Horror games these days... [Welcome to Kowloon]
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- čas přidán 10. 08. 2023
- Welcome to Kowloon ► store.steampowered.com/app/25...
Welcome to Kowloon is a horror game supposedly about Kowloon the Walled City but really it's more about walking up and down dark hallways until the unlocked door opens and allows you to progress. It's got a killer flashlight, though...!
Twitch ► / johnwolfe
Twitter ► / johnwolfeyt - Hry
![She's inside your house... [Hatch]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Mr96k9QqA6I/mqdefault.jpg)
![She's inside your house... [Hatch]](/img/tr.png)
![I'm Working Night Security in this Japanese Horror Game [ Night Security | 夜間警備 ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/O4EvnfWTr1E/mqdefault.jpg)
![Dark Hallway Jump Scare Simulator Horror Game # 1542 [From the Darkness]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Uzm9bDDwxRg/mqdefault.jpg)
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imagine taking such a fascinating city like Kowloon, ripe with potential atmosphere and storytelling, and making a game that could literally be placed in any other setting
Agree wholeheartedly with you. It's not even as if the actual Kowloon city and the circumstances that created it weren't frightening enough, spicing up the all-too-real horror of that time and place with some supernatural elements could've made for a excellent story. Instead the best they could come up with was bumbling around dark corridors until a jump scare happens.
The one thing I liked about From the Darkness was that they nailed the Russian grandparent appartment setting. Somehow, they couldn't accomplish the same thing with a place as compelling and unique as Kowloon.
One thing that kowloon walled city and this game have in common is the name of the asset pack they used lol
Kowloon Walled City is one of those things i have what the kids call a fixation on. It wasn't as simple as a "crime ridden city" but was more self governing. It actually had a pretty low crime rate in its later days, the gang violence was more so in its early life, and is something i recommend anyone interested in real world examples of full anarchy to read into. It had its flaws no doubt but many former residents remember it quite fondly. It's a place that if someone WERE to make a horror game that was set in it they would need to have more than a base level knowledge of due to its complexity. The physical appearance could make for some wicked atmosphere but instead these guys were like "haha but what if butcher serial killer and...ghosts? and....corridors" and they didn't really recreate that suffocating atmosphere the walled city had. Sorry for long comment but fuck man, the walled city is one of the most interesting cities that existed in my opinion and if you slap that in your game title people will have a pretty specific expectation with how the atmosphere will be.
It's insulting really. Not only to the players, but to the people who experienced it first hand.
Damn it used to just be mansions and stuff but now even the affordable housing is haunted. That’s messed up.
Ikr. I pay the rent, I should be the only cryptid in my squalid hovel.
Ghosts and ghouls are being priced out of unliving spaces.
right, next up: you're an oogle in a flop house and you keep seeing a shadowy figure lurking outside, but it's just the code enforcer there to ruin your day and raid your squat cuz you used a noticeable amount of water. Give me a haunted grainer porch lmao. Train ghosts would be wicked.
Because a lot of apartaments that are cheap priced had a tragedy happen there is a reason why it is cheap priced is because due to it's background history that every reasonable person checks.
Well it's a real thing in Japan.
No, not the haunted part. The part where houses with previous owner died in not so normal manner usually have cheaper prices.
You know, because people scared of living in that houses.
I love how the protagonist commented on smelly trash but had literally no reaction to the severed body parts hanging from the ceiling in a room.
Average Hong Konger
To answer the question at 29:20, John is correct. A kinematic body for the player's avatar in first-person games is most often coded in a way that handles horizontal speed and vertical speed like separate values. In many games, vertical speed is used just to glue you to the floor or simulate basic gravity and is almost never corrected with the horizontal speed. So if you move up the stairs, the horizontal movement is the same or just slightly slower as on flat surface and stairs forcefully push you upwards. As a result, your linear speed is much faster than normal. There are simple ways to fix this but each solution has drawbacks and players often complain that they move too slow on stairs because of the fix.
