A strange House. An even stranger tale within. Original MyHouse.wad Doomworld forums post: www.doomworld.com/forum/topic... MyHouse.wad playlist: • MyHouse.wad
"Don't copy this game anywhere, it'll cause obsession and insomnia" Me, watching my 5th ~hour long video about MyHouse.wad at 5am: huh, I wonder who that sign is for
genuinely ive consumed what must be 10 hours worth of this game by now. ive highlighted pieces of the journals and obituaries and filled lages in a notebook trying to figure this thing out lol
@@sweethomealabama6395 the story aint fucking chronological enough for me and the mirror dimension makes no fucking sense in any literal meaning and i cannot find a metaphor and i do not understand what the fuck is going on with hell's gas station. Like, one seems to be a car accident (obviously) but the other one looks like a fucking shooting and it does not make sense to me. Also, the crib. Why is steve having nightmares about a stillborn baby?
The chalkboard in the daycare is inspired by a real life chalkboard that was found in a school in Oklahoma. The interesting thing about that chalkboard is that it’s supposedly more than an 100 years old. It depicts nearly identical drawings as the one found in the daycare. Whether it has any significant meaning or it’s merely just used as a stock texture, there’s no telling.
There's a quote in House of Leaves referencing a moment in colonial history (a pilgrim writes in his diary "I see stairs!") which in context metaphoric is the protagonist starting to desperately grasp at anything to mentally avoid the subject at hand.
That’s why the date stood out to me, the original says 1917, but here it’s been edited to 1984. So clearly the date mattered to the author, but I can’t figure out exactly why because 1984 doesn’t really fit with anything else going on.
@@ShallowVA Maybe the author is trying to self censor his own thoughts? Like that his child died, or that his life in theoofice wasn't fulfiling to him.
The blood trail from the baseball in the daycare goes into the bathroom in that room first, where the mirror is shattered and there's a crack in the wall. Interacting with that crack is what lets you get the Berserker pack in the hallway closet. My interpretation of that is probably darker than what's intended but it seems like the person who got hit by the baseball (most likely in the head since there's blood) went berserk at the daycare...
The Berserk powerup is also used when you die and idle for a minute instead of restarting, where you then end up in a hospital and can use a defibrillator to get back to life, which acts like the powerup. I think the story here is that someone got hit with the baseball/ cut themselves on the glass and then went to the closet to get first aid.
I think the idea of Steven and Thomas being the same person has some weight behind it. Duality and reflections are a huge part of the map's whole theme, so it fits in nicely.
yeah, makes more sense, which also explains why the mirrored house where the normal house you can't run away (Steven) and the mirrored house, you can run away (Thomas) Missing Thomas as missing the other person wanting to run away as dead, but at the same time he isn't It's complicated to explain but it made sense to me
The whole story is bullshit. Come on, people lol. This is one or a few super experienced map makers doing this. The level of sophistication isn't just some guy's first map. And the picture of the guys is so obviously photoshopped, along with the obits being off. It's some Andy Kaufmann type stuff.
@@GeronimoPlaz you got people talking about theme and symbolism in here and your response is to let us know its fiction? Umm thanks I guess. Btw the picture is suposed to look fake, it let's you know something is "off". It would have been easier to just get a real photo if the creator wanted to make people really believe it was real.
I do think that idea does fit the map's themes better, though the odd details hinting towards other interpretations are still out of place enough to warrant further investigation
Worth noting that, in addition to the pool rooms, the liminal space theme is present in the brutalist house and the airport as well. In fact, most of the house variations take inspiration from iconic liminal space imagery. The brutalist house is based on the liminal space image from the inside of a hotel featuring concrete paths with green carpet or turf, surrounded by windows presumably into other hotel rooms. The airport is a common setting for liminal space scenes, the carpeting and seat cushion texture is reminiscent of that spacey carpet you might see at a SkateZone in the 2000s or in other children's play places. Speaking of children's places, the daycare house also features the notable "city carpet" that was common in a lot of children's rooms twenty years ago. Daycares and schools after hours are common settings of liminal space imagery as well. The mapper really knew their shit. Glad to see people breaking this thing down, just wanted to throw some appreciation to some of what most definitely inspired this map's design. Probably missed a few other details myself, but this project is just chalk full of detail in the first place.
Adding to the iconic liminal space imagery tally, if you use the noclip cheat to clip out of the map at any point, you just straight up go to the Backrooms.
Fun fact: if you go into cheats and enable noclipping, if you fly out of the fence around the house, the game will teleport you to a modeled real backrooms, with hazy fluorescent lights, moist carpet and the madness of yellow, with something inside, creeping inside the walls
I don't know what effect it has on the ending, if any, but... if you die and just wait... you eventually wake up in hospital, with another small mini puzzle, which concludes with you waking up back in the bed in the house. There's also more liminal space in one of the bedrooms when you open a closet and there's a long straight hallway that takes you into more weird maze-like rooms. And as others have mentioned, if you try noclip and go out of bounds at any point in the wad you will end up in the actual backrooms. 😂 What an amazing wad to be packed with so much!
The maze-like rooms in the closet are actually a direct reference to House of Leaves, the book that inspired a lot of this wad. And personally I love it :)
I had never heard about "The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet" before this video and it prompted me to look it up. The first result from Wikipedia mentions that this song "was recorded from a Norddeutscher Rundfunk broadcast at an unknown date, widely speculated to be 1983 or 1984." Considering the 1984 date on the calendar in the daycare, this seems like an interesting additional coincidence. Whether or not it could be significant is a mad hope from me. Great video and thanks for the incredibly interesting coverage of My House.
my interpretation of the contradicting timeline that theres actually two distinct timelines: one where steven marries thomas and has a fulfilling life him before some disaster at the house kills them both, represented by the true beach and mirror steven being able to accept impermanence, and another timeline where steven represses himself , moves away from thomas, and survives whatever killed thomas, represented by the fake beach where steven is extremely isolated in his meaninglessly long life
Just wanted to say that I LOVE this theory, it connects all of the themes and threads present in the story and the endings really nicely. Definitely the one I think is the closest to the truth!
My personal take on the ending is that Steven's obituary is to be taken metaphorically. He didn't literally die on the same day as Thomas, but losing his lover in a fire caused part of himself to die as well. Perhaps causing a level of Survivor's Guilt as well, which only exacerbated his conflicted feelings while 'making' the map. I feel like that's the reasoning that makes the most sense. (Well, that and the 'they're parts of the same person' theory, but I dunno how much I gel with that one) I really don't think the creator would pull a "THE AUTHOR WAS DEAD THE WHOLE TIME, AND *YOU* BECAME SKELETON AND WROTE THIS" move, with how amazing the rest of the story is. Or perhaps the ambiguity to the story is deliberate, one of those "come to your own conclusion" type stories. who know,,,,
Yeah, as much as I do vibe with the interpretation that Steven is a ghost, creating the map as a way to process his life, with all the nightmares and the supernatural elements that he reports in making the map being aspects of whatever limbo he lives in, it is sort of a horror cliche I will admit. Personally I still chose to see it as a love story, though. Either they were married and they did die on the same day (airplane crash?), or else it might have something to do with another theory someone mentioned, where Steven is contemplating two timelines, one where he did marry Tom and one where he didn't. Either one would explain what the deal with all the mirror stuff is.
My interpretation remains that the two beach endings represent two paths Steven/Vedge can proceed down now that the map has escaped into the wild, either step away from it and move on with his life, start over, maybe reconnect, or let this obsession consume him. And I also think the QR code is his survivor guilt, guilt at not being there for Tom, and so on. The copypasted details in both obits leads me to suspect such a thing.
Another nice one I’ve seen since recording this is that the map depicts a life Steven wishes he would have lived. The real Steven only knew Tom as a friend from school, but in the world of the map, they got married and had a life together. Real Steven is alive but not really living, while the Steven in the map is dead but had a happy life.
Tombstone is not an ending, it's a revelation as a part of the story. A plot twist since you first expect that Steven is writing this, but no, he was dead all along. So there can be two ways about this, its either his ghost has moved on (real sunset) or he's still haunting
@@TheTriangle444 I think his “death” isn’t literal here but just how he feels… he can never tell Thomas how he felt about him because he’s gone and it makes him feel like he’d rather be dead himself too. He has no way of tying up that loose end anymore because the person he loved is gone.
In regards to the daycare dream, Steven mentions in his journals that he found a stillborn baby. On top of this, there’s a painting of a rainbow in the map for the daycare dream. My interpretation of this is a bit shoddy, but I think that could be hinting to the fact that his parents had a stillborn before him, making him a rainbow baby.
I like the observation that the true beach ending avoids “confronting” the house fire! That ties into the story and the thoughts in the journal really well. I stopped short of calling the gravestone “the last ending” in my own video because the player can retreat from it, unlike the other places that we call ending - but I was tempted, as this does seem to be a very significant thing to find. The beach that we’ve been calling the true ending might signify happiness but not reality! I loved watching and listening to your thoughts :) Your breathy deep voice is great for narration (you sound like you could be in a Metal Gear Solid game!) and the low-cut filter you use for reading game text is an effective touch to make the voice have a different presence - I don’t think I’ve heard that done anywhere else before.
Calling any of the endings “last,” or “true,” or “good” (or even calling them “endings” at all!) seems like more a matter of convenience than anything else. Even with everything we know, there’s a lot that’s still up to interpretation! It is interesting that you can leave the grave site though… I gotta admit I never even tried that myself because both beaches lock you in. I have to assume it was an intentional choice to leave a way out.
