The Scale of Outer Wilds
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- Опубликовано: 13 апр 2022
- Outer Wilds is a marvelous game about space exploration in a solar system where distances are measured in kilometers. How does this game make that combination of miniature and magnitude work so well? Here's an attempt at an explanation.
SPOILERS for all of Outer Wilds and its DLC, Echoes of the Eye
All rights go to their respective owners.
The streamer footage is from @HelloItsKolo.
Soundtrack video: • The Scale of Outer Wil... . Inspired by Andrew Prahlow's OST.
Music by Jelle Goossens @LandOfAbundance - www.masteringfactory.com/
Thumbnail art by Marlijn van Nuenen - / marligne 
Игры
Syncing the sun exploding with the 22 minute mark was a very great touch.
I don’t get it
@@casedistorted At 22:00 minutes into the video the sun goes supernova, lining up with the in-game cycle of blowing up every 22 minutes
This was great. Looking forward to what you do next!
Thanks for tweeting about this video!
Go away
@@-Scrapper- no lol
Thanks for the recommendation, was not disappointed!
@@razbuten you're to video essay channels what pewdiepie is to memes. Everytime EVERY. SINGLE. TIME youtube recommends me a good underrated channel, you're there and then BAM they got cancer or something
You mentioned the feeling of the sublime from the infinite repetition of the time loop. One of the biggest feelings of sublime and terror is then when you take out the core knowing what that could mean.
We all had the same thought, "Wait It is over now?"
Masterpiece
Mechanically is the same thing, you die and do it all over again. But just the shift of meaning itself made the experience of removing the core so much impactfull. Like for the first time in the game you can die.
What the hell how are people making such underrated, banger outer wilds video essays recently?? this is insane, amazing job
Thank you so much! Working on the next one as we speak :)
You've seen others?? ;)???
@@ReavoEnd the lore explorer is the main one but I suggest you also Htwo video
"Outer Wilds illustrates the grandeur of time and space by shrinking them down, and now and then letting the true scale of things escape from the model."
The perfect example for me of the "true scale of things escaping from the model" is in the replayability of Outer Wilds being null, it's when we beat the game and realize that all the progress we made throughout the entire game's been made inside our own heads.
There was another video essay where it was about a guy reviewing his girlfriend's experience for the first time, and somewhere along the way, the save file got corrupted. But it didn't really matter, because everything she had learned up to that point was still in her head. A lot of the beauty if discovery in Outer Wilds comes from retaining that information that you learn yourself.
@@catrinacoons390 I've seen that video as well, Outer Wilds is so... Awesome
So many perspectives coming from the players
For me it's like a Rubik's cube, you can't undo the progress from the moment you learn how to solve one.
@@catrinacoons390 Just watched that video earlier today! They also did Echoes of the Eye:
ruclips.net/video/tyV-bieWLNc/видео.html
This aspect of TOW is what sets it apart. It is its greatest achievement. In my opinion, it makes it the greatest game ever made.
This aspect of TOW is also the worst, because it means you will never be capable of experiencing it more than once. You can play it again, but you'll never experience it again.
@Alfonse souls series does this for folks a lot too. You learn enemy placements, boss movesets, trap locations etc and it's never the same. You're never able to run it the first time blind again. And as a result, every other game in the franchise is easier for it, with each one you beat.
Honestly I see the Prisoner’s ending puzzle as acceptance of death rather than fear of it. Blowing out the candles and the disappearing pictures have some obvious symbology tied to them, and the fact that you need to do those things to happen to proceed means you need to reach peace with the fact that the strangers, nomai, hearthians, and even yourself have reached your ends, and it’s time to say goodbye
Agreed! But the acceptance only comes after (not in spite of) the fear. This is what the upcoming Echoes video will be about :) Thanks for watching!
