I can see how the movement can annoy, but I probably had the opposite reaction, finding difficultly for movement as a novelty. Having trouble jumping because of gravity felt unique.
While Outer Wilds is solidly in my top three games of all time, next to Last of Us, and Hollow Knight (all largely due to their story), I do understand most of what you're saying and agree with more of it than I thought. While I didnt have hardly any trouble with controls past the first hour or so I do agree that the puzzles get a bit obtuse near the end of the game which made progress frustrating to the point where I had to look up a walkthrough (looking at you telaporter to the ash twin project). And I do agree with your assessment of the npcs, save maybe Gabro and Chert (who I only discovered has the most impactful dialog in the entire game ok my quest for the archeologist achievement. But for me the wonder and freedom that this game grants has made it the only "open world" game I've every really enjoyed. Idk but something about discovering the story for myself and never being able to play it again, gave that feeling of finishing a great book or movie, where you know it will never be like the first time.
For me what kept me going in the game wasn't so much The Mystery ™️, but rather the journey. The experience. The first five minutes of the game had me immediatly hooked, seeing that galaxy moving in front of my eyes in real time, listening to the other explorers with my little signal scope, the endearing dialogue, the ability to seamlessly fly to space and land, being loose in this galaxy to go wherever I wanted... then I died, woke up but still remembered everything (The Mystery), this ended up being the cherry on top. And that's what I think is the real factor at play when people say that you can only play this game once, you can only really... *feel* these things, experience this the first time you are playing Outer Wilds. I will never be able to experience those first five minutes that had me in awe ever again. And that's ok. If anything, it makes it more special. Outer Wilds is probably one of my favourite games ever together with Pathologic 2. Would love to hear your thoughts on the latter if you ever give the game a shot, since you're looking for games eith a strong narrative
Its funny, the more clunky movement on foot and in the ship and the autopilot being terrible were positives for me. Outer Wilds isnt about fighting other pilots in space ships so tight movement isnt necessary. Its definately a slower movement system which fits the puzzle solving focus. The autopilot also requires you to be more thoughtful about how you move through space, it feels better than just pressing a button and waiting to go exactly where you want to go. Neither of us are right or wrong here, we just feel differently about the games features. We can discuss and come to an understanding, but im not gonna judge because you didnt like a game that i liked, especially when i can just read the billions of reviews that agree with me. I will say tho that the official way to get into the sun station is a really cool moment and i wish you saw it.
I agree with a lot of this, speaking as someone who enjoys "story driven" games and watched some friends play Outer Wilds but never really felt any desire to pick it up myself. I did however want to play Return of the Obra Dinn within 30 mins of watching my friends play it. I think two key factors for me were: 1) Obra Dinn came across way more as "character" driven, even though both are similarly designed in how the character is played. The difference is that the character in Obra Dinn comes across as more invested/enthralled because they have more of an identity to engage with and react to the world's events. 2) The idea of fixed time to play was a turnoff for me, and nothing about the environment excited me enough to get over this hump and try playing it. I think it's hard to have character driven gameplay in spacey exploration games. No Man's Sky is another good example. I think another Lucas Pope game (Papers Please) is another interesting look at "story/character" driven play since that game does have a time limit component, but it behaves quite differently (much more arcade like and the story emerges around it gradually)
6:12 To be fair, many of the "painful" puzzles in Outer Wilds are the result of players not thinking outside of the box and considering multiple solutions. For example, the puzzle with the spiky plants in the hallway can be solved by waiting until the Ash Twin's ash is drained just enough to pass through the area without revealing the hazardous floor. Another example, the sun station, isn't even designed to be landed on (in canon); if you know the icon for the station you can find a teleporter on Ash Twin (i think, i have not played the game in a while) that takes you directly to there. However, the game never really suggests the possibility of alternate solutions, and combined with how many video game puzzles don't have outside-the-box alternate solutions, it is understandable how a player could go the entire game choosing the "painful" way to solve a puzzle not knowing that there was a choice in the first place. Edit: I just watched past that point and let me get this straight: you *intentionally* took an unnecessarily difficult path to get to the sun station and, when given a reward that made sense given the intended path, somehow got upset? Seems like your issues with the puzzles (at least the sun station) are entirely your fault and not the game's.
This is 100% not designed to be an insult but I reccomended this game to about 5 friends and the only 1 who didnt get hooked has ADD. Playing this game imo is like reading a book. If you dont like reading books then the quality of the book won't really matter.