I would personally argue that the only "ending" is the one that lets you exit the level on itself, although looping around can get you more significance as it would be "coming back for unfinished business"; getting locked in the real beach would be taking on the author's steps by yourself and concluding the .wad the way he did, fading to black and closing gameplay. Getting locked in the "true" beach does not end the game, but you aren't able to do anything else than admire the small scenery you are upon. You are now done, but its not over, it never is. A bit more of thought goes over the "burning house" progression, where you are now able to leave the house (and close the loop) after it burnt down to the ground, looking back there's nothing to go back into, there's no reason to keep there, so you move on (though you can loop, for whatever reason)... There is more to go about that has been already said about Underhalls and its mirror version, but I'm not precisely sure its done with further intentions: Normal underhalls is a soft-reset that rewards you with the super shotgun and potentially re-grabs part of your attention after being stuck on the puzzle that is the first playthrough of the house layout. Mirror underhalls may be to have you notice that everything is taken care of, everything is reversed, except you, your objective, and the way it was meant to be handled.
Reminds me of a story I had to study in my English Literature class, “The Wife of Martin Guerre” by Janet Lewis. In it Bertrande is seemingly abandoned by her husband Martin until years later he appears again, but Bertrande cannot shake the feeling that this man is an imposter and not truly her husband. It’s a fascinating divide between choosing happiness or reality, especially since much of the family seems to not care if the man were an imposter or not, because he was so much nicer than the old Martin.
I think the reason for S + A being so weird to use someone's last name instead of their name may be because if Thomas is Steve's reflection then it would make sense theme wise that his reflection would have their last name first.
This could also make sense with the soulmate theory, with a common theme/story with soulmates being that they complete/mirror/foil each other. This also makes sense with the mirror house having a darker atmosphere and, near the end, an enemy that can’t really be defeated (correct me if i’m wrong on that, i don’t know much about doom). All of this could represent grief over a partner’s death.
There's also a lot of focus in this map about bathrooms being unsafe, so there could be some gender stuff going on here. One of them, presumably the one known as Tom, could be transgender. If this person is FtM, then the letter A could be the first name of his deadname and some part of Steve is idolizing the period of time before Tom transitioned and is somewhat fantasizing about the suppressed, feminine-presenting version of him. Alternatively, if this person is MtF, the letter A could be the first letter of her chosen name and Steve, not wanting to out his beloved even post-mortem, is referring to her as the name and pronouns everyone would know her as except for in his one specific moment of peace. Either one could also easily connect to the bottle and how it wasn't meant to be, as well. If the person is FtM, then it could be that he lost his ability to easily become pregnant as a result of HRT, or just that it would be too dysphoria-inducing, so the option went away. If the person is MtF, then obviously she can't carry a child due to, you know, not having a uterus and whatnot. Either way, while trans people are certainly capable of being parents, there are many circumstances relating to transness that could make it difficult and/or unlikely to happen.
@@magicman3163 Multiple things can be true at once. You do know that, right? Your statement does not contradict mine; a literary choice can have multiple purposes.
Dear god, this is such an incredibly well-made video, like something you'd see from a CZcamsr with ~100k subs. Kept me captivated the entire time, and I already finished the game 100%. Simply incredible. I love how you narrated the item pickups while presumably keeping a straight face, even though they said things like "Good doggies are good doggies" or "Kitties like tunas".
Hey, thanks man! Love your stuff! “Und jetzt - in den Mülleimer!” has become a bit of a running joke with my (German) family since I saw it in your HL2 video and shared it with them. There are definitely a few goofy takes of “drunk buddy” and “roll for intercourse” on my hard drive after this haha. I don’t usually go this hard with my videos, but I felt like this map deserved it.
@@ShallowVA i hope you do followup videos on things you missed etc. I only found your channel by accident when I stumbled upon this video, hope to see more from you!
The fact that something this deep and intense was just dropped on the Doom forums with zero hype is just mind blowing. Amazing rundown of it. Thank you, I barely found a quarter of all this from my own blind playing.
The idea of Steven and Thomas being created as a result of mental trauma and then 'dying' when the character 'healed' is very reminiscent of Zac and Francis York Morgan from Deadly Premonition. A solid explaination.
An interesting detail is the way the word house appears in blue in Steve's journal, a formatting choice that was also done in House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski
It kinda seems like as you progress further and more and more monsters start appearing, it could be symbolism for an increasingly horrible home life, with either delusions getting worse, or the parents/caretakers becoming more and more abusive.
@@laurenhatter6824 That theory seems to work well, when you remember that gay people weren't viewed that well back then unlike today. Edit: i forgot Tom dies in 2022, but still, maybe Steven got trauma from that during his youth
This is easily one of my favorite mods to ever exist. Not to knock most Doom wads, it's just the engine IS incredibly dated and most transformative mods such as Total Chaos are more novel than impressive from a gameplay perspective. They do crazy things that are indeed impressive, but are ultimately trying to distract from the fact that this is all taking place in the Doom engine. My House, however, is like a bait and hook. You go in expecting a mundane experience and come out WITH an experience. It's not really trying to be difficult and most challenges are pretty standard (outside of the Gas Station ending), but it completely sucks you in with the story it is trying to tell and yet never gives you any concise or clear answers as to what is going on; it gives you enough pieces to the puzzle to see what the picture is for the most part, but you are never outright handed the full picture. It allows you to stew and think about it and that is what I love about it. The technical tricks and storytelling is simply superb. As for interpretations, I mentioned this in your first playthrough, but I believe the story is all about "Change". As in: Time and circumstance changes the meaning of not just people and things, but places. Through the lens of a child, a dog can be big and scary but through the lens of an adult it can simply be a cute dog. In a hurricane, a building can go from a place of sanctuary to a prison. In the case of this mod, so many things he was familiar with as a kid become warped and twisted through the passage of time in gradual, subtle ways, until a point: Your friend dies, and that house you spent your childhood going to and hanging out at stops being this cozy, comfortable place. It is devoid of the person that made it feel whole, and all that is left now are memories and a building of something that used to be. Looking at the game through this lens can explain a lot of the visual symbolism from the minor changes you notice in the beginning to the reason behind the fiery dream to the end where the house is no longer on fire or inhabited by monsters, but simply an empty abandoned shell of something that used to be and is now home to no one. There is nothing left to find or do, so you walk out the front door and poof, it's gone. Like revisiting a friend's old house or a store you used to go to what used to be there is long since bulldozed and gone and is now up for sale, potentially to a new family that may or may not experience that same sequence of events in their own time. I, of course, am rambling and outting way too much thought into this, but that's my point. This wad gains purpose outside of the actual game you play and keeps you thinking about it long after you've turned your computer off. This, to me, is the hallmark of any legendary game; Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Final Fantasy X, Shadow of Colossus, etc, you get the picture. This wad brought me back to a time when games were simply meant to get under your skin and encourage thought, not just be consumed and discarded like candy.
Whatever you did to brighten up all of the darker scenes really helped! Well done on all the editing on this one; it really helped make sense of this crazy experience.
I cracked open the mapinfo lump in the pk3 and removed the hardcoded darkness. It’s normally set to “Dark,” but I changed it to “Vanilla” or even “Bright” for some of the footage here. The map download actually got a silent update that brightened it slightly as well, but not quite as much, and I didn’t want to take any chances with CZcams’s compression.
Somethings you didn’t cover: in the brutalist house, you can see a monster peaking at you behind a curtain. In the mirror world if you use the blue skull key, you’ll go to a reversed version of underhalls. In the pool room and sky platforms, falling down will take you to dark void with an infinite stair cases. If you noclip out of bounds you will be taken to the backrooms.
Tbf the noclip one is probably a joke. The game is pretty liminal regardless and noclipping out of reality is a staple of the backrooms. What better way to punish people who wont play the map as intended. The sllahrednu thing seems more of a way to simply unsettle you, and the infinite staircase just seems like a cryptic way to just send ya home. Also the monster doesn't seem to have big lore and is most likely a funny (for the creator) bit to unsettle you even further. Makes you feel like you're not alone in a very bad way.
The impossible geometry - I remember my first encounter with it. While playing with Duke3D build. The manual said you can't do room-over-room. I tried to do it anyway: One floor above the other, with a stairwell connecting them. I then realized that making the stairs actually go up (or down) is optional. Even if the stairs are very shallow, you'll still "go up an entire floor". I then realized that the engine doesn't care if rooms intersect and happen to occupy the same 3D space. The engine only cares about how rooms connect to other rooms
Amazing video, very in-depth. Also gotta love how you got jumpscared by the Shrek lmfao This and David's ongoing trilogy showing how the map works mechanically are really satisfying to see. There was so much effort put into the mod it's utterly insane.
This is such a great piece of surrealism and eeriness. The atmosphere is fantastic and the strangeness of the endings and story bring even more to ponder about than just the fantastic mapping tricks. Glad this map could introduce me to your channel since your first video on it!
I’ve seen many horror projects throughout the years, but this one struck a chord with me. In fact, the ending nearly brought a tear to my eye. Despite knowing how the story truly ends, its still incredibly unsettling and the ending bittersweet, with an air of mystery still surrounding it. Stories with these kinds of endings keep you up at night and remain in the back of your mind for a a very long time. On the side note, absolutely phenomenal video man, you deserve much more attention.
Love when the analog genre of horror adds an interactive element. I know a lot of people think the fad played out but I’m here for it, it scratches that creep itch on me.
I saw another video explaining the theory about the queer lover and I didn't even consider the trans man possibility, but it makes so more sense and it makes their story all the more tragic to end like that after everything they went through together.
I'm glad you mentioned House Of Leaves because that explains the dark maze that has like a 9% chance of spawning whenever you open the closet door of the smaller upstairs bedroom (I think you need the blue skull key too.) I never found the endless staircase inside the maze, but I read the description somewhere and it seems those details were taken straight from descriptions of the maze in House Of Leaves.
