Introduction

Note: If you're new to this thread, it's highly recommended that you read it in its entirety. While you can simply go through the table of contents below, you'll miss out on Yahtzee's retrospective commentary, discussions about just about everything, contest entries, fanart, redactions of things I point out in the commentary, etc.

Note 2: As of June 14, 2010, the Toxx Clause mentioned below is fulfilled. At no point did I fail in keeping the update schedule, though I certainly came close (once within 10 minutes).

Entry 0: The Chzo Mythos



The Chzo Mythos is a set of four games and some spinoffs made by Benjamin Croshaw, also known as that man who used to be entertaining but jumped the shark when he said bad things about a game you liked. The series is an attempt to make iconoclastic mindscrew survival horror using a free software designed to make Sierra-esque adventure games. It mostly consists of aimless backtracking through the same five rooms over and over again, along with a number of other pretty appalling design decisions a modern-day Yahtzee would probably lynch himself for, and it's pretty clear that he's making most of it up as he goes along; the titular Chzo isn't even mentioned until part 3, where he's retconned into being the only important aspect of games he wasn't around for. Despite all of this, the games work surprisingly well.

The series consists of 5 Days A Stranger, 7 Days A Skeptic, Trilby's Notes, and 6 Days A Sacrifice, also known as the least logical possible method of arranging those four titles into a sequence. The genre, interface, setting, and, essentially, plot change with each installment, but inspiration from the three games Yahtzee actually likes are evident throughout (Eternal Darkness, The Silent Hill series, and Killer7 in particular.)



5 Days was a stand-alone title about a cat burglar who gets trapped in a house that's also haunted. It manages to become less derivative than it first seems, but it mostly functions as a reference point for the rest of the series to make callbacks, sort of like how every new Mario game spends at least fifteen minutes reminding you that the NES existed. 5 Days won a ton of awards and got quite a bit of acclaim when it was released, still being held in fairly high esteem, and for the most part this praise is well-deserved.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

"Bonus" Update 1
"Bonus" Update 2
"Bonus" Update 3


7 Days takes place a few hundred years later as Yahtzee temporarily runs out of ideas and resorts to everyone's favorite fall-back: space. It contains zero characters who are skeptical for a seven-day period of time and demonstrates that its designer doesn't know how space works. It's by far my least favorite of the games, though I know my opinion isn't widely shared.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7

Bonus Scenes


Trilby's Notes completely re-invents the series and retcons the past two games into a new plot that's basically Silent Hill mixed with… well, pretty much just Silent Hill. It's almost objectively the best game in the series, is about as genuinely disturbing as is possible with the game engine in question, and is where the series changes from something fairly good but with a lot of weaknesses into the kind of thing that gives rise to GameFAQs guides dissecting the story. Yahtzee explicitly mentions that this is what he wanted to happen.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8

Countdown: Part 1
Countdown: Part 2
Countdown: Part 3

Pre-6 Days Bonus


6 Days reverts to the "walk back and forth a lot" school of game design and is less overtly creepy than its predecessor, but its plot twists and oddities make the entire series worth it. The most average man in existence gets pushed down an elevator shaft and tries to leave. Then things get substantially worse. For everyone.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8

Epilogue, Part 1
Epilogue, Part 2
pain

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Unfortunately, we'll have to work our way through to the insane parts, which means playing some of the more mediocre entries first. Those of you who followed my Mischief Makers thread (both of you) are probably doubting my ability to do this before the heat death of the universe, so to make things easier on you and more interesting for myself I am toxxing myself here: If at any point I go more than 72 hours without an update, I will be banned and probably get a new avatar with large red text about my inability to update threads. Since Toxxes are generally phrased as "If X, then Y", I guess my version will be this: If the moon continues to exist through this Thursday, I'll stick to a schedule of posting each new update within 72 hours of the previous one. This will end when I finish the main series (the four games listed above) or have to start selling my kidneys to pay for re-reg costs (or I guess, if the moon decides to play along, in which case I'll probably abandon the thread and freak out about how tides aren't happening). All that will be in the future, however. For now, let's trudge through a slow buildup become strangers.

Contest

Midway through the series, I began a contest, which is still ongoing. Challenges are periodically given out and assigned point values, and at the end of the LP whoever has the most points gets a free forums upgrade and the love and adoration of their peers.

Challenge 1: Write a haiku, sonnet, rondeau, or other type of poem that encapsulates all or part of the first two games or the LP thereof.
(Results)

Challenge 2: Download 5 Days a Stranger, either the normal version or the Special Edition, and record a video of you speedrunning the first two days. Time begins at the Day 1 title screen and ends at the Day 3 title screen.
(Results)

Challenge 3: Write a non-creepy and non-fanfictiony explanation (less than 657 words) of why John DeFoe and The Prince decided to platonically move into the same block of wood. Allow me to pretend that encouraging this isn't a horrible idea.
(Results)

Challenge 4: Draw some concept art for a different way Yahtzee could have handled the third installment.
(Results)

Challenge 5: Write a lost note or letter of Trilby's demonstrating his verbose ways of describing utterly mundane events.
(Results)

Challenge 6: Record a dramatic reading of a scene (or something vaguely similar) from the series.
(Results)

Challenge 7: Connect some event that occurred on July 28 to the occult.
(Results)

Challenge 8: Draw a better logo than Yahtzee did.
(Results)

Challenge 9: Summarize the series so far in 45 seconds or less.
(Results)

Challenge 10: Find the worst work-safe fan creation related to this series. I apologize profusely.
(Results)

Challenge 11: Handicap yourself and draw a scene from the series.
(Results in Epilogue Part 2)

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Final point totals:

Doomfunk - 11 points
Beltom - 7 points
Emoticon - 6 points
MissEchelon - 4 points
Dr. Demon - 3 points
21st Century - 3 points
Killer Emcee - 3 points
Instant Grat - 3 points
Mutant Headcrab - 3 points
Yahtzee - 3 points
Namtab - 3 points
Seventhrib - 2 points
Unsupervised Horse - 2 points
Orthogonalus - 2 points
Ghost Car - 2 points
Conskill - 2 points
BlackFrost - 2 points
Broad Squad GO - 1 point
M.c.P - 1 point
Scale Model Giant - 1 point
Cyster - 1 point
The_White_Crane - 1 point
Kennyman666 - 1 point
Snarfoogle - 1 point
Gabriel Pope - 1 point