Outer Wilds | Story Explained, Narrative Analysed
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- Опубликовано: 18 июн 2024
- #OuterWilds #StoryExplained #NarrativeAnalysed
Outer Wilds' story involves quantum physics, time dilation, superposition and the singularity in a 22-minute time loop. So, no judgement if you want Outer Wilds' story explained.
Outer Wilds begins toasting marshmallows on an open fire, soon becoming a journey into uncharted space, an archaeological discovery of an extinct alien species, and the small matter of saving the universe.
Outer Wilds' narrative is centred in exploration - asking the player to uncover as much as possible before the sun goes supernova and resets the loop. It's both the fuel to keep going and a neat tie-in to the decisions we make in games - how our seemingly unlimited choices ultimately converge into a single reality the developer chose.
This is Outer Wilds' story explained and narrative analysed. Thanks for watching!
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This series breaks down videogame narratives and explores the decisions developers took to tell them. If you enjoy the video, please give it a like and subscribe to the channel, there's plenty more on the way.
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0:00 - Welcome to the Outer Wilds
1:17 - Sci-fi and the mysteries of the universe
3:20 - Outer Wilds Story Explained
8:19 - A Lesson in Timeloops
13:24 - A Lesson in Quantum Physics
15:33 - Outer Wilds Ending Explained
19:50 - Outer Wilds Narrative Analysed
21:51 What are we doing here? 
Игры
Thanks for holding my hand thru my Twitch stream of this game, couldn't have got thru it without you. I wanted to watch this video so much the past few weeks but didnt want to spoil anything. This really helped me make more sense of this incredible game, very glad you told me to play it and get out of my comfort zone of the usual games I enjoy. Caw CAW!
Was my absolute pleasure mate! There is nothing quite like OW - glad you got to experience and I was there to witness all the hilarity and confusion that ensued 😄
Solanum wasn't the first Nomai to reach rhe quantum moon, at her time it was a Nomai tradition to make a voyage to the sixth location of the quantum moon. She was just the last one, because right after, they all died
Including Solanum, who died.. and also did not die. Like the cat.
Also, the Quantum Moon IS the eye’s moon, Solanum confirmed it
@@Afish8me2china the quantum moon is the moon of the eye thats how i understood it. thats why the clouds are just a reflection of it
@@sambrosii Yes. That’s what I said.
@@Afish8me2china bruh i just read it again sorry dude my mistake
Two years later and I'm still astounded by the quality of story and game mechanics combined. This is real innovation.
Yeah, this game was a huge mic drop in term of narration and artistry, it was so unfortunate that The Outer Worlds being published roughly at the same time rendered talking about this game wrapped in so much confusion most people wouldn't try it...
@@NWolfsson Really is a shame. This game is a masterpiece. Hard for me not to call it the best game I've ever played. No other game has made me feel the way this one did.
"Come sit with me and watch the stars die."
@@RSpracticalshooting check Rain World
this was the most terrifying yet most beautiful game i have ever played. what is known to be 15-20 hour game took me 57 hours to beat. I would literally sit here in front of the challenge i had to accomplish while contemplating my life choices. each planet brought out this primal fear that took me ages to conquer. but the feeling of accomplishment knowing that i did it, i made it passed my fear, i was one step closer to finding out the truth, kept me going. i had to know, i needed to know, the answer to this life adventure. and i was not disappointed. outer wilds made me push my own boundaries to uncover the truth that, in the end, no matter the difficulties we face, we are all in this together
i dont know why but outer wilds is so scary to me even exploring simple caves
6:07 - this is slightly incorrect. The sun going supernova powers the start of the Ash Twin Project, which both orders the Probe Cannon to fire (which can only fire once before completely destroying itself) and allows the Probe Cannon to transmit data back in time to itself in order to keep track of the infinite possible trajectories it can fire a probe as to speed up the process of finding the Eye. The player character and the solar system has gone through 9,318,054 supernova deaths until the Probe Cannon was successful in finding the Eye, yet nobody is aware of this. The Ash Twin Project was designed to activate statue pairing once the Canon had found the Eye so the Nomai could be made aware of it and turn it off.