I personally though the movement was totally fine outside of a few instances, but I can understand some people having trouble with it. I certainly have to disagree about the sun station though, I’m not sure why you even brought that up if I’m being honest. Landing on the sun station isn’t the intended way to get there, which you know, and it’s supposed to be a near impossible task, landing on a fast moving, relatively small object orbiting a few hundred feet above the sun. It’s even considered to be a hard challenge for a trophy/achievement. I don’t even really understand what the complaint about that is tbh… I believe the reason the quantum moon disappears when you just fly straight at it is because you get too close to observe the entirety of the moon and it’s position in space, so it disappears. I disagree with most of your points, but fair enough, no game is for everyone. Obra Dinn is incredible though, true lol
I'm kind of the opposite boat of this because I adore Outer Wilds but I've bounced off of Obra Dinn's excruciatingly slow pace every time I've tried to play it. While I agree with a lot of the complaints in this video, especially about the occasionally clunky movement, to me the mystery and the novelty of what might be around each new corner were more than compelling enough to excuse them. I will say that I think the game DLC addresses a lot of these points. It swaps up your main way of getting around for one that works better with the limited controls, and much more of the storytelling is shown instead of told via text wall.
yeah putting so many eggs into the mystery basket often makes it a high risk high reward "your mileage may vary" game for a lot people. either you're all the way in or you're all the way out.
@@BraveSirLoin yeah, it's okey, it took me a second run to finish it too. The ending ties all together, like really, and I don't say this as an excuse, when you get to see the bigger picture it all makes sense
@@BaldurOverlord I had to do an enormous work not to burst in rage and write 40 paragraphs explaining why Outer Wilds is a work of art but this game takes time to be digested. I couldn't bring myself to finish the DLC for example, and a month later I did, and man I ended up tearing again, yeah this game is a masterpiece fuck
It's hard to see someone not be able to garner the same enjoyment out of something you love and treasure. Outer Wilds was my favorite game of the last decade, and is in contention for Top 3 of All Time, but I can understand how some may not gel with it in the same way. It brought back for me a sense of childlike wonder and discovery that I hadn't felt in games for so long I wasn't sure if I ever would again. And anytime I recommend it to others, I always hope they will feel the same, even if I know some may not.
I disagree, but that's good. Game is a hit or miss but that makes it perfect if it hits. The way you made the video I'd be surprised if you could ever go back to the game and finish it within a couple years, but that's fine. They adressed many of your problems in the DLC but it's meaningless if you don't like the base game IMO. Overall very good video, excellently to the point and you're not trying to put words in anyones mouth. Very refreshing game review. Thanks.
Hey I'm a big fan of your videos and I enjoyed this one but I disagree with some things. I saw you complain about the controls of the jetpack through the cactus tunnel and I've tried to do it that way it is a pain to do but if you wait, the sand rises and you can easily walk through. This complaint is super nit-picky but I think it illustrates in places the game could be smoother than you think, the first time I played I didn't enjoy it very much and bounced off it after not being able to complete a step for an hour or two. I know you said you were disappointed by the ending but I've read the wiki and it doesn't include the moments before the ending which tie in alot of lore about the Nomai and give a bit more meaning to their existence in the story, connecting events together and giving the narrative a structure which you don't get until just before the end of the game. Whilst there basically is no replay-ability once you've played it, I have gained a similar enjoyment watching several of my friends finish the game and it might be worth watching someone elses playthrough if you find the controls frustrating. Or not idk, keep making these videos they're great
5:30 I kinda understand it, before the base game I haven't touched the CS:GO, but when the DLC's dropped in I had hundreds of hours in it and I felt the exact same frustriation when my character just did what he wanted in space (thankfully there is not much of it in the DLC). 9:15 When you are outside of it you see the background so you know it's around one exact planet, but the moment you go in the clounds you don't see anything besides the clouds, so the quantum moon can be anywhere and you would see the exact same clouds, therefore, because it changes position if and always when you don't see where it is, it changes its position. You could argue that you don't know around what planet it is but because you could and they had to code it somehow in, it is what it is. Btw. For me this game was so fun for 3 reasons 1. I love solving puzzles and I love mysteries, but at the same time it's not about the ending, if I just wanted to see the ending I would search it up. It's about learning and progress. When you read a book, do you do it for the ending or for the overall story? This game was great (for me) at story telling and keeping you curious. 2. The atmosphere is just perferct, when I had time, like an hour or two, to focus only on the game I just felt like it was real. The music, the unknown, the exploration these where just too good for me. I jumped on my seat every time I saw something scary and was amazed every time I discovered something new. Since then I couldn't find any game that did that so well, which brings me to the third point 3. It's unique, not often do you see a game with that many original ideas and so good implementation. When I was finnishing the game I was almost sad thet it has to come to an end, because I knew that I will probably never again experience that feeling of overwhelming joy of exploration and solving the mystery.
