the perspective of the games' attitude towards you but rather immersion.

No One: Not a Single Soul: Every Indie Dev: This bright and cheery game is actually a metaphor for depression.

Xcom really hates the players. What else can explain me missing a 95 percent shot and then the enemy returning fire with 30 percent and it hits me.

I found you out of nowhere and i must say that this is one of the best video essays i've seen in a long time. you've earned my sub and i look forward to exploring some more of your content.

at exactly 12:20 my headphones turned off for no reason, pausing the video on this screen with the red text, but instead of the narration i just heard ”power: off” coming from my headphones. scared the shit out of me because i was so immersed that for a second i was almost convinced that a game meta enough to crash for narrative purposes could then somehow also reach out of this youtube video and disconnect me from my own device in a last ditch effort to keep me from the basement and secrects of the house

While I watch nearly every video games essayist's videos here on youtube, I find that yours are the most thoughtful of them in a sense. I sincerely would pick your videos over the likes of for example Jacob Geller's or NeverKnowsBest's in pretty much every instance. Keep doing this please

Damn depression quest sounds just like me. (Getting better though, slowly)

I love your videos man, a whole new twist on video game essays

God this concept reminds me of Generation Loss. (genloss is made by Ranboolive if you want to check it out, and of courses spoiler warning for the streams.) It was streamed on twitch I believe and the fans as chat got to make decisions. It started with comedy. It ends with us choosing to kill Ranboo, not really as a different character, but as the streamer. Now of course Ranboo is alive irl but this other Ranboo seems to be more of a clone or alternate version than some rando. I can’t really explain it well but we do realize at some point that the only reason Ranboo gets put through this torture is because we as viewers choose to go to the streams and keep playing. It was a really cool experience if you where there live (still is one now) I didn’t get to be there live, but the pain of seeing them yell and beg to just be killed still kinda haunts me. I love this because it feels like (at least for me) that the show is actively telling you “you did this! You watched. You kept going. You got him tortured and you got them killed!” It’s very cool and I like the idea of a show halting and really just speaking to you saying that the blame can’t just be on the big bad evil guy, but also you since your the ones watching it and fueling anyway. That was just a mindless ramble and a bit of a tangent but eh. Really cool video from you cursed judge, I like this concept a lot so thanks for the video. I doubt anyone will get into Genloss just from this comment but again, eh whatever.

it's funny how even through that brief mention of depression quest it hit harder than anything else

This is such a well thought out video and discussions. Props to you. I am enthralled.

Just wanna say, your content is really really good and nice to watch, hope everything’s doing okay and nice work!

disappointed to not see lisa or fear and hunger showed off

About "solitude": While watching you're video, i thought: What if the character can't leave the room on its own, but with us, The Player, taking control over movement, can break thru this imaginary for the character wall and live happily after, like "Don't be afraid to accept help from other people". Sounds cool imho

This video was fantastic and may be one of your best yet, i feel like “There is no game” could have fit into the meta rebellion section however. Once again i’m going to suggest some sort of video on “games that play the player” or something along those lines. Keep making videos and bringing joy to those who watch them! 😀

I've just recently found your channel, and your videos are amazing! Keep up the good work!

I'm just glad I stumbled upon your channel while trying to find a video to fall asleep to. Turns out, besides your soothing voice, you also make great-ass contents! Always great points, the way you construct them into a video and the topics you choose are 😚👌 . More power to you, and I hope your channel blows up because you damn well deserve it

Cursed judge really does make the best video essays. The topics chosen are always extremely interesting

This feels like a creepypast video.

Good video. Zone of the Enders has a neat "you are playing it wrong" moment halfway through the game - if you go out of your way to kill all the civilians up to that point, you are told that a vital story character was in one of the buildings and the game ends with you being scolded for not taking it seriously. The player character even says "but I was just playing the game..." - classic Kojima moment. Oh and you might like a game called Producer 2021. I'll say nothing about it but your choice of indie games would fit alongside it very well.

