The earlier version is much scarier, you actually get her aunt's corpse chasing you around the house instead of this shadow thing

I don't think I've ever heard something as hilariously petty as "I won't translate this game because its just that bad"

When Paranoiac 2 comes out and it turns out Miura had a torture basement, I’ll be laughing.

The suspicion of Miura is intentional in my opinion. I felt the same way as your friend did, but the game is literally called Paranoiac. When you meet him in the game, there’s literally no reason to trust him and his unwavering kindness feels out of place when your mother and assistant are either unkind or professionally polite but emotionally distant. I also think it’s super interesting how the game straight up tells you via the main character that her mother is also mentally ill, but she isn’t given the same treatment by anybody but the main character, who is determined to get her counseling. Mental illness doesn’t always make a person pathetic or sympathetic…sometimes it makes a person mean, distant, unpredictable and difficult. But those people need help too, and the game recognizes that. Probably in the real world her mother would not seek help or agree to help, but this is a game where shadow monsters are real so I like to think her mother does get help and they eventually go to family counseling.

The extended bleeping when tearing into her mother was honestly the funniest thing I’ve seen in weeks

The hyper fixation on Miura being a serial killer is pretty funny. Honestly, how RPGmaker horror games go, it wouldn’t shock me. Having watched the previous videos done on games by this dev though, it makes sense that it panned out to be wholesome. It’s a nice change of pace to see some more wholesome endings to these kinds of games. Their past works have a heavy focus on healing after tragedy, and I resonate with them a lot.

SO happy to hear you talk about another Uri game! Even in the games where you can tell she definitely struggles to blend the gameplay/interactivity aspects, she is an incredible storyteller, ESPECIALLY for the big emotional beats. Paranoiac is absolutely a mess, but man her way of writing characters struggling with mental illness is actually so spot-on. Miki felt so close to home for me, though thankfully my own mother is practically my best friend in the whole world. But, yeah, seeing her struggle with her creative endeavors, putting off essential tasks for “tomorrow”, breaking down, the self victim-blaming, it’s all painfully accurate. On a rewatch of the cutscenes through this video though, I LOVE all the extra tidbits I’ve caught onto now that I’m older. For one, the bad ending is a scarily perfect representation of a phenomenon called “suicide contagion”, or the idea that one person committing suicide leads to a chain of guilt in the people around the victim that causes a higher rate of suicides in them. Second, the trigger for said bad ending being Shinji successfully telling Miki that she’s suffering delusions is kinda genius in a way I’m not 100% sure Uri intended, but is still great. Anyone who’s a mental health professional or lived with a loved one suffering from schizophrenia will say that trying to tell the afflicted person they’re in a delusion when they’re having an attack is one of the big things you’re NOT supposed to do. It just aggravates the person or, worse, worsens their paranoia. You need to ground the victim in reality by reinforcing things that are true and getting them to safety. Do not affirm or deny the delusions

Even though the gameplay isn’t a good, you can tell the storytelling has always been legendary. This game tackles schizophrenia better than most stories about it, because it approaches the subject with a strong sense of empathy for Miki and Saeki (though this is from the perspective of someone who doesn’t have it, so I can’t say how accurately it handles it).