This is very interesting for me as I have never played or even heard about this game. Overall, the entire vibe this game gives is "we're subnautica but in space and not a base building game", which isn't bad at all in my opinion. I can clearly see some issues that the game has (the ones you pointed out), but overall I think the whole game is worrh a try. Thank you for letting us know about all of this!
I just got done with my own playthrough of the game and came straight here to see what you had to say about it, because just seeing this video in my recommended all that time ago was one of the initial things to put this game on my radar. Like so many people urge, I went into this game about as blind as you could get (I didn't even necessarily know it was a space exploration game given the marketing's woodland aesthetic), and similarly to you, I wasn't overly impressed with it. Don't get me wrong, I think it's an incredibly competent game, and I don't regret investing my time into it, but as it stands I don't find myself to be as in love with it as many other people apparently are. To your point, the gameplay loop, while being a somewhat novel concept, started to take a toll near the end, particularly in instances where you no longer have any active leads and are asked to bash your head against a wall until you find something new. Thankfully, in my case, just when that was starting to sink in I discovered the final two locations needed to finish the game and properly end the loop. Ironically, my hours with this game are comparable to what yours were when you called it quits (about 16 hours), and strangely enough I honestly feel like I explored just about every nook and cranny I possibly could. I'm sure there were a few things I missed, but as far as I can tell I explored most of what the game has to offer, which makes it all the more unfortunate that I didn't enjoy it as much as I did; there are a couple other titles I've played through that I know I didn't fully explore, yet I still really enjoyed my time with them nonetheless (one of them being Disco Elysium, another game I became aware of through you). All of this to say that you're not alone in thinking this game may be slightly overrated... oh, and if I were you, I would definitely try to give Subnautica another shot. Easily one of my favorite games.
Really enjoyed the video! I gotta say as someone who really enjoyed this game it’s rather refreshing hearing a take from someone who didn’t enjoy it as there are a plethora of videos already up praising it. My experience was wildly different with it since I played with a friend, but a lot of your points are still valid. I agree with what you had to say about the characters, I can’t name a single one all these months later nor could while playing. Aside from the musical characters and one that is a big pain in the butt to get to, none of them really were white so memorable. But the exploration and slow discovery of new information was really wonderful to experience, refreshing to not know what mystery lies ahead. Did I know you could look up what new information you had gained on your computer for 10 hours? No I did not, so a lot of memory kicking to try and find the right paths made it a difficult experience in a fun way (this wasn’t intended by the developers but still interesting how easy it was to fall into it). And my friend and I did eventually have to do some googling to figure out just exactly what we we needed to do in the end, but I blame ourselves for that rather than the game’s ability to communicate that to us. At this point I realize I’ve just typed what my experience was with the game and how that has nothing to do with this video. All I really wanted to say was how different my experience and view of the game was, but still how valid your points are. It’s really not a game for everyone, and if I hadn’t played it with my friend I think I would’ve had the exact same frustrations as you. Thank you for bringing a different opinion to this game, you sir continue to be a masterclass in 2000 or so worded video essays
I’d encourage everyone who hasn’t tried it to, but don’t force something if it doesn’t gel. Especially with something like a chat annoying you on. Nothing truly great is for everyone.
Your complaints are fair. Some of the puzzles, especially one that is pretty crucial to finishing the game, can be obscure and frustrating. The movement is something I found frustrating at first but after a couple of hours, the movement was something that kept me hooked. There were several moments were the clunkiness did kill me at inopportune times though haha. I still hop on the game and just fly around in my ship sometimes. I hope you come back and finish the game one day. It is probably the best ending of any game I've experienced. I had seen everyone talk about the ending and was honestly prepared to be underwhelmed (I was with Nier's E ending even though it was still good) but man, did it blow all expectations out of the water.
The movement isn't twitchy or satisfyingly responsive because it's actually got inertia, and a lot of it. I can see why some folks don't like it, but coming from a Flight Sim background and playing a shit load of KSP, its refreshing to have a game that doesn't treat space exploration as if everything was on FBW. Its a shame you couldn't get into it, but good video none the less!
Outer Wilds is easily one of my favorite games of all time but at the same time I agree, it's deeply flawed. I guess that's the fate of almost every indie game out there with some extreme exceptions. It has drawn in a lot of the "hardcore gaming" crowd that enjoys sinking lots of hours into games with complicated systems. This is unsurprising as this game is so incredibly complicated, especially on a technical level. For real though I am in awe they managed to get it to a playable state. IMO it's safe to say most AAA studios would not have touched this game with a ten foot pole after witnessing the design documents pre-packaged with a therapist. It was such a tremendous overtaking that I couldn't see them pulling through in every single department, and they didn't, naturally. I love this game so much but I do wish they had a bigger budget, in a fantasy scenario a couple Valve tier writers and designers could have made this game shine so much more, but then we would have gotten a completely different game, more accessible to the casual player, but less experimental and strange. This game changed everything for me forever. This was THE thing that for me cemented video games as a medium of art that stands completely on its own. No use dwelling on what could have been, and here's hoping in the future we will have an Outer Wilds that can captivate a larger audience.
