Lets Go AGAIN! THX SO MUCH MAN 💕💕 LOVE YA

I love how the music, over time, just sort of gets drowned out since you hear it so much, but when you listen into it it seems to actually take on meaning. Alone, in an abandoned mall, that SHOULD be empty but clearly has something happening within, and all you can do is "Look for answers".

Anyone else notice that the lyrics of the music are talking about the predicament you’re in? It says things like “I know this is confusing, I know you’re looking for an exit, so many doors so many windows, I know you’re feeling distressed”. Very clever!

1:14:00 never before did I think I would hear anyone say the sentence "1980's haunted liminal mall GF" but honestly agreed. I'm not sure it's something I would actively pursue per se, but I also can't say I would be terribly upset if it came about...

I feel bad for little pink mall ghost. She just wants a hug. :

Hey Librarian, a long time viewer here. I just wanted to tell you that I lost a relationship with someone I love and admire and your videos always let me have a moment of peace and comfort. Especially in recent days. I really appreciate the work you put to deliver us daily videos and you're a great help man.

when he said "heblub" THE CROWD WENT WILD

20:13 On this angle I imagined something different. Imagine you are just casually looking down that window, suddenly someone passes through and sees you, keeps his eyes on you. Then he starts running towards the room you are in. You would just feel the necessity to get out of that room before he gets you.

poor Nowhere, she just wants a friend. if the food court wasn't empty and the computers still connected to the internet I'd stay with her.

I couldn't help but think of The Oldest View when he stepped into that big open atrium and it suddenly sprung to life

I was kind of expecting synthwave, vaporwave, or mallwave music, but not soft rave music. It gives me mixed felings of being at the mall & the dance club at the same time. Damn, this map is gorgeous

@13:55 I choose to believe that whoever runs the place wants people to say "Now here" (because it's the hip place to be or something) Mall rather than "No where" Mall and they were just too cheap to pay for the hyphen on the signs. Or too confident in their signage proofreading skills.

Great video! 1:02:00 Of course you didn't notice her, she wasn't there before, it was blank.

Speakers playing music in a bathroom above urinals isn't too strange. I know places like buffalo wild wings have mini TV's so if you're invested you wont miss the big play taking a piss.

The fact that the mall showed the stages of grief in the end kinda screwed w me lol

12:51 I love the going underwater noises 😂

What a surprisingly colourful map…. Usually they’re dark damp with the smell Of mold

That darn potted plant in the middle of the hallway at 10:23 nearly spooked me half to death, really had me thinking someone was standing there all of a sudden

9:30 Just casually telling us one of the creepiest real mall stories I have ever heard, like it’s nothing.

there is a different spawnpoint in that map that continues the exit of gm_voidsplaces that cant be accessed from the other way I know this was recorded before playing the previous map but its a cool thing to know

I think I've finally cracked it - these last two maps use a combination of GoldSrc and Source mapping conventions. Some of the areas are "too simple" to be Source, yet there's very smart use of lighting and geometry that can only be Source

I'll admit, when I played this map, I had my character dance each time the music came on. XD (I have most of Gmod's player gesture animations bound to my number pad keys. Stuff like waving, laughing, dancing, and stuff like that.)

I've had nostalgia for lots of things that are before my time. I truly believe that certain times, things, places were aesthetically beautiful, cozy, or nourishing. But legitimately so, in a way that transcends the disposable way we often think about style (somehow something can be "in style" and then not in style, as if we never actually liked the aesthetic to begin with and it was all about recency). Malls from the 70s and 80s evoke a sense of social interaction, adventure with friends, and the excitement of window shopping and seeing these amazing things you wouldn't be able to see just sitting at home, except maybe in a catalog. And I believe that's nourishment our brains still crave, but we simply can't get it anymore due to the state of modern life. So when we see it, our hearts ache for it, similar to nostalgia.