if i may give my two cents as someone with personal experience with depression, i think this game handles the issue really well! the conversations with miki's mother and the scenes about miki being unable to write feel especially well thought out, those kinds of experiences (having family/friends not believing you/not taking you seriously about mental health issues and being unable to do both important tasks and things that used to bring you comfort and joy) are very real situations a lot of people with depression or other mental illnesses have to deal with. and the bad ending especially hits hard. when something like this happens to someone you care about, it is SO hard not to fall into that cycle of blaming yourself for whatever happened (whether or not you could've realistically done anything about it doesn't really matter), since your brain is literally working against you. so just seeing the scene of miki's death followed by miura falling into that same exact cycle is just. oof. top tier writing. this part i don't have personal experience with, but i do also like how the story treats schizophrenia. while the hallucinations and situation in general of course cause miki and the people around her a lot of stress (even the brief argument about miki waking up at her house after spending the night at miura's), she and yuriko are never demonized for their condition (except for by miki's mom, but we all know how we feel about her), which is a breath of fresh air. all too often, schizophrenia gets the "ooo crazy psycho killer" treatment in media and the overabundance of that trope just makes the stigma around it so much worse. people with schizophrenia are people, and deserve to be treated with respect like any other person. it's genuinely refreshing to see this kind of topic treated with the kind of respect and thoughtfulness shown here. and even with how horrible minako acts towards miki and yuriko, uri does a really good job of writing her realistically. she has a grounded, believable reason for saying the things that she does, but that doesn't automatically make her correct or excuse her actions. i actually kind of love how the situation is handled in the good ending- miki having to move back in with her mother is a terrible situation to be in, but again it's a very REAL terrible situation. miki still loving and caring about her mom despite everything is also unfortunately a pretty common situation. it's easy to hate a person like this as an outsider (and you'd be right in doing so), but when you're actually IN a situation like this it becomes a lot less simple. terrible or not, that's still the person who raised you. it's a lot easier said than done to just stop caring about a person like that, even if it causes you harm. and i like that the ending mentioned miki telling her mom to seek counseling, because in some cases this kind of abuse is in some way affected by the abuser's own issues and insecurities (not always, but sometimes) and it's just really interesting to see minako's case contrasted with miki and yuriko's. again, there's a grounded reason for it and it would be good for her to get help, but that reason is not treated as an excuse. and i'm glad that even though she has to live with her mom again after all of this, miki still has some genuine support in the form of miura. no matter whether it's depression or schizophrenia or something wildly different, it is so important to have those people who are genuinely patient and compassionate about what you're going through, whether or not they fully understand it themselves. and i do appreciate that small argument after staying over at miura's, it makes him feel a lot more human as opposed to depicting him as someone who's just got this impossibly infinite well of patience no matter the situation. even the most well meaning and supportive people have a limit to what they can deal with, especially when they don't fully know what's going on yet. also i'm definitely in the camp of people who absolutely trusts miura but i can absolutely see why someone might immediately jump to the conclusion that he's a serial killer or something, especially with how a lot of rpg maker horror tends to go. seeing that suspicion not get validated at any point in the game is both refreshing and funny as hell when you've got someone so vocal about not trusting them. thanks for taking the time to read this, hope you're having a good day!

As someone who DOES have Depression and BPD (as well as anxiety disorders and adhd), this game has a VERY accurate way of displaying how people with depression fall into pits of self doubt and how society slowly convinces them that everything is their fault and they are to shoulder the blame for everything. I'm personally a firm believer in the idea of 'the good die young' in that people with good hearts, who genuinely want the best for others, are often the easiest for others to blame for everything. Cause they won't fight it; they'd rather take the blame and try to fix something that isn't nor ever was their's to fix. I also kinda like how the mom isn't just framed as a hopeless abuser; while yes that is a very easy situation to fall into, its also often that people sometimes just don't understand or hurt others due to their own issues. The game doesn't excuse what her mom does, but it does acknowledge the fact there's a reason for it. Which unlike the themes in some of Uri's other work (namely Mermaid's Swamp) is a appropriate nuance as someone who has depression like the protag and whose been ridiculed my entire life for trauma responses I just can't fully help (not by my mom thankfully as she's supported me, but by others). I cannot comment on the gameplay as I never played it, but the story is beautiful Uri has such a nice grasp on handling mental illness and trauma in her games.

miura: blames himself for mikis death and becomes the next victim kenny: classic murderer right there guys, I can tell

He's had immense growth of his channel, and I'm so glad people realized how good his content is!

As someone who’s struggled with SEVERE depression I’ve got to admit the two ending, especially the bad ending was a decent representation. Not the BEST, but a pretty good one. The good ending is also AMAZING and arguably even better since it ends with her not all fine and dandy, but doing EVERYTHING she can to GET better. A good story.

The original game is not only scarier but actually has a massive wall of text explaining the hiding system before the first chase. Despite the well made character profiles and a more detailed ending/ epilogue. This is the one RPG Horror remake I would argue is worse than the original. I get what they were going for with the more cramped house rather than a massive mansion but the original and it's story are really good.

