10 Of The Best Video-Based ARGs On YouTube

An ARG, also known as an alternate reality game, is a form of storytelling that uses interactive media like social media accounts and videos to tell a story. The Internet is full of ARG accounts that use social media apps like Twitter and video-based websites like YouTube to tell their stories.

The ARG is a really unique style of presenting a narrative because it allows the creator to use the audience’s responses to shape what happens and take feedback or use creative methods like subtitles, descriptions, and tags to give hints. There are a ton of super unique and intriguing ARGs on YouTube and a lot of them are somewhat eerie or even straight-up horror-themed, making the mysteries that they present to viewers particularly interesting for people that like creepy stories.

To see 10 of the best video-based ARGs on YouTube, keep reading!

10 Daisy Brown

Daisy Brown is a sci-fi and horror-themed ARG on YouTube that is set up like a series of video diaries recorded by the title character, Daisy Brown. This series follows as Daisy gives viewers a look at her life raising Alan, a monster that was created by her father, a genetic scientist.

The series follows as Alan goes from a meek, mild monster that the naive title character cares for to a much stronger and more aggressive being, forcing Daisy to face some tough choices about how to handle this thing she’s cared for and essentially raised.

9 My Dad’s Tapes

My Dad’s Tapes is a mysterious ARG that follows a man named Chris who received a package from his deceased father, Gerald. In the package is a variety of different things, including a bunch of VHS tapes that appear to show someone taking the life of another person.

Chris decides to try to figure out what’s going on in these videos, an amateur investigation that attracts the attention of another YouTube user that proves themselves to be even more dangerous to Chris than the person in the videotapes.

8 Ash Vlogs/IKWSI

Ash Vlogs and I Know Where She Is, often abbreviated as IKWSI, are the two parts to a single ARG about a woman named Ashleigh who lives in Australia. This ARG is a dark one that has people from all over the Internet investigating and trying to decode the clues that the game master has left.

This ARG follows the life of Ashleigh, also known as Ash, who has been documenting the strange occurrences in her life until they escalate to the point of Ash being abducted. Throughout the course of the ARG, there are clues as to where Ash went, what happened to her, and who took her.

7 Junko Junsui

Junko Junsui is an ARG that started back in 2009 and it initially had a ton of people fooled into thinking that it was real because of its dark plot and super immersive way of storytelling.

The whole thing started with a Facebook account by the same name that began sending mass friend requests to people. Junsui claimed to be looking for friends who she could talk to about the fact that her sister had been kidnapped. Curious people googled the name and found the video part of the ARG, hours of footage that showed Junsui’s alleged sister being held captive in a cell.

6 Petscop

Petscop is the perfect ARG for fans of video games because it’s completely based around a supposed lost video game found by the person uploading the ARG. The ARG uploaded new episodes from 2017 through its finale in 2019.

The ARG follows a man named Paul who recently acquired a copy of an unfinished PlayStation game named “Petscop.” In the game, the player has to solve puzzles in order to catch strange creatures known as “pets.” But, as Paul plays, he discovers that there’s a dark, hidden side to the game.

5 Jack Torrance

No, not the character from the Stephen King novel. Jack Torrance is a found footage ARG that is uploaded to the YouTube channel by the same name. The ARG started in 2011 when the creators began uploading strange videos to the channel, claiming that they were from old VHS tapes that the uploader had purchased.

This ARG is one that is slightly less story-based and is more just an eerie atmospheric one. Rather than showing a full story with characters, the strange videos are enough to unnerve any Internet user that watches them.

4 This House Has People In It

This House Has People In It is an ARG that was created for and originally aired on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim but has since been put on YouTube for a wider audience to enjoy. Adult Swim began airing surreal infomercials, documentaries, and other strange videos late at night and this ARG is one that became a fan favorite.

This ARG follows a family whose home has been rigged with a ton of security cameras. These cameras catch every mundane part of their lives and often, viewers have to watch multiple rooms to get the full story. The ARG is a lot more surreal than it is scary, but watching as the fictional disease Lynks takes over this family’s life is definitely intriguing.

3 This Room Does Not Exist

With the rise in VR technology lately, it should be no surprise that there are even books, movies, and ARGs based on VR and the way that this immersive new technology can go horribly wrong.

This Room Does Not Exist is an ARG that follows two friends, Abbigail and Ryan, who are approached to test out some futuristic VR technology for the company that is developing it. Like a dark and twisting episode of Black Mirror, this episode follows as the VR technology Abbigail and Ryan were tasked with testing takes a turn neither of them could have expected.

2 POSTcontent

POSTcontent is a horror-based ARG that has flown somewhat under the radar of many Internet ARG fans but is definitely worth checking out for people that like this type of immersive and terrifying web series.

POSTcontent follows a man named Peter who is trapped inside a house that is filled with all kinds of demons, monsters, and other terrifying creatures…Or is he? Peter is a very unreliable narrator and it makes it difficult for the viewer to really know what’s actually going on, albeit in the most intriguing way possible.

1 Nettlebrook/Echo Rose

Nettlebrook is an ARG that follows a massive number of different people and social media accounts, most notably that of Echo Rose. The entire ARG is focused on the town of Nettlebrook where strange things seem to be happening.

Echo Rose is the name of one of the main characters and is a psychic living in Nettlebrook. Through her YouTube channel, she exposes some of the secrets of the town she lives in and reveals more and more about what’s been going on in her hometown.

About The Author

Lacey Womack
(115 Articles Published)

Horror movie lover, number one believer that Stefan should’ve ended up with Elena, and aspiring future Sophia Petrillo. Still hasn’t forgotten about the time Russell Hantz set everyone’s socks on fire.

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