It's kinda amusing how the core message and theme of the horror DLC was that there's nothing to be afraid of
@@alexv1154 it really does integrate perfectly into the game, too. Each step of the way, you let go of a layer of security and safety to access more (setting down your lantern, taking advantage of "glitches", dying while entering the dream) culminating not in something in the DLC, but something in the game: turning off the time loop to reach the eye. It's really perfect how the game itself perfectly connects to the DLC.
I used to wish that I could forget about Outer Wilds in order to play it again. I’ve moved beyond this now, and now I wish that I could forget about wishing to forget about Outer Wilds, because acknowledging this as impossible is sad.
I guess there's a reason acceptance is a stage of grief rather than a marker for its end.
If anything, you should take away from Outer Wild's story one of the central themes, that moments are fleeting and meant to be temporary. That's the beauty of it to me. I will never experience playing Outer Wilds for the first time again, and that's why it's so precious to me. A masterpiece like this only comes once in a long while, so appreciate the fleeting moment when it happens.
Try playing dlc if you still didnt its so good
Well...you will eventually. I often to back to games I played 5, 10, or 15 years ago and it's almost completely fresh again. You just have to wait for the next loop to start. ;)
@@peelsreklaw With many games yeah, but for me at least, Outer Wilds was so unforgettable that I'm afraid that 10 or 15 years won't really help.
One thing that I really find interesting about Outer Wilds particularly is it’s scale of society. Outer Wilds finds a unique way of summarizing societies by reducing them down to a drastically smaller number of people; in reality societies are complex and complicated and made of thousands and millions of people. What Outer Wilds beautiful does is maintain this complexity and depth, but makes societies more intimate, tangible, and personable by making the in game societies noticeably small. It really is an interesting effect, but at the same time makes archeology more realistic in the game, because when we do archeology in real life all that we often can do is look at the fascinating lives of individuals.
I agree with that plus it gives the game more of an allegorical feel
I love this! It feels like the opposie of skyrim, where the nords culture feels shallow and their society as "generic medieval" because bethesda cut out so much.
I never got that feeling with outer wilds. When they speak of the Nomai or the Hearthians species rising or going extinct, it really feels like a huge scale even though its like 20 people
That transition to talking about Solanum/the Nomai at 17:45 was SO GOOD, the music changing and everything made me cry a lot.
"And one remains courageously optimistic in their pursuit of knowledge" this is always one of the saddest and most hopeful parts to me. They died such a tragic death but until the last moment they were still exploring, and it was worth it in the end.
There's no leaving Outer Wilds once you know it. Having such a tiny world that somehow feels massive is incredibly potent and makes it unforgettable. I'm always coming back just to look at it, just to visit that world again. This is my favorite videogame.
As you stated, the dream of every outer wilds player is to go back in time and experience once more the feeling of their first play throught. While it is impossible, listening to your essay does come close to it.
Congratulations for this amazing video!
In the unoficcial server a month or two ago, a dude joined cus his friend recommended the game and he played it live.. there was like 20 of us in the VC just watching him
@@magma_fire_bagwan which server, bro?
My first experience with this game was watching someone play it. I needed a distraction while doing chores and this game seemed interesting. To say I regretted that decision towards the end is putting it mildly, but I couldn't stop, I had to see it through to the end.
I bought the game + DLC and finished my journey to the eye tonight. I knew everything, but I still wasn't able to put the game down while completing the ship log. This essay helped me understand some of the reasons why I loved this game, and why I cried at the credits tonight just as hard as I did watching someone else back then.
This game is the masterpiece. My only regret is that I can't experience it again with empty memory. I researched every inch of the game itself and learned everything I could, watched a lot of videos and analyses, enjoyed the beauty of official art and watched dozens of fan works. And I still can't let it go. And when I hear that music.. you all know what music - I can't hold my tears. All in there: home coziness and thirst for exploration, sadness, joy and nostalgia, family feel and space loneliness. Outer Wilds is absolute love that gave me astonishing experience and broke my heart forever.