I don’t think the connection between the daycare’s calendar and George Orwell’s 1984 is completely unfounded. I think having history be erased as a major part of the book ties into the WAD’s story as well. One interpretation I came up with is it being a metaphor for Steve being an unreliable narrator. As it could hint that some important details are being left out. The other interpretation I have of “history erased” is Steve trying to forget about the trauma he went through in the past. I feel like either or both could apply to the story overall.
That, and with the general (yet subtle) memery within the pk3, I think that might've been Veddge taking the piss out of the players curiosity. We can discuss subtext until we bleed out our assholes, but sometimes things are just there for the sake of being there. That being said, I really like your interpretation of why 1984 is there. Very clever reading
I saw that in the original version for the game it was said to be a different year there, and I think it's 1989 The reasoning being that the game calander drawn shows the last day of the month to be a Sunday, but in 1984 the last day of December is a Monday. 1989 is the only year in the 80s that the last day of December is on a Sunday
Forgive the reposting I'm commiting here, but earlier I commented some of these thoughts the initial unfiction video, but perhaps here where the full deep dive occurs they may be more fitting. There's some oddities with the IRL evidence in the photos of Veddge's Google Docs that do bring some more thoughts towards what was real and what wasn't. -With the photo album images, two of the four photos though some of them beg questions about the reality of the actual house the map is based on. The photo of the alcove of doors on the upper floor ( 10:06 ) seems to include the second alcove that appears later in the map... the one that logically shouldn't exist, and leads to the other impossible rooms. Then the photo of Scrambles on the bed ( 10:22 ) seems to depict the bedroom closet oddly.. either there's a trick with the light, or the closest is remarkably gray, and vaguely looks like a hallway that may go fairly deep (five and a half minutes deep, you could say). Without giving much away since the video chose to gloss over this, something in the map occurs at this very door. This and the first photo begs the question if something similar occurred in an actual house here, and could've contributed to what truly affected Tom, or whoever he really was. -There's something anomalous about the obituary photos besides the obvious example. For people looking up the original images as opposed to the cropped ones in the video, note the obituaries around Tom and Steve's entries. Visible in Tom's photo, the woman in the top left seems to have an August 2022 death date as well, but the woman below him, Catherine Philbaum, is described as dying January 12, 2023...5 months after Tom. This isn't very normal for obituaries to have such far-off death dates so close together, especially since Tom's obituary mentions his memorial service in future-tense, as usually meant to let people know to come to them. And there's another case in Steve's photo; below him (which also mentions his service in future tense) is the obituary for one Norman Edward Penske, listed as dying February 18, 2023. What logic is there in a newspaper posting obituaries with such distant death dates while still trying to inform people of imminent funerals? Where did this come from, and how have we come to see it? I suppose it's also worth noting, given the map's habit in giving us contradictions on what is real, of a notable parallel with the work it shouts out many times to, House of Leaves. At the core of the book is the story of a house with the ability to morph and change, become bigger on the inside and create strange, very very dark grey corridors and labyrinths, with the hint of something monstrous inside. This story is presented as the account of a documentary called "The Navidson Record", analyzed in a long essay found by the book's protagonist Johnny Truant, who is puzzled by the essay's detailed presentation as the film it describes, as far as he knows, doesn't exist, and its academic citations don't match up with actual sources. Over the course of the book, Johnny goes through a similar experience as Veddge in becoming paranoid, insomniac and hallucinating as the essay's contents trouble him, and his life falls apart and seems to disappear after the narrative has concluded to an uncertain fate. But one more detail exists in the book's appendix, where letters from Johnny's mother, a mentally disturbed woman committed to an institution, dwells on her past and present, and regrets in raising Johnny. One of them goes as far as dwelling on a baby who died in hospital, which brings to mind the possibility that Johnny himself never grew up to at all, a similar paradox to what Steve's obituary suggests. This may be all part of the homage MyHouse.wad pays to House of Leaves, for better or worse ending on mind screwiness where the narrative is contradictory and labyrinthian, and the truth of what may've happened for sure cannot be known.
@@flaetsbnort Literally nothing, but in and of itself it's also kinda spooky. Basically the grey hallway (which has like 1/10 chance of appearing in the closet at a certain point in house exploration) opens into a labyrinth almost exactly like the ones described in the map's inspiration House of Leaves, with dark unlit corridors that are geometrically impossible, complete with a "Great Hall" wide open space where the only feature is a descending spiral staircase in the center that goes on forever. There's nothing to find there though (not even a minotaur), but the eeriness of the location is enough to be spooky, particularly when it catches players by surprise (one example of which in the LPs that have come up is Socpens's playthrough)
The level of environmental storytelling and puzzle-solving borders on masterful here. The synergy of real items matching real memories and mirror world items matching nightmares is incredibly inspired. Any game designer could learn a lot from this. An old, formerly cutting edge game engine married to a great imagination produces more interesting results than a lot of triple AAA Studios with a whole paid team can manage.
i like the second theory that they are the same person. the game is all about overcoming trauma and moving on, thinking about the author warning players not to paly the game, it truly gives me the feeling of him not wanting to face his trauma even offering a secret ending to avoid the memory of the house fire if thats not trauma idk what is, but if you face the truth and face the house fire the game reveals the truth, the same truth the author was running away from.... this game reminds me of that feeling when youre in a dream and you can go through one part of your house and end up in completely different areas and just like in dreams areas from reality are mixed with fiction. i can think of many more hints to them being the same person like how in the journal areas of steven's house are in the map that is based on thomas' house, but this is like Occam's razor, "the simplest explanation is preferable to one that is more complex" basically the theory that has less contradiction/less assumptions that need to be made in order for the theory to make sense is the preferable one.
Great work! I think the unreliable narrator aspect is still very important here - as you mentioned in your first video of this map's walkthrough, it doesnt seem like its 90's house, and daycare artifacts and Childhood Nightmare all point to them being fragments of memories from the middle 2000's at least. This may be the case of different memories bleeding into each other, or, you know... we don't see the daycare from a kindergardners's perspective. Maybe Steven had a sibling or even a child? The last one is a stretch, since being 35 in 2022 would make him a teen for the most part of 2000's. Also that whole "mid 2000's" timeline would match up neatly with the last posts Veddge made on their profile on Doom forums...
Excellent breakdown of the WAD! I didn't even know about the final ending until you revealed it in this video, and really liked your "walkthrough" style, along with the narrated item pickups. As far as theorizing goes, I can throw my own one out. It's in the same vein as the multiple personalities theory, but maybe "Steven" and "Thomas" are merely "what-if" scenarios that Veddge created, trying to see the outcome of going to different paths in life. Maybe the good beach ending is reconciliation with the two different routes, leading to self-understanding. I doubt it's the case, but I suppose there's many ways to interpret this WAD.
my personal interpretation is that, and hear me out for this: thomas and steven are the same person, but in different realities entirely. think about it: the mirror world. the mention of the version of veddge sitting on the beach in the mirror world, living happily. theyre one and the same, albeit from the "normal" and "mirror" worlds. the mirror world is the literal mirror of how things are, even down to sad lives becoming happy. the regular world is the regular world. this probably doesnt make too much sense but, ngl, its what personally makes sense to me. i truly love this wad. it found me in a very bad mental state, and, while i am still working through it, oddly enough, its really helped. from the gameplay, exploration, even the soundscapes, it all works together to just... speak to me on a level no other doom wad, or really any other game in general, ever has. tldr: thank you for these videos on it. genuinely so happy to have more eyes on this UPDATE: i have come to a new conclusion. my new take? you're playing as veddge. it's very subtly hinted at, but it's there. the map has the central theme of "you must fight for your own happiness" (such as the literal fighting as well as the actual puzzle solving and exploration) the journal has mentions and descriptions of multiple nightmares, *all of which are represented in the map itself.* the best ending has you sitting on a beach at sunset, seemingly calm and content. you're playing as veddge, fighting through his grief, mental turmoil, and literal nightmares, all to pursue true happiness.
Just realized he had his dog in that afterlife instead of his cat is because since it was his childhood dog it probably would've died by the time he reached adult hood.
I didn't know all the other areas were just different versions of the same house! Thank you for pointing that out. When I played it, the thing that freaked me out the most was the change to the doors, but I stopped at the bathhouse because the reflections slowed down my game immensely. Great video!
I could totally be wrong here but i believe the Fire House is the "last ending" The false beach being the middle. And the true beach being the first. Sounds backwards, but I truly believe that Steven believed that he could fight for his dream where he is together with the one he loves. And living a calm life with them. He tells himself he needs only to fight for it, but he never really tries. Thus we get the false beach, where he pretends he is living in this dream world where everything went right, but just behind the curtain there is nothing to his life. Finally the house fire, I believe that purposely he shorted a circut in his basement knowing basic electronics with intention of starting an electrical fire. Taking his own life and Tom's aswell. Afterwards the house is torn down and sold. The Spirit of Steve unable to rest for what hes done works and releases this game, as well as the documentation for it.
One thing you forgot to mention is how multiple floors are impossible in the doom engine due to the raycasting method it uses for building 3D spaces, yet this map has plenty.