As someone who was a teen in the 90s I can attest - yes spaces like this existed. But usually with a bit more 70s / 80s earth tone style stuff thinly hidden beneath the surface. >_

Your remarks about defamiliarization resonated with me significantly. One of my favorite pastimes is looking at a place or an object and project it into the future some thousand, two thousand years. Long enough for all our modern civilizations to have died and been forgotten in a new Dark Age (in the actual sense of a Dark Age - loss of information about the time, not that the times get primitive.) What will be left of our world? What will anthropologists say to describe how we lived? Are we leaving enough information behind to maintain a record, or have we digitized so much information that the very nature of our society ensures that we will be forgotten? I actually got chills when I had the opportunity to see footage of the National Archives of England. You know what that building looks like? It's an IMMENSE complex, a warehouse of truly grand stature, in which every printed work produced in England or by English authors is stored. They print off Internet articles and blog posts to archive in there. The technology for preserving these books, newspaper broadsheets, internet ephemera is so advanced that most of the complex is off-limits to humans because it is kept under nitrogen. No oxygen. The longer I watched, the more I thought about those anthropologists who will not be born for many centuries yet, and realized that they will one day have no frame of reference for our society... until the dig sites begin to uncover the National Archives-style caches from around the globe. Nearly-infinite information about how we live and know the world to be, what we've discovered, the histories we ourselves have uncovered, all there. Ripe for the picking, so long as the oxygen never gets in. What's more is there WILL be a new Curse of Tutankhamun. The first anthropologist to open the National Archives may well fall victim to asphyxiation if he enters into the great vault unawares. Fantastic.

if I had a nickle for every time I've seen a story about a seeming abandoned mall that's gradually revealed to be sentient and communicates via the PA system that's trying to keep people inside because it's lonely, I'd have two nickles which isn't a lot but it's weird that it's happened twice.

Watching a cool video, then all of a sudden librarian casually drops the possibility of hearing a possible crime happen.

Love that the lyrics to the song playing said "go away leave me alone"

"Why would there be speakers just above the urinals?" To help you relax so you can pee more easily despite being in a shared room.

Legitimately, like one of my dreams, I have this reoccurring dream of a very odd mall.

round physics objects tend to roll around endlessly on a flat surface in the source engine, that tennis ball behavior was actually normal

16:49- All in all, it's just some random bricks in the wall.

19:00 Shortly after you enter here, you mention it feels like you're not supposed to be here and that someone was watching you snoop. I'm not 100% sure if "here" meant "this specific strictly-utilitarian stretch of hallways" or "the sprawling, empty Nowhere Mall in general", but it definitely feels like at this _specific_ moment you've entered what was a staff-only area, like the "servants' corridors" in big, fancy rich peoples' houses. A kind of "highway" to let staff, delivery people, and security cross the mall quickly with clothing racks or pallet jacks full of inventory (or just to the exits or food court) without being seen or having to dodge around clusters of guests or kiosks or slow down for walkway-clogging groups of slow-moving friends. I suspect things like the Building and/or General and/or "Business" Manager's office(s) and the Maintenance/Janitorial offices and breakrooms would be tucked away somewhere in these webs. 59:30 Speaking (later) of actually _listening_ to the music as the voice of the "Mall Spirit": _I know it's confusing._ _I know you want answers._ _I know you looking for answers._ _I know you're looking for the answers!_ _I know it's_ [You're just a little too loud for me to make her out at this point, but I don't _think_ it's a repetition of the first line.]

In my perspective, as much as I LOVE these GMod explores, I feel like there's going to be times where there aren't any good maps to play for a while, so the space between videos has allowed for more good maps to come out. Happy that there'll be more of these vids tho :).

1:07:48 is such a cool little moment what a map

And thats why you dont put trust on girls with pink hair, natsuki being the only exception. Also this one(i named her temmy) reminds me of giffany from gravity falls

The songs are so good. 🎵 If you want to leave so bad, go on! The key Is in the battroom ~ 🎵

I think the Pink girl is the friendlier entity. She's just lonely. While Jimmy seems like an invading evil.

