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When the Horror Game Ditches the Monster...

TheStellarJay

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What if there was a horror game where nothing was chasing you? Would you feel scared?

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Chapters:
0:00 One in the Well
0:57 Intro
1:27 Grunn
5:20 Obsession and The Backrooms
7:31 The Pools
8:27 War Thunder (AD)
9:30 The Pools (Continued)
11:50 Proximate
14:36 Conclusion

#TheStellarJay #Gaming #HorrorGame

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Music:
"SCP-x5x (Outer Thoughts)" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
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"SCP-x7x (6th Floor)" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
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"SCP-x4x (Mind Leech)" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
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"Chase Pulse" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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"Chase Pulse Faster" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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"Galactic Rap " Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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Paper citation:
McAndrew, F.T., Doriscar, J.E., Schmidt, N.T., & Niebauer, C. (2025). Explorations in Creepiness: Tolerance for Ambiguity and Susceptibility to "Not Just Right Experiences" Predict the Ease of Getting "Creeped Out." Journal of Psychology, 159 (1), 36-55.

This video is protected under fair use; no copyright intended. Please don't sue me...

20 Comments

@TheStellarJay Creator 1 month ago Pinned

Thanks to War Thunder for the Sponsor! Download now here for PC/Console: https://wtplay.link/thestellarjay and here for Mobile: https://wtm.game/thestellarjay

What's the scariest atmosphere from a game you've played?

@Moldypickle42 1 month ago

Oh cool I made the game in the intro

@Chaos_505 1 month ago

It’s not even just to horror games, but that sense of “something” has been used to bring suspense, such as in firewatch, where the idea that someone else in the forest causes more fear than anything they do

@heypigachu 1 month ago

The backrooms movie only reveals what the monster actually is in the very last section and uses it to progress the narrative in a meaningful way. The idea that the movie "doesn't get the backrooms" is something that has been thrown around for a while, despite the fact that the original post also contains a monster and the movie spends most of its run time focusing on the people that trap themselves in the space.

@Eletilohlor 1 month ago

"Moooom! Youtuber mixes up canons of open ended universe again!"

@marlvelius 1 month ago

ive always found implied danger to be so much more scary than actual danger in games.
build up tension that something will happen but never let it, keep giving them glimpses and out of the way sounds to prevent them from getting to accusotmed or calm.
deaths and jumpscares become tedious if overused, and death specifically leads to frustration over fear or paranoia

@Jonas-ox7eo 1 month ago

I think you did Kane Parsons work dirty by not clarifying that his continuity of the backrooms is entirely different from the community-made stuff with the levels and such. Also the monster that you complained about being out in the open is literally only shown in the very last section of the movie, while being teased offscreen until then. There's a lot of different opinions about this movie (imo a sign of art that dares to cross boundaries), some people love it some people hate it, neither are entirely wrong. But you can at least represent the movie properly before telling us why you didn't like it.

@PrawnPawn 1 month ago

I’m genuinely so glad you talked about grunn in this one. It’s one of my favorite games and criminally underrated

@MalnourishedOpinions 1 month ago

You’ve outdone yourself with the quality of editing this video, especially the song choices and placement, 10/10.

@lucasdegamers 1 month ago

I met the creator of grunn half a year ago during a game design class, he was a really cool guy. My profesor had invited him and a few different devs over so we could ask them questions about game design and making games. His story of his journey as a gamedev was really interesting and inspiring to hear. really a great guy!

@candlestone5397 1 month ago

Honestly, I like the idea of the "Monster" not actually being dangerous. Like, for the first part of the game, its completely terrifying, but at some point it becomes clear that the monster doesnt actually care about harming you.

Like in the well one, Imagine if near the end of the game, you lost your grip, and fell... only for the monster to catch you in its hand, and gently move you closer to the wall so you could grab on.
Completely retextualizing the entire game before then. rather than the monster chasing you, it was simply making sure you were safe.

We have a lot of wholesome games that are "secretly" a horror game.
We do not have a lot of games where the Horror game is secretly Wholesome.

Heck, another way you could go about it would be a Survival horror game where you need one of the monsters to survive, and if you don't feed it, it abandons you while it goes hunting on its own.
Leaving you defenseless
You hear it hunting in the distance, and if you go too long without maintining your relationship with this monster, it will stop seeing you as a friend, and purely as food.

@benjaminmead9036 1 month ago

the backrooms thing is kind of unfair because as you said, the original does heavily imply creatures so its not like the lack of monster is integral to the concept

@D3ltus 1 month ago (edited)

You might be a fan of terror more than horror, my dear bird. I absolutely love terror, feeling heavy, sluggish, lightheaded but terribly aware, like you're alone on a bad street, at a bad time, and someone just started following you. Games and movies can never scare you like real life but I love the spooky stuff we make and that we've made spooky stuff for so long over many mediums. Kudos

Edit: typos

Edit 2: I liked the vibe and the flow of the video, do what you enjoy and they'll always be cool to watch

@theMatthgeek 1 month ago

Something also to be said about Myst and its sequels. There's a great sense of being two steps behind someone, and it's unclear if they knew you were coming. Part of this isn't as effective now, because Myst was basically pioneering a genre and we're used to some of it, but it's still really unnerving

@InnerEmoji 1 month ago

Babe wake up new wizard game guy vid

@1gengabe 1 month ago

Thats 2 different types of backrooms, kanes backrooms is not the multi level backrooms

@1gnore_me. 1 month ago

you're entering your jacob geller era & I'm here for it

@SomeFantastic76 1 month ago

I think the reason I personally found POOLS slightly less scary than some other games was that it explicitly tells you before you start, in the description of the game, “Hey! There’s no monster.”

So while I was definitely a little creeped out, I wasn’t afraid. I sort of got bored after a little, which is probably on me, but I couldn’t help but feel that if I wasn’t sure whether something was there or not, I would have been much more afraid. Taking away the possibility of a threat entirely bypasses the preemptive fear response.

That’s why the original Backrooms post was sort of creepy. Something is there, just no one knows what. Threat is implied, but not guaranteed. It makes it more intense, because the tension comes from the environment, the strangeness, the threat looming above, and also (one I’ve found is very important in scary games) the fact that your actions could activate the threat. You are tense with anxiety, as well as fear. It’s why games with the hide-in-locker mechanic are just a little bit scarier.

@3possumsinatrenchcoat 3 days ago

one of the things about the pools that I had never thought about consciously at least until recently I saw a discussion on it, is that not only are you walking these infinite halls, the chlorine is suffocating you as your desperately looking for a way out, lying down only makes the symptoms worse, the paranoia and isolation driving you mad, and all this as you're dehydrating to death, surrounded by water you can't drink a single drop of.

a monster in the open chasing you at least promises a quick, if scary, end to your suffering. but are the shadows in the corner of your eye really there? or is it just your brain conjuring things to tell yourself you aren't the only living thing still here?

@MefriusGD 1 month ago

This video made me realize more of how and why Voices of the void worked so well on me and many other gamers. That game confuses you with how it works, what's it even about etc. Is it simulator, a horror, survival, comedy, shitpost? Nothing fits that game as a whole and many weird and unique events only add up to the confusion, making you alert at all time. And when you relax due to grind and routine, the game strikes you in the back...