Daniel Howell, Phil Lester, and their long-neglect Sim’s creation Dil Howlter returned from the dead in the first video published to the Dan and Phil Games YouTube channel in nearly five years.
The sketch that announced the end of the YouTube channel’s indefinite hiatus was entitled “Saying Goodbye Forever” and saw Howell and Lester reunite at a funeral for the gaming channel. Seán McLoughlin, the “Let’s Play” creator more commonly known as Jacksepticeye, played a priest presiding over the official funeral of Dan and Phil Games. In a eulogy peppered with tongue-in-cheek references to Howell and Lester’s personal lives outside the channel, McLoughlin’s priest character described their gaming heyday as a source of comfort content for subscribers to “parasocially watch two domestic nerds” come together and play a variety of video games.
Though Howell and Lester partook in an array of games from Undertale to Poptropica, their delightfully chaotic Sims 4 series was perhaps the most popular among fans. The announcement video from Dan and Phil Games thus featured their Sim’s character Dil Howlter disrupting the funeral proceedings with a Simlish rallying cry. Thanks to Dil, Dan and Phil Games was resurrected rather than laid to rest, with the YouTubers teasing new gaming content returning to the channel soon.
Similarly to Dil, the end of Dan and Phil Games’ long-simmering hiatus brought many elated fans back from the dead. Emerging from their nearly five-year-long hibernation, Howell and Lester’s fans took to social media to celebrate the return of the channel. Though the English YouTubers started their careers with individual channels, they soon became an indelible pair thanks in part to hit collaborations such as Dan and Phil Games. Outside the YouTube space, Howell and Lester also published a book together in 2015 entitled The Amazing Book is Not on Fire.
In the wake of their fake-wake, Howell and Lester have kept active on social media, giving fans behind-the-scenes content from “Saying Goodbye Forever.” However, the content creators have yet to indicate what video game titles might play a role in the channel’s triumphant return. Fortunately, Sims 4 remains rife with plenty of potential for the channel, and Dil’s appearance in the announcement video seems to indicate his return alongside his creators. The simulation game’s latest Sims 4: Horse Ranch expansion leaves the stable door open for some serious horsing around in future Dan and Phil Games videos.
Howell and Lester’s announcement video is currently available on their Dan and Phil Games Channel, which will soon debut all-new gaming content for fans.
Source: YouTube