Apparently the author used teleports to simulate the floors, like put a smile t teleport spot down a ladder that instantly puts you on another spot of the map, which was made to look almost perfect match. I certainly never realized anything odd was going on, but unfamiliar with the doom engine, amazing . there is a trilogy of videos explaining all the mechanics and how things were done. All very cleverly done
@@Aldenfenris saw that, it's not just teleports. The teleportation does definitely play a major part but the airport is two story and both floors exist simultaneously without teleportation (because you can open the merch room door from the floor directly above)
I have several things to say about this video One: this is AMAZING, you managed to keep my ADHD ass firmly planted in my seat and enthusiastically watching this whole thing Two: the Shell gas station gave me some memories, I remember seeing them all over the place in my hometown when I was little Three: the blue fog in the mirrored version of the gas station part really reminds me of the Blue Forest from SCP: Containment Breach and I love it Four: I forgot what I was gonna say, and it’s really bugging me, I’ll edit this with what I was gonna say if I remember this
One thing I've noticed. And I feel as though others have failed to notice. Is the images provided actually showcase some of the corridors that appear from nowhere and hidden rooms. It's honestly quite amazing attention to detail
This is a really entertaining breakdown of the best map we've seen in years, even if it is definitely missing some important beats including everything related to the hospital trip: You somehow managed to dodge that whole sequence in your playthrough via safe play and regular reloads, but it plays an important role in the narrative.
i have never seen your channel ever, but the way you lay things out at the start. and the way you formatted this into such a concise video really pleases my brain thank you
i like how you explained the different interpretations at the end, I hadn't thought that they would be the same person but all 3 seem to have a good amount of supporting evidence behind them. also really like your video making style, I just wish you'd include the music in the description! I recognised some tracks from metroid
This is my first video I've seen from you and I gotta say -- I'm not entirely sure how to say it, but the way you present yourself, the monitor, and the way the (or your?) face talks and changes is really strangely hypnotic and satisfying the quality in these videos are incredible, and one of the easiest subs I've ever given
Found out about this Mod yesterday, and it's the most impressive game design I think I've ever seen. That it both completely changes the game engine to do shit I never thought was even possible, and has so much hidden within a package presented as simply "here's a friend's house" is just art. This is Shakespeare in gaming format.
I don't know how this found it's way into my recommendations-I don't play or watch much Doom stuff-but I was feeling so down when it did and watching the play through a made me feel so much better. Seeing the "Navidson Realty" at the end made me smile like, "yeah, of course" hahaha. Nods to your architectural knowledge too. Happy to see your channel growth, subbed
This was a top notch video! Had to watch a full video delving into the map's stoy after watching Vinesauce play through the map awhile back. Definitely subscribing. I've had some strange luck with catching youtubers just as they're about to blow up recently. Here's hoping this'll continue that trend!
The journey videogames present is always an important aspect of the experience, but when the ending is just nonsense or straight up bad it generally murks all the time invested into it. At least there's a "choose your own ending" in this.
I like the metaphor that the house is met to represent the accumulation of Veddge's grief and regrets over the years, and that the whole journey is met to represent how they overcome it despite it consuming them.
I think that Steven and Thomas possibly being the same person and dead before the game realeased ties it in to House of Leaves really well. Where Johnny Truant begins and Zampano end isn't really defined all that well in the end.
I don't play too many wads. But this one made me just love real places in the doom engine. Something about seeing places that are real blocky and slightly uncanny just makes me wanna find what lies inside them
I would like to point out that a subtle clue in one of the retrieval missions lends itself to the Tom x Steven gay lover through line (if you subscribe to that theory) being that in the floating sky bridge section, you collect a wedding ring. However, instead of collecting a normal engagement ring, one with a diamond imbed, the kind most commonly worn and associated with brides, the player actually collects a wedding BAND, one worn by and associated with grooms.
it wasn't until this video I realized the text files had any clues, I just looked through the wiki walkthrough after my first playthrough. Even watching your video going over the bonus content, I didn't put the pieces together myself. I hope we see more maps like this one in the future.
This was so well put together. Your narration is amazing and your explanations really drive home the various events transpiring in this incredible mod. Honestly, I am a fan of the idea that Tom and Steven were together and that now in death they are reunited but, yeah, I'm hoping that more comes out to clarify the message of the mod even if, as you said, it's more about the journey and as such the mod is fine already as it is.
Such an interesting and brilliant story, the effort of the creator is insane. And this is a very good video covering it. Really like your avatar and how it matched your speaking. I hope you'll do more videos like this :D
Despite watching your other videos on this fully, and even some other people play it as well, this explanation video is still interesting to watch. Good job!
Your narration, through a simply animated face, really sets up the creepy tone of this video. if that was what you were going for, you succeeded enormously!
your style of video is very compelling and even tho i knew all this from another person looking through the wad itself you still kept me enthralled, the reason i actually wanted to watch this video was the explained part, i really really like the idea you brought to the table and i hadn't heard those ones before but i still really wish it was much longer as it takes such a tiny fraction of the video, you also didnt talk of the labyrinth (or explain house of leaves like you did the other books) nor did you talk of the backrooms, the messages when cheating, the backwards second level, how you got the bfg (in the bathroom i know) or that you can see the house sold even when not burned. overall my very first therory when i knew barely anything about this wad and the one that i feel has only been reinforced with more of this information is that our main charicter is a ghost, of course this is barely anything and not an explaination in itself, just the main theme of one, ive been able to tie most things into this explaination and ill talk about it if anyone cares at all but i cant tie the bathrooms too it, my best guess is a hint our charicter (steven) repressed who they were till their dying day, but your veiw that one of them is a trans man is much much nicer, especially as someone who is trans, bathrooms could also mean sexual assult but it seems completely unconnected in this case. overall good video wish more of the end bit and i like this wad, always liked themes of houses distorting and impossible spaces, thought of making my own doom map with that idea some times but this blows anything i could think of or do out of the water.
From the fragments that I've seen, this video appears to be awesome! Right now I'm busy with many things (as usual C:), but I'll be sure to watch the full version as soon as I have enough time!
I realized that there are references to House of leaves in one of the blog posts at 4:02 instances of “House” is blue and in endings where the house disappears it’s replaced by a for sale sign saying “Navidson reality” which is based off a blind filmmaker named navidson who documents the house Also it’s said that the Backrooms have a huge inspiration for house of leaves
Man, I can't even begin to think of the amount of time this WAD/PK3 must've taken to make and script; really makes me curious to open it up and look at it in Doombuilder and Slade.
Awesome video! I really like and also agree with your second interpretation, it's the one that makes the most sense to me by far. As for S+A, I am fairly certain that it is the first name of the author (be it Steven or some other name) and the first name of his wife who had a miscarriage, though it could also be the name of his second wife he may have found later in life. There are still some unanswered questions left, but I do think that the story can be concluded in a satisfying manner with your second interpretation, and the beach representing the author finally coming to peace with himself after all the troubles he went through, just as the player did playing the map :)
It's like you're greeted by the house, and then you're greeted by the same house wearing a fake moustache, comically large glasses, a wig...
this is even funner if you replace the with mr
@@Ribbons0121R121what in the hell do you mean by this?
@@RoshDrozyou know, add a mr.
@@RoshDroz mr house
@@xroniumit's a fallout new Vegas reference
"Don't copy this game anywhere, it'll cause obsession and insomnia"
Me, watching my 5th ~hour long video about MyHouse.wad at 5am: huh, I wonder who that sign is for
genuinely ive consumed what must be 10 hours worth of this game by now. ive highlighted pieces of the journals and obituaries and filled lages in a notebook trying to figure this thing out lol
Fuckin hell man why you gotta call me out like that.
@@sweethomealabama6395 Please share your findings, i'm too empty brain to decipher lore rn.
@@sweethomealabama6395 the story aint fucking chronological enough for me and the mirror dimension makes no fucking sense in any literal meaning and i cannot find a metaphor and i do not understand what the fuck is going on with hell's gas station. Like, one seems to be a car accident (obviously) but the other one looks like a fucking shooting and it does not make sense to me. Also, the crib. Why is steve having nightmares about a stillborn baby?
26:08
"The only thing worse than a creepy Shrek painting, is not knowing where the creepy Shrek painting is."
The chalkboard in the daycare is inspired by a real life chalkboard that was found in a school in Oklahoma. The interesting thing about that chalkboard is that it’s supposedly more than an 100 years old. It depicts nearly identical drawings as the one found in the daycare. Whether it has any significant meaning or it’s merely just used as a stock texture, there’s no telling.
i like ur pfp bro
There's a quote in House of Leaves referencing a moment in colonial history (a pilgrim writes in his diary "I see stairs!") which in context metaphoric is the protagonist starting to desperately grasp at anything to mentally avoid the subject at hand.
That’s why the date stood out to me, the original says 1917, but here it’s been edited to 1984. So clearly the date mattered to the author, but I can’t figure out exactly why because 1984 doesn’t really fit with anything else going on.
@@ShallowVA Maybe the author is trying to self censor his own thoughts? Like that his child died, or that his life in theoofice wasn't fulfiling to him.
Literally 1984
The blood trail from the baseball in the daycare goes into the bathroom in that room first, where the mirror is shattered and there's a crack in the wall. Interacting with that crack is what lets you get the Berserker pack in the hallway closet. My interpretation of that is probably darker than what's intended but it seems like the person who got hit by the baseball (most likely in the head since there's blood) went berserk at the daycare...
The Berserk powerup is also used when you die and idle for a minute instead of restarting, where you then end up in a hospital and can use a defibrillator to get back to life, which acts like the powerup. I think the story here is that someone got hit with the baseball/ cut themselves on the glass and then went to the closet to get first aid.
@@GermanPeter huh, neat
@@GermanPeter Hey I know you
Man each comment takes the nuances further and further
@@GermanPeter germanpeter???
I think the idea of Steven and Thomas being the same person has some weight behind it. Duality and reflections are a huge part of the map's whole theme, so it fits in nicely.
yeah, makes more sense, which also explains why the mirrored house
where the normal house you can't run away (Steven) and the mirrored house, you can run away (Thomas)
Missing Thomas as missing the other person wanting to run away as dead, but at the same time he isn't
It's complicated to explain but it made sense to me
The whole story is bullshit. Come on, people lol. This is one or a few super experienced map makers doing this. The level of sophistication isn't just some guy's first map. And the picture of the guys is so obviously photoshopped, along with the obits being off. It's some Andy Kaufmann type stuff.
