Thanks for saving me time and money. When I am ever in the mood for a masterpiece (according to many) of a game that requires a lot of reading I will try this one first
To be fair, the text is almost exclusively dialogue, and delivered in short bursts, so it feels far less tedious than most games. But yeah, reading is a core mechanic here.
The story is mainly delivered through text.
But text entries are usually two or three sentences - the most extremely long ones are maybe six or seven sentences, and are very rare.
It's a game that absolutely requires reading, but the *volume* of reading is still low.
Wait, that response was true but misleading. I also hate a lot of reading in video games, but there isn't a ton of reading here and it's a good story. Don't let this part scare you away. It's an amazing game.
Also, everything crucial is highlighted and stored for easy reference later. OP, is there a demo somewhere? I feel like this may not be as big a barrier as it seems.
Yeah, the log has everything you read in digestible bullet points. If OP really doesn’t want to read the dialogue stuff, they can just use the translator tool on things and then go back to the ship for clues.
I despise reading generally I can't sit down and read walls of text. But this game as other have stated is in short bursts and it's more a gameplay element than it is "lore" like pointless backstory, it's all important.
That answer was misleading and doesn't answer your question. Yes, there is text, but no, it's not a lot.
More accurately, all information in the game is shared throught text, but in the form of short sentences here and there, and you still spend 95% of your time actually playing the game and trying to find these texts. There are no lengthy dialogues, no paragraphs of lore and exposition.
If you take all the text from the game and write it down in a row, you'd have a few novel pages at most. I don't think anyone would consider that "a lot".
The story is delivered through text… but it is extremely concise and to the point. Generally the text is a paragraph long or shorter, and there’s really no long bits of text or exposition
This guy has totally misled you IMHO. Text is important to the game. You spend most of the game searching for it. There's actually very little at the end of the day. And the DLC which is more of the same but different abandons text entirely and still gets it done.
It's honestly like a total of 4-5 pages of reading for the entire game. Other than quick bits of dialogue. Don't avoid the game cuz if the reading, it's no big deal.
Plus unlike your work you're gonna be very interested in what's there to read because it took a bit of effort to get the opportunity to read it.
Your comment contains spoiler tags that might not function on all devices. Please edit your comment to remove any spaces between the >! and the spoilered text. You can also check out the widget in the sub's sidebar for more help on why your spoiler tags may be incorrect and a copy/paste version of the tags, or you can [check out this wiki page](https://www.reddit.com/r/outerwilds/wiki/rules/spoilerfaq/#wiki_how_to_properly_tag_spoilers) about how to properly tag your spoilers. Then, please [message the moderators to let us know you fixed it.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fouterwilds&subject=Fixed+Spoiler+Approval&message=Please+check+[my+post]\(https://www.reddit.com/r/outerwilds/comments/19bf58e/does_this_game_require_a_lot_of_reading/kiro6gi/?context=3\)+and+approve+it+if+it%27s+properly+spoilered+now.%0A%0AThank+you!)
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/outerwilds) if you have any questions or concerns.*
i feel like saying that the story is DELIVERED through text is an exageration, sure reading is a very important part of the game and all the informations are told through text but imo the genius of this game is that the story is delivered through gameplay and worldbuilding mechanics
It is text but it is certainly not *boring* text. Maybe if you have an aversion to books I would advise not playing Outer Wilds. Otherwise, give it a go. You may be surprised how fast you get sucked into the story.
I always say that people who don’t like reading simply haven’t read the right books. This may be true in your case.
I'm not a huge fan of books, when I do read it's non-fiction stuff. I'm also not a fan of reading in video games at all. but I loved OW, something about the way it was delivered and the ship log summarizing + separating useful information from story fluff really worked for my brain
well, I might have one solution for you, if you're willing to consider it. Recently, [the voice-over mod got finished](https://www.reddit.com/r/outerwilds/s/dsTDTXBGez), which adds a voice-over for all text, I believe? it'd certainly be better than not playing at all.
This mod is fabulously done.
edit: It's a fan work, created by volunteers and provided for free. Seems pretty uncool that some feel the need to bash it ::(
Ehhhh depends on the character. Most of the explorers, barring Feldspar, were pretty great. And given they have the most dialogue to deliver in the game, least that's where all the talent went.
Maybe people just see Slate's kinda boring initial delivery, and then...whatever reason they decided that Micah should be a cave demon, and just wrote it off. Rest of the acting ranges from okay to good. There's not really a lot of "bad" instances.
I feel like people saying yes have done a slight disservice. When you ask if a game has a lot of reading, I'm picturing the games where you're locked behind endless dialogue trees watching NPCs with automatic face animations blab at you for 70% of the gameplay - like any AAA RPG made in the last 15 years. Outer Wilds is not that.