As a fun fact, I can add that many old games and some indie games suffer from a related bug with horizontal movement. You might know it as strafe-running, it's often used in speedrunning. It's when you press forward and left or right buttons at the same time and move at 45 angle, if the developer mindlessly adds direction vectors and forgets to normalize the result you move 41% faster because [1, 0] + [0, 1] = [1, 1] and the length of that is ~1.41. When I play indie games I like to check if they have this bug, helps skip boring walking sections.
Thanks for the info! I didn't know the logic behind those behaviors
As I prefer to develop retro-style games, I intentionally leave in that moving diagonally is faster since almost every video game before the PS1 era has this behavior. Once 3D and control sticks became standard, movement was almost always normalized (with notable exceptions like Metroid Prime.)
As for the math: If the sides of a square have a length of 1, the length of the diagonal across that square is the square root of 2 - which is, indeed, ~1.41. Thus, assuming you move the same speed on both axes, you're moving √2 times as fast.
Almost love strafe running. Not many indie games have support it.
A lot of the games I play, old FPS titles or those trying to mimic them, actually intentionally leave this in. For instance: DUSK is way harder without it, and if I'm not mistaken it's even in Cruelty Squad. The only game I know of that doesn't have it intentionally is DOOM with SR50, though BLOOD may also have it in accidentally, I never noticed that.
That information actually might help me in the future as an inspired game dev
John has outlasted the Hunger Games of my gamer list. He’s the only one I keep coming back for.
That's a good way to put it.
It’s John and CJU for me!
John and Mr Kraven are the only two I can stand
Outlast 666 playthrough in 2066 is gonna be lit
Cju games
Really wish horror game devs and movie directors would learn that being startled is not the same thing as being scared. It's just lazy.
They should make a game that is just a black screen and then periodically blasts a loud noise. Would have basically the same effect tbh.
agree
@@scoobydoomyou mean FNAF 4?
It’s especially strange considering how relatively easy it is to actually make something scary. Even just ambient noise can do the job
And it’s ironic considering how many people seem to have anxiety these days that so few know how to actually create the feeling of genuine anxiety
When some people become startled, they start to worry when they'll be startled again. Taking what you are saying and then we get shit like back rooms. Nothing ever happens and no matter how much spooky music you out it's not scary because there is no threat. There needs to be a mix of atmosphere and being startled.
It is both funny and sad that the only things you liked about this game were a dog and a flashlight...
Indie Horror Checklist:
1. Enter the bad place for... reasons.
2. Read notes and/ or hear bad dialogue.
3. Get keys or one use items.
4. Obtain flashlight (this one is well done).
5. Spooked by either nothing or jump-scares.
6. Get chased by a person or thing.
7. Regret choices though you've made none.
8. Shocking ending or awkward conclusion.
9. There is no number 9. There never was.
10. Play it again bc you have 2 more endings.
Part of point 2 is learning about the tragic backstory where a family is torn apart due to a) alcoholic dad b) mentally unstable mother c) paying for sick child
And don't forget having to replace the fuse in the fusebox cause electricity won't work
😂
@@ladyshady9618yeah because every indie horror game protagonist is an electrician of some sort
@@Hi_buddywazup they are all electricians, and can get any boards off of a door with the rustiest crowbar but god forbid there is a single carboard box blocking the hallway lol
He was so fixated on a “logo”, he didn’t notice that lock was just dangling on a door handle not closing anything
This is the only way I want to watch horror games: John being completely unaffected by all of the game's attempts to be scary.
But, but he jumped at all the jump scares?
If a game genuinely scares John, it's definitely going on my Wish List. 😅
@@SteveshiClayxui Loud noises and flashy are different form being genuinely scared or affected by them lol. It's the human instinct. Even with that, John does an impressive job at not flinching at a lot of jumpscares.
@@whiteangel1111 you are just saying words girl
How is that fun to watch lol, I only like to watch CZcamsrs getting scared
Kowloon still does exist, it’s the mainland part of Hong Kong. It’s just the Walled City that is gone now. Because of the lack of police and government interference, the Walled City developed its own idea of leadership, with the triads acting as a government within the city rather than as strictly gangs, and with the city gaining its own kind of sub culture. It’s very interesting, and I highly recommend researching about it!