@@GeronimoPlaz you got people talking about theme and symbolism in here and your response is to let us know its fiction? Umm thanks I guess. Btw the picture is suposed to look fake, it let's you know something is "off". It would have been easier to just get a real photo if the creator wanted to make people really believe it was real.
I do think that idea does fit the map's themes better, though the odd details hinting towards other interpretations are still out of place enough to warrant further investigation
@@GeronimoPlaz I bet you're fun at parties.
Worth noting that, in addition to the pool rooms, the liminal space theme is present in the brutalist house and the airport as well. In fact, most of the house variations take inspiration from iconic liminal space imagery. The brutalist house is based on the liminal space image from the inside of a hotel featuring concrete paths with green carpet or turf, surrounded by windows presumably into other hotel rooms. The airport is a common setting for liminal space scenes, the carpeting and seat cushion texture is reminiscent of that spacey carpet you might see at a SkateZone in the 2000s or in other children's play places. Speaking of children's places, the daycare house also features the notable "city carpet" that was common in a lot of children's rooms twenty years ago. Daycares and schools after hours are common settings of liminal space imagery as well. The mapper really knew their shit. Glad to see people breaking this thing down, just wanted to throw some appreciation to some of what most definitely inspired this map's design. Probably missed a few other details myself, but this project is just chalk full of detail in the first place.
Adding to the iconic liminal space imagery tally, if you use the noclip cheat to clip out of the map at any point, you just straight up go to the Backrooms.
liminal spaces are the gayest trend ever
The liminal space hotel in question is indeed a Holiday Inn hotel located just nearby the London Heathrow airport.
Fun fact: if you go into cheats and enable noclipping, if you fly out of the fence around the house, the game will teleport you to a modeled real backrooms, with hazy fluorescent lights, moist carpet and the madness of yellow, with something inside, creeping inside the walls
I don't know what effect it has on the ending, if any, but... if you die and just wait... you eventually wake up in hospital, with another small mini puzzle, which concludes with you waking up back in the bed in the house. There's also more liminal space in one of the bedrooms when you open a closet and there's a long straight hallway that takes you into more weird maze-like rooms. And as others have mentioned, if you try noclip and go out of bounds at any point in the wad you will end up in the actual backrooms. 😂 What an amazing wad to be packed with so much!
If you die during a fight, it actually revives you where you died with Berserk. So you can punch shrek in his face!
@@Crocogator i like your channel avatar profile pic.
Where'd you get it?
@@kardoxfabricanus7590 Husband drew it
The maze-like rooms in the closet are actually a direct reference to House of Leaves, the book that inspired a lot of this wad. And personally I love it :)
@@kitkitkatkit I still have to 'read' that book.
I had never heard about "The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet" before this video and it prompted me to look it up. The first result from Wikipedia mentions that this song "was recorded from a Norddeutscher Rundfunk broadcast at an unknown date, widely speculated to be 1983 or 1984." Considering the 1984 date on the calendar in the daycare, this seems like an interesting additional coincidence. Whether or not it could be significant is a mad hope from me.
Great video and thanks for the incredibly interesting coverage of My House.
my interpretation of the contradicting timeline that theres actually two distinct timelines: one where steven marries thomas and has a fulfilling life him before some disaster at the house kills them both, represented by the true beach and mirror steven being able to accept impermanence, and another timeline where steven represses himself , moves away from thomas, and survives whatever killed thomas, represented by the fake beach where steven is extremely isolated in his meaninglessly long life
FINALLY someone gets it!
Just wanted to say that I LOVE this theory, it connects all of the themes and threads present in the story and the endings really nicely. Definitely the one I think is the closest to the truth!
Yeah this right here.
You get it
this unlocked it for me. thank you
My personal take on the ending is that Steven's obituary is to be taken metaphorically. He didn't literally die on the same day as Thomas, but losing his lover in a fire caused part of himself to die as well. Perhaps causing a level of Survivor's Guilt as well, which only exacerbated his conflicted feelings while 'making' the map.
I feel like that's the reasoning that makes the most sense. (Well, that and the 'they're parts of the same person' theory, but I dunno how much I gel with that one) I really don't think the creator would pull a "THE AUTHOR WAS DEAD THE WHOLE TIME, AND *YOU* BECAME SKELETON AND WROTE THIS" move, with how amazing the rest of the story is. Or perhaps the ambiguity to the story is deliberate, one of those "come to your own conclusion" type stories. who know,,,,
Yeah, as much as I do vibe with the interpretation that Steven is a ghost, creating the map as a way to process his life, with all the nightmares and the supernatural elements that he reports in making the map being aspects of whatever limbo he lives in, it is sort of a horror cliche I will admit.
Personally I still chose to see it as a love story, though. Either they were married and they did die on the same day (airplane crash?), or else it might have something to do with another theory someone mentioned, where Steven is contemplating two timelines, one where he did marry Tom and one where he didn't. Either one would explain what the deal with all the mirror stuff is.
My interpretation remains that the two beach endings represent two paths Steven/Vedge can proceed down now that the map has escaped into the wild, either step away from it and move on with his life, start over, maybe reconnect, or let this obsession consume him.
And I also think the QR code is his survivor guilt, guilt at not being there for Tom, and so on. The copypasted details in both obits leads me to suspect such a thing.
Another nice one I’ve seen since recording this is that the map depicts a life Steven wishes he would have lived. The real Steven only knew Tom as a friend from school, but in the world of the map, they got married and had a life together. Real Steven is alive but not really living, while the Steven in the map is dead but had a happy life.
@@ShallowVA I like this theory a lot! it also lines up with a post Veddge made on the forums that said he hadn't talked to Thomas in 10 years.
Tombstone is not an ending, it's a revelation as a part of the story. A plot twist since you first expect that Steven is writing this, but no, he was dead all along.
So there can be two ways about this, its either his ghost has moved on (real sunset) or he's still haunting
@@TheTriangle444 But if he was dead....
Whose made those posts? Who wrote the journal? Who who uploaded the map?
@@TheTriangle444 I think his “death” isn’t literal here but just how he feels… he can never tell Thomas how he felt about him because he’s gone and it makes him feel like he’d rather be dead himself too. He has no way of tying up that loose end anymore because the person he loved is gone.
I absolutely love your little talky box avatar
It’s adorable
You’re adorable!
me too, but it's to big.
@@jirikv00It's distracting.
In regards to the daycare dream, Steven mentions in his journals that he found a stillborn baby. On top of this, there’s a painting of a rainbow in the map for the daycare dream. My interpretation of this is a bit shoddy, but I think that could be hinting to the fact that his parents had a stillborn before him, making him a rainbow baby.
I like the observation that the true beach ending avoids “confronting” the house fire! That ties into the story and the thoughts in the journal really well. I stopped short of calling the gravestone “the last ending” in my own video because the player can retreat from it, unlike the other places that we call ending - but I was tempted, as this does seem to be a very significant thing to find. The beach that we’ve been calling the true ending might signify happiness but not reality!
I loved watching and listening to your thoughts :) Your breathy deep voice is great for narration (you sound like you could be in a Metal Gear Solid game!) and the low-cut filter you use for reading game text is an effective touch to make the voice have a different presence - I don’t think I’ve heard that done anywhere else before.
Calling any of the endings “last,” or “true,” or “good” (or even calling them “endings” at all!) seems like more a matter of convenience than anything else. Even with everything we know, there’s a lot that’s still up to interpretation! It is interesting that you can leave the grave site though… I gotta admit I never even tried that myself because both beaches lock you in. I have to assume it was an intentional choice to leave a way out.
It makes sense you can retreat from the gravestone. That way you can still "leave" the house proper.
I would personally argue that the only "ending" is the one that lets you exit the level on itself, although looping around can get you more significance as it would be "coming back for unfinished business"; getting locked in the real beach would be taking on the author's steps by yourself and concluding the .wad the way he did, fading to black and closing gameplay. Getting locked in the "true" beach does not end the game, but you aren't able to do anything else than admire the small scenery you are upon. You are now done, but its not over, it never is.
A bit more of thought goes over the "burning house" progression, where you are now able to leave the house (and close the loop) after it burnt down to the ground, looking back there's nothing to go back into, there's no reason to keep there, so you move on (though you can loop, for whatever reason)...
There is more to go about that has been already said about Underhalls and its mirror version, but I'm not precisely sure its done with further intentions:
Normal underhalls is a soft-reset that rewards you with the super shotgun and potentially re-grabs part of your attention after being stuck on the puzzle that is the first playthrough of the house layout.
Mirror underhalls may be to have you notice that everything is taken care of, everything is reversed, except you, your objective, and the way it was meant to be handled.
Reminds me of a story I had to study in my English Literature class, “The Wife of Martin Guerre” by Janet Lewis. In it Bertrande is seemingly abandoned by her husband Martin until years later he appears again, but Bertrande cannot shake the feeling that this man is an imposter and not truly her husband. It’s a fascinating divide between choosing happiness or reality, especially since much of the family seems to not care if the man were an imposter or not, because he was so much nicer than the old Martin.
I think the reason for S + A being so weird to use someone's last name instead of their name may be because if Thomas is Steve's reflection then it would make sense theme wise that his reflection would have their last name first.
This could also make sense with the soulmate theory, with a common theme/story with soulmates being that they complete/mirror/foil each other. This also makes sense with the mirror house having a darker atmosphere and, near the end, an enemy that can’t really be defeated (correct me if i’m wrong on that, i don’t know much about doom). All of this could represent grief over a partner’s death.