Voidmall-Chan 🥰

When the Librarian releases a prequel

There are probably several comments saying this but when you talk about the strange feeling you get having nostalgia for these places you've never actually gone to, it reminds me of the term anemoia, which means feeling nostalgia for a time you've never known.

the mall is alive, and has muktiple personalities

Mall architecture & 80s Star Trek architecture always had the same vibe. Wouldn't it be awesome if there was a spooky ambient Gmod map whee you could explore an evacuated Starfleet ship & uravel the mystery of what went down?

BABE WAKE UP LIBRARIAN DROPPED A VID

I interpreted the arms as being spread in a welcoming gesture.

Librarian has got to be my number 1 all time comfort youtuber, his content is just so cozy and relaxing

Looks like it could be a good rp map. Like, an anomalous event makes the sun deadly to anyone outside, and people are trapped in this mall, and they splinter into factions controlling different areas, scavenging scrap and supplies from the stores. Pool area could be water resources, the green grass anomalous area could be used to grow food, but scarcity and control of both resources would ensure conflict

A really mean thing to do would be to make some of the doors (1-10 or 1-20) auto close on a long-ish timer and the rest stay open.

That was perhaps the best gm map Ive seen you play. Fabulously well done. I love that the backrooms-esc vibe has been made into its own thing here (and elsewhere). And with such great characters! On the nostalgia aspect, I was born in a mid sized town in late 1970s and in my opinion the 80’s vaporwave nostalgia is more as if the style of the 80’s was perfected with an unlimited budget. Local malls where either 70’s (wood and copper which was nice actually) or vaporwave-lite. But I did see a huge mall in a bigger city that was much more like this map.

I think I have an explanation for nostalgia for a time you never lived. On the stuff we grew up with, we are nostalgic for, and we sometimes wish to share it in hopes of recreating the feeling. So most likely, during a time we most likely don’t remember, our parents did the same of sharing nostalgia. Even though we don’t consciously remember, our nostalgia is for the feeling of sharing the nostalgia of the time we didn’t live. In 30 ish years, that feeling will be shared to finding Nemo and Bambi, with the longing for Snow White and chalkboards.

the 'haunted ball' thing you've come across a couple of times now is just gmod physics not handling spherical collisions too well.

My favorite liminal spaces are always malls!

This map gave off some boneworks/bonelab vibes though not being in similar genre's. Maybe its because of the VR and neon lights.

I COME BACK FROM SCHOOL AND WHAT DO I SEE? MY FAVOURITE KZfaqR PLAYING MY FAVOURITE GAME AGAIN! WONDERUL!

43:30 Is she a character from something? Or an original creation by the map creator? Either way she's freaking cute and I love her design!

if I was actually there, I'd try to actually talk to her. It kinda seems like she's just lonely.

Was expecting the rolling giant to show up and start following Librarian around in this one.

That was so sweet of you trying to hold a hand of crying girl, it made me cry ngl

I live near a very large mall, and in the atrium area it's 6 floors high. The highest the public are allowed on is the 3rd where the movie theaters are, but one time me and friends were in the elevator and it went up to 5. That must be break rooms or something because a couple security guards got on and we went back down to 2. You're right, it feels weird knowing that the mall has a network of hallways you'll never see

45:15 resident evil village baby is back, back again.

Aw I wish you could actually talk with the Mall since I felt really bad for her.

It's maps like this that make jobs like a night mall security guard seem very intriguing

Librarian! You should play Construct 15 Void Machinima. It has the creepy & Comfy feeling.

Awe, that rich guy's house anecdote is so adorable. My parents and I would kayak in those little channels around the island, and I can absolutely see those houses you mentioned.

I feel bad for the poor little pink eldritch girl.

you think librarian is scared of automatic doors in real life too?

is it bad that i want to raise her like my own child? it feels like i need to introduce her to the concept of "having friends"

Its called Anemoia. In the beginning where you said "I feel nostalgic for something I'm not sure even existed" Anemoia is a nostalgia for a time or place you never actually knew.

