It is inevitable that people are going to compare this I Can’t Sleep because of the art style, so I am going to rip the band-aid off to get this over with: This art style is very reminiscent of I Can’t Sleep.
I am not really much into analog horror, but there are quite a few things about the video I admired as I was watching the whole thing. One main thing about it was the how much detail everything had, from the company behind the Ultramarine Experiment, how exactly the Ultramarine Device worked and what it did, the logs on what they did with Crystal during the experiment, etc. This especially helped out with the story-telling, as it helped me get captivated with the video and not lose focus, all while understanding what was going on. Some of the rare art we see in the video also looks really well made, expanding the universe in a way that people could get a clearer idea on how grounded everything here is, while also fitting in with the whole setting this video has. Nothing is or felt out of place story-wise or art direction wise.
While of course I am rolling my eyes over a premise of a company doing things in which bizarre stuff begins to happen, I liked what you did with Gemini Eleven and NYX. They are not necessarily bad companies in the sense they wanted to make something good for the better of mankind (Gemini Eleven for wanting to see what wild animals could think and help out the police force find truths, and NYX for the idea of no longer using torture methods against soldiers), it is just the Ultramarine Device itself that makes the entire thing with them seem questionable. This is especially true near the end of the video, where Crystal starts to go mad over the supposed “blue-man” that no else seems to be sure about exists, which eventually leads to her cruel death. I like the idea of blue-man being an open-ended figure in this first part of the series, it makes people wonder if he is a supernatural being, a person that has manifested from the Ultramarine device, or he was only in Crystal’s head. The blue-man brings some interesting dynamics with how the experiment works without him even being a direct main figure to the story, and I really admire how well you have written him into the story this way.
Other than that, the ambience for this video really fitted with how eerie this experiment could potentially get, especially after observing what happened with Crystal. I did expect a jumpscare near the end of the video, so I was not really surprised when it showed up. I can see it getting other people though. This episode is a great introduction for the series, and you can go anywhere now with how much you have established in one video. For that I would overall rate this video a 9/10.
I have seen this post months ago but never really responded until now. And since I am replying at 3 AM, and with this being an analog horror video…
Boo.
Yatsufusa
I'll wait for the Newgrounds-release... ;)