Thanks to HelloFresh for sponsoring today's video! Go to strms.net/DarylTalksGamesHelloFreshMarchYT and use code POGDARYLMAR60 for 60% off plus free shipping! And thank YOU for convincing me to play this game. What an absolutely unforgettable ride
Toki Tori 2 is a knowledge-based Metroidvania that I wish were better known. It's not as out there as Outer Wilds: There's no time loop, and the core gameplay is bite-sized puzzles. It's all about understanding the interactions between various creatures and environmental elements.
The first time I played it was the night I discovered my dog was dying, and I played it to stay awake with him until the vet opened. After chewy died, I found the “end of the game” (I refuse to spoil anything) and I haven’t been touched by a piece of art like that before or since. It had a sense of optimism to what came next and was a lesson about mortality that I won’t forget.
First of all, sorry for the loss of your four legged friend (and @leftovernoise, sorry for your loss too). I lost a family member very dear to me years ago when I was a kid and I was never really able to fully reconcile with it. I agree that this game put some new perspective on this for me too. As cliche as it sounds, what I took from the narrative is that while we must accept that all things come to an end, what came before is still important, and shouldn't be forgotten. I guess my mind tried to protect me from pointless grief by locking away the tragic circumstances of my loved one's death, but it also locked away the rest of the memories I have with this person. Now, I'm trying to remember the good times I had with them...even if it hurts. And I keep discovering that there are moments worth remembering. Next time I come to visit their grave, maybe I'll be smiling. Sorry, this was more emotional than it was supposed to be. I feel a bit bad for hijacking your thread like this...but all this kind of flowed out of me uncontrollably.
When I beat that game I was just graduating college, directly into the worst part of the pandemic. I’d been spending my days job hunting; I would type the word sales into indeed and just apply for everything that came up in my city. One of the biggest things that got me through it in the end was knowing that once I was done I could go hang out with all my favorite hearthians. The night that I finished it, I cried and cried, for like 40 minutes. My girlfriend was coming over that night, and she had no idea what to do. To this day, those first fourteen notes of timber hearth give me goosebumps without fail
Same. I cried and sat in awe for a long time. It's something else. It had the same impact on me that Journey had back in 2012. Outer wilds and Journey are top10 games ever for me. They made me feel connected to something bigger than myself. And im grateful for those experiences. Like daryl is talking about, when you let go of what a game is supposed to give you and just go along for the ride without judgment and expectations and just be and see. Gaming can be magical, its easy to forget that as you grow older. Thanks for your great comment chris
I also beat the game around the same time during the pandemic, in my third year of college feeling like I was stuck in a lull at home when I should be starting to find a job or finish projects to add to my resume. Finishing the game is still one of the most emotional experiences I’ve had with any medium and told me it’s alright to take your time, “the kind of thing that makes you glad you stopped and smell the pine trees along the way”.
i just beat it. im graduating this summer end of things are weird and scary but the end is necessary for the beginnings isnt it but such surreal moments kinda make me anxious and paranoid :•(
@@fool4343 hey man, if it makes you feel better, it’s so much better having a normal ass job than working part time and going to school. Shits scary, but once you’re properly on your feet, you’ll feel a lot better. Good luck, friend
17:00 "It's almost like the Nomai don't know about Ghost Matter.. I wonder why that could be ?" Well, this has to be one of the most subtle spoil alerts I've ever heard..
Now I’m convinced to at least give it a shot. With university I stopped playing exploration games because of time and feeling too lazy to think after a long day but this game seems right up my alley!
Some games require time to enjoy and immerse yourself in. As you get older, evening games after work usually become multiplayer games and weekend games become single player immersive games.
I've dropped this in my own comment, but if you're really drained and can't crack certain puzzles, the outer wilds subreddit has lots of folks practiced at giving help, nudges and encouragement without spoiling anything :)
I'm so glad YOU, of all people, struggled with this game. Because I didn't, it swooped me off my feet from the get-go, and as such, despite (or because of?) all my unending love for it, I'm utterly unable to identify why it wouldn't be the same for everyone. But you were able to perfectly encapsulate your struggles while agreeing with us in the end, and I couldn't be happier about it. I'll make sure to redirect other people to this video in case they ever feel like you did. Thank you, and I'm looking forward to your experience with the DLC.
Yeah, I didn’t consider that this game could be frustrating if you resist its mood of just letting go, taking it easy, doing things bit by bit. Also by the end, I had the ship controls down pretty well, so that’s another version to not get frustrated by them lol.
@@flying-sheep tbh most of my frustration was towards the end of the game, when i just needed those one or two final logs to finally piece together how to finish it off
@@flying-sheep Yeah, after several hours, I had the ship and suit controls down pretty well. I enjoyed how precisely you could maneuver once you got used to them. I wonder if using the auto-pilot has something to do with it. Another friend of mine who played the game used auto-pilot the whole time and struggled with the ship controls. But I honestly didn't even know there was an auto-pilot feature until around 20 hours in, and by then I had come to actually enjoy navigating around the solar system manually so I just kept not using it.
@@flying-sheep Basically everything about this game was frustrating I absolutely hated Myst when I played it not quite 30 years ago, and Outer Wilds felt like a better, more elaborate Myst without people trapped in books. The lore was fragmented and seemingly unimportant. The controls were irritating, especially the ship. The awareness of a time limit was encroaching, especially when another game I absolutely hated was Majora's Mask, which asks you to do things at specific points in the game's time loop. And above all else, nothing I did seemed to amount to anything at all. I went to some place and stared at some obtuse puzzle, but I couldn't solve it -- am I too stupid or do I need something from somewhere else? And I think it was that last part that, above all else, frustrated me. Subconsciously, I knew there was no "mothwing cloak," but I assumed there might be some clue or some unlocking or just *something* that would enable me to move forward...except that the entire game was like that, without ever actually moving forward. I wanted to dismiss this game as a pile of crap, except there are all these other people praising how amazing it is, which just makes me feel like I'm completely stupid. Me, someone who was "the smart kid" in school, often putting the other gifted kids to shame. Me, who works in education not as a teacher but as a private tutor because I can explain things to people in ways that the regular classroom teachers can't. Me, who...by all accounts, in my mind, should not be defeated by some stupid puzzle unless it's the puzzle's fault. I gave up on Outer Wilds after, I dunno, 4 hours? I saw each of the major locations, died several times at each in stupid ways, located things that demanded something of me, and was able to contribute to absolutely none of it. I gave up on Outer Wilds because...because in a reversal from the usual gamer-game relationship, *I* had nothing to give to *it*.
Folks, he did the thing. The thing has been done. Hoorays all about. In all seriousness, this is such an amazing game, and I’m glad you got the chance to experience it. Enjoy the rest of the project!
I'm a current Ph.D. student in mathematics, and I feel like progressing through Outer Wilds has some similarities with doing math research. So much of my progress has been struggling to prove this one thing, then forgetting about it for a while to go work on other things and searching other avenues, then half a year later you come back to that thing you were stuck on for months and proving it is suddenly extremely easy to you. The tools to solve what you were working on were (possibly) always there, it just hinged on you knowing enough (or reading the right papers) to actually go and do it. You can beat Outer Wilds in the first loop if you know how, and if you were wiser, you could prove things in math that I currently can't. It's simultaneously rewarding to prove something that a while back, you were deeply stuck on, and a bit frustrating, because you technically had all the tools to complete the proof then too, you just weren't smart enough. The difference is that with research, you only have an inkling of an idea that you can "beat the game" because some things you conjecture just turn out to be false, or things that you won't have the tools to prove for years and years.
Holy shit dude. I'm a Ph.D. student in mathematics too, and while I was playing the game I kept thinking the way I am approaching the game seems exactly like what I'm doing in research. You put it into words really well, I feel pretty much the same about it!
This was a very different experience than I had with outer wilds, although I loved it just as much. It was so great hearing your perspective and how you made it through this beautiful space journey. Ending on that solanum quote made me cry, genuinely, perfectly encapsulates the journey outer wilds takes you on. Fantastic job dude.
My non spoiler tips; 1. Use the ship map. This does show progression and where u can go next. 2. Think more about how gravity works sometimes 3. Think more about time. The system is not in the same exact state throughout a run. 4. Don’t be afraid to look for tips if you are stuck - most people who played this love to help without spoiling the puzzles. Like these 🙂
6. Most of the time blocked paths mean you should find another way but there are a few places where you have to finesse the execution. There are a couple where you could do either.
7. Be patient and don't be afraid of dying, you have more time than you think you do, nothing major is going to change in the first minute so don't get too stressed, and if you die that's okay, you'll eventually get the hang of it, trust me. I spent an entire loop falling into the black hole, then I came back then fell in again and came back and tried not to risk it until i noticed that the ground beneath me had fell. It was frustrating but I kept going, I didn't let it discourage me.
I feel like people without a science background at high school level are going to be struggling a bit more cuz a lot of the puzzles are simply about intuiting about how gravity works.
Congratulations on finishing Outer Wilds and this video. You did this game justice and managed to avoid most spoilers.... which is certainly not an easy thing to do. The best thing I can say is that I will recommend this video to those struggling with this game. Now you can go to sleep today knowing that you made the universe a little bit better 😊
Everybody is gangsta until you hold they very thing that makes you immortal and realize that for the first time you are mortal. You no longer have the safety of the loop, and you have to make it count. This game makes you hate death, then make peace with it, then it becomes casual, to the last moment when... It's not, and you fear it. For the next 22 minutes, you are no longer safe. I will never forget that moment of Outer Wilds.
@@ShadowChief117 I've watched a handful of let's plays and many people when they get to that point stop and say something like "Wait, no...I don't want to do that! Why would I want to do that?!" 😂 Then they realize what must be done...
I literally paused, tought of the consequences of stopping the loop And searched on the internet if it deleted my save if i died I was deeply unsatisfied to know it does not, but just goes back to the intro screen The boldest move would be to close the game entirely, or even delete the game
@@MrPinguinzzTo be fair, the biggest barrier to progression in Outer Wilds is knowledge. You cannot delete or unlearn what you've learned. The most deleting your save file would accomplish is resetting the log book. I don't think there was any way there could've been a satisfying meta consequence for failure as there would be nothing stopping you from immediately returning to where you died with what you've learned.
Every so often I stumble upon someone experiencing Outer Wilds for the first time. Usually it's in the form of a video essay like this. Sometimes it's on Twitch. Even rarely it's in real life. And every time I am reminded of the magic that is this game. Taken back to a two week period of time in my life when video games were finally able to truly live up to the potential they have and deliver a unique, one of a kind experience like nothing else in the whole world. Outer Wilds in so special and so amazing. And it is always so magical to get to see someone discover that for themselves. Thanks for sharing your experience with us, Daryl. I just wish I could do it all again, for the first time.
You know what made my time with outer wilds enjoyable from start to finish? I played it together with my gf. And so, I did not sit there by myself frustrated that I couldn't get farther, but rather we'd discuss, and think, and she would try instead, and, you know, it added a lot to the vibe of the game. Cute and chill, even though weird and horrifying at times. The best experience was that we were afraid of different things, and so I was jumping in the black hole that freaked her out, but she found her way through dark bramble, which horrified me. So... yea, I think playing with someone is actually a great idea for this game, and a very nice experience to share.
Woah! Went through the exact same situation as you! I played it on my own up to a certain point and my girlfriend hopped on the train because she kept hearing me gush about it. Turns out she wasn't scared of the vastness of space and the size of the planets (but I was), and I wasn't scared of dark bramble (which she was). We finished the game and DLC together, solving puzzles and connecting the dots. I remember how much we both struggled just to land on the sun station. I still haven't been able to fully complete the game (as in, spoilers, do the final loop after having finished the DLC as well) because I feel such severe nostalgia and love for this game that I'm not ready to say that it's over. I think very fondly of it and cherish those memories with my girlfriend. It's indeed an amazing experience to share with another person.
One of my favorite memories is solving a two part puzzle using my own knowledge and knowledge from my good friend who was playing it. Games that can evoke that level of sharing have a special place for me. Playing Elden Ring at release was similarly awesome.