...hearing you and your friends tearing into Miki's mom for being such an abusive jerk was honestly really cathartic

I remember watching Markiplier play the original version years ago. If I remember it correctly, the chase sequences had the extra element of the "correct" hiding spot being randomized each time, although you could bypass that randomization by saving during the chase itself and just loading that save. As for the story, I only really remembered the endings and the mom being so terrible. My only real complaint with it is that I really feel like Miki should've kept her distance with her mom, at least until the mom *actually* gets therapy (which is something that can't actually be forced on her, regardless of what Miki tries to say at the end). Tbh, I don't understand why the ending tries to push Miki towards still caring about her mother and keeping her in her life. I wish these types of stories with godawful parents (or family members in general) would just let their characters go No Contact; they don't even have to make Miki feel hateful or resentful towards her mom, just have her decide her mom's a contributing factor to her poor mental health and if she's not going to change her ways, it's better to have her not in her life at all than to have another downward spiral. I get that it's emphasized the mom also has a mental condition, but that's not an excuse, that's a reason to go get treatment so you don't hurt your loved ones like she'd been doing. EDIT: I got curious and decided to look up Paranoiac for more information, and found something in the Extras page linked on vgperson's site. Regarding Miura, Uri says: "At the very beginning, when he helps Miki with her luggage despite his wounded arm... well, okay, duh, he likes her. Watching some LPs, people have pointed out that he likely has ulterior motives to his actions. And they're exactly right. I leave it to your imagination what happens between Miki and Miura after the ending."

the horrible gameplay in both versions aside, i will say as someone with psychosis the story is...very respectful on the subject for an horror game, any other game miki would probably either end up in an asylum bc shes "insane" and it's scary because shes such a creep, not because she got sent to the torture hospital, or turn into a serial killer ghost because psychotic people are all scary and out for everyone and are threats towards poor non psychotics!!

The main theme of Paranoiac from what I can tell is that yes, Mental Illness is a horrible thing, but it’s not an excuse. Miki’s mother has Hysteria, and I did have experiences with someone who had very similar outbursts (that I really would rather not get into) of bitterness, but that doesn’t completely make the mother immune to being called a piece of crap, like Miura says. This also applies to Miki herself, who also does quite a few questionable things due to her Depression and closeted Schizophrenia, specifically in the bad ending where she refuses to seek help and ends up (probably) committing suicide. This kind of consequence happens to a lot of people who brush off things as “just because of their mental health” without actually trying to take care of the situation. In the other ending, she believes it is a real monster (which we’re never told whether the Monster is real or just a hallucination, maybe both in some way?) which it technically is, considering that even if it is fake, it’s still a representation of her guilt and the illnesses that sprouted from it. Her taking care of it doesn’t get rid of the problem, she still needs to seek help, but it doesn’t really matter since it’s still a huge step on the road to recovery. *TLDR* : In my opinion, the games message is that Mental Disorders are no joke, but shouldn’t be treated as an excuse for bad actions and decisions.

Paranoiac despite having some utter gameplay jank, still has the beauty of Uri's writing.

i played the original years ago and loved it. i didnt even know there was a remake but i'll be for sure checking that out too

I'm so thankful for you putting the music in the description, so many channels stopped doing it and I thought I recognized music from Hotel Dusk Room 215 before discovering the song list and mentally preparing for all these bangers

Your thoughts on the look of the sprites is interesting, this remake has original sprites, where as the strange man series and paranoiac's original game made use of free assets available online, mind you the site is in Japanaese so many don't look them up, but those sprites were originally made for RPG Maker 2000/2003.

i honestly really like how this game views depression, mostly because you can actually develop psychosis induced by depression which is something I actually developed when I was going through a really rough time in my life. it honestly just kind of feels like how Miki feels the entire game, I can't exactly put it into words but its super spot on. from how Miki reacts to things and breaks down. While my situation wasn't exactly like Miki's, it's comforting knowing someone can create a story so well surrounded by depression and its effects

It’s always important to have a few stinkers in the mix, I feel. You can’t make great games without knowing what a bad game plays and feels like. You need to know why certain things don’t work. Paranoiac is flawed, but we learn from it. And I enjoy the character portraits! As an insider with depression, Uri did an excellent job portraying the way it isolates you and drives out all motivation. The demoralizing feeling of being told it’s all in your head is spot on too, because you know there’s no real reason to feel what you’re feeling, but you are. Depression still has a hell of a stigma attached to it.