In every loop before, the protagonist always looked at the statue before liftoff. Only on that 9,318,054th loop, when the Probe Cannon was successful in its task was the Protagonist made aware of the time loop.
By "going back" 9,318054 loops you will only end up right at the exact time the player character wakes up at the campfire. You instead need to go back 281,042 years to when the Nomai in that solar system were still alive (and when the Hearthians were still little tadpoles).
I'm agreed but what happens with Solana? Is the only part of the puzzle that doesn't fit to me. She has +200k yo?
@@mivv46 she's in a quantum state of being alive and not alive at the same time. When the comet exploded and killed all the nomai with ghost matter, she was in the quantum moon. Being in a quantum state, she existed in all 6 locations of the quantum moon at the same time, so she died in 5 of those locations where the ghost matter engulfed the moon, and survived on the Eyes orbit, because the explosion couldn't reach her there.
@@raylionheart9540 ye, I can understand her not being killed by the supernova but not the 200k years alive
@@mivv46 Time works different around the Eye. She seems to not know of the fate of the Nomai at all, as if she just got there for her pilgrimage. Same thing happens to you if you remove the warp core and let the universe end while at the moon in the eyes orbit. You just loose the concept of time.
@@mivv46 Solanum is entangled with the Quantum moon, she does not "Age" because time is different there. For her it seemed that she just arrived there, but for us it was already 200k years ago.
Excellent video, it is truly a one of a kind game. I think my biggest crisis is that I will never get to experience it again like I did for the first time. I get the sense when we reach the end of our real lives we will have a similar feeling. Wishing we could experience it all over again, feeling sad, but also being thankful that it happened. That is Outer Wilds to me. It epitomises life. You never appreciate good things as much as you should in the moment. But when you look back, you wish you could do it all again.
Absolutely - I already get that feeling of wanting to turn back the clock and I'm (hopefully) a long way from death. Being present takes practice!
I get this feeling all the time, but your explanation of how outer wilds embodies this feeling is only now occurring to me. I never really thought of it like that. The overwhelming sadness and acceptance originally I thought came from the game being over, but now I see it really is much bigger than that. Thank you for that! I only find that I appreciate this game more as time goes on 👏🏻
Are you missing the point?
'Experiencing it all over again' is not an hedonistic endevour but a mandate of Nomai. It is a mandatory consequence of the mission (of targeting the Eye of the universe and acquaintance it with consciousness) There is no room for Nostalgia in the plot. Am I wrong?
i literally stopped playing the game halfway through cause it was too good and i didnt want to know how it ended. now im back a year later wanting to find out
@@spookysalamander8582 It's definitely worth it but take your time and don't spoil yourself. Also try the DLC it's mind-blowing and its end is beautiful
Great hidden gem of a channel, keep making videos mate, there’s no way you won’t find success with content this good as long as you keep making stuff you want to make
thanks so much! Yeah, just gonna keep playing the stuff I like, and the stuff I think there's something to say about, and see where it goes :)
These videos are made with so much detail and passion and are so high quality. your channel is a true hidden gem
thanks so much! Appreciate the kind words
This game had the most fitting and best DLC addition to the story ever made. The fact that the whole reason why we can barely follow up on the Nomai's research and how the Eye of the universe was blocked off.
And the reckoning of the Eye is:
to create another (and other) universe(s). Even that part is quite logical and natural.
When you see the third statue in the tracking module I knew from there that there was likely a living nomai somewhere but I was still overwhelmed getting to meet solanum. It felt like we got to watch her grow up with her writing scattered around the solar system from different points in her life, to be able to communicate with her was just amazing
I thought the third mask was for the probe information, not Solanum
@,
You’re right! It was!