If you are willing to mod your game, there's a great Multiplayer Mod which allows you to play with friends without having to be physically next to each other. It does at times make some of the puzzles a bit easier, as they were designed for singleplayer, but the story is still as fantastic and touching.
I didn't know that I need this video. I haven't been able to finish Outer Wilds yet for all the reasons you listed, but this motivated me to keep trying, so thank you so much Daryl :)
Thanks so much for sharing that, that was the real intent behind this haha. Lots of people hype this game up, I thought I’d try to help current players who got a little lost.
It’s really just the mindset. Think about what piqued your interest last loop, go there. Don’t try to force things, when time gets tight just ride out a loop fooling around or meditate. There’s exactly one thing in the game that has very tight timing, and it’s completely optional (a certain tower with a broken walkway)
Thank you for providing me with an “intro to outer wilds” video to send my friends. There are so many SPOILER filled videos on how good the game is, but this is easily the best “hey, this game is hard but here is a primer” video I could ask for.
Fantastic video as always! Even after about a year of having beaten this game, just... Man. I still think about this game from time to time and, despite how recently I've played, I get nostalgic over it. This video kinda encapsulates my thoughts on the game as I started playing it too, I was stuck and very tempted to quit several times but I'm so glad I didn't. Don't even get me started on the soundtrack, it's *so good*. Sadly, we will never be able to experience this game for the first time ever again, I'm looking forward to what Mobius Digital is planning on making next
@@DarylTalksGames I was REALLY impressed with how well they followed up the main game with its DLC. It really fits well with the main game, and the mysteries are just as interesting and fun to solve!
@@iveharzing exactly, they proved that they could follow up, and with something that I thought even more impossible, when they announced the DLC I was like what?? how do you even add more content to a game like this? Of course I played it but at the time I genuinely was worried, but man, they sure did it
@@iveharzing Agreed! Basically everyone under the sun felt that Outer Wilds didn't need a DLC, and was a bit nervous about what it would be like, and then Mobius proved everyone wrong.
It’s painful to see what happened to this masterpiece at the 2019 game awards. Not even nominated for score or audio, losing best indie to disco elysium, not nominated for best adventure. (Edit: I finally managed to play Disco Elysium, it’s a very good game and I’m a lil less salty about it winning. Still prefer Outer Wilds personally) At least it got nominated for best direction So unlucky to be released besides the outer worlds a name so similar by a company so much bigger. I’m just glad that Outer Wilds became so much more over the years, so much more memorable, so much more loved. One of the best games of the decade.
Why do you even care about TGA? I thought it was common knowledge that literally every award event in every industry is not a contest of quality but one of popularity and money. It's like caring about metacritic scores.
The awards mean very little and by nature many equally amazing games will be overlooked in favor of some arbitrary winner. What's important is the individual and collective experiences we have with these games
Outer Wilds and Eches of the Eye are the most incredible 40-50 hours I've spent inside of a video game. The smile I had at the end of EotE was the widest I have ever (at least consciuosly) had.
I was fortunate to have a helpful friend who would help me if I ever _did_ lose my patience, and he was always careful to make sure his hints were as minimal as possible.
I have yet to play outer wilds, but the parallel between the content of this video and my experience as a researcher and teacher is uncanny. The balance between wonder and helplessness is exactly the struggle that my peers in math and I experience on a daily basis. My goal as a teacher is to relay this tension with just enough empowerment to my students. I am quite excited to play this game ... once I find the time to do so.
It's not incredibly long compared to many games these days! Depending on how quickly you can piece together the mystery and info it's likely 10-15 hours. I only mention it because I work far too much to have time for longer games and I'm so grateful I found time for outer wilds because, it literally changed my outlook on life. Here's to hoping you can fit it in some day!
As a math PhD candidate, I recommend you put everything aside and play this game! :P But seriously, if the simultaneity of wonder, daunting, and fear is an integral part of your experience with mathematics, this game may add some perspective to that angle.
Yes, this! I am a researcher, and I always say that this game feels like doing research. It's tedious and the experiments are always trying to fight against you, but come up with an elegant workaround and the knowledge is rewarding. The skill that's most required for this game is how to come up with good questions and how to come up with ways to solve them. It's ingenious in a way that I've never seen any other game capture.
You can do what I did : play this game with my partner. Being two is helpful and should make the game quicker, but it is also a journey worth sharing !
I just finished it. This video was the motivation I needed to give it one final try. Honestly I’m not even sure how I feel right now. The only thing I can describe is how the controller feels in your hands while your watching the credits of a masterpiece. I’ll never be able to finish Outer Wilds for the first time again, but I’m glad I finished it for the first time.
Great timing - I am about to start Outer Wilds myself! I was partly prepared for what's to come. What intrigued me about it after reading a few articles and forum topics was its loyalty to physics and the logic of its world, not in staying absolutely true to all real natural laws, but following the reasoning thread in everything in its design; it being not an attraction, but a simulation - as you beatifully put it, 'The galaxy became more of a dance rather than just an opponent'. This video inspires so well at not giving up on this... invitation! :)
Wow, at first I thought ‘another video I’m not going to be able to watch until I finish the game because I want to keep going as blind as possible’, but then it hit that this video was made for people like me instead, people who hear all the boundless praise but get tired from the constant cycles and feeling like there’s no real progression going on. Never thought I’d come across a video that encapsulates the feeling I had.
For me, who loves progress, I think what kept me feeling like I was doing more was the ship log. Every time a new cars appeared, a question mark turned into a picture, or an orange line turned white... I felt like I had done something. I didn't get stronger. But my library grew bigger, all the same.
21:48 On the topic of movement, one of my favorite things about outer wilds is that on my first loop, I was such a bad pilot I crashed trying to enter into the dark bramble hole. By my last loop, I felt like an ace pilot in the Air Force or something, the way I was able to land on the sun station or barrel roll around the solar system. I felt the progression of my skill as a pilot as a marker of the time I had spent, which made me feel like such a badass
My friend nagged me to play this game for the longest time and when I finally came around to start my own YT-channel, my friend bought the game for me. "Play it if you want - and if you like it, continue". I LOVED it. I had NO views on my video but I loved playing the game so I just kept going. That kind of game suited me absolutely perfect and it's so interesting to hear people experiencing it differently than how I experienced it. I'm currently playing the DLC and it's different from the base game but what really gets to me the most is that I'm afraid I'll never find a similar game ever again. It's bitter sweet. I want to play it but I don't want it to end! Thank you for posting this - was so interesting to hear "another side" other than "instantly falling in love"
It's amazing to have one of these videos without spoilers. Now when I suggest friends to play Outer Wilds, I don't have to say "dude just trust me" and I can show them this video.
TBH I can't figure out why people are so insistent about that the whole "NO SPOILERS NO SPOILERS NO SPOILERS" zeitgeist is so constant that I was *seriously* disappointed when I booted the game up and five minutes in it was like... oh, it's just Majora's Mask. That's what people are so blown away by, apparently. It seriously took the wind out of the sails for me, people hype it SO much as this life-changing thing but it's really nothing we haven't seen before. The "aNoThEr ClUe" section pretty much sums up my experience with Outer Wilds. It's Myst + Majora's Mask + Lunar Lander. Cool, but I feel like the only reason it gets as much praise as it does is because people just... haven't played a lot of video games?
@@colbyboucher6391 I've played video games almost daily since I was 5, and I have loved games of every genre. And I seriously believe this is one of, if not the best game ever made. Have you played it through since you discount peoples opinion?
@@colbyboucher6391 I'm sorry if I'm missing something but I read it through again and it doesn't say you finished the game. It's just one of the most unique games in years, and I get it not being for everyone but completely discounting the value people find in it is weird to me. The ending of the game hit me like a ton of bricks personally
@@colbyboucher6391 in my opinion the fact that its a time loop is one of the least damaging spoilers. It’s not about the time loop, it’s about how all the little discoveries build up and how it makes you feel about every mystery uncovering. Unfortunately, “how it makes you feel” can be very tainted by hype. “Is that it?” Mentality can carry through the entire game and end up with you just doing funny voices for the characters not actually internalizing information. In my opinion it is a wonderful game, and the time loop is only a plot device, but i still understand how people can not be thrilled.
What I found most interesting about this video, is that I came to many of the same revelations as you, but they hit me much faster. And legitimately, I think it's because i'm a physicist. The spaceship controls were intuitive to me very quickly, because I realised almost immediately that they weren't video game ship controls, but rather controls with inertia, relative velocities, accelerations. And that's a language I very naturally think in. And similarly, I never really felt the deaths as a failure state, as the whole thing is just one big physics simulation. It's a tiny solar system i'm intruding on, not made for me. And it's wonderful. Easily one of my favourite games ever made.
I did the same, but sort of mirrored, I'm a historian, and the lore and world building, hints at history, etc was very natural but I had such a hard time with the ship until about a third or so of the way into the game. The physics were so fascinating, but a little alien to me so that was a steep but incredibly satisfying learning curve.
Fun fact I learned is that everything is simulated in the game even the physics and even your ship apparently exerts gravity on the planets so technically no run is ever the exact same
@@tekbox7909 not really, gravity is only one-sided unlike in real life. No two runs are exactly the same because computers make little mistakes (especially with floating point numbers)
This is my favorite comment ever lol I get that people can just not understand this game. I didnt at first at all. The thing I just dont understand is people saying this game has bad controls because that is so un-true
Given how much you've focused on the language in the first part of this video, and how differently this game uses the written word when compared to other games, I can't wait to hear what your take on the DLC's use of language will be. Take your time, of course - Outer Wilds is a once in a lifetime experience, and the Echoes of the Eye is no different, but once you feel you are ready to return to this world I look forwards to hearing what you have to say about its other half.
I'm surprised you never mentioned the music (beyond the light piano during reading). How the catchy, simple and inviting tune is made up of each explorer on each planet each playing a single instrument...tying everything in the solar system together.
What a great video! I hope lots of people see this video and give Outer Wilds a chance. As much as I love the base game, I REALLY look forward to seeing your thoughts on the DLC. Be curious on your journey!
I appreciate that the video isn't just focusing on the positives of your experience, but framing the issues you encounter. Games like Outer Wilds are a Keystone in my belief that there are stories that can ONLY be told by videogames (interactive media). It is not a "Cinematic Experience" or a "Gripping tale you can't put down", instead it lets you uncover truths and form thoughts or craft theories, urging you to seek further answers.
Beautiful video! Outer Wilds is my favorite game of all time and as amazing is it is to see others praise the game I think it's easy for the community to fall into a bit of an echo chamber. It was super refreshing to see such a detailed take of how someone struggled with the game and how you overcame that struggle. I've also seen many people and even friends attempt the game and give up which always baffled me. How could they not be enraptured by the mysteries of this miniature universe? But your video and your story put those struggles into perspective. I'm glad you were able to find your way through those issues and hopefully help others to see the beauty of the game as well!
I can’t express how well you did this game justice. What a brilliant theme u had going on throughout that video, start and end with that solanum quote. I had a very similar experience. I loved the game but was so confused and didn’t think I had the brain power to beat it so I stopped until one of my buddies told me to go back and reread my ship log and pay more attention to the Nomais writings. This game gives you a sense of anticipation and gratification that I have not found anywhere else. Every question I had when playing the game, the answer was always sitting in front of me, simply existing, waiting for me to pay attention to it. The sense of scale and sense of importance that derived from every moment and “progression” of this game is unique and perfect.
I appreciate everything you did with the video, and I am glad a video like this about Outer Wilds exists. I do, however, feel like calling it 'not a game' (even when meant as a positive) does the whole genre a disservice. Outer Wilds is very much a game, a piece of art, which only works in the medium it was created for. 'Games', as in 'video games' are still very, very young, compared to books, orally told stories, videos, theatre etc. Same as there are books and films which are not easily digestible, which break with 'conventions', which are 'more' than 'mere' entertainment, there exist an increasing amount of video games which are the same in the video games category: real pieces of art which expand our understanding of the medium. I believe Outer Wilds is such a piece - and the same way there are people who read 'just for fun' and would never touch some of the 'harder' stuff, there will be people who game 'just for fun' and are turned off by Outer Wilds. That is okay - and I am happy your video might convince them to give it another go. But I think Outer Wilds needs very firmly be called a game - a game, which expanded our general understanding of what games can achieve. I hope that with time, we will have more and more art like this.