I was also fully convinced with your friend that Miura was going to be some sort of serial killer. But DAMN, for a game that is considered pretty bad gameplay wise the themes and message was pretty good. I wish that the mother didn’t get to have her daughter move back in, but sometimes thats just how it is. Honestly, the way you described the game made me totally forget it was considered bad and the story was very well told from your recap.

After watching a few videos, seeing Ben get so pissed at the mom is probably a better sign of "hey this character is bad" than what the game actually said

I will say out of all the stories this creator has made, This is the one that hits home the most for me. As somebody who has depression and has struggled with my creative passions while blaming myself for things that I couldn't really fix with a family who isn't horrible but doesn't take my issues seriously... yeah this game's story was spot on

This video hitting different today. Keep being awesome, Ben!

There's an rpgmaker horror game series that might interest you known as 'Purgatory' developed by Nama. The first game is rather short, but the second game has an astounding amount of content within it.

I feel like the monster and the tutorial was better in the original since it was actually a corpse (i think the aunt/ aunt's baby) crawling after you and the tutorial explained the hiding system (no matter how awful it was being randomized and one random one was insta death)

I’m depressed, and tbh I don’t think Uri got it all that wrong. You forget chunks of your life, you can’t be present in the moment, and you can’t sleep. Depression and anxiety have caused some funky nightmares to happen to me as well, so honestly I think Uri actually got it right! She’s weirdly good at that tbh! Like with the characters in Crooked Man being these fragmented pieces of people’s failures, with their names reflecting it like Sissy for a coward and D for someone who kept failing over and over again, with them becoming, to themselves, *only that.* Uri is cool.

AHHHHH BEN YOU’VE FULFILLED A WISH OF MINE I am going to love this when I get the time to sit down and watch! (now I await Mermaid Swamp hours) EDIT: I finished watching and wow this wasn’t exactly the version I remembered, but the story is just as heart-wrenching I remembered. I couldn’t help, but smile seeing you and the gang go up to bat for Miki!

i was obsessed w playing every rpg horror game i could find in middle school but holy shit i didn't even make it to HALF of the original paranoiac, the chases weren't hard-the trial and error hiding spot gimmick made them TEDIOUS to constantly redo, i literally refused to put myself through more than one-two, i don't mind hard chases, i quite like them! but the difficulty felt like absolute bullshit because it's completely beyond your control what will work and what won't, the original game had the chases be even faster and if i remember correctly completely randomized correct hiding spots, fun.

I’m so happy you posted I’ve been rewatching your videos again!

7:06 ayo 21:39 I love how angry you got lmao THE ENDING

I absolutely adore the games vgperson has translated and I was so excited to see you have multiple videos covering all these rpgmakers. I loved what you had to say about the story and now I'm having a such great time binging your videos. Please keep up the amazing work!

Now that I've watched through and know why I am giggling so much at the thumbnail of this video. Endless keys! It's neat to track Uri's style evolution with each game you cover, and seeing them in their less polished state here makes me appreciate the later games even more.

God I love the music you use for your videos and it makes me so happy to see videos of games I love :3 thanks for making really great content to listen to while I draw!

great to see you getting sponsored! been loving your stuff

Amazing content as always!! I hope your channel gets more recognition as it deserves, your videos are always so well edited!

This is amazing, thank you for making this

New Ben Again video! Studying can wait!

Holy shit!!! I was watching the hotel dusk video then you uploaded!! what a treat!!

thanks for the upload!

i don’t have schizophrenia (just anxiety) but i used to hallucinate shadowy figures nightly, i can confirm that i also felt an instant sense of fear not the best wording tonight but i think the point gets across

Hell yes! A Ben again upload is just what I needed in my life at the moment!