Oh sweet, a video about Overwatch

Thanks for bringing Spec ops up in your content. Loved it

yeah dog video essays surrounding gaming are almost exclusively the only content i watch on youtube anymore and i can confidently say that this was one of the best ones ive seen in a while. good shit

This is the first video of yours I’ve seen, and I am amazed. You are an incredible creator, writer, orator, and more. I can’t wait to watch more of your stuff, thanks for putting the work into this!

It takes a strong man to deny what's in front of him. And if the truth is undeniable, he creates his own.

Dude the house game gave me chills, that was so badass!

Bro I seriously love your videos, you do a really good job on them and I’m excited every time I see a new upload. Wanted to recommend a game for you, it’s called The Longing. I think it would be a perfect game to talk about like you do in your videos. I won’t say much abt it, other than it’s a genuinely awesome experience to play, and it takes 400 days to beat.

And now we await the sequel: Games That Love The Player (uhhhh DDLC? technically? Maybe Minecraft, if you read the End Poem? Uhhhh...)

I adore the way your videos are structured. The games you cover are fascinating and the way you loop back to ideas is masterful. Thank you for the great content

The first time i played SOTL i already knew about the white phosphorus scene but playing it still absolutely killed me. I knew what was coming and yet seeing the aftermath of the atrocity i had commited broke in a way i can not deacribe. Truly it is a work of art that i wish had done better when it was released.

I love how you mix all the games you talk about together

Video essays like no other. Love you judge

I finally subscribed. Sorry I didn't sooner. Glad that we're both explorers of "this kind of stuff" (A Toothed Wheel Intensifies)

I love how different people interpret the story of Spec Ops: The Line differently. Some say he is just in hell reliving all his bad decisions over and over again. Some say he is that he is hallucinating at some parts of the story. Some say, as mentioned in this video, that Walker is trapped and has no choices because the player is controlling him. What a masterpiece of a game.

My AirPod died immediately after Walker said “this isn’t right!” lol

That Anatomy game looks terrifying, and it has exactly the same theme to it as SCP-002. SCP-002 is a large meaty sphere with a door in it that leads to a house made of flesh, bones and other biological components. It has fleshy furniture, walls, floors and everything. But it sources this flesh directly from the humans that enter it, so whenever more Class-D (sacrificial test subjects) are fed into it more furniture is made from their bodies, essentially closing around and digesting them into inanimate objects.

I love how similar you are to Jacob Geller. I love his content so of course I love yours too. Keep up the great work!

Love your videos, it's great seeing that you posted another video!

You have a very unique way of doing video essays and it's great!

Damn these videos are great. Video games are a legitimate art form, and although some people do abuse their time with them, there is still some very valuable lessons to take away from a lot of these games that might otherwise go unlearned for some. Spec Ops: The Line taught me a valuable lesson, and that was to not play video games for the false reward of feeling better than you actually are. If you want to feel like a hero, feel like you can do good in the world, feel like you can help or save others, feel brave and strong… work on doing it in the game you’ve already been playing: the game of life. Gay, I know.

Everything you create is just fantastic, and it genuinely adds so much to the games you cover. Thank you for making these!

your style of narrative is SO AWESOME!

Well done mate. Not only does this video resonate, but it'd probably be a good video to show non-gamers to help them "get it" without trying to force them to play themselves.

No wait there is a Stanley Parable ending where it address the player it's when the female narator tells you the only wat to win is to quit