Solanum isn't linked with the statue. All 5 versions of Solanum died with the Nomai when the explosion happened. The 1 we meet is only alive because of Solanum being in the Eye's version of quantum moon
One of the best games I ever played. It's incredible what an independent studio can put together. The mechanics are so smooth and deliberate. It's a beautiful came mechanically. Which make the mind blowing story unfold perfectly. It blew my mind wide open when I finally scratched away at what the hell is going on, almost a traumatic experience honestly with how crazy it all came together then fell right apart
Im so absolutely in love with this game, but I have to say out of all videos I’ve seen, this video is the best I’ve seen covering its story and your writing throughout the entire video was amazing! Props to you for making this video and I hope you get recognized for your detail and love you put into your channel. Im definitely subbing 👏🏻
Gave me shivers of the quality of this video, coupled with a masterpiece of a game to make it on, ending bit aside, it's a joy being able to watch this at this short infinitesimally small time frame.
You could talk about anything for an hour and I’ll learn more than I did with 15 years of school . You’re great. You deserve way more views and way more followers. I needed this video. Thankyou!
no running in the hallways!
You couldn't have ended the video on a better note , I loved it
This is the best underrated Outer Wilds video I've seen so far. I hope to see more of your great work.
Just finished the game last night and this is exactly what I needed! Thank you for the informative and interesting explanation :)
The clearest explanation I've seen and the ending is beautifully put, bravo! This game is so so special. Unraveling the relationships between the ancient Nomai, seeing their trials and tribulations and eventual end is an extremely touching experience but the part that affected me the most was when you discover signals from contemporary Nomai elsewhere deep in the Universe who are reaching out to each other as they can see the universe is ending around them. This game shifted my perspective on life. Truly wonderful
Thank you Sam for your humility. The way you talk about this lesson, always impying as a mirror the constant mistery of our universe made me speechless. This video was hearthbreaking and bittersweet. This game needed a such good explanation.
I've only ever been into FPS games so when a friend recommended this to me I was a little hesitant, I decided to pull the trigger (haha) and wow I do not regret it! Although I was confused 50% of the time despite following ship logs this game still managed to just keep hold of me, through thick and thin, right until the end. It really is hard to describe. I would honestly say, despite never playing a game like this ever, this is probably my favourite game in the past 10 years. Crazy! I'd like to thank you for making this video as well, because I found it hard to keep track of the story while visiting each of the planets at my own pace, so thank you!
really loved this video, great job. i appreciate you analysing and providing commentary besides summarizing the plot, i wouldnt have clicked on the video otherwise. it makes the video feel worth watching even if you've played the game
If you had somehow made this video exactly 22 minutes, this might have been one of the best youtube videos ever made... still awesome though, good job
Amazing video. I just finished the game and went straight to YT. This video was a microcosm of what I experienced in the game. Funny, informative, enlightening, and most of all it made my brain think so hard I had to stop moving my body. Thank you for the the follow up.
wow the ending of this video was surprisingly wholesome and insightful. Love it!
thank you! Glad you enjoyed 😁
I haven't enjoyed a RUclips video this much I'm a long while! Excellent work and even better delivery 🙏🏾
This was a great video and helped a lot since I just finished my first playthrough. I learned, laughed and was fully invested. Please keep making videos :)
I found this video by scouring the internet for other people's perspectives on Outer Wilds just so I could experience the game again in some form. You gave me that wonderful experience.
Thanks and good luck with growing your channel, I'll give the rest a watch in the coming days and do my part.
thanks for the support 🙂 glad you enjoyed!
Sorry for the late comment
But if you are scouring the internet for perspectives I can highly recommend Daniel Hardcastle's playthrough on his 'Nerdcubed' channel. I've found he plays the game like none other, getting invested, and actually thinking about what is going on.
@@fflluuffyybunny1755 thank you a lot for the recommendation. I'd like to see smth like that and see your comment in perfect time.
Your closing statements about the pointlessness of our actions reminded me of this quote I read many years ago.
