I watch YouTube and Twitch more than anything else, and the new YouTube Red Originals have caught my eye a few times. When I finally decided to purchase a subscription, I knew I was going to have to review some of the shows.
Scare PewDiePie
I will be honest, the first time I tried to watch Scare PewDiePie I did not enjoy it. This was right after the first season released and there was a free episode to watch, so I tried it. First, this free episode was not the first of the season but the seventh, an odd choice.
The premise is that PewDiePie, who is known for playing indie horror video games for his audience of over 40 million subscribers, gets stuck in recreations of scenarios from various indie horror games. In some episodes he is joined by other well-known gaming YouTubers to help him out.
Honestly, the show, to me, is so awkward to watch. There are awkward interactions with the crew to distract him and then tossing him into glorified haunted houses. The struggle to keep Felix distracted/ test him was uncomfortable and didn’t serve any purpose. It took so much will power to keep watching past the first 5 minutes. The point is to be as immersive as possible, but it’s just a little ridiculous, in my opinion.
When it comes to the actual game play, it’s not that bad. It’s definitely rough around the edges, but for one of the very first YouTube Red Original shows, it’s not awful. If they focused on the game play instead of really, really faking the “reality” portions, the show would be worth watching
MatPat’s Game Lab
MatPat is the creator of The Game Theorists, where he uses science and math to prove/ disprove different parts and mechanics of video games. And if you want a show that takes video games into reality and does it well, Game Lab is the choice.
Game Lab was part of the reason I even purchase YouTube Red, because I greatly enjoy Game Theory. Basically, MatPat and a group of other gamers come together to try and complete different challenges based on different video games, from parkour from Mirror’s Edge to car soccer from Rocket League to taking over a castle as knights and vikings from For Honor.
The focus of the show is doing the challenges to see if these gamers can actually do the crazy things they get to do through a video game. The show actually stays focused on this and does a good job at keeping it entertaining and on track. Also, the guest specialists are very humorous about everything, well except the military specialist but that’s the military. Overall, I really enjoyed watching Game Lab and definitely recommend it.
Escape the Night with Joey Graceffa
My feelings are very mixed with this show. This is a pseudo-reality show, meaning that it’s only partially real. The setting and story are all fiction, the goal is fictionalized, but the competition is real and the players are real. Like, we know that Joey is Joey and Nadeshot is Nadeshot and Shane Dawson is Shane Dawson, but they are in a fictionalized universe and setting of being trapped in the 1920’s. It’s really confusing.
Also, the story itself is so confusing to follow. It’s monsters and aliens and ghosts time travel in a haunted house all wrapped into a game show. From episode one I was overwhelmed about the amount of plot devices it had.
Also, with the reality portion, people are terrible and start fighting and arguing from night one, even though it is explicitly said that NONE OF THEM ARE THE BAD GUYS. They are fighting for the sake of drama, nothing more. I almost stopped watching because of the drama and horrible comments made by Lele Pons, a Vine star. I honestly wanted her to die first in the show so I didn’t have to listen to her make ignorant and hateful comments.
What is redeeming about the show is the actual gaming portion, where they have to solve puzzles to stay alive. Those are the reality shows I enjoy, when I ignore the anger and hate that’s forced in to add entertainment.
I just wish the show didn’t blur the line between reality and fiction so much, because it is so confusing to watch and understand what is actually happening. But if you are willing to look past that and enjoy reality game shows, the show is alright.
These are just the main shows that stood out to me, but there are others and also the feature length movies and documentaries that I haven’t taken the time to watch. And there are other perks for getting YouTube Red, if the Originals are not really your focus.
Have you watched any of these shows? Which one do you think you’d watch? Let me know below.
I think I’m at my limit of streaming services but this is a cool idea!! I like the idea of Game Theory and I bet Game Lab is really fun!
I didn’t even know Joey Graceffa had a show! Lele is actually a pretty funny Viner. She’s one of the very few good ones.