I Can't get bored watching your videos, keep making this type of content.

Do you plan to play the 4th game in The Strange Men Anthology? You introduced me to the series and I fell IN LOVE with it. I personally don't have the money or laptop to play the games so in general I thank you so much for talking about them and I think it'd be awesome if you did the 4th one!

God I can't wait for you to review The Hanged Man soon. Seeing as you did the first three, its only natural you would do the finale

Another banger from Ben! I love your videos and hope you keep uploading more! ✨✨

I always love the long form videos

Let’s go! Ben uploaded again!

I'd really like to hear what your thoughts are on Uri's most recent game, Pedestal. It's really obscure, which is a shame because I think it's one of her better games.

New ben again vid yay!

oh look, it's Ben again - I really love your Videos!

banger video as always!!

its always a good day when ben upload hey here another like and comment for your algorithm

I feel this game was really interesting in concept but fell short in overall execution. The story is really compelling but the gameplay kinda weighing it down. Anyways great video as always, I always look forward to your uploads! I've always liked your narration, the overall flow and presentation is engaging and easy to follow, yet you always leave just enough out to make me interested in playing the games you talk about. Awesome job, can't wait to see what you do next!

Hihi, this is so random but I really enjoy and love your videos a lot !!! The art and editing is really great, I love the games you talk about and the way you talk about them, and overall your videos are very cool !!! I hope you continue making them, and thanks for creating them :D

I'm so happy for you to bless me on this great Sunday, I'm happy

Back when I was watching @ManlyBadassHero 's Let's plays of the Paranoiac remake, I thought to myself, "This reminds me a lot of The Crooked Man." Then I rewatched @Nitro Rad 's video on The Crooked Man and I realized that they're made by the same creator!

Yay!! More Ben Again!! :D

Man Ben really hates all the keys like he vented it in the thumbnail because how much he hates the keys

Really interesting. A nice beggining in the series of horror games.

Kenny's distrust of Miura gives me life. Also, oh my gosh your videos just get better and better!!! I am 100% going to watch the full gameplay of this game, just the few snippets i heard of you all form this video really make me want to watch it!!!

NEW VIDO LES GOOOO

Cant believe you only have 20 videos. I feel like ive been watching for a while already

I'm not surprised Ben is a mountain man. You can tell by his coziness factor. Anyway this was a nice video even if the game wasn't the greatest.

I am shaking in anticipation that one day you will make a mermaid swamp video. I fucking love that game, so much...

Everytime I see a new vid I go "Ben uploaded again lets goo!!!" Also, I would def check out PEDESTAL, its one of Uri's later games that's suprisingly NOT a horror game (but is very memorable)

Mr.Ben Again I gotta ask, where did you come from? I’ve never seen a channel drop banger after banger of videos, I love your style, voice, and the in depth analysis of everything. You are incredible please keep going.

I would totally love to see you talk about Mermaid Swamp, it's one of my favorite rpgs. :)

It will be a great birthday, thank you ben

0:10 fat chance you already know about this game, or at least have heard of it, but i highly recommend fear and hunger!! it would be really cool to see you do a video on it, though it's quite different from the games you usually cover. either way, i love your videos!!

I LOVE that anyone who plays this game genuinely would rather lash out at the 'mother'....

I love that Before watching the video the only bits info you have on this video is the thumbnail and the title which highlight perfectly one of the biggest issues it has and it’s really god damn funny 😂 also love the bits with geeno it’s so damn hilarious seeing him being him 😂 (and last thing for real this time love the insane amount of censored swearing in the video by Ben and I know I’ve said it two times already but I’m going to say it again because it’s true it’s god damn hilarious! 🤣)

Every day Ben uploads is a good day!

Ben!! Again! Let’s goooo

Damn I've been loving your videos, so great to see some well needed RPG maker recognition lol Hope you keep reviewing Uri's games, mainly Mermaid Swamp was my favorite The remake for Insanity was honestly not that bad, my memories of it are fuzzy but I remember it was an ok game with an ok story lol, worth a try

Yooo I also live in the mountains!! Solidarity mate.