It went something like: “[in the _grand_ scheme of the universe] everyone you do in life will be meaningless; but it is very important that you do it”
Until such… day (most likely future age) when we begin to understand just how the universe works, and just _how_ we are here, which would undoubtedly lead to _why_ we are here (what’s our ‘purpose’ of being..) all we can do is try and teach and share what little know with each other.
So, thank you for this wonderful video.
You spoke in the beginning as if Solanum was the only or the first Nomai to land on the Quantum Moon (at least, that's the impression I got). She was neither; it had apparently become somewhat of a pilgrimage for the Nomai stuck in the system. She was, however, the *last* Nomai to make it there, as they were all wiped out shortly after she landed.
Yeah, good spot! I didn't make that clear enough
This was great! I played the Outer Wilds and despite a lifelong love of space, it somehow didn’t click, but I really wanted to know the basic story without watching a full play through, so this was perfect.
I feel you. The gameplay can be a bit tedious and boring at times.
@@somethingneeddoing021 always makes me sad when i see people that found this game boring because it’s unironically the most exciting game i’ve ever played and i wish more people got that same feeling from it
I feel the same way. The gameplay LOOKS fun, and obviously people rave about it. Despite loving all the subject matter, the game just never hooked me. Even after a few hours 😢
This is a very well made video! It explained a lot for someone who just finished the game (although the ending still feels weird to me). Good explanations and visualizations. I'm surprised how few views it has for such a popular game.
One of the best videos Ive seen in a while, Good shit man.
honestly not sure what to say. this video is just fantastic. it somehow perfectly captures the solitary, wonderous, awe inspiring atmosphere of the game.
thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed :)
Wow, great video man.
The song at the end was the icing on the cake.
This is insanely well made, great job!!
thank you 😁
Great video man! Keep it up this is genuinely really good stuff
Impeccable writing. I hear echoes of Sagan's "pale blue dot." Keep up the great work!
great video, the explaination of quantum physics was actually really good and made it click a way ive never had before
This video is a perfect example of how we should be able to put varying degrees of likes on a video. In other words: I regret that I have but one like to give. Subribed for life. Bravo!👍
I keep coming back to this video just for the summary, brilliant work!
great ending to the video. great video. we need more games like this. games like warzone are fun, sure; but games like this are important and groundbreaking.
Very well done video. Edit and explanation. Thank you for clearing on some areas of confusion.
Wow really nice video man the whole time looping back at the end really got me good
Hi uhm, I just wanted to thank you for making this because honestly I am blown away by the quality.
I just clicked an explanation video about a game and now I am wondering about life and the universe and its all so weirdly beautiful.
Really happy i found this game and this video. Mindblowing what some people can come up with such story that makes you wanna explore every inch of it .
Nice video mate.
How does this video only have like 300 views? Like bro your content is top tier!
This is honestly one of the best videos I've watched on this platform.
you are too kind
What a beautifully written conclusion. Made me kind of emotional
I love how the entire video loops at the end.
Thank you very much for making this video! I'm about to play Echoes of the Eye and I wanted to find a suitable refresher. Your video was more than I expected! :) Thanks to yoou I remembered what the whole story was about and what made this game one of my favorites of all time. :)
This is the best explanation i heard so far. Well done!
This is great! I am obsessed with outer wilds so I want to give some context to some stuff that couldn't be in the video - because to go over everything would literally take hours
- For the Nomai, going to the quantum moon was part of their ritual of adulthood, you weren't considered a full "adult" until you had been there. Solanum was the very last to go through the ritual, hence why she is stuck there
- The ATP text wall implies that the Interloper came _just_ as they failed to blow up the sun, which would explain why they were never able to take the ATP off of standby mode ;)
- Your explanation of how electrons pop into existence is called the "Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Physics" and yeah, I would say your description is fair and it's the most popular according to polls of physicists (but it is the default). I _personally_ am a fan of the "Many World's" interpretation but people a lot smarter than me are still trying to figure it out. However! I think a lot of the science in this game can be explained by saying "what if we just go _hard_ on Copenhagen? Specifically, what if, like, we imagine a world where the 'Consciousness causes collapse' conjecture it totally true"
The Solanum bit stuck out to me as well! not a huge deal of course, but yeah - like you said, her significance is less about getting to the quantum moon successfully, moreso the timing.