I have an inkling that if it was more accessible via some top tier writing talent, it would ironically be way less interesting to those that currently love it for what it is. It would end up loosing it's charm.
Respectable video, I like the honesty in what you said. Personally I disagree with *most* of this video, this is probably my favourite game I've ever played. Maybe its better to say the most *profound* game I've ever played, but you make some incredibly valid points (such as the quantum moon being observed as you're landing, I had the exact same thought too, it makes little to no sense to my little pea brain). Either way I really enjoyed this video, it was nice to see a contrary opinion (I don't mean that as an insult, it was quite refreshing in a way)
To be fair, many people loved Outer Wilds but many people also didn't like it or even hate it. And also you played the game a lot longer than most negative steam reviews who didn't give the game a chance which to me is unfair for any game regardless of quality. I love Outer Wilds and that's the main reason why I watched this so I'm going to disagree with most of your points XD To me, the traversing mechanics is part of the immersion in this game. And one of the main idea in this game is that it doesn't handhold the players. It's space so physics plays a big part of traversing. I was personally never bothered by the traversing. Sure it's not perfect but I actually enjoyed it. You can go slow or go speedrun mode :D And you also get better at it in every loop which is also part of the game progression aside from the knowledge you get. Autopilot also didn't annoy me because I understand that technical-wise, it'll be very hard to make a perfect autopilot system because almost everything in this game are simulated so they will be basically creating an actual autopilot system. Also, it made it something that you use strategically instead of just for pure convenience. Lastly about traversing and autopilot, I think if they were similar to how traditional games work, the game would have been a lot easier but a lot boring. As for the characters, I don't think the Hearthian characters are important in this game anyway or at least in the grand scheme of things. I still find the other explorers interesting though, they each have their own personalities. But actually, if you pay more attention to the Nomai conversations, you'll get more connection to the Nomai especially if you remember their names and how they interacted with each other. Lastly, the game's ending isn't really a payoff of everything you've done in the game, it's more of a celebration of the journey and the reward is the journey itself. I honestly felt underwhelmed when I first experience the ending but that was because I didn't understand much of the game. Mainly because I didn't have the right mindset when I played it. I was in the mood of clearing my backlog and just finishing game for the sake of finishing them XD But after learning about what the ending meant and watching multiple playthroughs, I love the game more and more. But again, I respect your opinion of the game. Nothing in this world is for everyone :)
Impetuous of the video is apparently "stories in video games" and then the story isn't even adressed beyond "wasn't impressed after looking it up afterwards because I didn't finish it" ???
This is a terrible take, but you're entitled to your opinion as much as anyone else. Maybe finish the next game on your own though instead of concluding that the ending was unsatisfactory when your only personal experience was reading a Google or reddit excerpt.
"I am bad at flying" "So I spend 90 Minutes of life forcing myself to do exactly that" "Anyways, the game is bad, its made wrong" Don't review games anymore maybe.
@@BraveSirLoin You litterally did that. Even when people told you about the sun station. A child stops ramming its head against a wall after a shorter time. Its not the walls fault. Also, plenty of people land on it fine, see joseph andersons or any other "non-gamer" reviewers. Anyway, Airport Traffic Control Tower out
Yes, I'm all for freedom and open world but when I left my home planet I felt Minecraft vibes - go and try to entertain yourself without any markers or meaning. Dropped almost immediately
I can see how the movement can annoy, but I probably had the opposite reaction, finding difficultly for movement as a novelty. Having trouble jumping because of gravity felt unique.
While Outer Wilds is solidly in my top three games of all time, next to Last of Us, and Hollow Knight (all largely due to their story), I do understand most of what you're saying and agree with more of it than I thought.
While I didnt have hardly any trouble with controls past the first hour or so I do agree that the puzzles get a bit obtuse near the end of the game which made progress frustrating to the point where I had to look up a walkthrough (looking at you telaporter to the ash twin project). And I do agree with your assessment of the npcs, save maybe Gabro and Chert (who I only discovered has the most impactful dialog in the entire game ok my quest for the archeologist achievement.