Maybe it was a murder suicide those couples are typically unstable
There's also a lot of focus in this map about bathrooms being unsafe, so there could be some gender stuff going on here. One of them, presumably the one known as Tom, could be transgender. If this person is FtM, then the letter A could be the first name of his deadname and some part of Steve is idolizing the period of time before Tom transitioned and is somewhat fantasizing about the suppressed, feminine-presenting version of him. Alternatively, if this person is MtF, the letter A could be the first letter of her chosen name and Steve, not wanting to out his beloved even post-mortem, is referring to her as the name and pronouns everyone would know her as except for in his one specific moment of peace.
Either one could also easily connect to the bottle and how it wasn't meant to be, as well. If the person is FtM, then it could be that he lost his ability to easily become pregnant as a result of HRT, or just that it would be too dysphoria-inducing, so the option went away. If the person is MtF, then obviously she can't carry a child due to, you know, not having a uterus and whatnot. Either way, while trans people are certainly capable of being parents, there are many circumstances relating to transness that could make it difficult and/or unlikely to happen.
@@jayp.7197 the bathrooms becoming a woman’s bathroom is a reference to silent hill
@@magicman3163 Multiple things can be true at once. You do know that, right? Your statement does not contradict mine; a literary choice can have multiple purposes.
Dear god, this is such an incredibly well-made video, like something you'd see from a CZcamsr with ~100k subs. Kept me captivated the entire time, and I already finished the game 100%. Simply incredible. I love how you narrated the item pickups while presumably keeping a straight face, even though they said things like "Good doggies are good doggies" or "Kitties like tunas".
Hey, thanks man! Love your stuff! “Und jetzt - in den Mülleimer!” has become a bit of a running joke with my (German) family since I saw it in your HL2 video and shared it with them.
There are definitely a few goofy takes of “drunk buddy” and “roll for intercourse” on my hard drive after this haha. I don’t usually go this hard with my videos, but I felt like this map deserved it.
@@ShallowVA Oh nice, glad you're a fan! I definitely subscribed after this video. Hope to see more like it!
I also thought he had ~100k subs. wth?
I love his "gameboy" looking screen talking to us, very unique avatar.
@@GermanPeter I didn't know you were into Doom wads! Also like your videos :D
@@ShallowVA i hope you do followup videos on things you missed etc.
I only found your channel by accident when I stumbled upon this video, hope to see more from you!
The fact that something this deep and intense was just dropped on the Doom forums with zero hype is just mind blowing. Amazing rundown of it. Thank you, I barely found a quarter of all this from my own blind playing.
The idea of Steven and Thomas being created as a result of mental trauma and then 'dying' when the character 'healed' is very reminiscent of Zac and Francis York Morgan from Deadly Premonition. A solid explaination.
An interesting detail is the way the word house appears in blue in Steve's journal, a formatting choice that was also done in House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski
I noticed that right away and got super excited, then seeing “Navidson Realty” in the fire ending was even cooler afterwards
the entire PK3 takes plenty of inspiration from House of Leaves
They really just asked if House Of Leaves could run DOOM
Also the dark hallway from the book can be found if you repeatedly open the closet
It kinda seems like as you progress further and more and more monsters start appearing, it could be symbolism for an increasingly horrible home life, with either delusions getting worse, or the parents/caretakers becoming more and more abusive.
Also allegories for homosexuality, homophobia, and assault :) (I subscribe to the “Tom and Steven are lovers” theory)
@@laurenhatter6824 That theory seems to work well, when you remember that gay people weren't viewed that well back then unlike today.
Edit: i forgot Tom dies in 2022, but still, maybe Steven got trauma from that during his youth
@Pc_98_Fan as a resident of Illinois I can confirm us gay people are still not viewed favorably here
This is easily one of my favorite mods to ever exist.
Not to knock most Doom wads, it's just the engine IS incredibly dated and most transformative mods such as Total Chaos are more novel than impressive from a gameplay perspective. They do crazy things that are indeed impressive, but are ultimately trying to distract from the fact that this is all taking place in the Doom engine. My House, however, is like a bait and hook. You go in expecting a mundane experience and come out WITH an experience. It's not really trying to be difficult and most challenges are pretty standard (outside of the Gas Station ending), but it completely sucks you in with the story it is trying to tell and yet never gives you any concise or clear answers as to what is going on; it gives you enough pieces to the puzzle to see what the picture is for the most part, but you are never outright handed the full picture. It allows you to stew and think about it and that is what I love about it. The technical tricks and storytelling is simply superb.
As for interpretations, I mentioned this in your first playthrough, but I believe the story is all about "Change". As in: Time and circumstance changes the meaning of not just people and things, but places. Through the lens of a child, a dog can be big and scary but through the lens of an adult it can simply be a cute dog. In a hurricane, a building can go from a place of sanctuary to a prison. In the case of this mod, so many things he was familiar with as a kid become warped and twisted through the passage of time in gradual, subtle ways, until a point: Your friend dies, and that house you spent your childhood going to and hanging out at stops being this cozy, comfortable place. It is devoid of the person that made it feel whole, and all that is left now are memories and a building of something that used to be. Looking at the game through this lens can explain a lot of the visual symbolism from the minor changes you notice in the beginning to the reason behind the fiery dream to the end where the house is no longer on fire or inhabited by monsters, but simply an empty abandoned shell of something that used to be and is now home to no one. There is nothing left to find or do, so you walk out the front door and poof, it's gone. Like revisiting a friend's old house or a store you used to go to what used to be there is long since bulldozed and gone and is now up for sale, potentially to a new family that may or may not experience that same sequence of events in their own time.
I, of course, am rambling and outting way too much thought into this, but that's my point. This wad gains purpose outside of the actual game you play and keeps you thinking about it long after you've turned your computer off. This, to me, is the hallmark of any legendary game; Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Final Fantasy X, Shadow of Colossus, etc, you get the picture.
This wad brought me back to a time when games were simply meant to get under your skin and encourage thought, not just be consumed and discarded like candy.
Your "rambling" makes so much gosh darn sense that I don't know how to even comment about it.
Whatever you did to brighten up all of the darker scenes really helped! Well done on all the editing on this one; it really helped make sense of this crazy experience.
I cracked open the mapinfo lump in the pk3 and removed the hardcoded darkness. It’s normally set to “Dark,” but I changed it to “Vanilla” or even “Bright” for some of the footage here. The map download actually got a silent update that brightened it slightly as well, but not quite as much, and I didn’t want to take any chances with CZcams’s compression.
@@ShallowVA How did you make it so much brighter?
@@GeronimoPlaz They just described their process on doing so
@@GeronimoPlazBut why male models?
@@ShallowVA are you serious? I just told you that
If it wasn't mentioned already, I really like that you referenced "This House Has People In It" in the thumbnail.
yeah i was gonna comment the same thing
Somethings you didn’t cover: in the brutalist house, you can see a monster peaking at you behind a curtain. In the mirror world if you use the blue skull key, you’ll go to a reversed version of underhalls. In the pool room and sky platforms, falling down will take you to dark void with an infinite stair cases. If you noclip out of bounds you will be taken to the backrooms.
Tbf the noclip one is probably a joke. The game is pretty liminal regardless and noclipping out of reality is a staple of the backrooms. What better way to punish people who wont play the map as intended. The sllahrednu thing seems more of a way to simply unsettle you, and the infinite staircase just seems like a cryptic way to just send ya home. Also the monster doesn't seem to have big lore and is most likely a funny (for the creator) bit to unsettle you even further. Makes you feel like you're not alone in a very bad way.
The impossible geometry - I remember my first encounter with it. While playing with Duke3D build. The manual said you can't do room-over-room. I tried to do it anyway: One floor above the other, with a stairwell connecting them. I then realized that making the stairs actually go up (or down) is optional. Even if the stairs are very shallow, you'll still "go up an entire floor". I then realized that the engine doesn't care if rooms intersect and happen to occupy the same 3D space. The engine only cares about how rooms connect to other rooms
Regarding 31:17, the 20 sides dice is already there, only being guarded by the fish. You can actually evade the fish and get the dice.
Amazing video, very in-depth. Also gotta love how you got jumpscared by the Shrek lmfao
This and David's ongoing trilogy showing how the map works mechanically are really satisfying to see. There was so much effort put into the mod it's utterly insane.
This is such a great piece of surrealism and eeriness. The atmosphere is fantastic and the strangeness of the endings and story bring even more to ponder about than just the fantastic mapping tricks.
Glad this map could introduce me to your channel since your first video on it!
I’ve seen many horror projects throughout the years, but this one struck a chord with me. In fact, the ending nearly brought a tear to my eye.
Despite knowing how the story truly ends, its still incredibly unsettling and the ending bittersweet, with an air of mystery still surrounding it. Stories with these kinds of endings keep you up at night and remain in the back of your mind for a a very long time.
On the side note, absolutely phenomenal video man, you deserve much more attention.
Love when the analog genre of horror adds an interactive element. I know a lot of people think the fad played out but I’m here for it, it scratches that creep itch on me.
I saw another video explaining the theory about the queer lover and I didn't even consider the trans man possibility, but it makes so more sense and it makes their story all the more tragic to end like that after everything they went through together.
only thing against the FtM possibility vs MtF is that trans men often inject T and women would more likely have their meds in pill form
Sometimes this is really creepy and sometimes you're fighting shrek and picking up a pumpkin called "pumpkin rick"
I saw Shrek coming the moment the drawing vanished, and it still caught me off-guard.
I'm glad you mentioned House Of Leaves because that explains the dark maze that has like a 9% chance of spawning whenever you open the closet door of the smaller upstairs bedroom (I think you need the blue skull key too.) I never found the endless staircase inside the maze, but I read the description somewhere and it seems those details were taken straight from descriptions of the maze in House Of Leaves.
