Watch this week's Zero Punctuation episode on Breathedge. www.escapistmagazine.com/v2/breathedge-zero-punctuation/ Watch it early on KZfaq via KZfaq Memberships.

“Sure, I could punch up this simile, or I could lay on my back for a couple of hours trying to catch chocolate covered raisins in my mouth.”

Little Nightmares has violently taken Limbo's throne by right of conquest.

The part about the "classic horror game paradox" really nails the biggest problem with scary games in a way that I feel is largely overlooked. But in a larger sense, that problem exists to some extent in all games. Death works best as a threat rather than something that actually happens, but it has to be able to happen to be a threat in the first place. Truly a conundrum.

Hooray, he brought up struggling at the part where you had to jump from a bookshelf to a dangling noose! I died so many times trying to get that jump right.

I tried doing the achievement for perfecting Little Nightmares 1 in under 3 hours recently. Gave up after perfectly sprinting through some stealth sections, only to fall off some stairs which didnt have railings, because apparently holding the stick directly to the right translated to "move right and slightly towards the camera" and Six obligingly walked off the side of the staircase and fell to her doom below.

"Scary Children in small worlds" is something Disney Theme parks have been profiting off for decades

Well ACTUALLY Yahtz the origin of the yellow raincoat is explained in the mobile game Very Little Nightmares (true story)

I like how yahtzee at least tries to excuse lazy jokes now rather than proudly exclaiming “I got paid to write that” 😂😂

"Little Nightmares" refers to both children as viewed by the adults in the games and every single gameplay set-piece.

"But what about scary children in small worlds" you covered that, yatz, it was called Psychonauts

In spite of Yahtzee's putdowns, the fact that Little Nightmare 2 actually has bits where you get to kill some of the monsters puts it head and shoulders above A LOT of modern horror games. Mechanical minimalism in horror needs to die off pronto, to put it diplomatically. The less involving gameplay you have, the more focus there is on the other things like story, which is especially bad if the story was written by inept hacks willing to say it was all a dream/all in your head near the end. Companies like Frictional, Supermassive and Bloober are guilty of clinging to the obnoxious fad of mechanical minimalism, when they really ought to be doing the sensible thing by looking at games like Silent Hill and Resident Evil and Alien: Isolation. That triumvirate of studios can make some really nice graphics, but they really need to start adding some proper mechanical depth to their insultingly-minimalist interactive software. Amnesia at least had some semblance of resource management, even though it's still pretty minimal, but variety is the spice of life, and when the only things you can do with the monsters are run and/or hide, encounters become stale and dread gives way to frustration. Plus, a good way to build dread and tension is to have the aforementioned resources to manage, giving us more things to do and making us uneasy when we're running low on the things that increase our odds of survival. Plus, while collectables can be a fun extra, in a horror scenario you'll need a lot more incentive to explore than the promise of some pretty but ultimately useless trinkets. If that one dark room has the potential to hold medicine or ammunition, you'll be a lot more eager to go into it, even if there's something hunting you.

I just had the stunning realization that Yahtzee is growing up. He's been a beacon of consistency since I was 13, and now I'm 22. Thinking back, it's a little bit amazing that I do remember a gaming trend that this Australian man talked about 7 years ago- one that he's still talking about now. Yahtzee has done this for enough years that reminiscing about "long ago" makes sense. I'm glad I've been here with him

What really gets me with this franchise is the amazing artwork in the game. There are so much imagination and creativity out there. And i would take more games like this any day of the week over the annual Spunkgargleweewee games the triple AAA devs vomit out.

Can yahtzee’s next game dev project be a platformer about a tiny ant postman delivering mail around a garden? I would play the shit outta that ✉️🐜

I miss the days when I clicked on a Zero Punctuation vid I was immediately blasted with loud music. My ears haven't bled in months :(

"Inside" is still my favorite "Small Child, Scary World" game.

"Gives way to the right at the mini roundabout." you're proud of that one, aren't you?

“What about scary children in small worlds?” Isn’t that just the Genocide run of Undertale?

It says something that the parts I laughed at were his writer's blocks.

1:50 A moment of silence, as we remember the lives lost in the tragic grubnedniH crash...

LN2 greatly improved on its predecessor by increasing the frequency of checkpoints (thank fucking god) and usually snapping you onto the platform you're on so you can't fall off while fighting to figure out where you are exactly on all three axes. On the other hand, jumping to catch ropes was still a pain in the ass. Still, it's so rich in environmental storytelling, you can soak it in for hours. There's definitely story there, but like interpreting a nightmare, a lot of it is up to the player. There's a reason KZfaqrs have suddenly launched themselves into huge success based on this game alone. But the best part of this game, strangely, was the puzzle-solving and mechanics involving Six. The way this game uses its mechanics to tell a story and the ending is just... **chef's kiss** I fucking love it. I love it when the mechanics of a game are used to impact the storytelling. Beautiful. Also, god damn... I'm glad its on the Switch, but that port does not do it justice. Please check it out on PS4 or PC instead, it's stunning.