I recently watched a short documentary about it, it is very interesting. A lot of cool photographs of inside the walls and daily life.
@79Bobola was it from the WSJ? I just added that to my watch later
Yes! Just came away from this video to look up things about it before returning back to the video. It's really interesting! ^^
Never knew it was a real place before, just remember playing shadowrun hongkong and finding the place's layout and history interesting, I'll be sure to look into the actual thing. ^~^
Its in Shenmue I think
I respect that "can you pet the dog?" and "how good/annoying is the flashlight" are two major metrics for evaluating horror games on this channel. And interior design.
Stray did a *really* good job of capturing the spirit of the walled city with an allegorical sci-fi twist.
Yeah, strays a good game.
He's too poor to rent a decent place but he drives a muscle car... Y'know, in China.
I’ve seen tons of people playing this saying how scary and good it is, and I knew, I just KNEW John would play it and have something a little different to say about it, esp considering it’s the same devs as “From the Darkness”. That’s why I love John though, he’s not like the others 😊
Hes not like the other girls 😋😋😋
Most horror game content creators just pretend like they find stuff scary because it's profitable for them. John's appeal is the opposite, people like when he berates stuff for not being scary, so he's able to be more honest and cynical lol.
@@thysens
Yes, people being genuine about the art/media they enjoy is always the best! Everyone has different tastes when it comes to things they like/don't like, especially with overarching genres like horror. I know that I sometimes prefer some art/media that not everyone would like (and vice-versa), but part of the joy of art/media is everyone liking things differently. ^^
Ha, sometimes John is a little bit too much 'I don't like popular things, look how different I am.'
It almost comes off as a shtick or gimmick, and gets a bit old. But, I guess if the shtick works, why change.
@@Divo3660 Eh, this game is putting me to sleep.
Games like these are only scary if you don't experience horror media very often. And while something doesn't need to be "shit your pants" scary to be considered horror in my book, there does need to be some intrigue that suspends disbelief and makes for a compelling experience. Like many middle of the road horror games this one needed a stronger premise or at least stronger gameplay to be a worthwhile experience. But that flashlight? Indie horror devs better be taking notes.
It's a shame; the look and atmosphere at the beginning was very cool! I feel the cramped, oppressing space could've been used better.
The flashlight IS neat, though! :)
Funnily enough, assuming you're talking about the atmosphere of the outside cramped alleyway from the very beginning, I heard from another CZcamsr who played this that it's a purchase-able layout they've seen utilized in other games before.
And out of curiosity, I just decided to google the words "Kowloon alleyway game pack" and immediately found it for sale at $140 ($70 on sale atm) on the Unity store lol.
To be honest I was expecting it to be more like the PS1 game Kowloon's Gate, this feels a bit too clean, like "just a cramped space" in comparison
@@Bane_Amesta I didn't know about that game! I'm going to look into it
The best thing about this game is that it made me want to learn more about Kowloon but just from reading a little bit I'm even more disappointed because there's so much more they could've done with it.
I think the problem with these games is that they look really nice, and they kind of have interesting concepts (This one more than From the Darkness, imo), but they do so little with them that they end up feeling like every other mid indie horror game out there. I feel like in the right hands the idea of exploring a city that doesn't exist anymore could be really cool, and I do like what this game did with the environments visually (I thought the winding streets and narrow apartments seemed easy to get lost in and claustrophobic). But I agree that the combined lack of interactivity, ineffective scares/over-reliance on jumpscares, and kinda nothing story really lets the game down.
It's like if these devs would just get together with good writers or something they would improve so much but just a setting and some jump scares are so boring!
That one exploring a city idea, remember that puppet combo game that did it well?
I think it's an unfortunate side effect of all those Game Jam style contests that went on over the years. Some particularly gifted devs made the hugely successful indie titles, and then everyone else thought they could do the same "solo/near-solo dev" style and achieve instant success.
So you have guys who might've been really good at setpiece design trying to do dialogue, storyboard, and animation as an afterthought when they could've probably put something amazing together if they'd just found more people to help on their project and make an actual game plan.