Ayo it’s bit city over here (the bat bit got me good) Despite the bad ending being pretty depressing I think it kinda shows the theme more. The reality that suicide tends to raise the likelihood of suicide in others It is often a fear that dissuades me personally Like I get that things will get bad and it won’t always get better as much as I’d like to believe it (though that’s not entirely how life works but unless you’re the villain and it’s you’re tragic anime backstory usually just having a support network helps ✨_a lot_✨) Having people to talk to and to just have fun with and experience moments of peace and calm and just joy in general is not only needed but it is vital to being alive. People can survive and endure a lot of bad shit but that is not the same thing as living. Joy is a requirement to life and I will die on this hill >:(

I had originally written a long winded comment talking about my own experiences with severe depression, guilt, and PTSD, but, decided it'd be best to just say this. It's a pretty decent representation of how depression, PTSD, and guilt can distort reality, make you forget the truth. Make you believe you're some kind of evil person who only causes pain and deserves nothing but a terrible fate. This next part is for those of you who may be struggling. Depression, trauma, and other forms of mental health concerns are hard to deal with, especially alone, but I promise you're never truly alone, because even if it seems like the entire world is against you, I promise there is always at least one person you can talk to. You don't have to fight through your pain alone. No matter what, you are worth every second; don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I know it's hard to get out of that hole but I promise you, you will. You are stronger then you think, and asking for help doesnt mean you are weak, it doesn't mean you're a bother or a nuisance. We all need help, we're only human. If you are struggling reach out to a friend, family member, a doctor, anyone you feel you can trust and talk to, you're not alone, i believe in you, you got this. If someone you know is struggling, or you think they might be struggling, check in on them, give them a call, set some time aside and be there for them. You don't need to be an expert to listen to someone you care about. Just do your best to be there for them. Even just listening to them can help em out a lot, trust me. Life aint easy, but you aint in this fight alone. Stay safe, and if you read this whole thing, I hope it helped you out at least a lil bit.

Once again, really good video! You never fail to make great content! Also, I bet the raw footage would be really fun to watch! Have you considered posting it on a second channel or smth? Edit: nvm just found that you already did!

Unbelievable, it’s this Ben guy AGAIN.

I am SO incredibly excited for this vidio

Another phenomenal video Ben, never heard of this key jumpscare simulator uh I mean game before and you did a good job covering it. Keep it up ❤

Great video Ben! Also if you don't mind me suggesting something, can you cover Zeekerss' horror games such as It Steals, Dead Seaters, The Upturned and Lethal Company? I think these games would be very fun for you to cover.

Kenny was completely on the mark. For a woman living alone, a strange man is the epitome of danger, you DO NOT let him in.

oh as I watched I noticed the hotel dusk and professor layton ost. Good choice, they're the best as bgm while listening to story explanation

Have you ever heard of the Project Moon series? Lobotomy Corp, Library of Ruina, and Limbus Company are one hell of a ride i would love you to see

BEN UPLOAD YIPPEEEEEE😈😈😈

Good shit

Have you heard of a game called forest of drizzling rain?

I really enjoyed your videos on the crooked man. Do you plan on making a video about the fourth game?

As an average うり fan I’m glad you’re around to cover the obscure series, love your channel

the thumbnails are so good tho

Can't wait till ya play Uri's Mermaid Swamp. That is a wild ride.

are you going to play the fourth game of the strange man anthology; the hanged man? I find it interesting that the games add each main character from the last to the sequel, as it combines such a smaller aspect to a bigger component. I would like to see your perspective and opinion on the game as rewatching the three that has been out already, the final one would be pretty cool!

Hey man, I found your videos yesterday and I've been loving the short form video essays. Keep up the great work! Have you ever heard of a game called Who's Lila? I think It'd be perfect for your style of videomaking combing psychological horror with a very intersting game mechanic, would love to see you cover it. Subscription well deserved!

Hey! Glad to hear your beautiful voice again, considering I thought you had sadly perished in the gas leak of '03...