A rather intriguing example comes from the Infinity series, some of the earliest work from Kotaro Uchikoshi who would later write the Zero Escape games and AI: The Somnium Files: (MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE INFINITY SERIES BELOW!) Remember11: The Age of Infinity starts by alternating between two perspectives. The first is that of Kokoro, a 20-year-old psychology student flying to Northern Japan to interview Keiko, a dark-haired teenage girl institutionalised at a remote psychiatric facility due to having committed mass murder but found not guilty by reason of insanity a few years prior. The second is that of Satoru, a 21-year-old guy climbing a clock tower and ominously muttering biblical verses to himself. In the prologue, there is only one exception for this alternation: shortly after we first hear of Keiko's backstory and see her mugshot, we see a brief scene of a fearful young dark-haired girl afraid of herself and pleading an unseen second party to leave to spare them from danger. The prologue ends when accidents happen to both Kokoro (her plane crashes in the Hokkaido mountains) and Satoru (he falls from the clock tower after seeing a mysterious shadow). From then on, we play as Kokoro but when she first awakens, she finds herself in Satoru's body. Throughout the following week, she keeps swapping between her and Satoru's body, and learns that Satoru is doing the same. Kokoro's body is stranded with the remaining survivors of the crash in a tiny lodge waiting for help to arrive, and Satoru's body is revealed to be at the psychiatric facility where a mysterious assailant appears to be on the loose. The gameplay is that of a standard visual novel, clicking through text and occasionally making choices; however, given the severity of the situation in both locations, great weight is often lent to the decisions and a wrong move can easily lead to one of many, many bad endings. Once Kokoro manages to survive the week, we are now given the possibility to play as Satoru. One major difference is that Satoru got amnesia from the fall, only remembering a select few details. However, he manages to do more detective work and start to unravel the mysteries, but even at the very end of his route many of the details remain unclear, with a few more loose ends being introduced in the epilogue. If you've ever played an Uchikoshi game before, you might well think that with the information you have now obtained, there will be a way to unlock a third route which provides the remaining answers but, try as you might, you cannot seem to find the third route. Consequently, much of what the game is actually about can only be pieced together from context clues or, supposing you're not going to put in the effort yourself, reading about it in a fan blog. One of the massive amount of twists thus revealed is that from the start, we have been playing as an in-universe 0-dimensional entity referred to as Self which can follow a consciousness, and while it has little autonomy over the consciousness, its _perception_ of reality is paramount. In particular, the young girl we saw in the prologue was in fact a flashback to Satoru's little sister. However, since we assumed it was Keiko, Self assumed it was Keiko, so she suffered a personality death and became Keiko. And this is finally the part relevant to the video: *Satoru despises Self* for killing his sister, and set up a trap for Self to a) confirm its existence, and b) get revenge. How was Self's existence confirmed? At the beginning of Satoru's route, he summarises what little he remembers about himself, and can't seem to find any rhyme or reason to what he's remembered vs what he's forgot. However, we might spot the common thread: *he remembers exactly those things Kokoro learned about Satoru in her route*. Self followed Kokoro along her route, but when it started Satoru's route, it wound up killing Satoru's original personality and replacing it with the one it had surmised from Kokoro's perspective. What was the revenge? Recall how Self, for all intents and purposes, is the player. Recall how Satoru's route left a lot of loose ends, strongly suggesting the existence of a third route, yet one could not be found no matter how hard you tried. *The game is the trap*: Self is innately curious which leads it to adopt different perspectives in the first place. Its desire to resolve the remaining details drives it to eternally hunt for the third route which it cannot find since it does not exist. On an even more meta level, some aspects of what I've described in the past few paragraphs are quite open to interpretation and much more is left even less explained, so by playing Remember11, the literal player has also doomed themselves to be trapped by the game, to have it occupy their thoughts even when not physically playing it, due to the lack of closure even in the content available elsewhere. Imagine the characters of a game hating the player so much they _create the game itself_ to punish them.

dude the random bit of zineth gameplay thrown in during the intro, thank you

Your video essays always deliver

If you do a second part you should definitely include the beginners guide

It doesn't hate you, but I think that the game that hits the hardest by making the player a relevant part of the story is One Shot. I don't know if there are more games of that kind (maybe Deltarune and less so Undertale), but if there are it can be a cool video topic too

what an amazing video man, the cursed judge is the only one who can make us go :O on videos about silly little games.

These are seriously some of the best video essay content on KZfaq

12:57 interesting... I've been pirating games for my entire life until I discovered Steam over a decade ago, and put on my tricorne back last year because... reasons. And I have never encountered "anti-piracy measures" in my life. Many modern kids praise now late Xatab for his high-quality RePacks, so I assume pirates back then (and now) knew what they're doing. So all these "anti-piracy-whatever" things seems like an urban legend made either by corporations or clueless children Although I definitely remember Immortal Shredder from TMNT for NES, that one might've been real