Even a simple concept like going around in a dangerous city while being stalked (not by something paranormal necessarily) is more scary. Games rely on jumpscares so much nowadays and barely try to be creative, it's why games like The Mortuary Assitant are so great, because they actually put in the effort and made a creative game with genuinely scary moments rather than just "loud = scary".
@@Can_O_Crayolathis is so true! You made some really good points!
This is exactly why I'm not a fan of those "Hong Kong/Asian horror" games. Instead of putting actual effort into creating dread through dark historical past, they go for the most generic, shallow approach (dark hallways with stupid looking ghosts chasing you in the most predictable way, padded with nonsensical/boring "puzzles" or jump"scares"). This is coming from someone who spent the majority of her childhood/teenage years in Hong Kong, and have heard tons of stories told by an older generation. The original KWC is perfect for a crime thriller/horror genre game, perhaps with a tiny bit of supernatural elements, sure, but it doesn't need sCaRy GhOsTs to chill people to the bones. The actual history could've done a way better job.
Dear Hong Kong devs: hire a good writer who knows actual HK history, a good translator (hell, even I could've done the job) and above average artists, and a masterpiece will be on the horizon.
Apologies for the rant. I'm riled up because I hate how childish and unsophisticated they have made these games to be. Totally ruins the potential and reduces the KWC to a mess of lousy codes and scripts. Ugh.
Couldn't agree more! Spent some years in HK too. What an amazingly unique city. Unfortunately some devs are just slapping the "Asian Horror" label on their games to boost views/sales. No real effort whatsoever.
as someone who grew up in hk its already a horror game in itself, no jumpscares needed
Maybe a sign of my incredibly low standards in regards to living spaces but that little apartment room was actually kind of cozy looking to me... also legit thought the twist would be that the dog was the monster and was eating everyone in the apartment block, and that's why it looked well fed despite being apparently abandoned.
That would be too interesting.
That would have been an interesting twist!
What da dog doin?
$7 and you couldn't even save the dog. So disappointing.
So this is what? Average horror game with above average flashlight?
You're goddamn right 😂
Lower than average I'd say...fantastic graphics and sound design though
There's no way out! Oh no! It's not like you can't just hop over the trash bags and cabinet. That always bothers me.
Do you know why all these indie horror games are in first person? It's so we can't see they are actual stickmen. They have no joints and can not bend their legs. Poor horror game protags. That's why he couldn't crouch either. Had to pick everything up while standing and only bending at the waist.
I 'like' how the developers didn't even bother to do very basic research about the walled city.
A recreation of the actual walled city based on videos, photos and stories by former inhabitants would make for an actually incredible map for a horror game. But not just that, I can even see it work for a lot of other genres!
At no point in this city did I look at the environment and feel this was an Asian city from the 1999.
I like how the game is set in China but there’s absolutely nothing Asian about the environment whatsoever. It’s definitely an asset flip.
!!! This! Very different from video games made by actual east Asian devs like Devotion, Detention and myriad of Chillas art games
the western toilet I kept seeing in peoples screencaps got me all confused lol you'd think they'd at least fix that issue, it's a got dang hole in the ground, it shouldn't be that hard. There's no asset to flip, man!
Devs are lazy. Devs have gone to shit, and want to make a game, release it and collect money. That’s it.
Even though Hong Kong culture is a blend of chinese and western (mainly british) cultures, immediately I noticed that the doors are very wrong, very few people have these kinds of doors in Hong Kong, and we usually have iron gates outside of wooden doors which look nothing like the doors in the game! So even though it still looks kind of like buildings you might see in Hong Kong, it's these small details that really stand out to me as rather strange
Edit: actually it doesn't look very plausible that it might have existed in Hong Kong during the Walled city eras, I typed the previous part early in the video, but also, why would a person who needs to live in the walled city to be able to afford cars???? like have you researched what kind of people have cars in Hong Kong???
My thoughts exactly.