But for me the wonder and freedom that this game grants has made it the only "open world" game I've every really enjoyed. Idk but something about discovering the story for myself and never being able to play it again, gave that feeling of finishing a great book or movie, where you know it will never be like the first time.
For me what kept me going in the game wasn't so much The Mystery ™️, but rather the journey. The experience. The first five minutes of the game had me immediatly hooked, seeing that galaxy moving in front of my eyes in real time, listening to the other explorers with my little signal scope, the endearing dialogue, the ability to seamlessly fly to space and land, being loose in this galaxy to go wherever I wanted... then I died, woke up but still remembered everything (The Mystery), this ended up being the cherry on top. And that's what I think is the real factor at play when people say that you can only play this game once, you can only really... *feel* these things, experience this the first time you are playing Outer Wilds. I will never be able to experience those first five minutes that had me in awe ever again. And that's ok. If anything, it makes it more special.
Outer Wilds is probably one of my favourite games ever together with Pathologic 2. Would love to hear your thoughts on the latter if you ever give the game a shot, since you're looking for games eith a strong narrative
Its funny, the more clunky movement on foot and in the ship and the autopilot being terrible were positives for me. Outer Wilds isnt about fighting other pilots in space ships so tight movement isnt necessary. Its definately a slower movement system which fits the puzzle solving focus. The autopilot also requires you to be more thoughtful about how you move through space, it feels better than just pressing a button and waiting to go exactly where you want to go.
Neither of us are right or wrong here, we just feel differently about the games features. We can discuss and come to an understanding, but im not gonna judge because you didnt like a game that i liked, especially when i can just read the billions of reviews that agree with me.
I will say tho that the official way to get into the sun station is a really cool moment and i wish you saw it.
I agree with a lot of this, speaking as someone who enjoys "story driven" games and watched some friends play Outer Wilds but never really felt any desire to pick it up myself. I did however want to play Return of the Obra Dinn within 30 mins of watching my friends play it.
I think two key factors for me were:
1) Obra Dinn came across way more as "character" driven, even though both are similarly designed in how the character is played. The difference is that the character in Obra Dinn comes across as more invested/enthralled because they have more of an identity to engage with and react to the world's events.
2) The idea of fixed time to play was a turnoff for me, and nothing about the environment excited me enough to get over this hump and try playing it.
I think it's hard to have character driven gameplay in spacey exploration games. No Man's Sky is another good example.
I think another Lucas Pope game (Papers Please) is another interesting look at "story/character" driven play since that game does have a time limit component, but it behaves quite differently (much more arcade like and the story emerges around it gradually)
6:12 To be fair, many of the "painful" puzzles in Outer Wilds are the result of players not thinking outside of the box and considering multiple solutions. For example, the puzzle with the spiky plants in the hallway can be solved by waiting until the Ash Twin's ash is drained just enough to pass through the area without revealing the hazardous floor. Another example, the sun station, isn't even designed to be landed on (in canon); if you know the icon for the station you can find a teleporter on Ash Twin (i think, i have not played the game in a while) that takes you directly to there. However, the game never really suggests the possibility of alternate solutions, and combined with how many video game puzzles don't have outside-the-box alternate solutions, it is understandable how a player could go the entire game choosing the "painful" way to solve a puzzle not knowing that there was a choice in the first place.
Edit: I just watched past that point and let me get this straight: you *intentionally* took an unnecessarily difficult path to get to the sun station and, when given a reward that made sense given the intended path, somehow got upset? Seems like your issues with the puzzles (at least the sun station) are entirely your fault and not the game's.
This is 100% not designed to be an insult but I reccomended this game to about 5 friends and the only 1 who didnt get hooked has ADD. Playing this game imo is like reading a book. If you dont like reading books then the quality of the book won't really matter.
Have ADHD, same experience.
i have ADHD and this game actually hooked me hella hard, everything worked for me
I personally though the movement was totally fine outside of a few instances, but I can understand some people having trouble with it. I certainly have to disagree about the sun station though, I’m not sure why you even brought that up if I’m being honest. Landing on the sun station isn’t the intended way to get there, which you know, and it’s supposed to be a near impossible task, landing on a fast moving, relatively small object orbiting a few hundred feet above the sun. It’s even considered to be a hard challenge for a trophy/achievement. I don’t even really understand what the complaint about that is tbh…
I believe the reason the quantum moon disappears when you just fly straight at it is because you get too close to observe the entirety of the moon and it’s position in space, so it disappears.
I disagree with most of your points, but fair enough, no game is for everyone. Obra Dinn is incredible though, true lol
I'm kind of the opposite boat of this because I adore Outer Wilds but I've bounced off of Obra Dinn's excruciatingly slow pace every time I've tried to play it. While I agree with a lot of the complaints in this video, especially about the occasionally clunky movement, to me the mystery and the novelty of what might be around each new corner were more than compelling enough to excuse them.