I WISH. ABSOLUTELY WISH, stuff like this was something I could pay for and personally thank the creator for making.
18:55
That jumpscare was way scarier than it had any right to be. Goddamn it was good.
I don’t think the connection between the daycare’s calendar and George Orwell’s 1984 is completely unfounded.
I think having history be erased as a major part of the book ties into the WAD’s story as well.
One interpretation I came up with is it being a metaphor for Steve being an unreliable narrator. As it could hint that some important details are being left out.
The other interpretation I have of “history erased” is Steve trying to forget about the trauma he went through in the past.
I feel like either or both could apply to the story overall.
That, and with the general (yet subtle) memery within the pk3, I think that might've been Veddge taking the piss out of the players curiosity. We can discuss subtext until we bleed out our assholes, but sometimes things are just there for the sake of being there.
That being said, I really like your interpretation of why 1984 is there. Very clever reading
I saw someone say it's an image connected to a weird event, an abandoned school or something, but didn't look into it
I saw that in the original version for the game it was said to be a different year there, and I think it's 1989
The reasoning being that the game calander drawn shows the last day of the month to be a Sunday, but in 1984 the last day of December is a Monday.
1989 is the only year in the 80s that the last day of December is on a Sunday
The fake beach made me immediately think of superliminal and also me made me realize that this is basically just if superliminal was a doom horror wad
Forgive the reposting I'm commiting here, but earlier I commented some of these thoughts the initial unfiction video, but perhaps here where the full deep dive occurs they may be more fitting. There's some oddities with the IRL evidence in the photos of Veddge's Google Docs that do bring some more thoughts towards what was real and what wasn't.
-With the photo album images, two of the four photos though some of them beg questions about the reality of the actual house the map is based on. The photo of the alcove of doors on the upper floor ( 10:06 ) seems to include the second alcove that appears later in the map... the one that logically shouldn't exist, and leads to the other impossible rooms. Then the photo of Scrambles on the bed ( 10:22 ) seems to depict the bedroom closet oddly.. either there's a trick with the light, or the closest is remarkably gray, and vaguely looks like a hallway that may go fairly deep (five and a half minutes deep, you could say). Without giving much away since the video chose to gloss over this, something in the map occurs at this very door. This and the first photo begs the question if something similar occurred in an actual house here, and could've contributed to what truly affected Tom, or whoever he really was.
-There's something anomalous about the obituary photos besides the obvious example. For people looking up the original images as opposed to the cropped ones in the video, note the obituaries around Tom and Steve's entries. Visible in Tom's photo, the woman in the top left seems to have an August 2022 death date as well, but the woman below him, Catherine Philbaum, is described as dying January 12, 2023...5 months after Tom. This isn't very normal for obituaries to have such far-off death dates so close together, especially since Tom's obituary mentions his memorial service in future-tense, as usually meant to let people know to come to them. And there's another case in Steve's photo; below him (which also mentions his service in future tense) is the obituary for one Norman Edward Penske, listed as dying February 18, 2023. What logic is there in a newspaper posting obituaries with such distant death dates while still trying to inform people of imminent funerals? Where did this come from, and how have we come to see it?
I suppose it's also worth noting, given the map's habit in giving us contradictions on what is real, of a notable parallel with the work it shouts out many times to, House of Leaves. At the core of the book is the story of a house with the ability to morph and change, become bigger on the inside and create strange, very very dark grey corridors and labyrinths, with the hint of something monstrous inside. This story is presented as the account of a documentary called "The Navidson Record", analyzed in a long essay found by the book's protagonist Johnny Truant, who is puzzled by the essay's detailed presentation as the film it describes, as far as he knows, doesn't exist, and its academic citations don't match up with actual sources. Over the course of the book, Johnny goes through a similar experience as Veddge in becoming paranoid, insomniac and hallucinating as the essay's contents trouble him, and his life falls apart and seems to disappear after the narrative has concluded to an uncertain fate. But one more detail exists in the book's appendix, where letters from Johnny's mother, a mentally disturbed woman committed to an institution, dwells on her past and present, and regrets in raising Johnny. One of them goes as far as dwelling on a baby who died in hospital, which brings to mind the possibility that Johnny himself never grew up to at all, a similar paradox to what Steve's obituary suggests. This may be all part of the homage MyHouse.wad pays to House of Leaves, for better or worse ending on mind screwiness where the narrative is contradictory and labyrinthian, and the truth of what may've happened for sure cannot be known.
What happens in the grey hallway closet?
@@flaetsbnort Literally nothing, but in and of itself it's also kinda spooky.
Basically the grey hallway (which has like 1/10 chance of appearing in the closet at a certain point in house exploration) opens into a labyrinth almost exactly like the ones described in the map's inspiration House of Leaves, with dark unlit corridors that are geometrically impossible, complete with a "Great Hall" wide open space where the only feature is a descending spiral staircase in the center that goes on forever. There's nothing to find there though (not even a minotaur), but the eeriness of the location is enough to be spooky, particularly when it catches players by surprise (one example of which in the LPs that have come up is Socpens's playthrough)
@@Andrewnuva199 thanks for explaining! I'd only seen Shallow's video so I didn't know about anything he didn't find
Oh my god I never noticed tht with the photos
ugh i HATE IT when my house floods and the basement turns into the poolrooms
Me too, it sucks
The level of environmental storytelling and puzzle-solving borders on masterful here. The synergy of real items matching real memories and mirror world items matching nightmares is incredibly inspired.
Any game designer could learn a lot from this. An old, formerly cutting edge game engine married to a great imagination produces more interesting results than a lot of triple AAA Studios with a whole paid team can manage.
i like the second theory that they are the same person. the game is all about overcoming trauma and moving on, thinking about the author warning players not to paly the game, it truly gives me the feeling of him not wanting to face his trauma even offering a secret ending to avoid the memory of the house fire if thats not trauma idk what is, but if you face the truth and face the house fire the game reveals the truth, the same truth the author was running away from....
this game reminds me of that feeling when youre in a dream and you can go through one part of your house and end up in completely different areas and just like in dreams areas from reality are mixed with fiction.
i can think of many more hints to them being the same person like how in the journal areas of steven's house are in the map that is based on thomas' house, but this is like Occam's razor,
"the simplest explanation is preferable to one that is more complex"
basically the theory that has less contradiction/less assumptions that need to be made in order for the theory to make sense is the preferable one.
Great work!
I think the unreliable narrator aspect is still very important here - as you mentioned in your first video of this map's walkthrough, it doesnt seem like its 90's house, and daycare artifacts and Childhood Nightmare all point to them being fragments of memories from the middle 2000's at least. This may be the case of different memories bleeding into each other, or, you know... we don't see the daycare from a kindergardners's perspective. Maybe Steven had a sibling or even a child? The last one is a stretch, since being 35 in 2022 would make him a teen for the most part of 2000's.
Also that whole "mid 2000's" timeline would match up neatly with the last posts Veddge made on their profile on Doom forums...
Excellent breakdown of the WAD! I didn't even know about the final ending until you revealed it in this video, and really liked your "walkthrough" style, along with the narrated item pickups. As far as theorizing goes, I can throw my own one out. It's in the same vein as the multiple personalities theory, but maybe "Steven" and "Thomas" are merely "what-if" scenarios that Veddge created, trying to see the outcome of going to different paths in life. Maybe the good beach ending is reconciliation with the two different routes, leading to self-understanding. I doubt it's the case, but I suppose there's many ways to interpret this WAD.
my personal interpretation is that, and hear me out for this:
thomas and steven are the same person, but in different realities entirely. think about it: the mirror world. the mention of the version of veddge sitting on the beach in the mirror world, living happily.
theyre one and the same, albeit from the "normal" and "mirror" worlds.
the mirror world is the literal mirror of how things are, even down to sad lives becoming happy. the regular world is the regular world.
this probably doesnt make too much sense but, ngl, its what personally makes sense to me.
i truly love this wad. it found me in a very bad mental state, and, while i am still working through it, oddly enough, its really helped. from the gameplay, exploration, even the soundscapes, it all works together to just... speak to me on a level no other doom wad, or really any other game in general, ever has.
tldr: thank you for these videos on it. genuinely so happy to have more eyes on this
UPDATE:
i have come to a new conclusion.
my new take?
you're playing as veddge. it's very subtly hinted at, but it's there. the map has the central theme of "you must fight for your own happiness" (such as the literal fighting as well as the actual puzzle solving and exploration)
the journal has mentions and descriptions of multiple nightmares, *all of which are represented in the map itself.*
the best ending has you sitting on a beach at sunset, seemingly calm and content.
you're playing as veddge, fighting through his grief, mental turmoil, and literal nightmares, all to pursue true happiness.
26:47 “finding blood in an abandoned daycare is never a good sign”
Finding blood ANYWHERE is never a good sign
Just realized he had his dog in that afterlife instead of his cat is because since it was his childhood dog it probably would've died by the time he reached adult hood.
I didn't know all the other areas were just different versions of the same house! Thank you for pointing that out. When I played it, the thing that freaked me out the most was the change to the doors, but I stopped at the bathhouse because the reflections slowed down my game immensely. Great video!
I could totally be wrong here but i believe the Fire House is the "last ending"
The false beach being the middle.
And the true beach being the first.
Sounds backwards, but I truly believe that Steven believed that he could fight for his dream where he is together with the one he loves. And living a calm life with them.
He tells himself he needs only to fight for it, but he never really tries. Thus we get the false beach, where he pretends he is living in this dream world where everything went right, but just behind the curtain there is nothing to his life.