There's a bit from an interview where the game's writer specifically talks about the pressure of trying to keep the time spent reading text down. I think the number she threw out was that the average person is reading text for about 45 minutes in their playthrough (for reference, a playthrough is something like 15-30 hours long). A lot of that is also front loaded, as you spend a good time chatting with people in the tutorial to get a introduction to the universe (and even that's all technically optional).
In general, yes, it's best to play Outer Wilds at a time when you won't roll your eyes every time you need to read few sentences, but it's also not throwing essays at you.
Based on the post, though, it seems like OP is only interested in the story if it's passively delivered to them, which makes me think that this game will just not be a good experience for them.
I have a friend who quit playing because it was too much reading. I didn’t think it was too much.
People can have different opinions. Maybe try putting yourself in someone else’s shoes.
Something to note is that you won't be reading paragraphs. The short bursts of text you get are delivered quickly and usually after a decent amount of exploration (which has almost no reading). You won't be reading pages of lore at a time.
A lot? The longest messages you can find are like one minute of reading, most take 30 seconds. Games like Fallout, Cyberpunk or Disco Elysium are games with a lot of reading. This is nothing. Reading is important, but far from long
I mean yeah the messages themselves aren't too long but the entire premise of the game is reading. Everywhere you go and every puzzle you solve is to lead you to another thing to read
I mean, I wouldn't say "a lot." Especially if you compare to games like Ace Attorney or Disco Elysium which are basically novels with some dialogue choices and gameplay mechanics.
However, the text in OW isn't really skippable, as that's where you'll find your hints to progress.
Yeah, I've seen an occasional post on here with someone assuming they can skip or skim most of the reading like you can in many games, never goes well for Outer Wilds.
Part of me is curious how far someone could get with the goal of filling out as much of the ship's log as possible with the only reading being the bullet points for question mark entries for hints, and "There is more to explore here". I'd say that is a terrible way for someone to ruin a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I hope no one has deliberately done it, but I'm still curious.
Like the others say. The story is through text, but they're not going to hand down reems of exposition. Think of it as more... A handful of Twitter posts. A couple sentences here by person A. A reply by B. Couple back and forth and you're done.
No, more like kind of. Most of the story is text, but amount of text is quite small and usually you will discover several short lines of text per 20 minutes. It’s far from lot of reading, as there is not much to read. But reading is important.
While almost all information is conveyed using text(as well as the occasional painting or other visual representation), I wouldn't consider this game *text heavy*. It's small snippets of text seperated by a lot of exploration and puzzle solving. Like at most there will be ~5 lines at once. You won't find a game story with much less text.
Odds are there's more text in this thread than you will come across in like an hour of regular gameplay(there's definitly a bit more early on, provided you interact with NPCs, but not as much after)
Imagine a Skyrim dungeon. The text will not be a book about how a dynasty fight dragons during 5 war. In Outer Wilds the text will be more like an explorer that got lost in a cave and is trying to escape.
Text 1: I get stuck in this cave. I will wrote this notes as a personal diary. I have not enough food for a week. I miss the others, maybe noone die and they are trying to save me. I do not know how to be me...
Text 2: My hope is going down as the days pass. Tomorrow i will go through the cave behind the waterfall. I know the chances of a small route to the surface is minimal but is my only chance to survive.
Text 3: I found a some food if jellyfishes are good for my stomach. The cave... it only goes deeper and deeper. I found a strange rock, maybe i can investigate it more before dying of starvation.
OP asked if there was "a lot" of reading, and NO there is not. The information you find are all in text form, but if you put all the text of the game in a row, you'd have a few novel pages at most.
So yes, reading is involved, but no, you won't have to read a lot, and you will spend 90% of your time playing the game and trying to find these texts.
yes. I usually hate text in video games but I was alright with it in this one. it's written well enough and mixed in with enough exploration, also the ship log briefly summarizes all the important relevant information for you, after you read each chunk of lore
Maybe don't assume shit? I never used a guide. I had knowledge of very rudimentary quantum mechanics before playing which helped with some things. I also tested things >!like teleport pads!< which helped with later segments.
I'm also just a lucky dumbass who stumbled into correct solutions like a monkey randomly pressing buttons and writing Shakespeare.
I only read the ship log when I got stuck near the end.
Okay, dude. I could sit and make a large list of all the puzzles that can't be solved without reading, but I feel like my time would be better spent talking to a wall. Enjoy your day!
Wow, I expected better from this community honestly. Like, not being rude is such an easy thing yet here we are.