I will say that I think the game DLC addresses a lot of these points. It swaps up your main way of getting around for one that works better with the limited controls, and much more of the storytelling is shown instead of told via text wall.
yeah putting so many eggs into the mystery basket often makes it a high risk high reward "your mileage may vary" game for a lot people. either you're all the way in or you're all the way out.
@@BraveSirLoin I admire that. Because the highs are very high but the lows are very low
Just go finish it man. I say this with love, finish it
I'm not gonna say "never" but definitely not now.
@@BraveSirLoin yeah, it's okey, it took me a second run to finish it too. The ending ties all together, like really, and I don't say this as an excuse, when you get to see the bigger picture it all makes sense
I'll gonna say it with seething hate, do it
@@BaldurOverlord I had to do an enormous work not to burst in rage and write 40 paragraphs explaining why Outer Wilds is a work of art but this game takes time to be digested. I couldn't bring myself to finish the DLC for example, and a month later I did, and man I ended up tearing again, yeah this game is a masterpiece fuck
It's hard to see someone not be able to garner the same enjoyment out of something you love and treasure. Outer Wilds was my favorite game of the last decade, and is in contention for Top 3 of All Time, but I can understand how some may not gel with it in the same way. It brought back for me a sense of childlike wonder and discovery that I hadn't felt in games for so long I wasn't sure if I ever would again. And anytime I recommend it to others, I always hope they will feel the same, even if I know some may not.
You didn't felt anything about Solanum 😭😭😭😭
I disagree, but that's good. Game is a hit or miss but that makes it perfect if it hits. The way you made the video I'd be surprised if you could ever go back to the game and finish it within a couple years, but that's fine. They adressed many of your problems in the DLC but it's meaningless if you don't like the base game IMO. Overall very good video, excellently to the point and you're not trying to put words in anyones mouth. Very refreshing game review. Thanks.
Hey I'm a big fan of your videos and I enjoyed this one but I disagree with some things. I saw you complain about the controls of the jetpack through the cactus tunnel and I've tried to do it that way it is a pain to do but if you wait, the sand rises and you can easily walk through. This complaint is super nit-picky but I think it illustrates in places the game could be smoother than you think, the first time I played I didn't enjoy it very much and bounced off it after not being able to complete a step for an hour or two. I know you said you were disappointed by the ending but I've read the wiki and it doesn't include the moments before the ending which tie in alot of lore about the Nomai and give a bit more meaning to their existence in the story, connecting events together and giving the narrative a structure which you don't get until just before the end of the game. Whilst there basically is no replay-ability once you've played it, I have gained a similar enjoyment watching several of my friends finish the game and it might be worth watching someone elses playthrough if you find the controls frustrating. Or not idk, keep making these videos they're great
5:30 I kinda understand it, before the base game I haven't touched the CS:GO, but when the DLC's dropped in I had hundreds of hours in it and I felt the exact same frustriation when my character just did what he wanted in space (thankfully there is not much of it in the DLC).
9:15 When you are outside of it you see the background so you know it's around one exact planet, but the moment you go in the clounds you don't see anything besides the clouds, so the quantum moon can be anywhere and you would see the exact same clouds, therefore, because it changes position if and always when you don't see where it is, it changes its position. You could argue that you don't know around what planet it is but because you could and they had to code it somehow in, it is what it is.
Btw. For me this game was so fun for 3 reasons
1. I love solving puzzles and I love mysteries, but at the same time it's not about the ending, if I just wanted to see the ending I would search it up. It's about learning and progress. When you read a book, do you do it for the ending or for the overall story? This game was great (for me) at story telling and keeping you curious.
2. The atmosphere is just perferct, when I had time, like an hour or two, to focus only on the game I just felt like it was real. The music, the unknown, the exploration these where just too good for me. I jumped on my seat every time I saw something scary and was amazed every time I discovered something new. Since then I couldn't find any game that did that so well, which brings me to the third point
3. It's unique, not often do you see a game with that many original ideas and so good implementation. When I was finnishing the game I was almost sad thet it has to come to an end, because I knew that I will probably never again experience that feeling of overwhelming joy of exploration and solving the mystery.
i hope you can start uploading in 1080p 60 soon. genuinely one of the most underrated channels ive ever seen
I've started saving twitch vods locally in 1080 so that shouldn't be a limitation anymore
This is very interesting for me as I have never played or even heard about this game. Overall, the entire vibe this game gives is "we're subnautica but in space and not a base building game", which isn't bad at all in my opinion.