One of the ambient sound effects in this (wonderful) map comes from the Panos Cosmatos film 'Beyond the Black Rainbow', which I recommend to you if you haven't seen it. Also, this map will load gm_voidplaces in certain areas, I used the Sonic Screwdriver addon to open doors in a later playthrough and it loaded said map.

Your thoughtful commentary is a perfect match for these sort of slow burn creepy/comfy exploration videos. Hearing your plans to do more of them (in VR no less) this year has me excited

When you were Talking about You and your Friends or Whatever about 10 years Ago I Got the Chills You Probably Witnessed a Murder Or Something Because The Van Is Most Likely a Kidnapping Van So Good you got of of there and I love these creepy Videos❤

the map itself being a sad lonely cosmic entity is something I've never seen before. very cool concept that advances the spooky liminal genre.

I think vice city is more simply "miami life" as it's called, it's still kinda like that on boardwalks. It's like how Vegas hasn't really changed. Now that being said as one of your older viewers in my 40s I was a mall rat in the 80s and 90s frequently at least 3-4 large ones in Michigan regularly and there was some aspects of the 80s neon aspects yes,it was very as you see in 80s movies ,cant say I've ever been in an abandoned mall but I have been in some that had ya know 10 or 12 people and feeling very too open, empty, and at times creepy, not seeing anyone but workers for 20 to 30 minutes does give you this kinda "im the last customer on earth" vibe,especially as a kid or teenager. It was also though a good excuse to be an idiot running around yelling then getting in trouble from security lol

There was a mall very similar to this in a dream i had a while back. There were people in it but i remember being chased by something and nobody but me noticed.

@28:25 oh, so EVERY house is a House of Leaves. Neat!

you know the music that keeps playing? I caught a line in it 'I know you're looking for answers' among other bits. I think its talking to the player directly lol

Day 1: Librarian, there is this VR Horror game called Lies Beneath. It's a game in a comic book style, which is really cool looking. The story is that you're a girl returning from college and you have to save your father from these creepy people and monsters infesting her hometown.

"1980s haunted liminal mall gf" is not a string of words that i expected to hear today

You know, at the end, to signalize that all events have been triggered, should have been for Caramelldansen to start playing over the speakers when you returned to the main area

Love how this map and the one that this is a continuation of use that one pop track; it fits so well, and here the map even uses music to communicate directions or convey parts of the story which is really cool. Haven't checked yet but I haven't heard any of the music used here before; makes me wonder if it was made specifically for this project.

43:27 I wonder if you could move that fairy, anime girl on the wooden stand . . . because if it was "real" life, it sure looks like you could. Then, if you are able to move it, I wonder what would happen, if anything, if you placed it directly in front of the other fairy at 55:59, situated so that they face each other.

NEW VID!!!!!!!!! been waiting 4 this eagerly since you mentioned it last!! keep up the good work, man!

I am pretty sure the music in these worlds are entirely AI generated, so doubt you should worry too much about any copyright. And I think it works really well with liminal maps like these.

This is one of the best you've covered. The pacing of the creepy parts is *perfect*

1:06:43 I may be looking into this too much But does That Shop next to the “1980s abandoned mall gf” look Suspiciously similar to The Shop Wyatt Exited out of in the oldest View. I might be Wrong But it just Kinda stood out from many of the other shops.

more GMod VR in 2024? Give us ALL OF IT

Man, these maps are so visually pleasing to look at, love the vibes and love the video!

It doesn't get much more creepycomfy than watching The Librarian exploring Gmod maps.