The reason Solanum is stuck on the Quantum Moon isn't because she's the last to voyage to it (that is true of course), but because five of six quantum iterations of her were killed by the ghost matter explosion, while the version of her closest to the Eye - and thus, the one furthest from the ghost matter explosion and nearest to a great source of time dilation - survived.
I never realized this but this explains why she is a corpse on all the positions aside from the orbiting the eye location
She’s sort of a version of a schrodingers cat but instead of the box having a poison trigger it’s like a Russian roulette where she’s in 6 boxes at once with 5 boxes that will have a poison capsule released and 1 without this resulting in 5 dead versions and 1 living (the box without the poison)
I’m still not sure why the quantum moon though seems to lock her in being unageing. There’s no indication that the quantum moon exists at all times as well as multiple locations just that it exists at multiple locations. It’s clear based on warping to the eye on the ending that being in orbit of the eye does not change one’s location in time as you can watch from the eye as your solar systems sun goes super nova. So I’m still not sure why she isn’t just dead of old age
I can’t remember if this was answered in game but if the moon keeps her from ageing when in orbit of the eye then why does being at the eye still allow you to observe the solar system in real time.
Also if the quantum moon does exist when at the eye in a state of Al times at once then shouldn’t every nomai who ever visited the 6th location all exist at all times at the 6th location
I may be looking too deep into this
@@brandonporter8509 you on the eye yourself aren't moving in time. But everything around the eye is. At least that's the only thing that make sense. Not sure of that means it exists at all times.
Finished OW, was breathless for about 5-6 months, and now back for the DLC. Thanks for the amazing recap, Sam! Learned things I missed during my playthrough, you made the game even better now in retrospective :) OW is the only game I've ever played that just enjoy sitting and thinking about now even months after finishing.
This is one of the few games that have come out in recent time that has made it to my all time most loved and influential games of my life.
I really loved your video! Thank you for making it
That was Freaking Brilliant my man! It was sooo captivating through and through. And Near the end it felt like listening to another version of David Attenbrough; questioning and re configuring our beliefs and polishing our outlook on the universe. Infact of whole EXISTENCE. Marvelous work man!
what an absolutely incredible loop. super creative dude. amazing
this video deserves way more views, great work
Excellent video, this is criminally underrated! Well done.
Wow that ending gave me chills. Thank you for making this
loved your writing and narration, great video!
The extremely deep bass sound effect of the warp to the Eye at 17:15 is incredible when played through a good stereo system!
Great video. Congratulations mate. I've just finished the game, and this is exactly what I needed to watch before going to sleep. 💚
absolutely amazing video man, great job!
What a fantastic video!
Obviously this is already an awe inspiring game but you helped me to appreciate it even more, and left us with a philosophical perspective reminiscent of the games ending.
Kudos to you!
Good job. I finished 100% outer wilds years ago but I'll still watch any video essay on it. Now go play the DLC and make part 2 it's amazing
Update: He did that :D
@@magma_fire_bagwan thanks for the heads up
Omg how do you only have 600 subs you deserve so much more
It's not even a horror game, yet the things I discovered scared me more than anything fictional I ever played. It was panic-inducing, and yet... when all was seen and done, I felt like, despite nothing truly mattering, it was all still worth experiencing while wishing I never knew anything to begin with.
That time loop must be symbolic of that; no matter how much we wish to change past events, all things must come to an end eventually... and death is beyond anyone's understanding, yet accepting the inevitable is what allows us to live in the first place. ✨️
your vids are simply amazing!