I can clearly see some issues that the game has (the ones you pointed out), but overall I think the whole game is worrh a try. Thank you for letting us know about all of this!
I just got done with my own playthrough of the game and came straight here to see what you had to say about it, because just seeing this video in my recommended all that time ago was one of the initial things to put this game on my radar. Like so many people urge, I went into this game about as blind as you could get (I didn't even necessarily know it was a space exploration game given the marketing's woodland aesthetic), and similarly to you, I wasn't overly impressed with it. Don't get me wrong, I think it's an incredibly competent game, and I don't regret investing my time into it, but as it stands I don't find myself to be as in love with it as many other people apparently are. To your point, the gameplay loop, while being a somewhat novel concept, started to take a toll near the end, particularly in instances where you no longer have any active leads and are asked to bash your head against a wall until you find something new. Thankfully, in my case, just when that was starting to sink in I discovered the final two locations needed to finish the game and properly end the loop. Ironically, my hours with this game are comparable to what yours were when you called it quits (about 16 hours), and strangely enough I honestly feel like I explored just about every nook and cranny I possibly could. I'm sure there were a few things I missed, but as far as I can tell I explored most of what the game has to offer, which makes it all the more unfortunate that I didn't enjoy it as much as I did; there are a couple other titles I've played through that I know I didn't fully explore, yet I still really enjoyed my time with them nonetheless (one of them being Disco Elysium, another game I became aware of through you). All of this to say that you're not alone in thinking this game may be slightly overrated... oh, and if I were you, I would definitely try to give Subnautica another shot. Easily one of my favorite games.
Really enjoyed the video! I gotta say as someone who really enjoyed this game it’s rather refreshing hearing a take from someone who didn’t enjoy it as there are a plethora of videos already up praising it. My experience was wildly different with it since I played with a friend, but a lot of your points are still valid. I agree with what you had to say about the characters, I can’t name a single one all these months later nor could while playing. Aside from the musical characters and one that is a big pain in the butt to get to, none of them really were white so memorable. But the exploration and slow discovery of new information was really wonderful to experience, refreshing to not know what mystery lies ahead. Did I know you could look up what new information you had gained on your computer for 10 hours? No I did not, so a lot of memory kicking to try and find the right paths made it a difficult experience in a fun way (this wasn’t intended by the developers but still interesting how easy it was to fall into it). And my friend and I did eventually have to do some googling to figure out just exactly what we we needed to do in the end, but I blame ourselves for that rather than the game’s ability to communicate that to us.
At this point I realize I’ve just typed what my experience was with the game and how that has nothing to do with this video. All I really wanted to say was how different my experience and view of the game was, but still how valid your points are. It’s really not a game for everyone, and if I hadn’t played it with my friend I think I would’ve had the exact same frustrations as you. Thank you for bringing a different opinion to this game, you sir continue to be a masterclass in 2000 or so worded video essays
I’d encourage everyone who hasn’t tried it to, but don’t force something if it doesn’t gel. Especially with something like a chat annoying you on. Nothing truly great is for everyone.
I'd agree. although chat doesn't really bother me (I'm long used to it at this point), I was just tilted in general.
This is the comment I would have left if I were more articulate. Well said.
Your complaints are fair. Some of the puzzles, especially one that is pretty crucial to finishing the game, can be obscure and frustrating.
The movement is something I found frustrating at first but after a couple of hours, the movement was something that kept me hooked. There were several moments were the clunkiness did kill me at inopportune times though haha. I still hop on the game and just fly around in my ship sometimes.
I hope you come back and finish the game one day. It is probably the best ending of any game I've experienced. I had seen everyone talk about the ending and was honestly prepared to be underwhelmed (I was with Nier's E ending even though it was still good) but man, did it blow all expectations out of the water.
The movement isn't twitchy or satisfyingly responsive because it's actually got inertia, and a lot of it. I can see why some folks don't like it, but coming from a Flight Sim background and playing a shit load of KSP, its refreshing to have a game that doesn't treat space exploration as if everything was on FBW. Its a shame you couldn't get into it, but good video none the less!
Outer Wilds is easily one of my favorite games of all time but at the same time I agree, it's deeply flawed. I guess that's the fate of almost every indie game out there with some extreme exceptions. It has drawn in a lot of the "hardcore gaming" crowd that enjoys sinking lots of hours into games with complicated systems. This is unsurprising as this game is so incredibly complicated, especially on a technical level. For real though I am in awe they managed to get it to a playable state. IMO it's safe to say most AAA studios would not have touched this game with a ten foot pole after witnessing the design documents pre-packaged with a therapist. It was such a tremendous overtaking that I couldn't see them pulling through in every single department, and they didn't, naturally.