Indeed, video games have a bad reputation because they have just being considered as time wasters that can only be valued in terms of how much *fun* you have with them. Yet, Outer Wilds is very much a game (one of the best games ever, in my humble opinion), and reminds us that what we are looking for is not to jump on goombas or shoot the bad guys (even if it can be fun), it is to have *engaging* experiences that enrich our life.
I would just categorize Outer Wilds as a "walking simulator", it's more active and open, but the premise is the same as in those games. Also the only reason these kind of game could work for someone is because they are games and it's makes them a special experiences.
@@Pmurder3 You're off the mark here. There already exists a genre for Outer Worlds, and it's called 'adventure game.' It has the same basic premise as games like Myst and Riven. Neither of these games are walking simulators; they existed before walking simulator even became a mainstream concept.
This a million times. Good video, of course, but I do think that games like Outer Wilds, or something even more obscure like Pathologic should be looked at as a celebration of videogames as a medium. They are very much not just artsy "walking-sims", there are artistic experiences out there that only work *because* they are videogames, and nothing is more "videogame" than that imho. Calling them not a game does both these games and the medium a disservice, and I feel like it limits what this medium is capable of.
@@verisimuli I never played mist, started watching a let's play from years ago and from what I seen, it's a lot more of a puzzle game than Outer Wilds is, Outer wilds is more exploration driven to me, that's why I compared it to walking sims.
I dicovered it recently and at first I simply thought that everyone were wrong, or that I was too dulb to understand greatness. And then I replayed the game because I was attracted to it, I wanted to understand why it was so popular. And then I realised that I actually wanted to discover the truth, seek the goal. I was attracted to it because its story and its world was incredibly dense. I was looking for gameplay while the game was giving a whole world to understand. (Sorry if my english is approximate I'm not a native)
I think this is only the second video I've seen that feels like it explains what Outer Wilds _is_ in a way that people who aren't willing to go in blind can learn what kind of experience they might be in for, without spoiling the game. (Though I do love seeing completely blind playthroughs reacting to that first reset)
I knew that the concept of this game fits perfectly with your channel and sooner or later you will make a video about it. I'm glad you finally got to experience it!
Thank you for this. For all the loop deaths and frustrations (I also felt very stupid many times), Outer Wilds is an incredibly uplifting game in its stories and its message. I know I can’t have the experience of discovering the specifics of the universe again, but sometimes I get the urge to play just to read the stories of the Nomai or the Hearthians, and to think about the meaning of the ending (not in a mystery-what-is-happening sense, in an emotional sense). The mechanics of discovery and exploration are rightly praised, but the actual narrative of Outer Wilds is just as good, if not better. Also, 28:10. I swear every time I think of Solanum, I cry a little. Or a lot.
Same here, despite having beat the game years ago and the dlc last year I still regularly think about Outer Wilds and its themes, having also written a paper about it for a philosophy class in college
If I had three wishes the first would be to forget everything about Outer Wilds so I can experience it for the first time again. It breaks a lot of norms that have become expected in modern game design, but I feel that it's all the better for it.
i remember when i was messing around with the system that allows you to break the fabric of space time and i was kinda just like “i wonder what would happen if i do this instead.” seeing the screen suddenly crack open and the game just end scared me so much and filled me with so much dread. i love this game so much
outer wilds is such a brilliantly unique n rewarding experience for those who have the patience for it, and i genuinely cannot think of anything like it. also glad to hear im not the only one who didn't realize what ghost matter really was LOL
@@DarylTalksGames would this be a bad moment to say that you CAN survive ghost matter if you're submerged in water? It took me way longer than I'm willing to admit to learn that, but, as you said in the video, the knowledge is out there for you to discover
Well, it's a hard game if you just have awful spacial awareness as well. The fact he missed the tutorials and _SHIP LOG_ of all things until late into the game is frankly embarrassing. I would get my eyes checked at that point, or start worrying that I've got tunnel vision.
Man, you nailed so many of my frustrations with the game. I feel vindicated, haha! Re: the another clue thread you mentioned - to me it felt like getting a random piece in a 1000 piece puzzle, and not understanding where it got on the broader picture. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to the same place as you; I had some moments of clarity and understanding but not enough for me to feel satisfied or want to see it through to the end. But I do respect the developers’ uncompromising vision, and I am glad that it clicked for you!
Thank you to giving a voice to the frustration portion of this game. I'm glad I wasn't alone in feeling struggle in the games feedback when realizing some loops were just wasted. Definitely going to apply these tips if I find the time to pick it up again
A wonderfully edited and worded essay! Just today I had a very emotional person claiming the worst out of outer wilds because he could just not get into it. I've sent him this video link and I hope it will help him understand and maybe even try it again with a different mind set.
Reminds me of Tunic. The biggest puzzle in the game is accessible right from the start if it... but you don't know that yet. You gotta find the manual page that tells you what to do with the tools you already have (or look up spoilers on the internet, but that's less fun)
Tunic really does wear its inspirations on its sleeve. In fact this video using Hollow knight (and hence super Metroid,Castlevania and Souls) Zelda to explain normal gaming conventions and how outer wilds breaks them perfectly is probably another reason you thought of Tunic, because those 2 games (along with outer wilds), are among the main inspirations of Tunic.
I experience outter wilds as mostly a philosophical meditation. There are certain philosophical ideas that never really “clicked” for me until i played outter wilds. It’s beautiful and it taught me so much about meaning and existence. I know obviously video games will never replace books for philosophy knowledge but also, video games can explore philosophy in ways that no other art from can and it’s unbelievably beautiful
You’re getting really good at this, Daryl. This one was incredible and seemed deeply personal, thanks for sharing the art💜every vid since the rebrand has been heat
I absolutely love you floating in that pool saying "If you know, you know" I hated that section so much, but it feels so good to have figured it out. I missed/didn't understand the main clue for that section and had to do it all by trial and error.
It's been a while since I've played Outer Wilds (got the game in 2020), and its so nice to see a video reminding me of every reason I loved it. Outer Wilds is undoubtedly one of my favorite games of all time, because of everything you said (and so much more). Though your video helped me to realize some positive bias I had going into the game. I've always been a loreseeker, so from the start, I was paying full attention to all the text and environmental clues. I also had a lot of free time to dedicate to the game, so spending a while on it only made the experience better. And (a bit cheesy to say,) I'm a scientist at heart. When I started the game, I quickly grabbed onto those mysteries the game presented and was all too happy to delve into finding their answers. I was endlessly fascinated by the weird quirks of the game and the mysteries of its knowledge-checks. Every blockade on my path only made me search harder for its answer. By learning this, it really helps me in my recommendation of the game to others. This is my type of game, but it's not immediately everyone's. (also, I guess I changed the setting pause-during-text setting immediately, because I genuinely thought that was on by default. That made so much of a difference for play.) (also also the music is so unbelievably good, I've been listening to it ever since I finished the game.) Edit because I can't stop adding to this comment: the quantum objects (especially the quantum forest) creeped me out so much. I remember feeling active anxiety every time I had to walk through one of those areas. I genuinely got jumpscared one time when I turned around and a quantum object was directly behind me.
I was also this way. It wasn’t clicking with me at first but when it did I played for 8 hours straight and thought that this was one of the greatest gaming experiences ever. Such a masterpiece that probably won’t ever be recreated at least in my lifetime
You mentioned the music during the piano notes being played while reading text part, but it cannot be overstated just how important the music is to aiding the experience. It makes everything have that emotional through-line where you can really sense the "bigger picture" of everything happening.
5 sec in, giving a like and leaving a comment. OW is such an amazing experience and it hurts so much to see people not getting into it. Once you allow it, the game is a true once in a lifetime experience
"Outer Wilds is a mystery, a game your friends want to shout about from the rooftops - but only whisper as to not ruin the experience" might just be the best quote I've heard about it.. It fully encapsulates everyone who told me to play it, and me - as soon as I was done. Great video!
This is such a beautifully crafted video. Thank you so much for managing to so accurately articulate the complexities of experiencing this game- it's always a delight to look back on Outer Wilds and remember why it's absolutely one of my favourite video-games. 💜
I would love to see your playthrough of this game. I have spent countless hours just looking in awe at this game and I would love to see it through your eyes
Outer Wilds broke my UA-cam channel. I played it and loved it so much, finding it so perfectly to my tastes that I never felt the enthusiasm I fed off when making a UA-cam video for any piece of media I've experienced since. Nothing compares, and while I might have fun with other things nothing has ever gotten to me like Outer Wilds. The alarm I wake up to every day is the track that plays 22 minutes into the game, and I think that'll be the case for a long, long time. I'm still in the altered headspace I was in after finishing the game - it's not just temporary, I think it might be permanent. It reunited my adult mindset with the wonder I had as a kid. It was honestly a small part of a meaningful shift towards a healthier attitude towards myself. It didn't save my life, but it did make it a little more worth living as hokey as that sounds.
I never considered that people could approach a mystery game like Outer Wilds so wrong! Thank you for showing me both the how and the why of that possibility!
I just recently finished the dlc. Honestly the entire experience as a whole made me cry out of happiness. The messages this game gives you by the end of it can be something that you just need to hear at the time. The DLC truly moved me on a level I couldnt properly describe even if I tried.
OMG I never thought I'd see a comment of mine featured in a video, ever. XD So cool to see. Thanks! I'm glad you found the beauty in Outer Wilds. It truly is a basically perfect game, in my opinion. I keep urging my friends to play it so I can vicariously play a blind experience again. Lol. I am very happy you had the realization about the time loop. Figuring out that death isn't an enemy or roadblock, that you have literally all the time you could ever possibly need is such an important piece to the puzzle that is Outer Wilds. I shall now throw my required comment about how good the DLC is onto the pile as well. ^_^
Really glad you finally played the game. I had a similar experience where I would play it religiously for a couple days and make a ton of progress and then get burnt out because I couldn't really see the progress I guess? I currently at that point in the DLC and after watching this video I think I'm gonna throw myself back in tomorrow. As of now I don't think anything will beat that last loop experience for me. I did pretty much everything in the game before beating it so when I got the... Thing I knew EXACTLY what I needed to do and its genuinely probably my favorite gaming moment to date.
So this video has definitely convinced me even more that I need to play this, but also emphasized to me how differently people experience games. To me, its shocking to see people skipping dialogue and world-building lore because, in my mind, what is the entire point of playing a game besides those parts?
"It is all of the thrill of Interstellar’s docking scene melded with the sorrow of the sun fading over the horizon on the last day of summer vacation. It is all of the soul rattling terror the human mind experiences when confronted with the vastness of space paradoxically contained within the intimacy of roasting marshmallows around a campfire with friends." Holy shit Daryl.
Why does every video essay about this game become amusingly profound once you start mentally substituting "outer wilds" with "your life" and "each loop" with "each day"?
Thank you for not including major spoilers! I want to play this game soon but I also want to watch a video from a very high quality youtuber and its nice to be able to without worrying about ruining my experience with the game
Started the video last week and after a few minutes I convinced myself to finally buy it, I spent the weekend playing and finished the true ending in 15 hours, this was truly a unique experience, thanks for giving me the last push
I remember the satisfaction of suddenly realizing how i would get to the eye of the universe. Its like the pieces just fell in place and it was so exiting not knowing what i would find
I always struggled to understand why Some people find it hard to get into this game, and then this video made me realize that some people value their own time and DON’T read every single piece of text a game gives them. So yeah thank you for that perspective!