Finally the house fire, I believe that purposely he shorted a circut in his basement knowing basic electronics with intention of starting an electrical fire. Taking his own life and Tom's aswell. Afterwards the house is torn down and sold.
The Spirit of Steve unable to rest for what hes done works and releases this game, as well as the documentation for it.
It’s amazing how the map is so dense that I can watch multiple videos covering it and there will be entirely new details pointed out
One thing you forgot to mention is how multiple floors are impossible in the doom engine due to the raycasting method it uses for building 3D spaces, yet this map has plenty.
Apparently the author used teleports to simulate the floors, like put a smile t teleport spot down a ladder that instantly puts you on another spot of the map, which was made to look almost perfect match. I certainly never realized anything odd was going on, but unfamiliar with the doom engine, amazing . there is a trilogy of videos explaining all the mechanics and how things were done. All very cleverly done
@@Aldenfenris saw that, it's not just teleports. The teleportation does definitely play a major part but the airport is two story and both floors exist simultaneously without teleportation (because you can open the merch room door from the floor directly above)
look up "gzdoom features" in your internet browser
I have several things to say about this video
One: this is AMAZING, you managed to keep my ADHD ass firmly planted in my seat and enthusiastically watching this whole thing
Two: the Shell gas station gave me some memories, I remember seeing them all over the place in my hometown when I was little
Three: the blue fog in the mirrored version of the gas station part really reminds me of the Blue Forest from SCP: Containment Breach and I love it
Four: I forgot what I was gonna say, and it’s really bugging me, I’ll edit this with what I was gonna say if I remember this
It was a week ago, remember yet?
@@namefamily2748 nope
@@missingindy well either way im just glad you enjoyed the mod and the story told like the rest of us
One thing I've noticed. And I feel as though others have failed to notice. Is the images provided actually showcase some of the corridors that appear from nowhere and hidden rooms. It's honestly quite amazing attention to detail
This is a really entertaining breakdown of the best map we've seen in years, even if it is definitely missing some important beats including everything related to the hospital trip: You somehow managed to dodge that whole sequence in your playthrough via safe play and regular reloads, but it plays an important role in the narrative.
i have never seen your channel ever, but the way you lay things out at the start. and the way you formatted this into such a concise video really pleases my brain thank you
i like how you explained the different interpretations at the end, I hadn't thought that they would be the same person but all 3 seem to have a good amount of supporting evidence behind them. also really like your video making style, I just wish you'd include the music in the description! I recognised some tracks from metroid
This is my first video I've seen from you and I gotta say -- I'm not entirely sure how to say it, but the way you present yourself, the monitor, and the way the (or your?) face talks and changes is really strangely hypnotic and satisfying
the quality in these videos are incredible, and one of the easiest subs I've ever given
Guys will make an elaborate Doom mod about their dead boyfriend only to say “no homo”
Found out about this Mod yesterday, and it's the most impressive game design I think I've ever seen. That it both completely changes the game engine to do shit I never thought was even possible, and has so much hidden within a package presented as simply "here's a friend's house" is just art.
This is Shakespeare in gaming format.
I don't know how this found it's way into my recommendations-I don't play or watch much Doom stuff-but I was feeling so down when it did and watching the play through a made me feel so much better. Seeing the "Navidson Realty" at the end made me smile like, "yeah, of course" hahaha. Nods to your architectural knowledge too. Happy to see your channel growth, subbed
Between this and having woken up to Tim Rogers' Doom review on auto-play multiple times now, I have re-download Doom
This was a top notch video! Had to watch a full video delving into the map's stoy after watching Vinesauce play through the map awhile back.
Definitely subscribing. I've had some strange luck with catching youtubers just as they're about to blow up recently. Here's hoping this'll continue that trend!
The journey videogames present is always an important aspect of the experience, but when the ending is just nonsense or straight up bad it generally murks all the time invested into it. At least there's a "choose your own ending" in this.
I like the metaphor that the house is met to represent the accumulation of Veddge's grief and regrets over the years, and that the whole journey is met to represent how they overcome it despite it consuming them.
I think that Steven and Thomas possibly being the same person and dead before the game realeased ties it in to House of Leaves really well. Where Johnny Truant begins and Zampano end isn't really defined all that well in the end.
been obsessed with this map for days. can't stop thinking about it
Excellent. Was interested to see your breakdown after those hours in the house.
If this released in 1999 then it would've been abso-fucking-lutely insane.
I don't play too many wads. But this one made me just love real places in the doom engine. Something about seeing places that are real blocky and slightly uncanny just makes me wanna find what lies inside them
I would like to point out that a subtle clue in one of the retrieval missions lends itself to the Tom x Steven gay lover through line (if you subscribe to that theory) being that in the floating sky bridge section, you collect a wedding ring. However, instead of collecting a normal engagement ring, one with a diamond imbed, the kind most commonly worn and associated with brides, the player actually collects a wedding BAND, one worn by and associated with grooms.
it wasn't until this video I realized the text files had any clues, I just looked through the wiki walkthrough after my first playthrough. Even watching your video going over the bonus content, I didn't put the pieces together myself. I hope we see more maps like this one in the future.
This was so well put together. Your narration is amazing and your explanations really drive home the various events transpiring in this incredible mod. Honestly, I am a fan of the idea that Tom and Steven were together and that now in death they are reunited but, yeah, I'm hoping that more comes out to clarify the message of the mod even if, as you said, it's more about the journey and as such the mod is fine already as it is.
Such an interesting and brilliant story, the effort of the creator is insane. And this is a very good video covering it. Really like your avatar and how it matched your speaking. I hope you'll do more videos like this :D
I like that you dubbed the parts when you pick up the key items you need!
Really cool!
Quick theory, the Shadow thing in the mirror world is the thing (or can be a metaphor) that killed both of them, anyways nice video!
This is the best video I've seen on this WAD by far. Great work! Looking forward to more from you.
Watching this after your three parts playthrough is the perfect conclusion. Also you've done a great job putting this together!
Loved the investigation into the story. And I also love your avatar within the computer.
Doomguy really brought a shotgun to some dudes house
Great video! I enjoyed your series about this game very much. Wonderful editing, too.
Despite watching your other videos on this fully, and even some other people play it as well, this explanation video is still interesting to watch. Good job!
Your narration, through a simply animated face, really sets up the creepy tone of this video. if that was what you were going for, you succeeded enormously!
You put a ton of time into breaking this all down! I'd never heard of this before but was captivated through the whole vid..awesome effort👍
your style of video is very compelling and even tho i knew all this from another person looking through the wad itself you still kept me enthralled, the reason i actually wanted to watch this video was the explained part, i really really like the idea you brought to the table and i hadn't heard those ones before but i still really wish it was much longer as it takes such a tiny fraction of the video, you also didnt talk of the labyrinth (or explain house of leaves like you did the other books) nor did you talk of the backrooms, the messages when cheating, the backwards second level, how you got the bfg (in the bathroom i know) or that you can see the house sold even when not burned. overall my very first therory when i knew barely anything about this wad and the one that i feel has only been reinforced with more of this information is that our main charicter is a ghost, of course this is barely anything and not an explaination in itself, just the main theme of one, ive been able to tie most things into this explaination and ill talk about it if anyone cares at all but i cant tie the bathrooms too it, my best guess is a hint our charicter (steven) repressed who they were till their dying day, but your veiw that one of them is a trans man is much much nicer, especially as someone who is trans, bathrooms could also mean sexual assult but it seems completely unconnected in this case.
overall good video wish more of the end bit and i like this wad, always liked themes of houses distorting and impossible spaces, thought of making my own doom map with that idea some times but this blows anything i could think of or do out of the water.
the analysis here is SO beautiful, god. fantastic video
This is really cool! As a fan of ARGs and weird games this is awesome! The fact the creator managed to pull it off by modding doom is super cool too!
Your analysis of the story is superb. Along with yuor narration. I am so glad I found your channel.
From the fragments that I've seen, this video appears to be awesome! Right now I'm busy with many things (as usual C:), but I'll be sure to watch the full version as soon as I have enough time!
Wonderful commentary and analysis! Loved watching your whole play through! Have a great day!
Kinda weird to say, but I've fallen asleep to this video multiple times. Your voice and exploration of the map is really soothing and calming.
I actually found the ending twist to be rather interesting.
Goddamn! I just found your channel and I’m only a few minutes in, but your editing is superb. You got a subscription. :)
I realized that there are references to House of leaves in one of the blog posts at 4:02 instances of “House” is blue and in endings where the house disappears it’s replaced by a for sale sign saying “Navidson reality” which is based off a blind filmmaker named navidson who documents the house
Also it’s said that the Backrooms have a huge inspiration for house of leaves
Man, I can't even begin to think of the amount of time this WAD/PK3 must've taken to make and script; really makes me curious to open it up and look at it in Doombuilder and Slade.
Take a look at the map on the wiki, it'll blow your mind. Thing is MASSIVE.
This story overview format is great. More please!
Thanks for the nice editing and storytelling, this is a rare thing on YT now.
cool channel man, I don't even play Doom but I can appreciate a good story and the work put into something like this video and the subsequent mod
Awesome video! I really like and also agree with your second interpretation, it's the one that makes the most sense to me by far. As for S+A, I am fairly certain that it is the first name of the author (be it Steven or some other name) and the first name of his wife who had a miscarriage, though it could also be the name of his second wife he may have found later in life. There are still some unanswered questions left, but I do think that the story can be concluded in a satisfying manner with your second interpretation, and the beach representing the author finally coming to peace with himself after all the troubles he went through, just as the player did playing the map :)
great video, amazing production, incredible story
subbed :)
Just looked into your channel to see if I could find similar videos...
Really hope you make more content like this.