(that is to say: three obscure youtube ARGs that i find cool :) )

so. fake haunted video games. youve probably seen them. on youtube at least. if for some bizarre reason you don't know what they are, let me acquaint you: they're basically let's plays or visual explorations of video games that seem real on the surface, but in reality are totally fake and serve as a means to tell a story outside of the game, whether directly or indirectly.

one of the first series to accomplish this feat would be Anthony "Mr. Yes" Domenico's Petscop, which revolves around an old unreleased PSX game with a dark past¹. this series Blew The Fuck Up when it first came out, which resulted in many more fake video game horror-ish series flooding YouTube. some good, some bad.

i've seen quite a few over the years, most of them vaguely horror-ish but too horror-ish, y'know? i'm sure there are some really bloody ones if you look far enough but those aren't really my bag. unfortunately, almost every one i've followed so far has either a) only ever had one installment, or b) had a good run but is more or less on eternal hiatus. the latter makes sense, considering the amount of effort these series take to produce, but i can't help but be a little bit disappointed.

however, recently ive stumbled upon three different series that actually seem to be progressing and they're fairly unique compared to all of the other 'guy who plays fake n64 game that was made in unity' series ive seen out there. all of the entries in this list follow these guidelines:

• they seem to actually have a chance of finishing its story
• they are unique in their presentation, and/or they have something that other webseries don't
• they arent trapped in a quasi-eternal state of Content Limbo
• theyre good and you should watch them :)

so. with that preamble out of the way, let's get 2 da Good Stuff.

quick note before we begin, though: i am going to be vague about these channel's plots as possible since i believe they're best going in completely blind. i may edit this to have collapsible synopses down the line but for now this is all you're getting

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number 1: brandon works

the year is 2011. a youtube channel is created by a Roblox player who wonders where his old online friend disappeared to. he puts out videos showcasing backups of his friend's old places. as the videos go on, the places themselves get slightly weirder and weirder.

but it's all good, because a year or so later the owner of the channel finally meets up with brandon! he's okay! right?

brandon works is a really neat spin on the old video game unfiction adage, although this time it's based on a video game that actually exists. Roblox is a game that I played back when I was a teenager (it involves making 'places' out of bricks and having other people play said places), and therefore I have nostalgic memories for and I am totally biased towards. despite this, though, even if i weren't familiar with the ways of old roblox², i can totally see this being an actual series of videos that was posted back in the early aughts that nobody paid attention to.

the story seems to be hinting at something very interesting as well. i won't spoil it here, but let's just say that it's a bit of a downer? either way. it shows promise. let's hope that it can stick the landing!

▶ watch brandon works on YouTube

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number 2: the June Archive and Restoration Project

(cw for this channel: mild blood and body horror stuff)

oh! would you look at that! it's another thing that i'm nostalgic for!! yippee!!!!

and yeah i know, i know. i hear you screaming at your computer screen: "inbtwn, this isn't a fucking video game! you dolt!!! you Utter Rube!!! i am going to Super Unfollow you by DDOSing your cat right fucking now >:(", and to that I respond: This is my list, and I do what I want. Don't like it? Leave.³

okay. so. The June Archive and Restoration Project. back in the days of my late teenhood (aka 2010), my family got their hands on a Nintendo DSi. the fact that my parents were able to afford a modern video game console was an outright miracle, we tell you. other than using it to mess around with the built-in camera and music apps (which were pretty dope tbh), we (but mostly my brother) used a downloadable app for it called Flipnote Studio. it was a pretty nifty app that let you make cool scribbly animations on your DSi. you could make the coolest shit if you had the talent and the time (which we did not).

alongside it was the social network in which you could share your animations, sensibly called Flipnote Hatena (Hatena was the company that made Flipnote). there were tons of early 2010s-era animations on there, ranging from fantastic animated feats to sprite animations of Mario set to Brian Regan jokes and so on and so forth.

naturally, of course, the service shut down on June 1, 2013, hence the name of the channel. the channel itself aims to document a few of the flipnotes that were saved before (or slightly after?) the service shut down. a lot of the Classics are here, such as the flipnote involving Mario's food being stolen set to the tune of a Smooth Criminal parody called 'Food Criminal' (shown above). it's fun to go back and watch these so many years later, i tell you!! nothing is off about these at all. nothing at all. 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚎. 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘴. ᵉᵛᵉʳʸᵗʰⁱⁿᵍ ⁱˢ ᶠⁱⁿᵉ

▶ watch The June Archive and Restoration Project on YouTube

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numbuh 3: INTERLOPER

of course, i saved the best for last. if you somehow aren't aware, then let me explain: the Source engine is a game engine from 2003 that powers many of Valve's old PC games, such as Counter-Strike Source, Half-Life 2, Portal, Left 4 Dead, and so on and so forth, up until fairly recently⁴. if you've ever been infatuated with Valve games like i have, you're probably all too familiar with the Source engine.

INTERLOPER is about a small, forgotten easter egg that was found in the Source engine decades ago, but has recently came back to light as one person follows the breadcrumb trail of console commands, demos, and pieces of information back towards what seems to be one of the biggest mysteries that the engine has ever hidden. the weirdest part is that the feature itself to only be triggerable on certain parts of the year...

the channel's presentation is similar to brandon works, although considering it takes place in the present day instead of 2011 its editing style is much more polished. it definitely evokes the helplessness of a user that is just trying to find answers but instead keeps finding more and more questions. kinda similar to petscop, when you think about it.

maybe i'm wrong to think this, but i feel out of the three this series has the most potential to 'stick the landing' in terms of its plot and ending. i can tell that the author has put at least some thought into how the story unravels all throughout the series so far. there's a good amount of content released for it right now as well, (there's even a livestream, too?!) so if you're a total dorkazoid for anything Source-related like i am, then you need to check INTERLOPER out.

tread lightly. 𝚑𝚎 is watching.

▶ watch INTERLOPER on YouTube

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HONORABLE MENTIONS:

finally, here are some other pieces of Video Game Trickery And Buffoonery that i don't think are as cool but are still worth the mention:

• classic gm videos: one of the very first source engine-related webseries. plot is pretty bog standard and the creator has a tendency to upload around 5-7 videos once a year before peacing out (without really furthering the plot), but other than that it's pretty cool.
• gunslingerpro2009 / BadwaterVideos2009: two tf2/gmod-related pieces of unfiction, one inspired by the other, neither related to each other. unfortunately both are inactive as of writing, but the premise is kind of neat (before it suddenly became overdone... oops)
• valle verde: (CW: blood, jumpscares, body horror) made a post about this one a few months ago. currently only has one episode but it's pretty fascinating so far! hopefully more episodes come out soon...
• catastrophe crow: man. what a fucking rug pull. had a legitimately cool plot and story and everything and then it just... stopped. out of nowhere. i'm not mad, just disappointed
• sheriff domestic: a parody of Petscop. actually kind of has a plot? i think. i dunno anymore man
• old minecraft reuploads petscop but minecraft. kind of. hasn't updated in a while

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i am too tired to write an epilogue. bye

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1. note, this series has an open ending. so if you're looking for answers by the end prepare to be disappointed

2. which, ftr, is totally different than modern roblox. i mean have you SEEN Doors or Combat Warriors? like goddamn. roblox is a fucking aa-quality game engine now and that's fucked

3. this is a Hater-Free Site

4. sidenote: god i am SO fucking jealous of dota and CSGO fans getting source 2 updates for their respective games. as a tf2 fan, i know now how MOTHER fans feel in regards to original publishers acknowledging that your game exists. i feel your pain