Man, I gotta say, this video is amazing. I am genuinely shocked this does not have anymore views than it does and most importantly, how little subscribers you have.
I hope the best for you, keep doing exactly what you are doing because you got some talent.
Thanks so much! I had fun making it. Working on the Echoes of the Eye video as we speak 👀
@@samg0 I am definitely keeping my eyes peeled for that one!
The best RUclips video I have ever seen. The creativity is off the charts. I still can't understand the whole game, but doing the video just like the game was awesome. Loved the ending.
ah, thanks so much 😁
Thank you for making this, I really enjoyed it.
Hey I discovered this channel cause after I beat the game I just wanted to keep involving myself in its lore (I wasn't ready to say goodbye to outerwilds yet!)
I love this video. It's extremely charming and... intimate? I think intimate is the right word. At first it was jarring having you pop up on screen at 1:17. You were just center frame with okay lighting. But after a while it felt like there was a connection between you and the viewer, rather than your channel and the viewer. You felt like a real fellow person. I don't get that feeling from youtubers these days, even ones where they're sat in front of the camera the entire time because they just don't feel genuine when they talk.
And it's fitting considering one of the themes of this game is connecting with other lifeforms.
Anyway. I loved this video, and I love you now turns out.
ah this is like, the nicest comment I've ever received 😁 thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
Great ending, very well done video keep it up man!
this is an amazing vid for a channel this small
What a beautiful video, a nice reminiscence of the feeling I've felt when discovering all the unknown of that game, and the feeling of being so little in the universe. Great work, you won a new subscriber :)
thank you! :)
What an incredibly fun video! you made it fun to watch and follow along the story. although your explanation of the physics didn't make much sense to this monkey, I still enjoy this video immensely. please continue to make cool videos just like this one. I will be waiting as your newest subscriber
thanks so much! More on the way very soon, for sure
Outer Wilds is the game I would like the most to forget about just so I can replay and discover it again. It's a once in a lifetime experience. And thank you for the message at the end.
Amazing work
A french guy in love with space and british accent
Amazing video, all I needed to hear in one video 😫
This video was amazing, the information was super digestible and story telling was amazing.
If I ever make a video this good I’ll be content in my life. I love this game, you put a spin on it that I absolutely that somehow increased my appreciation for it. Keep doing what you’re doing, you’re a natural talent.
Ah, thanks so much! Appreciate the kind words 🙂
Rare outer wilds video, you treated the topic with a pinch of comedy unlike a lot of videos out there, really shows how much you care about the people you're presenting this video to and the quality of your own work.
This was such a good video. Thank you so much! I just finished this game to. So this was a treat to listen to.
Great video👍. I really needed this, cuz I just flip flopped between subjects lol
Watching this video on loop is an experience!
Hey just a comment to tell you how great the video is, the game is wonderful and u explained it pretty perfectly so thank you !
Happy to have come across this video. Will definitely return when I finish echoes of the eye.
Dude never quit and remember us when you are famous because this content is amazing
You better keep inspiring and enlightening people ...... I loved that very well said 👏🏾 👍🏾 🙌🏾 👌🏾
thanks! Appreciate the kind words :)
This was a pleasure to watch, thank you Sam! :)
you're welcome, Ducky!
Thanks, Sam! Great video! Worth every minute.
I've just finished watching this video, and it was amazing!
Your summary and conclusion in the last chapter was absolutely spot on.
Tbh, this Video had me in tears at the end.
Such a good note.
I just finished Outer Wilds and this was perfect to recap everything I just experienced. Such an awesome video for an awesome game, really glad I found it, thank you!!
Great video man. Very underrated channel
Astounding video. Cannot credit you enough!
Thanks a lot, I respect this game a lot but couldn’t get through it to the end, the beginning exploration was a blast but when the focus switched to puzzle solving I just couldn’t bother. Great video!
Fantastic video, perfect ending!
Damn that was so thoughtful
Much props to ya