3:25 *"FUCK YOU I HAD WRITER'S BLOCK!"* Holy shit I haven't laughed this hard and this out loud in weeks! FUCK ME THAT'S FUNNY!!!! HAAHHAHAHA! Thank you so much for leaving that in!

"Scary children in a small world" is the premise of the Twilight Zone episode with the magic monster kid, "It's a Good Life".

"scary children in small world" is a game called [Rule of Rose] It's a bit dated now, but I still like it.

I wonder how horror game enthusiasts feel about Yahtzee's tension paradox theory

"Scary children in small worlds" is just Genocide Undertale.

The Kid in Bastion is an adult though, prolly around 21 or 22 yrs old if I'm correct. He's just called "Kid" by the narrator, because the narrator is simply just older than him. And the rain coat is actually from someone else that died, basically helped Six escape a creepy mansion (It’s in a mobile game though).

Honestly, it's more like 'scary child, small world."

2:22 Oh there's a pretty good plot. It just takes a lot of thinking and digging to get it. But when you do, *damn* is it good.

Is can't hear "little character, scary world" without remembering that annoying antismoking ad. 🎵"Little lungs in a great big world!"🎵

That Parkinson's joke killed TF out of me🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 bruh I choked on my blunt...u funny AF

4:30 subnautica did that very well actually but cause I do not want to explain it just watch the architect of game's video on the topic

"It'd have been even more convincingly like my nightmares if there'd been a bit where you have to justify your choice of careers to a praying mantis with my mum's voice." The two blocks that occurred during the episode were just there to let that one through.

Hope his zeppelin-crash insurance was paid up

"The setting and atmosphere hit the mark like a traumatized veteran of the Tic-tac-toe wars who has just been jump-scared by a pirate treasure map." You're welcome

"Yahtzee's mother, we must find her and contract with her." - CEOs around the world plotting Yahtzee's downfall

This was actually a very accurate and surprisingly thorough review of the experience.

"Weetabix with legs" got a genu-LOL out of me hahaha Great review, Yahtz! Very funny, and i'm glad you kinda enjoyed it.

I haven't played these games but really hope the plot is "lizard aliens walk among us"

Playing Operation in the Parkinson's ward would probably be quite hilarious. I dunno what you're on about with that analogy, Yahtz.

I'm glad gas station hotdogs are universally despised.

At first I was confused by your mention of Bastion being a "small child in a scary world" game, but the more I thought about it, the more I feel that could fit: -The main character is referred to as the Kid, implying he's underage. He's also quite short. -The game starts with him waking up to find that his world just went kaboom, so he's probably pretty freaked out (though he hides it well). Also, I can name two arty indie games that aren't about a small child lost in a scary world: Hades and Dead Cells. -Hades is about a young man who has been trapped in a scary world all his life and is trying to escape (he isn't lost because he knows this place like the back of his hand). -Dead Cells is about a blob trying to escape a scary island that used to be his kingdom. Also, in all three of these games, the world is rendered less scary by the fact that almost every challenge you face can be solved with a generous application of hammer.

"... which is about as fun as playing _Operation_ in the Parkinson's ward" LOL... God - _Damn_

Shallow pie metaphor works for me.

Saw a friend playing it. It goes all Scary Child in a Small World toward the end.

"= the square root of a face full of piss" is now in my top 5 punchlines

"jibber jibber nonsense nonsense Weetabix with legs" really is up there with Oscar Wilde's best quotes. One for the history books and a million university dissertations.

Me: Expecting Solid Snake Yahtzee: HERMIT CRAB

The part about the scary elements not killing you in order to remain scary is a trick Subnautica actually pulls off quite well. The game pulls almost all its punches. Most threats are specificaly designed to let you escape by the skin of your teeth. Most notably, most predators don't kill you in one hit. They take most of your health, but then disengage and lose agro for a moment.

This was one of the best zero puctuation review in a while

great explanation about the concept of video game horror. once youve seen the death the entire atmosphere of suspense is gone. i had the same problem with the first game but i also figured some of it may have been due to using keyboard controls?

Little Nightmares II: This Time it's personal!

This made me realize that the first game had a lot more room for error than the second one. In the first game, there were sections for running and hiding. But in the second game, it's running OR hiding.

To answer the stinger last question; Undertale.

1:53 Oh the γtinɒmυʜ!