Maybe it's just because John is really the only horror let's player I watch anymore and I've seen a million of these playthroughs, but I...don't get the appeal of this kind of horror either. Like...the setting of this is pretty cool and the game looks nice, but it's almost like the environment was designed and then someone else filled it. This would be so much scarier if it played up the creep factor more. That last sequence with the half decayed bodies banging their heads against the wall was almost laughably over the top. A setting like this would benefit from feeling more claustrophobic...building a feeling of discomfort. Instead it's a neat setting with typical haunted house scares.
My father lives in Kowloon, HongKong and said many things about this walled city. How that city had own rules,own law and everything. I always wanted to explore this city, only 2 games portrayed this city really well, one was Sleeping dogs. and another one was a escaping mission from cod black ops...
...
This horror game feels like too much gimmicky just go here there jumpscare with nothing to do inbetween.they just copy pasted from the darkness...
...
I dont know why i get second hand embarassment watching this type of game played by John, i didnt even make this game hahaha... it feels like you watching your friend suddenly dancing in front of random people and they are laughing and you feel the immense second-hand embarassement... i know i am the only one i guess...
Lol no I totally get the secondhand embarrassment, I think it's bc these developers keep trying so hard to be "scary" with loud noises and jumpscares, and John is so unaffected that it just feels awkward and embarrassing for them.
@@Strawberrymochi91 exactly...it feels so awkward, feels like i said to John yo john check this out this the best and then he plays gets disappointed and looks into your soul meanwhile i dont even know or told to check this game, that type of awkwardness...these game devs they should understand John, manlybadasshero are not like everyone who screams and says omg this is the best, they both put the game under microscope...
these type of games totally push effort and budget over graphics and environment to make us forget about the game's lackings , why even bother to make us do something, just make a full walking simulator lol....
Bro it got demolished in 1993😂 why are you saying it has its own rules you mean had as in past tense. Do research beforehand
@@pixelatedgal7448From my basic research, I came to the conclusion that most/part of the city was demolished and then built upon
The devs that made this game are small brained money hungry fucks that wanted to peddle from the "success" their first game had. Its basically the same game. A glorified walking sim is what it is
I have been waiting specifically for John to pick this one up. I can't wait to see what he thinks of it...if the thumbnail tells me anything, we're in for some good old-fashioned John Wolfe sarcasm!
IKR. I saw this game being promoted everywhere and I was like "hmmm I'll just have to wait for John to review this then"
@cjx22 absolutely!
It really sucks that they're using the Kowloon asset straight out of the box. I'm also using it on my horror game, but with a combination of various assets, I'm creating my own city from scratch... when people just unpack and use the demo scene, it just tarnishes the whole thing.
EDIT: I take it back, I WISH they would've used the asset demo scene lmao.
at the very least we made major advancements in flashlight coding with this one
Bad ending, WE DIDN'T TAKE THE DOG WITH US!
I feel like this game has a lot of wasted potential. The city of Kowloon would be a great setting for a horror game if done properly. But this one turned out to be another typical indie horror game :/
For all this is set in Kowloon, there's very little "Kowloon" about this; the rooms aren't small enough, it doesn't feel like a lot of people live here, it looks pretty generic (clutter, puddles, bugs)
Thanks for the playthrough John!
In a way these types of games are like movies where you kinda interact with and just stick around and wait for the disappointing end
John being happy about the quality of the game's flashlight is my favorite Old Man Gamerism from him since his hatred for the popular Assest House😂
I'm waiting for the asset house sequel
14:10 right before the jumpscare. Love how annoyed he looks afterward haha. I have the exact same reaction to loud shit in games.
29:25 John. You are 100% right that you move faster up stairs because your horizontal velocity isn't changed. You just gain vertical movement.
I think so many youtubers say a game is "so scary" and whatnot just to say it and try to hype up the viewers. I hate the fake scared reactions from someone playing a game like this, which is why I like watching John.
Personally, I hate jump scares because I think it does the opposite of what horror intends to accomplish. I never feel more secure / relieved or not afraid as I do a split second after a jump scare, as the way they're always set up you know you're safe. I like the atmospheric, anxiety-inducing horror that sticks with you, over a BOO moment, because the moment that BOO is over, you know nothing else will happen. It just tells you that the game or movie dumped all that build-up and atmosphere for half a second of startling, not scaring. If I show you an episode of Spongebob then suddenly blast your ears with a loud sound, you wouldn't think "Oh wow Spongebob is scary" It's just a sledgehammer to the ears with nothing after.