One of my favorite LP is by About Oliver, a real astrophysicist. He was very expressive, knowledgeable about the topics relevant to the game, and he spoke with Danish accent. Which make it very pleasant to watch.
Really one of the most heartfelt gaming experiences of my life. I'm in a Discord, and every time we talk someone into playing for the first time? Our whole community just hangs on their every word so we can vicariously live the loop again.
God damn. I am a sucker for video essays. I am an even bigger sucker for Outer Wilds ones. I have probably watched most of them. You Sir, have surpassed them all. I can't complain about a single thing in here. This has to be my new favourite video on this game. Well done. I wish you the best for the future of your content creation. Cheers!
Thank you! That's awesome to hear.
the warm fuzzy feeling when you find a video by someone who gets it
except i feel it pretty much every time i watch an Outer Wilds video
this game gathered a unique community
oh man that clip from Kolo. 😢
Edit: her playthrough was the first time I was able to get back into the game after beating it. so cool to watch someone else play it.
Same here. It was also great to see someone play it so patiently, as opposed to my own rather frantic style.
Kolo's VODs were both enjoyable and a test of my own patience. She really approached the game quite differently from anyone else I've seen, though. It's really a shame that she can't play the DLC... She's one of the first people I thought of wanting to see play Echoes of the Eye after I experienced it myself.
@@ReavoEnd why not
I had so much trouble paying attention to your speech here, I was just lost in the noise and reliving the memories of my time with the game. I genuinely teared up at the big bang, those notes are just so haunting. Absolutely astounding work on the tone of the video, the clips, the timing. Outer Wilds touched me more than almost any game before or after, and this video brought it all rushing back
Agreed. I had to rewind multiple times just because I was lost in the sensations of the clips and music he was sharing. The magnitude of emotion this game elicits in people truly is astonishing.
For a first video this is mighty impressive.
It's incredible how Outer Wilds managed to present the vastness of space in a comprehensible manner. I recently stood next to a renewable energy windmill, and I was blown away more by the size of it than I was standing next to a sky scraper. At some points things get so large we stop understanding just how big it is, and Outer Wilds is carefully crafted to stay within those parameters. What a fantastic game, wish I could experience it all over again.
Amazing first video! Great choice of music, interesting topic, good pacing, and a really great conclusion. The overarching theme on scale was not only one I've not heard before, but exceedingly strongly conveyed. A great example of something I feel I knew after playing, but couldn't put into words. Excited to see whatever you make next!
Thank you so much! That means a lot coming from someone who's made an entire short film about this game :)
@@playingitstraight I didn t know that , thank you so much to have pointed that, Braai Films you are amazing, I love animation as a whole and there is so passion in yours
y'know it's a good Outer Wilds video when you get goosebumps and sttart tearing up a bit. Awesome awesome video, if only I could go back and watch it again before the possibilities collapsed lol
This was such a good video i finished the game but never noticed how every characters final campfire item related to their own personality but when you described them at the final campfire it all made sense . Such a good game god i wish i could forget it all just to wake up on timberhearth for the first time 😭🙌
Outer wilds is like if no man’s sky and Astroneer had a child and added so much mystery and ever expanding space the player will never truly see everything. The first time I entered the core of brittle hollow, I was scared yet unimaginably intrigued
*made an edit because the amount of typos in that was insane
"This game is as wide as a puddle, but as deep as an ocean." - someone, probably
"When the possibilities hadn't collapse" Nice choice of word since the game revolve around collapsing all of the eye's possibilities to lock it into a single state of existence.
I struggle to explain why this small game I beat in 40 hours or so has moved me like no other and still lives rent-free in my head. This brillant essay helps explaining a lot! OW made me feel like a part of this living, breathing world because of that (non)sense of scale. Great video mate!