I love this game so much but I do wish they had a bigger budget, in a fantasy scenario a couple Valve tier writers and designers could have made this game shine so much more, but then we would have gotten a completely different game, more accessible to the casual player, but less experimental and strange.
This game changed everything for me forever. This was THE thing that for me cemented video games as a medium of art that stands completely on its own. No use dwelling on what could have been, and here's hoping in the future we will have an Outer Wilds that can captivate a larger audience.
I have an inkling that if it was more accessible via some top tier writing talent, it would ironically be way less interesting to those that currently love it for what it is. It would end up loosing it's charm.
Awesome video as always, also, you ever played Dishonored?
I haven't
Dishonored would be a great one for you to look at, another top favorite of mine with its world building and characters
@@BraveSirLoin It’s really good, combines awesome gameplay with a decent story, for the 1st and maybe 2nd game at least
Respectable video, I like the honesty in what you said. Personally I disagree with *most* of this video, this is probably my favourite game I've ever played. Maybe its better to say the most *profound* game I've ever played, but you make some incredibly valid points (such as the quantum moon being observed as you're landing, I had the exact same thought too, it makes little to no sense to my little pea brain). Either way I really enjoyed this video, it was nice to see a contrary opinion (I don't mean that as an insult, it was quite refreshing in a way)
I didn't finish it either. I really couldn't get into it. It felt super tedious to me after a while.
this guys aight
To be fair, many people loved Outer Wilds but many people also didn't like it or even hate it. And also you played the game a lot longer than most negative steam reviews who didn't give the game a chance which to me is unfair for any game regardless of quality.
I love Outer Wilds and that's the main reason why I watched this so I'm going to disagree with most of your points XD
To me, the traversing mechanics is part of the immersion in this game. And one of the main idea in this game is that it doesn't handhold the players. It's space so physics plays a big part of traversing. I was personally never bothered by the traversing. Sure it's not perfect but I actually enjoyed it. You can go slow or go speedrun mode :D And you also get better at it in every loop which is also part of the game progression aside from the knowledge you get.
Autopilot also didn't annoy me because I understand that technical-wise, it'll be very hard to make a perfect autopilot system because almost everything in this game are simulated so they will be basically creating an actual autopilot system. Also, it made it something that you use strategically instead of just for pure convenience. Lastly about traversing and autopilot, I think if they were similar to how traditional games work, the game would have been a lot easier but a lot boring.
As for the characters, I don't think the Hearthian characters are important in this game anyway or at least in the grand scheme of things. I still find the other explorers interesting though, they each have their own personalities. But actually, if you pay more attention to the Nomai conversations, you'll get more connection to the Nomai especially if you remember their names and how they interacted with each other.
Lastly, the game's ending isn't really a payoff of everything you've done in the game, it's more of a celebration of the journey and the reward is the journey itself. I honestly felt underwhelmed when I first experience the ending but that was because I didn't understand much of the game. Mainly because I didn't have the right mindset when I played it. I was in the mood of clearing my backlog and just finishing game for the sake of finishing them XD But after learning about what the ending meant and watching multiple playthroughs, I love the game more and more.
But again, I respect your opinion of the game. Nothing in this world is for everyone :)
yeah
Impetuous of the video is apparently "stories in video games" and then the story isn't even adressed beyond "wasn't impressed after looking it up afterwards because I didn't finish it" ???
impetus of the video is not "stories in video games"
This is a terrible take, but you're entitled to your opinion as much as anyone else. Maybe finish the next game on your own though instead of concluding that the ending was unsatisfactory when your only personal experience was reading a Google or reddit excerpt.
my experience was playing through about 70% of the story and then watching a few different playthroughs, but pop off I guess.
@@BraveSirLoin lol an expected reply from someone singing praise for fromsoft's Demon's Souls 8.
you are very special and different from the herd and everyone thinks you are cool.
I pretty much agree with everything. Yep
nah
"I am bad at flying"
"So I spend 90 Minutes of life forcing myself to do exactly that"
"Anyways, the game is bad, its made wrong"
Don't review games anymore maybe.
could you at least say "here comes the airplane" before you try to put words in my mouth?
@@BraveSirLoin You litterally did that. Even when people told you about the sun station.
A child stops ramming its head against a wall after a shorter time. Its not the walls fault.
Also, plenty of people land on it fine, see joseph andersons or any other "non-gamer" reviewers.
Anyway, Airport Traffic Control Tower out
Yes, I'm all for freedom and open world but when I left my home planet I felt Minecraft vibes - go and try to entertain yourself without any markers or meaning. Dropped almost immediately