I think the build-up can be great, especially if you don't use a jump scare but have the audience or players feel like something is coming, will leave them on edge for longer and actually cause fear. The go to example I and many others go to is the "It Follows" Movie with that tall guy coming out of the hallway, no loud sound, no cheap trick and hell it even comes after a build up that leaves you in a false security as it's revealed to be the characters friends at the door, then hits you with a practically silent moment that sticks with people way more than some typical jump scare where you completely forget about it moments after.
I think this game would be substantially better if they removed the hollow, ear-blasting jumpscares that don't do anything outside of startling the player. Something I can't help but think about is what's happening in universe? The guy picks up a picture and some big googley monster with a bunch of eyes pops up for half a second in the room? Possessed him? Some kind of hallucination? Or when walking down the hallway around 25:34 what's up with that? Is that also a hallucination or actual monster popping up or what? There's glitchy text on the screen implying this is some sort of camera malfunction I guess, but the rest of the game is first-person outside of a camera, you're just a student looking for cheap housing. Also, where's the sound coming from? Maybe you spot the body and it's supposed to give that outer body, startled experience? If so who's blowing the tuba in your ear?
Just removing stuff like that, but maybe replacing it with turning a corner and the body is just there as a means of jumpscare, no loud noise or anything, rather just a sudden and unexpected creepy moment. Another downside of jump scares is it shows the strings, because like I said earlier, the moment the BOO is over any sort of fear is gone, so all you can think is "what was that" which will inevitably leave you thinking about it being a scripted moment in a game, which will ruin any sort of immersion you lost with the environment.
Through all the years, John has been the one CZcamsr I keep watching. His personality, his commentary, his vibe is chefs kiss
Your take is always your own and that is why I appreciate it. You are always honest about how you feel and even when you are critical of a game you are respectful about it. Either way it's nice to see someone who actually enjoys a game or doesn't. Your genuine attitude is one of the reasons I keep watching your content. It is very refreshing.
i came here for the indie horror but i stay because of john's incredible sarcasm.
he'd be good at handling hecklers if he was a stand up lol
My apartment has what I call The Doornado - two doors side by side in the bathroom, intersected by the doorway to the bedroom. Bathroom door in the hall, bedroom door, and about six inches away, another bathroom door just inside. It was touted as an ingenious feat of architecture that would "allow me to close off my bedroom during parties and still have private bathroom access" (??)
But in practice it's just three doors needlessly converging at one spot, so you can run in a little circle through all three rooms.
Rookie game programmers might use a planar vector to push the character around the ground plane, and when they want to make this character to go up or down stairs or slopes, they simply add or subtract a vertical vector. The problem lies in the fact that since you summed these 2 vectors the resulting vector's length is longer than the usual horizontal vector's length (that length is your speed).
One way to do that properly you can sum those vectors, normalize and multiply back to the characters original speed.
1:00 Did you see it? In the top right corner of the video, a pale and ghostly face with long hair can be seen... is this the face of a woman who died playing this video game? Or maybe is this all just an elaborate hoax?
There was the one moment, at the very end, with the arms coming through the crack of the door which hinted at a game which could actually have portrayed the horrors of severe overcrowding and an uncaring government.
But nah, SPOOKY GHOST BOO, it's the way to go, clearly.
'Most populous place in Hong Kong' - game is completely devoid of humans except you
You should set the title as, 'slow creeping horror game' then people in the comments will keep saying that the game is full of jumpscares.
John moves through the apartments and what he discovers next is....downright....chilling.
They're eating her! And then they're going to eat me! Oh my gooooooooooooooooooood
You gotta slurp down that tea before the moths get in it
The dog survived, got fed nice big dinner and is well cared for, presumably by the scary granny. Game bad, dog good.
A good horror game takes a certain level of patience to foster a good atmosphere deserving of fear. Even the start menu makes it apparent not to get your hopes up for that as a "scary" silhouette appears in the doorway EVERY THREE SECONDS.