So great to see some thoughts I've had conveyed so well. I know, intellectually, that the Outer Wilds solar system pretty small, but whenever I think of it it feels so vast. When I think back to my first playthrough, it feels so distant. It's hard to remember that my memories of playing it were actually me playing it, as time has so disconnected me from it. My memories of this game and the feelings connected to them are so intertwined and feel so deeply rooted in my brain that they feel more like a dream than reality. That dreamscape contributes to its feeling of scale, I think
I've never considered the symbolic placement of the instruments at the end of the game. Thank you for showing me that perspective. What a magnificent game.
Outer Wilds needs to skyrocket in the gaming industry
I finished this game 2 years ago and you brought me right back to it. Nearly cried halfway through. Really insightful and moving, and very well researched for the topic you focused on.
Subbed. Idc if you never make another video again, I’m staying subbed
22:00 I love the specifically timed supernova, really cool!
I’ll never get tired of watching outer wilds appreciation videos
Wow this is the best video essay I've seen on this game good job man, I legitimately shed some tears when the music and your words lined up perfectly in tone. It really brought me back to why this game is so special to me and those who played it.
Thank you for this video and for bringing me back to this game again.
Thank you! I’m glad to be sharing these thoughts with folks who feel as strongly about this game as I do.
23:47 this hit me the hardest.
An unforgetable experience, not replayable by definition
Every video about Outer Wilds like this make me nostalgic, At the moment I finished the game, I cryed because I know I couldn't get that experience back. It's hard for me to roleplay like some does in skyrim for example, but sometimes I go visit Gabro, it's him that have the solution, he's on the loop but he didn't rush the knowledge, to get out of the loop, he just prefered to meditate... Sometimes I wish I could loose my memory about the game, just to reexperience it all.
Outer Wilds is a hell of a drug. With the potency of heroin but with one-time use only.
The only way to re-live that sense of discovery is through watchign others play it for the first time. Amazing how differently everyone goes through the game.
I highly recommend Joseph Anderson's playthrough.
Every time the end times track plays, if I'm not pretty sure I'm less than 2 minutes from a revelation that will direct my next loop, I just find somewhere to watch the sun.
The end-of-cycle snippet they play is haunting when you're in not-spoiling-secret-DLC-location
Excellent video, thank you for the effort.
I can't get enough of Outer Wilds. I constantly look for content on RUclips surrounding the game or it's creators, including the DLC of course.
You moment you mentioned Outer Wilds inducing a feeling of the sublime, I immediately thought of the many times I've heard the sun going supernova, and just flown over the horizon, to peacefully watch myself be engulfed.
There are some neat thoughts in there although I have to admit I've cracked up when I saw "Like and Subscribe" popup to the scene of Nomai going extinct lol
Yeah, not a huge fan of that timing myself. Thanks for watching!
My favourite part of this video is 17:38 the story you're telling of what each traveller represents with the remix of the travellers song in the background... and then that transition to Solanum's part in the song to talk about the Nomai's role in the story. Such a wonderful moment. Can I ask how you guys do the music for your videos? Because it sounds like specifically made mix of the original sound track and it works so well throughout.
Wow, this feels like a true philosopher-physicist documentary on a game that deals with the eventual paradoxical maximum-entropy/no-work-left end thay we predict awaits our own universe.
In my opinion, the game deals most with the consciousness acceptance of the end, and to retain hope for what might come next, for as we couldn't fathom what was before us, so we couldn't what will be after. And the endings on both the base and DLC have the same theme: _Accept corporeal death, for consciousness is eternal beyond our individual understanding._ Life will always find a way, and in a way, *we will always return.*
Goodness, just tearing up remembering the _ReBoot_ song from *Vocaloid.* Good luck, fellow astro philosophers.
Ah, the observatory/museum building serving the dual purpose of observing and explaining? In other words, to seek out and to understand? Lovely.
Probably the best Outer Wilds video essay I've ever watched. Well done, good sir.
Such an absolute masterpiece of a game. I am so glad that I went into it mostly blind and that I got to experience such an amazing thing for myself
This was a very eloquent point and I’m very happy you chose to talk about this game. I think all of us who have played it are just seeking mutual affirmation in one another "It wasn’t just me, right? You were just as touched as I was?".