I love how the answer to a deadline can be: *self-aware mediocre joke* "I had writer's block. Fuck you." 😂😂🤣

Someone should make a reverse where a nightmare finds itself trapped in a small child's world and must move left to find thier way out of the cutesy world.

"If you try to explain a bad joke with writer's block, it suddenly becomes funny" -piece of advice when one is having a writer's block

3:16 is the backstory for the homeless man in the Condemned review.

What would probably help for keeping that tension is rubberbanding but with a base value for speed

I can't imagine having a problem with the platforming. It's pretty generous, if anything

Sometimes writers block can lead to an even greater punchline than anticipated because that just floored me

My overall impressions of the first game were "Amazing visuals and atmosphere, mediocre and stiff gameplay." Looks like they've kept the tradition. I do think Little Nightmares was worth playing, though. The qualities mostly overshadowed the negatives. I'll probably pick this one as well once the price drops.

"Fuck you, I had writer's block." 😂😂🤣🤣

I'm wondering what kind of pie did yahtzee have in mind

I usually hate spoilers, but that was smooth

Times like this I'm reminded of original amnesia's smart decision to change up the enviroment and the point at which a monster attacks every time you die. For example in the water section the water demon thing will appear later if you end up dying a couple of times to it. This speeds you along without letting the frustration kick in and keeps you immersed in the tension and fear instead of blasting off obscenities.

The chase sequences could have used some rubber-branding maybe with variable tension where mistakes cost more. As it stands you make no mistakes and get so far ahead that there is no question that you'll escape or you make one mistake from witch there is no escape.

"Scary children in small worlds?" You mean the It's a small world ride at Disney land?

I was literally eating a petrol station sausage roll and pie while watching this.

Am I missing something with LN's platforming cause I rarely had issues with it. Even now as I'm revisiting the first game, I hardly run into the issue of jumping to or onto other platforms, although LN2 did spruce up the platforming a bit. Heck, there's even this autograb-like function when you hold the grab button during your climbs and jumps that makes things more easier. Maybe it's more of a hassle if you're trying to speedrun it? One thing I can say is that some of the chase sequences or timed door puzzles do require you to be almost spot on with your running, but it doesn't take that much effort in achieving.

Zero Punctuation indie rock track of the week: *Variable Rate Mortgage From Hell* by *Shark Infested Gravy Boat* Runner-up: *Oh Thank Goodness The Ambiguity Is Gone* by the *Gruel Vouchers*

Gibber gibber nonsense weerabix with legs is the most accurate description of Inside that I've ever heard

You did fine, Yhatz. When you set the bar high with your truly over-the-top pieces, we'll gladly watch anything close. We're easy that way.

Yahtzee with writers block still makes me laugh

The mini roundabout pun had no business being that funny

Sir you made me laugh and deserved this 👍🏻

Finally! I was waiting for him to do a Little Nightmares game!

Yahtzee, I believe terrifying children in a small world is stuff like Omori, Bully, and Pokémon. Ngl though, it would be cathartic I guess to have a hide-from-the-bully simulator

Scary children in small worlds? Sounds like The Cave to me

Can't say I agree with ur verdict but meh as for me as least it's a short single player it works for what it is I do agree the 3rd dimension aspect is kinda wonky and wasn't necessary but great vid

Did editing/production value jump up a bit this week? Looked great

Anyone know the song from 0:00 - 0:29 ? Really dig it, haven't been able to find anything about it online.

what's great is that this game will be some poor kid's first game, and 20 years from now they'll remember it fondly as they sip a can of Nostalgia™.

If the day comes when Yahtzee's reviews can't make me laugh, it will well and truly be the day I've died inside.

Intro song: the process - lakey inspired

I wanna be stuffed into a pitta bread

5:00 Jeff Hardy has entered the chat

"It hits the mark much like a football in the movie The Room" "It's about as deep as an inflatable swimming pool that's been stabbed more times than the aforementioned balloon" How do those work?

At long last! The plebs may see the lord!

these games only take 5 hours and are meant to make you experience the atmosphere, not the gameplay itself, like you said. they should just make the game easy mode with animations of them finishing each obstacle but in a way that is obvious that you failed (in this case, "forced almost failed). then unlock the hard mode where you die. this way at least you can have different animations for each playthrough and, if you only did one one them, you at least experienced a large portion of the game.

that pie line reminded me of "a face like a dropped pie" not exactly relevant, just thought i'd share :)

"Scary children in small worlds" ...Balan's Wonderland?

I honestly never had any problem with the brain jar room jump in my three playthroughs.

"I had writer's block f**k you" stealing this for daily use

poor mark , hahaha

Weetabix with legs?! 🤣🤣🤣

the stop motion eastern european thing is so damn accurate

Thank you for reviewing the game!! 😁