For some people the part of valuing their time is true. But I also know people who don't read texts and skip cutscenes, but then have no problem grinding for some items for hours or playing the same multiplayer game for hundreds of hours. Some people just don't like reading or don't have the attention span to sit down a read a text longer than several lines. This is sadly quite common nowadays and it's not helped by the format of social media like TikTok, to which more and more people are addicted. (Which isn't entirely their fault, because these social media are made to be addictive.)
I bounced hard on this game because it was making me just angry. That cacti thing in the video. I was trying to progress it and I was struggling with the control so much that I was having a hard time to reach the place it was leading to. Once, I reached what I wanted but too late leading to 20 minutes of struggling with controls back to the beginning. And it was like that on a loop for several hours. At one point, I reached the end, to learn nothing because the clue at the end, I already guessed/infered it. After that, I just decided that the game was not worth my time anymore. Too much frustration with so little payoff.
Some people also can't get attached to a game unless they're being drip-fed dopamine hits from upgrades or loot-boxes. It's pretty sad. Thankfully Outer Wilds seems to do a good job at helping people break those addictions if they can get into it.
In my first playthrough, I didn't realize there was a freaking auto-pilot until almost the end of the game. I therefore learned to be a master spaceship pilot. Love this game so much, probably one of my favorite. Very nice video btw !
i tried real hard to get into outerwilds. first on playstation. gave up after like 25 hours. then like two years later i tried again on steam after consuming all kinds of content like this. made it a little bit further in but just could not connect with it. i'm still open to figuring it out, but i'm not convinced i'll ever be converted.
Same here : tried twice, with more or less a 2 years gap as well, but in the end it felt like the struggle wasn't worth the effort, I wasn't that interested in the mystery so there was no incentive for me to keep playing and dying. To each their own I guess
What a great video! I think this shows what a lot of people experienced. So many times I missed "small stuff in the small talk" and was just stuck and losing complete loops with "nothing to show for it" as you say very well. I'm happy to see I was far from the only one and took some time to go further than this state. Also, I became extremely good at the controls (the platinum asks you to) but it took so much time for me in the first hours not to miss chances because I came in too fast or a bit too high...
I became pretty good with the controls over 2.5 complete playthroughs, at one point I remember feeling like it was second nature! However there is one trophy from the base game that I'm missing for platinum that requires a combination of mastery, knowledge, preparation, and luck. I tried for hours, came back the next day, watched videos, read guides, used a timer app, shushed the dog, drank a coffee... and I still never attained what I consider to be the "Death Star Trench Run" of Outer Wilds piloting. You know the one, where (no spoilers) you have to land your ship in a place where you normally never reach with your ship. The hot place that you usually reach via different means.
@@galacticbob1 yeah on my first platinum it got me crazy, I did the same and spent several days and at least 5 or 6 hours trying again and again to "land". When I platinumed the second time however (and a few months after, with no play), I did it in around 20 minutes. A bit of advice : To align correctly and land, I went very fast at first to get closer but once you see it, you need to slow down and really take your time to get closer to it, almost meter by meter... It is not easy to alternate between acceleration, going up and down to avoid the pull of gravity but with training it gets way easier (although I still crashed sometimes). The goal is to align and just have to go "down" in order to "land" because then you'll be able to try to find a spot where to stuck the ship. I saw people who were able to really land the ship and stop it from moving. I was unable to do it but you can find some "corners" where the ship kind of gets stuck for a few seconds, allowing you to get out of it (don't forget the suit!! you'll hate yourself lol). Once this is done, you have to be pretty fast and to accelerate towards your goal really fast. Try to know where the entrance is by heart so that you only have to accelerate towards it. Two bits of advice on this part : do not slow down at any point or you'll get out of the loop. If you can't reach the entrance on first try it's ok, you may have one or two other chances but only if you are "too far" in the direction towards which your goal is moving. In that case you can just stop accelerating, wait for everything to align and give it your all on the acceleration. If you're on the other side, it's going to be way way harder because of the gravity and if you're luck you will only have one more try.
An acquired taste you'll love acquiring, Outer Wilds is the easiest game to point to to provide counter to "if it doesn't grab you in an hour drop it". Sometimes, it really can just be you the player that's the problem and not the game, expectations can destroy something good when it doesn't fit the shape you were expecting or even wanted.
Wow, the end of this video gave me chills. I was never one to experience the frustrations of this “game” as in the way you put it of viewing it as such, but the way you articulated your experience truly gave me perspective. Great video 🙏
#1 piece of advice for this game, play with a friend. Not only do you get to give them to chance to go through the Outer Wilds Experience again, but they can tell you if you're missing things, without you risking spoilers. I've watched like 3 of my friends play this game, it's so much more fun for both parties.
I never thought about that but that sounds like a great idea! It's stops people from getting frustrated while keeping (most) of the wonder of figuring out something new
I think that's one of the most important things in Outer Wilds. I won't make any spoiler, but when, after 5 HOURS of useless attempts, I realized the answer to a part I was stuck in I cried of joy. I stood like half an hour tearing and thinking how beautiful it was to solve the enigma. Even now I'm crying thinking about it, but if you have a friend you might avoid stuff like this.
Well, a big point in the game is the feeling of solitude in the vast universe, so... 😅 I would recommend to play it alone and take it as a personal trip.
@@trinchuzosparty Depends on the person. I know my partner had a much better time with it due to me riding shotgun pretending to be a character chatting over radio from timber hearth. Watching over a spotty internet connection on a discord call probably made it a lot more believable 😂 Still, there were a few times I had to remind him that she already knew what to do / asked them to pause or gave advice on stuff they forgot. It just removed some of the need for them to look up a walkthrough.
I'm one of the people who has previously tried and got frustrated and stopped playing the game. You did such an excellent job with this video that you've convinced me to give it another go and try to be more patient this time. Thank you
This game is nothing short of a masterpiece, and it took me way too long to try. Been trying to get people to play it ever since, but people are just resistant. I was. I still don't get it.
NonDairyNeutrino here and holy shit. Daryl has put into words what I haven't been able to since I first played the game. I've always had it in my mind that Outer Wilds isn't a video but more of an "interactive experience"; but it's true nature is exactly that it's an invitation. Literally every single word spoken in this video is true and an absolute masterpiece on this absolute masterpiece. Thanks Daryl. #BenchTower
There's also that part about independance: YOU gotta go and pick where to go. YOU gotta piece it all together. YOU gotta figure out how the entire solar system works. For a lot of people, and depending on their current situation: That is too much to ask. It's almost a metaphor for depression. And that's why this game also helps people with depression: It gets you out of your slumber and to explore the world. It teaches you that you have to seek things, you have to take the initiative. You get help along the way, but you still have to walk this path yourself. If you don't, you're just spoiling the experienec by looking up a walkthrough... What's the fun in that.
Absolute banger video my guy. Recently finished this game after buying and dropping it back in 2019. I’ve always wanted to go back to it but never felt ready until recently and I think that perfectly sums up this game and experience. Maybe I subconsciously knew back in 2019 I wasn’t ready for this game because I never forgot about it after dropping it. Now after growing and learning in life I had gained what I needed to finish it much like the game experience which you described perfectly. One of the most profound experiences in my life and I’ll always love this game for it.
This is a really compelling video. I'm one of those people who fell off and still hasn't gone back to it. I'm glad you were able to reconcile the same problems I had and appreciate the game. THAT SAID. Potentially the biggest reason I haven't picked up Outer Wilds again was because of all the internet comments highlighted in the video and indeed in this very comment section. That the game is a beautiful gem but also I can't tell you anything about it. The way my brain interpreted these messages is that one either treasures Outer WIlds, or they're not smart enough to get through it. I know that's not accurate. But for anyone who felt similar, I'm saying out loud that there's nothing wrong with you if you just don't vibe with it.
great video! i love how the video is made for both people that didn't play the game and people that played the game without any spoilers but snippets of information that people that only people that played the game will understand, this is genius
Watching streamers play it is the closest I got to reexperience that feeling. With any luck, you might even find Jeffrey Yu hanging out in the chat, he loves to do that as well!
God, I had to play through this game 3 times. Twice through the main story, because I (like many others) had dropped it on my first playthrough. And the final playthrough for the DLC. And I have to say. What a masterful video you've written here. How do you speak about a game where anything you truly say can be a spoiler? How do you avoid telling people any important details, because that's the whole fun of it? You crafted something impossible here and I can't wait for your take on the DLC. Great work Daryl!
Huh. I never understood why people had difficulty getting into OW cus it hooked me start to end, but it was interesting seeing your thoughts on it. Definitely showing this to anyone who's still at the "can't get into outer wilds" stage
Tried 9 times and still think it's a particularly "meh" game. Lack of direction and frustrating controls means I just don't have any want or need to ever beat it, which is fine as there are plenty of other better games out there for me to try. Maybe one day it'll click with me, but for now I'll continue to be mystified as to how people can enjoy it at all.
The Witness does this x50. The Outer Wilds is The Witness in space lol. Jonathon Blow made a game where you roamed a small island solving puzzles, but various areas were inaccessible until you developed the know-how to get to certain areas by solving other puzzles . Great vid!
Ever since i finished outer wilds two or 3 years ago, I've been addicted to other peoples experience of it. Since I cant get it for myself anymore. So from the bottom of my heart thank you for playing it and shearing your experience good and bad with us. The ending to your video gave me goose bumps. Btw I truly feel for you, that you missed the introduction to ghost matter.
This was a lovely write-up, thanks for the video. That said, I will never play this game. This explanation makes me want to play it even less now. It sounds like a horribly tedious game and I don't have the mental space for any of that.
Thanks to HelloFresh for sponsoring today's video! Go to strms.net/DarylTalksGamesHelloFreshMarchYT and use code POGDARYLMAR60 for 60% off plus free shipping!
And thank YOU for convincing me to play this game. What an absolutely unforgettable ride
Every thing that is reguarly more than 50% off is overpriced...
Sir I’m gonna request you add more of a spoiler warning, outer wilds can only be experienced once
probably already said this but i like the new kind of content a lot
Toki Tori 2 is a knowledge-based Metroidvania that I wish were better known. It's not as out there as Outer Wilds: There's no time loop, and the core gameplay is bite-sized puzzles. It's all about understanding the interactions between various creatures and environmental elements.
Pog
another example of the not being able to get into outer wilds to outer wilds changing your life pipeline
Oh hey, my two favorite essayists in one place.
From “I don’t get what I’m supposed to be doing” to “I understand life itself now”
Many such cases
Ah, the obligotory Razbuten comment on any given Outer Wilds video on youtube
Has the lady you live with tried it yet?
"Welcome to this video on the Outer Wilds. Spoilers warning for Hollow Knight."
Classic.
22:00 i love the detail of the supernova music begins to play when you reach 22 minutes
No good video essay about Outer Wilds is complete without this detail!
The first time I played it was the night I discovered my dog was dying, and I played it to stay awake with him until the vet opened. After chewy died, I found the “end of the game” (I refuse to spoil anything) and I haven’t been touched by a piece of art like that before or since. It had a sense of optimism to what came next and was a lesson about mortality that I won’t forget.
I played it around the time my best friend passed away, and I agree, it completely changed my life and my outlook on otherwise bad situations.
@@leftovernoise thanks for sharing fam, hope things go well for you 🤙
First of all, sorry for the loss of your four legged friend (and @leftovernoise, sorry for your loss too).
I lost a family member very dear to me years ago when I was a kid and I was never really able to fully reconcile with it. I agree that this game put some new perspective on this for me too. As cliche as it sounds, what I took from the narrative is that while we must accept that all things come to an end, what came before is still important, and shouldn't be forgotten. I guess my mind tried to protect me from pointless grief by locking away the tragic circumstances of my loved one's death, but it also locked away the rest of the memories I have with this person. Now, I'm trying to remember the good times I had with them...even if it hurts. And I keep discovering that there are moments worth remembering. Next time I come to visit their grave, maybe I'll be smiling.
Sorry, this was more emotional than it was supposed to be. I feel a bit bad for hijacking your thread like this...but all this kind of flowed out of me uncontrollably.
Reading this comment made me cry and I don't even like dogs. That's the impact of this game.