This game is peak sci-fi. Cozy and haunting at the same time.
THANK YOU SO MUCH
I MISSED EMOTIONS ABOUT THIS GAME AND YOU JUST GAVE THEM BACK
I AM CRYING
it's nice. sometimes people say everything you do will be forgotten and means nothing. but everything you do has an effect on the universe.
beautiful words. wonderful video. it means so much to be able to relive everything this game gave me through the experiences of others, and you did just that. thank you
I just completed the game tonight and it was more than i ever expected. The magnitude of the ending is something I won't ever forget. Seeing all my companions sitting around the campfire gave me peace before the end. I'm so glad I played it and that i was patient with it
genuinely the most viscerally beautiful take on outer wilds ive ever seen holey moley
I'd pay money to wipe my brain from every memory about this game so I could experience this journey again.
Really coming out swinging using an entire original OST for your first video haha. Instant sub.
One of the best youtube videos I've seen in a long time. It does Outer Wilds justice.
amazing video. I've gotten tired of most video essays, rarely do they have anything interesting to say.
thanks for making something that actually adds value to the thing its talking about, rather than just stealing from it.
Gosh, I never thought about the archetypes of dealing with it. But it makes sense. Love this take on it
The only bad thing about outer wilds is that it can only be experienced once
Holy shit this is the best outer wilds video I’ve seen so far. When you went over and explained the ending it made me feel exactly how I did when I beat the game myself
Each night we can look up at the stars but not often are we captured by them. Video games that attempt to capture the scale of the universe I think miss the crucial link between that scale and whatever it is that makes us feel the sense of wonder about the universe. OW found the notes to play that captured the feeling of wonder, a feeling that could make you look out your window after playing it at the real scale of the universe and feel something different.
This video made me cry. The part where you talked about the ending just made me cry all over again :')
That intro speech was SUPER spot on
This video really deserves more views. Your talk about the game was so wonderful and it just reminded me more of how much I love this game
Outer Wilds... Nothing will ever match this masterpiece. This video was beautiful! It made me cry about the ending all over again.
This is the best video game video essay I’ve ever seen. Holy shit I was blown away
After a while you can catch the silence before the Humm instantly
time to watch yet another Outer Wilds video essay because the game FUCKING R U L E S
I think youtube is determined to make me watch every single video essay about Outer Wilds... And it works ! Great video.
How does this not have more views, you did an amazing job!
Thanks for watching!
The rendition of travelers at 17:45 is amazing wish I had a copy of that!
Wooow such a wonderful essay. Perfectly worded. I wish it got more views and the game was known more, but guess it’s also a micro-macro scale. The game has a small audience but such an enormous impact on the people who enjoy it.
I've seen this video in my recommended repeatedly probably since it was uploaded but I've never clicked on it. Idk why, I guess the title and thumbnail didn't quite grab me... but then I was recommended your second part to this about the DLC and that grabbed my attention. When you said it was the second part I clicked through to the first part (here) right away and realised it's that video I haven't been watching for weeks and weeks. Very glad I finally found myself here, beautiful video thanks ::)
I never thought about how the ending puzzle symbolically represents the different reactions we have to the concept of death.
I just thought it was just us remembering the different little characters and what they were doing, and that the moral of the story was something about "the friends we made along the way" or something...
🤯
Even before the ending, the dialogue with your fellow Outer Wilds Ventures mirror different ways to deal with impending death, (add some extra spice when their dialogue is *different* if you talk to them during the final 2 minutes):
-the usually optimistic and motivated Chert panics and falls into a depression during the sun-collapse. In the end they still enjoyed the stars and learning
-old Esker is just happy that they had some company
-anxious Riebeck became an astronaut despite being terrified of space. In the end they peacefully accept the flow of time
-your adventurous time-buddy Gabbro meditates to detach themselves from harsh reality. In the end they are glad they took some time to stop and smell the pine trees
-veteran Feldspar just hopes to see cool sights in their next life
-and you, the Hatchling? You fight doom until the very last moment, until you actually achieve change, even if it's only for those who come after you!