Thumbnail looks like some custom zombies call of duty map lol

I think I'm having false memories you exploring the other GMOD Mall map that's probably a decade old by now (but amazing detail).

so i have a theory: imma call her Mally (pronounced Molly) Mally is the mall protecting you from the outside sun as if she knows you from the times you went to the mall as a kid, but Jimmy got in, so shes leading out to safety but shes slowly being corrupted by jimmy, and her sadness of your leaving turns to anger becuase of it

I lived through the Mall era. One thing typical mall architects consistently failed at was acoustics. Music playing or even human voices in one area would be filtered by the geometry of corridors to emphasize certain parts of the audio spectrum and damp, yielding often humorous or creepy results. So what you hear as groaning could be literally anything.

waiting for someone to attempt to make the american dream mall in gmod

Okay; this map has been stuck in my head since I watched it, so I might as well try to put some pieces together. I'm not super familiar with the whole Void Places series, so this will be focused on this map in particular, independent of the other maps. Before the events of the map, the sun was replaced by a pink "sun", and it began causing "non-euclidean temporal anomalies", such as real-life Bernard's Doors. Those who (knowingly or unknowingly) enter an anomaly and wander the void are called "explorers". Inno was an explorer who, out of desperation, began trapping and killing explorers, using her singing as a lure. (To what end? Unclear.) Either way, the void changes everyone, and Inno had become a void entity, scarcely any different than those that terrorized her. ...but she retained shreds of humanity deep down, and in a moment of clarity, she realized what she had become and felt remorse. As a result, she made her slice of the void, the Nowhere Mall, into a safe place for explorers. When the player insistently tries to leave, she's disappointed that the Nowhere Mall wasn't good enough to keep you, but she knows well that desire to explore ever-forward into the unknown from when she was a void explorer, and, so, she relents. Other notes: - I believe it was stated that Inno does still kill, just not in the Nowhere Mall. I don't know if it's out of necessity, instinct, or bloodlust. It's unclear from VoidMall alone how the void and the pink sun affect people and how exactly void entities work. It's possible that she became a cannibal as an explorer to keep from starving, and she still needs to prey upon explorers, but it's entirely possible that hunger isn't a factor in the void. - It seems like the cute face Inno puts on may just be a façade she chooses to wear (a cute caricature of humanity, a face of Inno-cence), and her real appearance at this point is far more horrific. The façade slips sometimes. - I'm not 100% certain who the dark figures painted on the walls depict going off VoidMall alone. It is likely that it's Jimmy, but it could be anyone. - Oh yeah, Jimmy's there, too. If you're super fast, you can catch a glimpse of him. I don't think he can hurt you in the Nowhere Mall, though. ...I think that dark figure is Jimmy, anyway. Again, could be anyone. If the dark figure is Jimmy, it would make sense that the painted dark figures depict Jimmy. I choose to believe that Jimmy did grafitti before becoming an explorer and continued to do so as an explorer, and, as a void entity, he likes scaring people for the laugh. That could be contradicted by other maps in the series, as I **think** I heard he or his grafitti appear in other maps. It's possible that he would go in for the kill anywhere else. - Also, I really like the neon aesthetic of the map. The bright pink, blue, and green lights illuminating a mall in the middle of an urban center-- It's like it was designed to trap *_me._* The occasional yellow lighting and the dimly-lit/dark back areas (especially the Hell room) make me feel a bit repulsed, though. The areas that the public would be in (were it a real mall) are very soothing to me, though. I adore it. There's electricity and computers around. I wonder if they have internet...? Could you access the regular internet from a void accessed through a non-euclidean temporal anomaly? I would say "doubtful", but a girl can dream. Okay. Now that that's out of my system, maybe I can move on from this. ...I mean, probably not, but... y'know, worth a shot.

Awesome video, thank you!

"Threw my game off" lmao my dude

Love the map creator's work, and I love your coverage of their work. Makes for an entertaining video all around!

Honestly listen your videos every evening!definitely a comfort channel for me lol

Love these gmod vr explorations

From watching this video and the other ones also all i need to say is thank you. Thank you for getting me to watch and do exploration, something that loved to do in my local area so im grateful.