Looking at the steam page and seeing 225 "overwhelmingly positive" reviews kills me. What substance was there to this game? Definitely a pre-built asset with some other pre-built creature and lock assets thrown into it. Your commentary on the situation is more interesting than whatever narrative they were trying to set up. I hope you know how much we all appreciate you, John. Cause watching every video is a treat, even when the gameplay is more boring than watching paint dry. And you still stay respectful by always giving constructive criticism, even on the hottest of garbage. Literally no other person I'd rather watch on the planet.
Honestly, the flashlight is the only good part of this game in my opinion. But that flashlight is probably the BEST flashlight in any game I've ever seen. Take note, devs. Make your flashlights like this!
Fantastic Flashlight Simulator the Game: Return of Unnecessary Jumpscares
*Dude just dangling from the ceiling* "Now why would you go and do a thing like that?" in the nonchalant voice is the sass I come here for
I wholeheartedly agree, John. I need indie devs to learn that louder jumpscares don't make a game scarier or better. Also it's been almost a decade since PT. It was a fantastic experience but there is no point in regurgitating the exact same scenes and sound effects.
The setting of Kowloon could have been so cool and then the game didn't use it to its advantage.
I think an actually historically accurate depiction of the Walled City would have been scarier lol
Damn they really needed four people just to buy a bunch of assets?
10/10 flashlight simulator. Shame games these days want to bloat their concepts with things like puzzles and visuals.
Yeah they were relatively simple puzzles that were impeded by lack of interactivity in the environment and felt kind of random and didn’t add anything to the story. It’s bad puzzle design, and a bad story design. I do think a good puzzle design that’s used to unveil the narrative can very much enhance the game play though .. but that requires a lot more thought and effort.
Omg I’m so early. John I can express how much you mean to me!!! You’ve been my comfort CZcamsr for SO long to the point that you’re the only CZcamsr i watch these days. You and your videos essentially raised me and were a safe, comfort outlet. Thank you for being you!!!
Do you watch him on stream tho..🤔
The fact that the phrase “comfort CZcamsr” exists makes me think that Ted kazynsky was on to something. 😂
I don't understand why there aren't more games set to Kowloon walled city, though. Seems like such an awesome setting.
As usual I wouldn't get too attached to the look of things or commending the devs too much on the look. This is an asset called KOWLOON WALLED CITY * Asian Apartments * Modular Pack. Most of the areas are just the stock asset. I wouldn't call this an asset flip as they did use the asset and added their own code and features, but still the credit for the look should go to the asset developer (Sherman Waffle Studios) and not N4bA.
Something about John's personality and gameplay style drew me in instantly and here I am, loving every minute of it. Doesn't let me down for a second
I know this comment will never be read, BUT
23:51 - THAT'S STRAIGHT UP A MONSTER FROM SILENT HILL DOWNPOUR! Even the textures are the same! Wtf?!
EDIT: this game IS a collection of asset packs. For example, the elevator is suspiciously generic "old Russian elevator" that is used for games set in Russia. It is proven by heavy language written in Russian inside that elevator (I didn't have a good look on the second word, but the first says "dick")
damn John started this game in a MOOD
a claustrophobic walled city setting for a horror game is something that could have been so compelling, but i agree this was highly disappointing.
He liked the 🔦😊
Thanks for the videos John they always cheer me up my father passed away a few weeks ago due to lung cancer so im in a dark place but you make me laugh and help me clear my mind so thank you really keep up the good work i truly appreciate it
I'm sorry for your loss, stranger 😢 Glad you have things like these to offer you some solace. Sending virtual hugs.
John playing Indie Horror Games: >:/
John playing Indie Horror Games with a dog: :D
Agreed 100% with everything you said. I was shocked at the quality of this game when I started seeing it trending, and I looked into it for the same reasons as you. Kowloon is such an incredibly terrifying and interesting place, it makes for a perfect horror setting, which this game does nothing with.
I'd love to see a 'horror games sins' video. I think it would be really interesting to hear your take on the common pitfalls in long form.