@@bigblueshoe777Heresy.
When I beat that game I was just graduating college, directly into the worst part of the pandemic. I’d been spending my days job hunting; I would type the word sales into indeed and just apply for everything that came up in my city. One of the biggest things that got me through it in the end was knowing that once I was done I could go hang out with all my favorite hearthians. The night that I finished it, I cried and cried, for like 40 minutes. My girlfriend was coming over that night, and she had no idea what to do. To this day, those first fourteen notes of timber hearth give me goosebumps without fail
Same. I cried and sat in awe for a long time. It's something else. It had the same impact on me that Journey had back in 2012. Outer wilds and Journey are top10 games ever for me. They made me feel connected to something bigger than myself. And im grateful for those experiences.
Like daryl is talking about, when you let go of what a game is supposed to give you and just go along for the ride without judgment and expectations and just be and see. Gaming can be magical, its easy to forget that as you grow older.
Thanks for your great comment chris
I also beat the game around the same time during the pandemic, in my third year of college feeling like I was stuck in a lull at home when I should be starting to find a job or finish projects to add to my resume. Finishing the game is still one of the most emotional experiences I’ve had with any medium and told me it’s alright to take your time, “the kind of thing that makes you glad you stopped and smell the pine trees along the way”.
same man same
i just beat it. im graduating this summer
end of things are weird and scary but the end is necessary for the beginnings isnt it
but such surreal moments kinda make me anxious and paranoid :•(
@@fool4343 hey man, if it makes you feel better, it’s so much better having a normal ass job than working part time and going to school. Shits scary, but once you’re properly on your feet, you’ll feel a lot better. Good luck, friend
17:00 "It's almost like the Nomai don't know about Ghost Matter.. I wonder why that could be ?"
Well, this has to be one of the most subtle spoil alerts I've ever heard..
It's totally not because they...
It's totally not because it...
It's totally not because...
The tone of the voice he said it in as well... xD
Fuck the Interloper, all my friends hate the Interloper
Now I’m convinced to at least give it a shot. With university I stopped playing exploration games because of time and feeling too lazy to think after a long day but this game seems right up my alley!
Well, you made one of the best choices one could make. Enjoy this once in a lifetime experience
Some games require time to enjoy and immerse yourself in. As you get older, evening games after work usually become multiplayer games and weekend games become single player immersive games.
You will not regret it.
I've dropped this in my own comment, but if you're really drained and can't crack certain puzzles, the outer wilds subreddit has lots of folks practiced at giving help, nudges and encouragement without spoiling anything :)
It's a pretty short game (mostly)
I'm so glad YOU, of all people, struggled with this game. Because I didn't, it swooped me off my feet from the get-go, and as such, despite (or because of?) all my unending love for it, I'm utterly unable to identify why it wouldn't be the same for everyone. But you were able to perfectly encapsulate your struggles while agreeing with us in the end, and I couldn't be happier about it. I'll make sure to redirect other people to this video in case they ever feel like you did. Thank you, and I'm looking forward to your experience with the DLC.
This. I hope this video will become the go-to response for all the "Why is this game so popular?" threads on the Steam forum.
Yeah, I didn’t consider that this game could be frustrating if you resist its mood of just letting go, taking it easy, doing things bit by bit. Also by the end, I had the ship controls down pretty well, so that’s another version to not get frustrated by them lol.
@@flying-sheep tbh most of my frustration was towards the end of the game, when i just needed those one or two final logs to finally piece together how to finish it off
@@flying-sheep Yeah, after several hours, I had the ship and suit controls down pretty well. I enjoyed how precisely you could maneuver once you got used to them. I wonder if using the auto-pilot has something to do with it. Another friend of mine who played the game used auto-pilot the whole time and struggled with the ship controls. But I honestly didn't even know there was an auto-pilot feature until around 20 hours in, and by then I had come to actually enjoy navigating around the solar system manually so I just kept not using it.
@@flying-sheep Basically everything about this game was frustrating I absolutely hated Myst when I played it not quite 30 years ago, and Outer Wilds felt like a better, more elaborate Myst without people trapped in books. The lore was fragmented and seemingly unimportant. The controls were irritating, especially the ship. The awareness of a time limit was encroaching, especially when another game I absolutely hated was Majora's Mask, which asks you to do things at specific points in the game's time loop. And above all else, nothing I did seemed to amount to anything at all. I went to some place and stared at some obtuse puzzle, but I couldn't solve it -- am I too stupid or do I need something from somewhere else?
And I think it was that last part that, above all else, frustrated me. Subconsciously, I knew there was no "mothwing cloak," but I assumed there might be some clue or some unlocking or just *something* that would enable me to move forward...except that the entire game was like that, without ever actually moving forward. I wanted to dismiss this game as a pile of crap, except there are all these other people praising how amazing it is, which just makes me feel like I'm completely stupid. Me, someone who was "the smart kid" in school, often putting the other gifted kids to shame. Me, who works in education not as a teacher but as a private tutor because I can explain things to people in ways that the regular classroom teachers can't. Me, who...by all accounts, in my mind, should not be defeated by some stupid puzzle unless it's the puzzle's fault.
I gave up on Outer Wilds after, I dunno, 4 hours? I saw each of the major locations, died several times at each in stupid ways, located things that demanded something of me, and was able to contribute to absolutely none of it. I gave up on Outer Wilds because...because in a reversal from the usual gamer-game relationship, *I* had nothing to give to *it*.
Folks, he did the thing. The thing has been done. Hoorays all about.
In all seriousness, this is such an amazing game, and I’m glad you got the chance to experience it. Enjoy the rest of the project!
I'm a current Ph.D. student in mathematics, and I feel like progressing through Outer Wilds has some similarities with doing math research. So much of my progress has been struggling to prove this one thing, then forgetting about it for a while to go work on other things and searching other avenues, then half a year later you come back to that thing you were stuck on for months and proving it is suddenly extremely easy to you. The tools to solve what you were working on were (possibly) always there, it just hinged on you knowing enough (or reading the right papers) to actually go and do it. You can beat Outer Wilds in the first loop if you know how, and if you were wiser, you could prove things in math that I currently can't. It's simultaneously rewarding to prove something that a while back, you were deeply stuck on, and a bit frustrating, because you technically had all the tools to complete the proof then too, you just weren't smart enough.
The difference is that with research, you only have an inkling of an idea that you can "beat the game" because some things you conjecture just turn out to be false, or things that you won't have the tools to prove for years and years.
Holy shit dude. I'm a Ph.D. student in mathematics too, and while I was playing the game I kept thinking the way I am approaching the game seems exactly like what I'm doing in research. You put it into words really well, I feel pretty much the same about it!
the game is made to be played like a research, so it makes sense, the character is an archeologist after all
A math problem that tells a wonderful and moving story about life and time at the same time
Similarly but for my feelings about astronomy
Well, I was going to buy it until you associated it with math.
This was a very different experience than I had with outer wilds, although I loved it just as much. It was so great hearing your perspective and how you made it through this beautiful space journey. Ending on that solanum quote made me cry, genuinely, perfectly encapsulates the journey outer wilds takes you on. Fantastic job dude.
My non spoiler tips;
1. Use the ship map. This does show progression and where u can go next.
2. Think more about how gravity works sometimes
3. Think more about time. The system is not in the same exact state throughout a run.
4. Don’t be afraid to look for tips if you are stuck - most people who played this love to help without spoiling the puzzles. Like these 🙂
5. Don't fly at full speed and crash into every planet you try to land on and break every part of your ship and your soul, like I did at the start :)
6. Most of the time blocked paths mean you should find another way but there are a few places where you have to finesse the execution. There are a couple where you could do either.
7. Be patient and don't be afraid of dying, you have more time than you think you do, nothing major is going to change in the first minute so don't get too stressed, and if you die that's okay, you'll eventually get the hang of it, trust me.
I spent an entire loop falling into the black hole, then I came back then fell in again and came back and tried not to risk it until i noticed that the ground beneath me had fell. It was frustrating but I kept going, I didn't let it discourage me.
8. Adding on to number three, identify subtle or major changes to some planets that occur throughout the time loops and use them to your advantage.
I feel like people without a science background at high school level are going to be struggling a bit more cuz a lot of the puzzles are simply about intuiting about how gravity works.
Congratulations on finishing Outer Wilds and this video. You did this game justice and managed to avoid most spoilers.... which is certainly not an easy thing to do.
The best thing I can say is that I will recommend this video to those struggling with this game. Now you can go to sleep today knowing that you made the universe a little bit better 😊
Everybody is gangsta until you hold they very thing that makes you immortal and realize that for the first time you are mortal. You no longer have the safety of the loop, and you have to make it count. This game makes you hate death, then make peace with it, then it becomes casual, to the last moment when... It's not, and you fear it. For the next 22 minutes, you are no longer safe.
I will never forget that moment of Outer Wilds.
The first time I held the core I said I can't fucking do this and put it back😂
@@ShadowChief117 I've watched a handful of let's plays and many people when they get to that point stop and say something like "Wait, no...I don't want to do that! Why would I want to do that?!" 😂 Then they realize what must be done...
I literally paused, tought of the consequences of stopping the loop
And searched on the internet if it deleted my save if i died
I was deeply unsatisfied to know it does not, but just goes back to the intro screen
The boldest move would be to close the game entirely, or even delete the game
@@MrPinguinzzTo be fair, the biggest barrier to progression in Outer Wilds is knowledge. You cannot delete or unlearn what you've learned. The most deleting your save file would accomplish is resetting the log book. I don't think there was any way there could've been a satisfying meta consequence for failure as there would be nothing stopping you from immediately returning to where you died with what you've learned.
and then theres me, wondering 'hey, what would happen if I meditate now and end the loop?' and I was like, oh yeah.. this cant be good
Every so often I stumble upon someone experiencing Outer Wilds for the first time. Usually it's in the form of a video essay like this. Sometimes it's on Twitch. Even rarely it's in real life. And every time I am reminded of the magic that is this game. Taken back to a two week period of time in my life when video games were finally able to truly live up to the potential they have and deliver a unique, one of a kind experience like nothing else in the whole world.
Outer Wilds in so special and so amazing. And it is always so magical to get to see someone discover that for themselves. Thanks for sharing your experience with us, Daryl. I just wish I could do it all again, for the first time.
You know what made my time with outer wilds enjoyable from start to finish? I played it together with my gf. And so, I did not sit there by myself frustrated that I couldn't get farther, but rather we'd discuss, and think, and she would try instead, and, you know, it added a lot to the vibe of the game. Cute and chill, even though weird and horrifying at times. The best experience was that we were afraid of different things, and so I was jumping in the black hole that freaked her out, but she found her way through dark bramble, which horrified me. So... yea, I think playing with someone is actually a great idea for this game, and a very nice experience to share.
Woah! Went through the exact same situation as you! I played it on my own up to a certain point and my girlfriend hopped on the train because she kept hearing me gush about it. Turns out she wasn't scared of the vastness of space and the size of the planets (but I was), and I wasn't scared of dark bramble (which she was). We finished the game and DLC together, solving puzzles and connecting the dots. I remember how much we both struggled just to land on the sun station. I still haven't been able to fully complete the game (as in, spoilers, do the final loop after having finished the DLC as well) because I feel such severe nostalgia and love for this game that I'm not ready to say that it's over. I think very fondly of it and cherish those memories with my girlfriend. It's indeed an amazing experience to share with another person.
@poweee6446 that's so nice! An amazing experience for sure^^
One of my favorite memories is solving a two part puzzle using my own knowledge and knowledge from my good friend who was playing it. Games that can evoke that level of sharing have a special place for me. Playing Elden Ring at release was similarly awesome.
If you are willing to mod your game, there's a great Multiplayer Mod which allows you to play with friends without having to be physically next to each other. It does at times make some of the puzzles a bit easier, as they were designed for singleplayer, but the story is still as fantastic and touching.