You got despair vs. comfort in little things, sharing the burden, acceptance, mindfulness, rebirth and resistance as ways to cope with death, all embodied in the characters of the game. It is definitely about the friends we made along the way, but each of them carries so much more meaning.
Damn it, how am I still immediately welling up when I hear the opening chord of End Times
Outer Wilds is my favorite work of art of all time. God I love this game
Gorgeous video essay my dude. At the end of the video, I absolutely loved the way you described the experience of delving into Outer Wilds for the first time. Looking back at the game from the perspective of a brand new player, "the possibilities haven't collapsed yet" is such a fitting statement. This game is profound and poetic in so many ways.
Also, "kicked up to anthemic proportions" is a perfect way to describe the End Times remix in the final journey - that was my favourite moment in the game by far :)
I have seen about every Outer Wilds vid there is, and this one is instantly one of my favorites. You did an amazing job summarizing what makes this game so unbelievably special to me. Thank you
Beautifully crafted. It really captured the magic of OW in essay form!
I think this is the only game I've cried for. Thank you.
I used RUclips's simultaneous translation and I could understand very well what you wanted to convey in this video. Congratulations on the great work, I hope to see more videos from you in the future.
Sorry for my writing, I'm using translator to write this review.
Great video bro, thanks for helping me in the difficult long journey of letting go Outer Wilds. Best experience ever.
Ay, what a great video, I love the angle you approach; it's one I haven't seen in any other video. Especially love your explaination on the ending, it explains some of the stuff I felt, but could not put to words.
Love the music you put, as its a different take on the well known ost. Also the parrallel with interstellar I feel a lot too, but what that movie touched on, Outer Wilds made me live!
Thanks for making this, can't wait on that DLC video ;)
NB: Also I agree with your sister, ember twin's a nightmare!
While I was watching this video, it seemed like you have done this a million times before; so imagine my surprise when I found out this was your first video! This is truly one of the greatest video essays I have ever seen: the visuals, the music, the sources, and of course the claims themselves. Much like Outer Wilds, I almost wish I could experience this video again for the first time. You are destined for great things, and I can't wait to see what you do next!
This is one of the best videos I've ever seen.
This video should have 1M views, it's so underrated
my favorite video ive seen on outerwilds so far!!! i love your narration, and you put so much that i couldnt into words
Thank you! There’s a video about the DLC on the channel as well :)
Oh wow, this video came out on my birthday but I have only discovered it now. I will view this as a belated birthday present. Thank you!
I love the sun station bit where you see the curvature of the sun and how fast the sun station is with the door hitting a piece of the bridge and then the music swells
Outer Wilds is melancholy optimism distilled into the purest possible form. The sadness of death and the end of it all ultimately comes with a beauty of a new beginning.
"the song that announces that there are about two minutes left is preceded by a low hum that, after so many loops, becomes an instantly recognizable source of either urgency... Or resignation"
Incredible video. Thank you for making it
who else is on the outer wilds video essay binge
Well, you did it, made me tear up over this game again
Watched the whole video and was baffled to see the words "451 subscribers". I'm in!
This was an incredible video. Not every day that a video essay can move me to tears, but this did it. Kudos!
Wow I thought for sure this was a million+ sub channel. This content was fantastic. Unbelievably captivating. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute. Can’t wait until the next video!
I clicked your profile and was shocked this was the first upload. Great work, looking forward to more content if that's your plan!
Dude just hearing the begining of the soundtrack again made me have goosebumbs all over my body. The best game there ever will be.
The amazing feeling in outerwilds when you get to see inside of something you saw passing by and didn't think anything of it
i watched this video when it came out, and i still come again, and again. This is the best video essay i've seen on Outer Wilds, and it being the first on your channel makes it even more impressive