I was hoping the land lady was trying to save the character by locking her inside for the night. It would have been an interesting twist.
John sometimes I'm really just drink tea near the kettle, because I love drink fast😂
I'm amazed by how John never gets jump scared LOL
Well except those other times -- one being a Chilla's Art(?) game where he got jump scared on the elevator. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong on the dev.
I think the sudden burst of loud audio was the closest thing to him getting jump scared.
He jumped like two times when they jump scared him 😭
Once you've played three or four low-end indie horror games, you know where all the shit-tier jumpscares are gonna be. John cringes at how loud they are, but that's about it.
Other than Tall Poppy, John has only ever been legitimately spooked by jumpscares that are completely silent, so far as I know. The one I remember is a woman leaning in the door staring at him when he turned to leave a bathroom. No noise, she's just there and he takes a second to notice before yelping.
Yes he has been jump scared a few times recently, one or two of them by chilla's art game. I remember the elevator one very well because him getting jumps cared, scared the shit out of me.@@syvulpie
Given it was the most densely populated place in the world, you'd think you'd encounter a lot of people.
Instead it's like "okay, we've made a nice map, now what do we do for gameplay?", and you're left with empty hallways and cheap scares.
These are my favourite videos. Thanks John
Achievement sounds ruining the mood of the "loud sound equals scary"
Watching John’s videos feels like watching a particularly jaded teacher tear into a kids half-assed creative writing assignment
John is the living embodiment of the red pen for “see me after class”
tbh, John, it feels like the devs didn't even try building something meaningful in any way or form
It's a shame, this game looks really good, but since it's just walking all the time with a non-sensical story, it gets repetitive very fast. Also, it feels like they invested a lot in some animations, but not in others, like all those actions that just cut to black. Also, all the changes in light and strobing lights were so annoying. At least the dog didn't die.
John's blase reaction to Dollar Store Zsasz skipping merrily down the hallway at him killed me lmao
Yay new let’s play. Thanks John, love your content on YT and twitch!
I love watching John's videos because he gives an honest review on everything he plays.
Just subscribed after finding your channel, absolutely loving the content. Breath of fresh air!
This felt more like an environment asset demo rather than a game, seeing how little to do there actually was. The jumpscares felt like unnecessary filler, too, much like the running back and forth to progress. A little walk through some gritty and dark corridors, but not interactive enough to be called a game I think.
I'll give this game credit, it surprised me! I was not expecting this PT clone to just directly rip Outlast at the end, lol
30:00 I checked and your right John. the area is a reused asset on the Unity Asset Store front titled: KOWLOON WALLED CITY.
Generic Jumpscares: The Game (feat. Good Flashlight) 😂
I clicked on this so fast, I find the history of Kowloon so interesting so it’ll be neat to watch!
ive said it countless times but man i love your sense of humor, really makes these playthrus a joy to watch 😁 im only 10 mins in but the game looks amazing, having a great time so thank you john
29:30 Thats exactly what happens, if the angle was super steep you would appear to be moving 500 mph since your climbing z as fast as you can move in x or y. Programming a slowing effect due to ascending would require some math such as: speed - (time * elevation difference). This would result in an added side effect of not allowing you to climb slopes that are too steep, as your speed would be 0 (or less)
Horror game sims video HAS to happen I would absolutely love to watch that lol that’s one of my reasons for watching your videos (not only do I love the content) but I specifically love that you point out random things that either don’t make sense, or are pointless, happen too often, overdone tropes, etc. whenever I play games I find myself pointing out that stuff or noticing little things like that and I’d love to hear your opinion on “horror game sins” 😂
I am always, always looking forward to your content.
Love how real and unfiltered John is. Nothing played up for views, no running with the crowd. Just his own two cents and I can respect that. Loved the video, not for the game but for the commentary! Thank you for always being genuine :)
I like the critiques you give on games and user experience. So many devs overlook simple things.
Lmao the video description got me in the right mindset to watch this 😂 appreciate it
even a bad game is a good time with John. thanks for the upload!
Another Banger From John! TGIF! Hope your Family is doing well John! 🤘🏽👍🏽