I didn't know that I need this video. I haven't been able to finish Outer Wilds yet for all the reasons you listed, but this motivated me to keep trying, so thank you so much Daryl :)
Thanks so much for sharing that, that was the real intent behind this haha. Lots of people hype this game up, I thought I’d try to help current players who got a little lost.
Oh God you will not be disappointed.
It’s really just the mindset. Think about what piqued your interest last loop, go there. Don’t try to force things, when time gets tight just ride out a loop fooling around or meditate. There’s exactly one thing in the game that has very tight timing, and it’s completely optional (a certain tower with a broken walkway)
Try coming back with a friend! passing a controller back and forth means you'll always be making small progress by one or the other of you!
Remember to always be curious fellow hearthian
Thank you for providing me with an “intro to outer wilds” video to send my friends. There are so many SPOILER filled videos on how good the game is, but this is easily the best “hey, this game is hard but here is a primer” video I could ask for.
If only he kept the original title lmao
@@tumultuousvwhat was the original title.
@@FellixNoAmatsu I honestly can't remember lol. He changed it 6 months ago so I can't remember
@@tumultuousvWhat was it??? 😔 I need to KNOWW 😔
@@ArcherAC3I believe the original title was “How to actually enjoy Outer Wilds”
Fantastic video as always! Even after about a year of having beaten this game, just... Man.
I still think about this game from time to time and, despite how recently I've played, I get nostalgic over it.
This video kinda encapsulates my thoughts on the game as I started playing it too, I was stuck and very tempted to quit several times but I'm so glad I didn't.
Don't even get me started on the soundtrack, it's *so good*.
Sadly, we will never be able to experience this game for the first time ever again, I'm looking forward to what Mobius Digital is planning on making next
I feel bad for Mobius tbh, following this up is just such an uphill battle haha.
@@DarylTalksGames I was REALLY impressed with how well they followed up the main game with its DLC.
It really fits well with the main game, and the mysteries are just as interesting and fun to solve!
@@iveharzing exactly, they proved that they could follow up, and with something that I thought even more impossible, when they announced the DLC I was like what?? how do you even add more content to a game like this? Of course I played it but at the time I genuinely was worried, but man, they sure did it
@@iveharzing Agreed! Basically everyone under the sun felt that Outer Wilds didn't need a DLC, and was a bit nervous about what it would be like, and then Mobius proved everyone wrong.
@@pedroscoponi4905 In this case, we can unironically say that it was the DLC that we didn't know we needed.
It’s painful to see what happened to this masterpiece at the 2019 game awards.
Not even nominated for score or audio, losing best indie to disco elysium, not nominated for best adventure. (Edit: I finally managed to play Disco Elysium, it’s a very good game and I’m a lil less salty about it winning. Still prefer Outer Wilds personally)
At least it got nominated for best direction
So unlucky to be released besides the outer worlds a name so similar by a company so much bigger.
I’m just glad that Outer Wilds became so much more over the years, so much more memorable, so much more loved. One of the best games of the decade.
I can give losing to Disco Elysium, that game is similarly a masterpiece
Why do you even care about TGA? I thought it was common knowledge that literally every award event in every industry is not a contest of quality but one of popularity and money.
It's like caring about metacritic scores.
@@nutzor9594 The Only two games in my life that gave me such impact.
The awards mean very little and by nature many equally amazing games will be overlooked in favor of some arbitrary winner. What's important is the individual and collective experiences we have with these games
Honestly, Disco Elysium is a superior game. Both are really, really good, though.
Outer Wilds and Eches of the Eye are the most incredible 40-50 hours I've spent inside of a video game. The smile I had at the end of EotE was the widest I have ever (at least consciuosly) had.
I was fortunate to have a helpful friend who would help me if I ever _did_ lose my patience, and he was always careful to make sure his hints were as minimal as possible.
Fantastic video about a Fantastic Game. Thoroughly enjoyed it :)
…didn’t you make a “Thank You” Minecraft parody song some years ago? Really enjoyed that
tbh one of the last people I thought would be here O-O
I have yet to play outer wilds, but the parallel between the content of this video and my experience as a researcher and teacher is uncanny. The balance between wonder and helplessness is exactly the struggle that my peers in math and I experience on a daily basis. My goal as a teacher is to relay this tension with just enough empowerment to my students. I am quite excited to play this game ... once I find the time to do so.
It's not incredibly long compared to many games these days! Depending on how quickly you can piece together the mystery and info it's likely 10-15 hours. I only mention it because I work far too much to have time for longer games and I'm so grateful I found time for outer wilds because, it literally changed my outlook on life.
Here's to hoping you can fit it in some day!
As a math PhD candidate, I recommend you put everything aside and play this game! :P
But seriously, if the simultaneity of wonder, daunting, and fear is an integral part of your experience with mathematics, this game may add some perspective to that angle.
@@blobberberry u make a good case
Yes, this! I am a researcher, and I always say that this game feels like doing research. It's tedious and the experiments are always trying to fight against you, but come up with an elegant workaround and the knowledge is rewarding. The skill that's most required for this game is how to come up with good questions and how to come up with ways to solve them. It's ingenious in a way that I've never seen any other game capture.
You can do what I did : play this game with my partner. Being two is helpful and should make the game quicker, but it is also a journey worth sharing !
I just finished it. This video was the motivation I needed to give it one final try.
Honestly I’m not even sure how I feel right now. The only thing I can describe is how the controller feels in your hands while your watching the credits of a masterpiece.
I’ll never be able to finish Outer Wilds for the first time again, but I’m glad I finished it for the first time.
Great timing - I am about to start Outer Wilds myself! I was partly prepared for what's to come. What intrigued me about it after reading a few articles and forum topics was its loyalty to physics and the logic of its world, not in staying absolutely true to all real natural laws, but following the reasoning thread in everything in its design; it being not an attraction, but a simulation - as you beatifully put it, 'The galaxy became more of a dance rather than just an opponent'. This video inspires so well at not giving up on this... invitation! :)
Good luck on your exploration, fellow traveler!
@@Angrenost02 Thank you!
Was it fun?
@@mawillix2018 It was fun. It is unforgettable.
Wow, at first I thought ‘another video I’m not going to be able to watch until I finish the game because I want to keep going as blind as possible’, but then it hit that this video was made for people like me instead, people who hear all the boundless praise but get tired from the constant cycles and feeling like there’s no real progression going on. Never thought I’d come across a video that encapsulates the feeling I had.
For me, who loves progress, I think what kept me feeling like I was doing more was the ship log. Every time a new cars appeared, a question mark turned into a picture, or an orange line turned white... I felt like I had done something. I didn't get stronger. But my library grew bigger, all the same.
21:48
On the topic of movement, one of my favorite things about outer wilds is that on my first loop, I was such a bad pilot I crashed trying to enter into the dark bramble hole. By my last loop, I felt like an ace pilot in the Air Force or something, the way I was able to land on the sun station or barrel roll around the solar system. I felt the progression of my skill as a pilot as a marker of the time I had spent, which made me feel like such a badass
My friend nagged me to play this game for the longest time and when I finally came around to start my own YT-channel, my friend bought the game for me. "Play it if you want - and if you like it, continue".
I LOVED it. I had NO views on my video but I loved playing the game so I just kept going. That kind of game suited me absolutely perfect and it's so interesting to hear people experiencing it differently than how I experienced it.
I'm currently playing the DLC and it's different from the base game but what really gets to me the most is that I'm afraid I'll never find a similar game ever again. It's bitter sweet. I want to play it but I don't want it to end!
Thank you for posting this - was so interesting to hear "another side" other than "instantly falling in love"
It's amazing to have one of these videos without spoilers. Now when I suggest friends to play Outer Wilds, I don't have to say "dude just trust me" and I can show them this video.
TBH I can't figure out why people are so insistent about that the whole "NO SPOILERS NO SPOILERS NO SPOILERS" zeitgeist is so constant that I was *seriously* disappointed when I booted the game up and five minutes in it was like... oh, it's just Majora's Mask. That's what people are so blown away by, apparently. It seriously took the wind out of the sails for me, people hype it SO much as this life-changing thing but it's really nothing we haven't seen before.
The "aNoThEr ClUe" section pretty much sums up my experience with Outer Wilds. It's Myst + Majora's Mask + Lunar Lander. Cool, but I feel like the only reason it gets as much praise as it does is because people just... haven't played a lot of video games?
@@colbyboucher6391 I've played video games almost daily since I was 5, and I have loved games of every genre.
And I seriously believe this is one of, if not the best game ever made. Have you played it through since you discount peoples opinion?
@@Siffer12345 It should be pretty clear if you actually read my comment that I have.
@@colbyboucher6391 I'm sorry if I'm missing something but I read it through again and it doesn't say you finished the game.
It's just one of the most unique games in years, and I get it not being for everyone but completely discounting the value people find in it is weird to me.
The ending of the game hit me like a ton of bricks personally
@@colbyboucher6391 in my opinion the fact that its a time loop is one of the least damaging spoilers. It’s not about the time loop, it’s about how all the little discoveries build up and how it makes you feel about every mystery uncovering. Unfortunately, “how it makes you feel” can be very tainted by hype. “Is that it?” Mentality can carry through the entire game and end up with you just doing funny voices for the characters not actually internalizing information. In my opinion it is a wonderful game, and the time loop is only a plot device, but i still understand how people can not be thrilled.
What I found most interesting about this video, is that I came to many of the same revelations as you, but they hit me much faster. And legitimately, I think it's because i'm a physicist. The spaceship controls were intuitive to me very quickly, because I realised almost immediately that they weren't video game ship controls, but rather controls with inertia, relative velocities, accelerations. And that's a language I very naturally think in. And similarly, I never really felt the deaths as a failure state, as the whole thing is just one big physics simulation. It's a tiny solar system i'm intruding on, not made for me. And it's wonderful. Easily one of my favourite games ever made.
I did the same, but sort of mirrored, I'm a historian, and the lore and world building, hints at history, etc was very natural but I had such a hard time with the ship until about a third or so of the way into the game. The physics were so fascinating, but a little alien to me so that was a steep but incredibly satisfying learning curve.
Fun fact I learned is that everything is simulated in the game even the physics and even your ship apparently exerts gravity on the planets so technically no run is ever the exact same
@@tekbox7909 not really, gravity is only one-sided unlike in real life. No two runs are exactly the same because computers make little mistakes (especially with floating point numbers)
This is my favorite comment ever lol I get that people can just not understand this game. I didnt at first at all. The thing I just dont understand is people saying this game has bad controls because that is so un-true
Speaking as a Kerbal Space Program enthusiast, I was just happy I didn't have to do any hohmann transfers in my head.
Given how much you've focused on the language in the first part of this video, and how differently this game uses the written word when compared to other games, I can't wait to hear what your take on the DLC's use of language will be. Take your time, of course - Outer Wilds is a once in a lifetime experience, and the Echoes of the Eye is no different, but once you feel you are ready to return to this world I look forwards to hearing what you have to say about its other half.
I'm surprised you never mentioned the music (beyond the light piano during reading). How the catchy, simple and inviting tune is made up of each explorer on each planet each playing a single instrument...tying everything in the solar system together.
What a great video! I hope lots of people see this video and give Outer Wilds a chance.
As much as I love the base game, I REALLY look forward to seeing your thoughts on the DLC. Be curious on your journey!
I appreciate that the video isn't just focusing on the positives of your experience, but framing the issues you encounter.
Games like Outer Wilds are a Keystone in my belief that there are stories that can ONLY be told by videogames (interactive media). It is not a "Cinematic Experience" or a "Gripping tale you can't put down", instead it lets you uncover truths and form thoughts or craft theories, urging you to seek further answers.
Beautiful video! Outer Wilds is my favorite game of all time and as amazing is it is to see others praise the game I think it's easy for the community to fall into a bit of an echo chamber. It was super refreshing to see such a detailed take of how someone struggled with the game and how you overcame that struggle. I've also seen many people and even friends attempt the game and give up which always baffled me. How could they not be enraptured by the mysteries of this miniature universe? But your video and your story put those struggles into perspective. I'm glad you were able to find your way through those issues and hopefully help others to see the beauty of the game as well!
I can’t express how well you did this game justice. What a brilliant theme u had going on throughout that video, start and end with that solanum quote. I had a very similar experience. I loved the game but was so confused and didn’t think I had the brain power to beat it so I stopped until one of my buddies told me to go back and reread my ship log and pay more attention to the Nomais writings. This game gives you a sense of anticipation and gratification that I have not found anywhere else. Every question I had when playing the game, the answer was always sitting in front of me, simply existing, waiting for me to pay attention to it. The sense of scale and sense of importance that derived from every moment and “progression” of this game is unique and perfect.
I appreciate everything you did with the video, and I am glad a video like this about Outer Wilds exists. I do, however, feel like calling it 'not a game' (even when meant as a positive) does the whole genre a disservice. Outer Wilds is very much a game, a piece of art, which only works in the medium it was created for. 'Games', as in 'video games' are still very, very young, compared to books, orally told stories, videos, theatre etc. Same as there are books and films which are not easily digestible, which break with 'conventions', which are 'more' than 'mere' entertainment, there exist an increasing amount of video games which are the same in the video games category: real pieces of art which expand our understanding of the medium. I believe Outer Wilds is such a piece - and the same way there are people who read 'just for fun' and would never touch some of the 'harder' stuff, there will be people who game 'just for fun' and are turned off by Outer Wilds. That is okay - and I am happy your video might convince them to give it another go. But I think Outer Wilds needs very firmly be called a game - a game, which expanded our general understanding of what games can achieve. I hope that with time, we will have more and more art like this.
Indeed, video games have a bad reputation because they have just being considered as time wasters that can only be valued in terms of how much *fun* you have with them. Yet, Outer Wilds is very much a game (one of the best games ever, in my humble opinion), and reminds us that what we are looking for is not to jump on goombas or shoot the bad guys (even if it can be fun), it is to have *engaging* experiences that enrich our life.
I would just categorize Outer Wilds as a "walking simulator", it's more active and open, but the premise is the same as in those games. Also the only reason these kind of game could work for someone is because they are games and it's makes them a special experiences.
@@Pmurder3 You're off the mark here. There already exists a genre for Outer Worlds, and it's called 'adventure game.' It has the same basic premise as games like Myst and Riven. Neither of these games are walking simulators; they existed before walking simulator even became a mainstream concept.
This a million times. Good video, of course, but I do think that games like Outer Wilds, or something even more obscure like Pathologic should be looked at as a celebration of videogames as a medium. They are very much not just artsy "walking-sims", there are artistic experiences out there that only work *because* they are videogames, and nothing is more "videogame" than that imho.
Calling them not a game does both these games and the medium a disservice, and I feel like it limits what this medium is capable of.
@@verisimuli I never played mist, started watching a let's play from years ago and from what I seen, it's a lot more of a puzzle game than Outer Wilds is, Outer wilds is more exploration driven to me, that's why I compared it to walking sims.
"The universe is, and we are" is such a beautiful quote.
I dicovered it recently and at first I simply thought that everyone were wrong, or that I was too dulb to understand greatness. And then I replayed the game because I was attracted to it, I wanted to understand why it was so popular. And then I realised that I actually wanted to discover the truth, seek the goal. I was attracted to it because its story and its world was incredibly dense. I was looking for gameplay while the game was giving a whole world to understand. (Sorry if my english is approximate I'm not a native)
I think this is only the second video I've seen that feels like it explains what Outer Wilds _is_ in a way that people who aren't willing to go in blind can learn what kind of experience they might be in for, without spoiling the game. (Though I do love seeing completely blind playthroughs reacting to that first reset)
Exactly, that's part of it! A big part. Sighs
I knew that the concept of this game fits perfectly with your channel and sooner or later you will make a video about it. I'm glad you finally got to experience it!
This was wonderful. Thank you for explaining why many struggle to 'get' this game. The mindset, the unlearning of typical game tropes.
Congratulations on finishing that experience :) Glad you played it
Thank you for this. For all the loop deaths and frustrations (I also felt very stupid many times), Outer Wilds is an incredibly uplifting game in its stories and its message. I know I can’t have the experience of discovering the specifics of the universe again, but sometimes I get the urge to play just to read the stories of the Nomai or the Hearthians, and to think about the meaning of the ending (not in a mystery-what-is-happening sense, in an emotional sense). The mechanics of discovery and exploration are rightly praised, but the actual narrative of Outer Wilds is just as good, if not better.
Also, 28:10. I swear every time I think of Solanum, I cry a little. Or a lot.
Same here, despite having beat the game years ago and the dlc last year I still regularly think about Outer Wilds and its themes, having also written a paper about it for a philosophy class in college
I’d never read the quote so I went back and paused and just felt man, I cried too.
If I had three wishes the first would be to forget everything about Outer Wilds so I can experience it for the first time again. It breaks a lot of norms that have become expected in modern game design, but I feel that it's all the better for it.
I wouodnt wosh that because the memories are jsut so good of besting it and wouldnt want tolose them lol
i remember when i was messing around with the system that allows you to break the fabric of space time and i was kinda just like “i wonder what would happen if i do this instead.” seeing the screen suddenly crack open and the game just end scared me so much and filled me with so much dread. i love this game so much
There's more than one way to break the fabric of space-time.
outer wilds is such a brilliantly unique n rewarding experience for those who have the patience for it, and i genuinely cannot think of anything like it.
also glad to hear im not the only one who didn't realize what ghost matter really was LOL
It was an absolute problem lmao, I still feel bad for being so upset at Slate
@@DarylTalksGames if you think he was being sarcastic while also trying to help you, you might feel less bad.
@@DarylTalksGames would this be a bad moment to say that you CAN survive ghost matter if you're submerged in water? It took me way longer than I'm willing to admit to learn that, but, as you said in the video, the knowledge is out there for you to discover
I finished both the base game and the dlc and just learned that ghost matter is not actually those crystals
Well, it's a hard game if you just have awful spacial awareness as well. The fact he missed the tutorials and _SHIP LOG_ of all things until late into the game is frankly embarrassing. I would get my eyes checked at that point, or start worrying that I've got tunnel vision.
Man, you nailed so many of my frustrations with the game. I feel vindicated, haha! Re: the another clue thread you mentioned - to me it felt like getting a random piece in a 1000 piece puzzle, and not understanding where it got on the broader picture. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to the same place as you; I had some moments of clarity and understanding but not enough for me to feel satisfied or want to see it through to the end. But I do respect the developers’ uncompromising vision, and I am glad that it clicked for you!
Thank you to giving a voice to the frustration portion of this game. I'm glad I wasn't alone in feeling struggle in the games feedback when realizing some loops were just wasted. Definitely going to apply these tips if I find the time to pick it up again
A wonderfully edited and worded essay! Just today I had a very emotional person claiming the worst out of outer wilds because he could just not get into it. I've sent him this video link and I hope it will help him understand and maybe even try it again with a different mind set.
Reminds me of Tunic.
The biggest puzzle in the game is accessible right from the start if it... but you don't know that yet. You gotta find the manual page that tells you what to do with the tools you already have (or look up spoilers on the internet, but that's less fun)
Tunic really does wear its inspirations on its sleeve. In fact this video using Hollow knight (and hence super Metroid,Castlevania and Souls) Zelda to explain normal gaming conventions and how outer wilds breaks them perfectly is probably another reason you thought of Tunic, because those 2 games (along with outer wilds), are among the main inspirations of Tunic.
I experience outter wilds as mostly a philosophical meditation. There are certain philosophical ideas that never really “clicked” for me until i played outter wilds. It’s beautiful and it taught me so much about meaning and existence.
I know obviously video games will never replace books for philosophy knowledge but also, video games can explore philosophy in ways that no other art from can and it’s unbelievably beautiful
You’re getting really good at this, Daryl. This one was incredible and seemed deeply personal, thanks for sharing the art💜every vid since the rebrand has been heat
I can't express the 50 different emotions I feel hearing the music at 22:00
I'd never really considered how difficult Outer Wilds could be to "get" for a lot of people. It's awesome that you stuck with it!
I absolutely love you floating in that pool saying "If you know, you know" I hated that section so much, but it feels so good to have figured it out. I missed/didn't understand the main clue for that section and had to do it all by trial and error.
It's been a while since I've played Outer Wilds (got the game in 2020), and its so nice to see a video reminding me of every reason I loved it. Outer Wilds is undoubtedly one of my favorite games of all time, because of everything you said (and so much more).
Though your video helped me to realize some positive bias I had going into the game.
I've always been a loreseeker, so from the start, I was paying full attention to all the text and environmental clues.
I also had a lot of free time to dedicate to the game, so spending a while on it only made the experience better.
And (a bit cheesy to say,) I'm a scientist at heart. When I started the game, I quickly grabbed onto those mysteries the game presented and was all too happy to delve into finding their answers. I was endlessly fascinated by the weird quirks of the game and the mysteries of its knowledge-checks. Every blockade on my path only made me search harder for its answer.
By learning this, it really helps me in my recommendation of the game to others. This is my type of game, but it's not immediately everyone's.
(also, I guess I changed the setting pause-during-text setting immediately, because I genuinely thought that was on by default. That made so much of a difference for play.)
(also also the music is so unbelievably good, I've been listening to it ever since I finished the game.)
Edit because I can't stop adding to this comment: the quantum objects (especially the quantum forest) creeped me out so much. I remember feeling active anxiety every time I had to walk through one of those areas. I genuinely got jumpscared one time when I turned around and a quantum object was directly behind me.
22:53 - The Dark Bramble would like a word, sir.
I was also this way. It wasn’t clicking with me at first but when it did I played for 8 hours straight and thought that this was one of the greatest gaming experiences ever. Such a masterpiece that probably won’t ever be recreated at least in my lifetime
You mentioned the music during the piano notes being played while reading text part, but it cannot be overstated just how important the music is to aiding the experience. It makes everything have that emotional through-line where you can really sense the "bigger picture" of everything happening.
5 sec in, giving a like and leaving a comment. OW is such an amazing experience and it hurts so much to see people not getting into it. Once you allow it, the game is a true once in a lifetime experience
"Outer Wilds is a mystery, a game your friends want to shout about from the rooftops - but only whisper as to not ruin the experience" might just be the best quote I've heard about it.. It fully encapsulates everyone who told me to play it, and me - as soon as I was done. Great video!
This is such a beautifully crafted video.
Thank you so much for managing to so accurately articulate the complexities of experiencing this game- it's always a delight to look back on Outer Wilds and remember why it's absolutely one of my favourite video-games. 💜
I would love to see your playthrough of this game. I have spent countless hours just looking in awe at this game and I would love to see it through your eyes
Outer Wilds broke my UA-cam channel.
I played it and loved it so much, finding it so perfectly to my tastes that I never felt the enthusiasm I fed off when making a UA-cam video for any piece of media I've experienced since. Nothing compares, and while I might have fun with other things nothing has ever gotten to me like Outer Wilds.
The alarm I wake up to every day is the track that plays 22 minutes into the game, and I think that'll be the case for a long, long time. I'm still in the altered headspace I was in after finishing the game - it's not just temporary, I think it might be permanent. It reunited my adult mindset with the wonder I had as a kid. It was honestly a small part of a meaningful shift towards a healthier attitude towards myself. It didn't save my life, but it did make it a little more worth living as hokey as that sounds.
I never considered that people could approach a mystery game like Outer Wilds so wrong! Thank you for showing me both the how and the why of that possibility!
I played this purely because of this video. I came back to paycmy respects. It all makes complete sense now. What an achievement this game is.
I just recently finished the dlc. Honestly the entire experience as a whole made me cry out of happiness. The messages this game gives you by the end of it can be something that you just need to hear at the time. The DLC truly moved me on a level I couldnt properly describe even if I tried.
OMG I never thought I'd see a comment of mine featured in a video, ever. XD So cool to see. Thanks! I'm glad you found the beauty in Outer Wilds. It truly is a basically perfect game, in my opinion. I keep urging my friends to play it so I can vicariously play a blind experience again. Lol. I am very happy you had the realization about the time loop. Figuring out that death isn't an enemy or roadblock, that you have literally all the time you could ever possibly need is such an important piece to the puzzle that is Outer Wilds. I shall now throw my required comment about how good the DLC is onto the pile as well. ^_^
Really glad you finally played the game. I had a similar experience where I would play it religiously for a couple days and make a ton of progress and then get burnt out because I couldn't really see the progress I guess? I currently at that point in the DLC and after watching this video I think I'm gonna throw myself back in tomorrow. As of now I don't think anything will beat that last loop experience for me. I did pretty much everything in the game before beating it so when I got the... Thing I knew EXACTLY what I needed to do and its genuinely probably my favorite gaming moment to date.
So this video has definitely convinced me even more that I need to play this, but also emphasized to me how differently people experience games. To me, its shocking to see people skipping dialogue and world-building lore because, in my mind, what is the entire point of playing a game besides those parts?
"It is all of the thrill of Interstellar’s docking scene melded with the sorrow of the sun fading over the horizon on the last day of summer vacation.
It is all of the soul rattling terror the human mind experiences when confronted with the vastness of space paradoxically contained within the intimacy of roasting marshmallows around a campfire with friends."
Holy shit Daryl.
Why does every video essay about this game become amusingly profound once you start mentally substituting "outer wilds" with "your life" and "each loop" with "each day"?
Thank you for not including major spoilers! I want to play this game soon but I also want to watch a video from a very high quality youtuber and its nice to be able to without worrying about ruining my experience with the game
Started the video last week and after a few minutes I convinced myself to finally buy it, I spent the weekend playing and finished the true ending in 15 hours, this was truly a unique experience, thanks for giving me the last push
I remember the satisfaction of suddenly realizing how i would get to the eye of the universe. Its like the pieces just fell in place and it was so exiting not knowing what i would find
I always struggled to understand why Some people find it hard to get into this game, and then this video made me realize that some people value their own time and DON’T read every single piece of text a game gives them. So yeah thank you for that perspective!
For some people the part of valuing their time is true. But I also know people who don't read texts and skip cutscenes, but then have no problem grinding for some items for hours or playing the same multiplayer game for hundreds of hours. Some people just don't like reading or don't have the attention span to sit down a read a text longer than several lines. This is sadly quite common nowadays and it's not helped by the format of social media like TikTok, to which more and more people are addicted. (Which isn't entirely their fault, because these social media are made to be addictive.)
@@SMJSmoK indeed
I bounced hard on this game because it was making me just angry. That cacti thing in the video. I was trying to progress it and I was struggling with the control so much that I was having a hard time to reach the place it was leading to. Once, I reached what I wanted but too late leading to 20 minutes of struggling with controls back to the beginning. And it was like that on a loop for several hours. At one point, I reached the end, to learn nothing because the clue at the end, I already guessed/infered it. After that, I just decided that the game was not worth my time anymore. Too much frustration with so little payoff.
@@NaouakNawak I think you may have the wrong mindset.
Some people also can't get attached to a game unless they're being drip-fed dopamine hits from upgrades or loot-boxes. It's pretty sad. Thankfully Outer Wilds seems to do a good job at helping people break those addictions if they can get into it.
In my first playthrough, I didn't realize there was a freaking auto-pilot until almost the end of the game. I therefore learned to be a master spaceship pilot. Love this game so much, probably one of my favorite. Very nice video btw !
i tried real hard to get into outerwilds. first on playstation. gave up after like 25 hours. then like two years later i tried again on steam after consuming all kinds of content like this. made it a little bit further in but just could not connect with it. i'm still open to figuring it out, but i'm not convinced i'll ever be converted.
Same here : tried twice, with more or less a 2 years gap as well, but in the end it felt like the struggle wasn't worth the effort, I wasn't that interested in the mystery so there was no incentive for me to keep playing and dying. To each their own I guess
What a great video! I think this shows what a lot of people experienced. So many times I missed "small stuff in the small talk" and was just stuck and losing complete loops with "nothing to show for it" as you say very well. I'm happy to see I was far from the only one and took some time to go further than this state. Also, I became extremely good at the controls (the platinum asks you to) but it took so much time for me in the first hours not to miss chances because I came in too fast or a bit too high...
I became pretty good with the controls over 2.5 complete playthroughs, at one point I remember feeling like it was second nature! However there is one trophy from the base game that I'm missing for platinum that requires a combination of mastery, knowledge, preparation, and luck. I tried for hours, came back the next day, watched videos, read guides, used a timer app, shushed the dog, drank a coffee... and I still never attained what I consider to be the "Death Star Trench Run" of Outer Wilds piloting.
You know the one, where (no spoilers) you have to land your ship in a place where you normally never reach with your ship. The hot place that you usually reach via different means.
@@galacticbob1 yeah on my first platinum it got me crazy, I did the same and spent several days and at least 5 or 6 hours trying again and again to "land". When I platinumed the second time however (and a few months after, with no play), I did it in around 20 minutes.
A bit of advice : To align correctly and land, I went very fast at first to get closer but once you see it, you need to slow down and really take your time to get closer to it, almost meter by meter... It is not easy to alternate between acceleration, going up and down to avoid the pull of gravity but with training it gets way easier (although I still crashed sometimes). The goal is to align and just have to go "down" in order to "land" because then you'll be able to try to find a spot where to stuck the ship.
I saw people who were able to really land the ship and stop it from moving. I was unable to do it but you can find some "corners" where the ship kind of gets stuck for a few seconds, allowing you to get out of it (don't forget the suit!! you'll hate yourself lol). Once this is done, you have to be pretty fast and to accelerate towards your goal really fast. Try to know where the entrance is by heart so that you only have to accelerate towards it. Two bits of advice on this part : do not slow down at any point or you'll get out of the loop. If you can't reach the entrance on first try it's ok, you may have one or two other chances but only if you are "too far" in the direction towards which your goal is moving. In that case you can just stop accelerating, wait for everything to align and give it your all on the acceleration. If you're on the other side, it's going to be way way harder because of the gravity and if you're luck you will only have one more try.
An acquired taste you'll love acquiring, Outer Wilds is the easiest game to point to to provide counter to "if it doesn't grab you in an hour drop it". Sometimes, it really can just be you the player that's the problem and not the game, expectations can destroy something good when it doesn't fit the shape you were expecting or even wanted.
Wow, the end of this video gave me chills. I was never one to experience the frustrations of this “game” as in the way you put it of viewing it as such, but the way you articulated your experience truly gave me perspective. Great video 🙏
#1 piece of advice for this game, play with a friend. Not only do you get to give them to chance to go through the Outer Wilds Experience again, but they can tell you if you're missing things, without you risking spoilers. I've watched like 3 of my friends play this game, it's so much more fun for both parties.
I never thought about that but that sounds like a great idea! It's stops people from getting frustrated while keeping (most) of the wonder of figuring out something new
A Nomai master and apprentice
I think that's one of the most important things in Outer Wilds. I won't make any spoiler, but when, after 5 HOURS of useless attempts, I realized the answer to a part I was stuck in I cried of joy. I stood like half an hour tearing and thinking how beautiful it was to solve the enigma. Even now I'm crying thinking about it, but if you have a friend you might avoid stuff like this.
Well, a big point in the game is the feeling of solitude in the vast universe, so... 😅 I would recommend to play it alone and take it as a personal trip.
@@trinchuzosparty
Depends on the person. I know my partner had a much better time with it due to me riding shotgun pretending to be a character chatting over radio from timber hearth. Watching over a spotty internet connection on a discord call probably made it a lot more believable 😂
Still, there were a few times I had to remind him that she already knew what to do / asked them to pause or gave advice on stuff they forgot. It just removed some of the need for them to look up a walkthrough.
I'm one of the people who has previously tried and got frustrated and stopped playing the game. You did such an excellent job with this video that you've convinced me to give it another go and try to be more patient this time. Thank you
This game is nothing short of a masterpiece, and it took me way too long to try. Been trying to get people to play it ever since, but people are just resistant. I was. I still don't get it.
NonDairyNeutrino here and holy shit. Daryl has put into words what I haven't been able to since I first played the game. I've always had it in my mind that Outer Wilds isn't a video but more of an "interactive experience"; but it's true nature is exactly that it's an invitation. Literally every single word spoken in this video is true and an absolute masterpiece on this absolute masterpiece. Thanks Daryl. #BenchTower
There's also that part about independance: YOU gotta go and pick where to go. YOU gotta piece it all together. YOU gotta figure out how the entire solar system works.
For a lot of people, and depending on their current situation: That is too much to ask. It's almost a metaphor for depression.
And that's why this game also helps people with depression: It gets you out of your slumber and to explore the world. It teaches you that you have to seek things, you have to take the initiative. You get help along the way, but you still have to walk this path yourself. If you don't, you're just spoiling the experienec by looking up a walkthrough... What's the fun in that.
Absolute banger video my guy. Recently finished this game after buying and dropping it back in 2019. I’ve always wanted to go back to it but never felt ready until recently and I think that perfectly sums up this game and experience. Maybe I subconsciously knew back in 2019 I wasn’t ready for this game because I never forgot about it after dropping it. Now after growing and learning in life I had gained what I needed to finish it much like the game experience which you described perfectly. One of the most profound experiences in my life and I’ll always love this game for it.
This is a really compelling video. I'm one of those people who fell off and still hasn't gone back to it. I'm glad you were able to reconcile the same problems I had and appreciate the game. THAT SAID. Potentially the biggest reason I haven't picked up Outer Wilds again was because of all the internet comments highlighted in the video and indeed in this very comment section. That the game is a beautiful gem but also I can't tell you anything about it. The way my brain interpreted these messages is that one either treasures Outer WIlds, or they're not smart enough to get through it. I know that's not accurate. But for anyone who felt similar, I'm saying out loud that there's nothing wrong with you if you just don't vibe with it.
Yeah. I felt the same way.
great video!
i love how the video is made for both people that didn't play the game and people that played the game
without any spoilers but snippets of information that people that only people that played the game will understand, this is genius
God I wish I could play outer wilds again
Watching streamers play it is the closest I got to reexperience that feeling. With any luck, you might even find Jeffrey Yu hanging out in the chat, he loves to do that as well!
God, I had to play through this game 3 times. Twice through the main story, because I (like many others) had dropped it on my first playthrough. And the final playthrough for the DLC. And I have to say. What a masterful video you've written here. How do you speak about a game where anything you truly say can be a spoiler? How do you avoid telling people any important details, because that's the whole fun of it? You crafted something impossible here and I can't wait for your take on the DLC. Great work Daryl!
Huh. I never understood why people had difficulty getting into OW cus it hooked me start to end, but it was interesting seeing your thoughts on it. Definitely showing this to anyone who's still at the "can't get into outer wilds" stage
Tried 9 times and still think it's a particularly "meh" game.
Lack of direction and frustrating controls means I just don't have any want or need to ever beat it, which is fine as there are plenty of other better games out there for me to try.
Maybe one day it'll click with me, but for now I'll continue to be mystified as to how people can enjoy it at all.
Gameplay isn't fun and the mystery doesn't really hook. Especially to warrant a ...17 hours game (?!). My god.
The Witness does this x50.
The Outer Wilds is The Witness in space lol.
Jonathon Blow made a game where you roamed a small island solving puzzles, but various areas were inaccessible until you developed the know-how to get to certain areas by solving other puzzles .
Great vid!
I think the title is wrong. Outer Wilds is MORE than just a video game.
Ever since i finished outer wilds two or 3 years ago, I've been addicted to other peoples experience of it. Since I cant get it for myself anymore.
So from the bottom of my heart thank you for playing it and shearing your experience good and bad with us.
The ending to your video gave me goose bumps.
Btw I truly feel for you, that you missed the introduction to ghost matter.
This was a lovely write-up, thanks for the video. That said, I will never play this game. This explanation makes me want to play it even less now. It sounds like a horribly tedious game and I don't have the mental space for any of that.