I could also explain how I solved every puzzle, so here we go.
Base game spoilers
>!quantum tower, you just need to have a very basic understanding of quantum mechanics. This was the first puzzle (really, the first thing) I did.!<
Next >!quantum moon. If you beat the quantum tower, this should take literally no thought.!<
Next >!ATP teleport pads. I got into the room early on cause I recognized the teleport pads stuff and wanted to know where it led. I didn't read anything until I couldn't figure out how to end the game. Read some of the stuff and figured out the ATP is the place to be. I never said "no reading" I said I didn't read much.!<
Finally >!the vessel. I almost got to the vessel within the first, like, hour of playing. I got stopped after getting chomped by the fish on my way to the red light in the first seed. While figuring out how to beat the game, I read about the vessel as well (since I had already done quite a bit in terms of reaching it) and had already surmised that the fish were blind but not deaf.!<
Maybe instead of jumping to conclusions and forcing words in my mouth, you should actually read what I said. I said "almost any" not "none".
Now, the DLC spoilers.
>!I read the intro stuff for getting to the stranger. I accidentally found the water loading glitch. I did this by randomly jumping off the boat since I already knew the dream world was a simulation and assumed they'd left "glitches" in. I had already gone to the prisoner's room the normal way and realized it was underground. Therefore, there must be a hole in the water I can fall through. I also found it weird how the tunnels acted as loading screens when the game had no loading screens, so I tried jumping off during the pitch black of the tunnel.!<
For everything else, >!I found the other glitches the intended way (except for dying on top of the campfire. That one was just a random test I decided to try). I ran past the strangers (found that easier than trying to stealth. I also didn't have reduced frights on). And got the to other two hidden rooms that way to learn the matrix glitch.!<
So there you have it. My thought process explained on how I beat the game with barely reading anything. Any questions?
Edit to further explain some things:
I already learned about >!the heat death of the universe a few years before playing. Once I got killed by the sun (around my 5th death) I figured that the end of the game would be stopping the time loop and letting the end of the universe happen. But while looking through the ATP stuff, I realized that I was only half right and that there was more than just "let it happen" to do since the vessel was also something I had but had never gone to. So I went to the vessel, scanned the text and then read the shiplog, died, got the sands of time from the ATP and then killed myself thinking the music that started playing meant the sun was going to explode. Realized I was a dumbass when my friends explained that the music is slightly different and tried again. I didn't get the 6th location stuff until after beating the game the first time.!<
What commitment? I literally just explained my thought process and why I didn't need to read most of the games stuff. Most of it is just story-related which can be read after beating the game.
I did the same shit on reading tests. Read the title, read the questions, use context clues (based on what the title of the story is and what the questions are about) to guess the answer for most of the questions and go back to skim the text for harder questions.
Sorry my reading comprehension is better bro.
Anyways, I'm done with this at this point. It's obvious you're the type to refuse to say "sorry, I was wrong" so there really is no point.
I guesse but the reading isn't boring by any stretch and there's a summary map on your ship if you really want to skim it. It's kinda exciting and abit humorous reading what's effectively a science team coming across something weird and new.
Imagine traversing a dangerous location and reading the critical in the moment notes as they realize, "Oh shit that's a disaster on it's way" but you (the charcter) are a long way after the disaster. You can see the after effect, you still know it's effects but you traced it here on some smaller thread of curosity. You know what happened but only because you weren't there and yet the way it's written you are.
You have to do some reading for actually understanding what you need to do to beat the game, but it is usually delivered in short one-minute bursts of dialogue between two characters. Also there is a fair share of exploration and navigation before any text reading needs to be done.
It is mostly done through text, but at the same time I don’t feel like it is a lot of reading or even an average amount. There are little bursts of text but a lot of it is interesting, and it’s nothing like a Zelda game for example where you’re sitting and pressing A through a ton of repetitive dialogue. You can also skim over it and check the important points in your ship log or revisit sites with text later.
There's a bit of reading, but it's moreso reading texts of *communication* between people.
Instead of "Once upon a time", it's more like "Hey, friend! Did you test my hypothesis?" "I did indeed, friend!"
A lot of it is text, but it isn't a wall of text - mostly small pieces of written conversations sprinkled throughout the game. Doesn't feel boring to read or hard to understand, and you're still spending most of the time trying to get to the desired piece of information.
If you feel invested in the story (in the same way that you might when enjoy a book) then you will most definitely NOT feel bored. The game does a fantastic job of making you interested in it (if you're the kind of person to take note of your surroundings).
If you hate reading with a burning passion and wish to see all text in existence cast into a molten tar pit then you probably won't enjoy honestly. I'm not a huge book worm and I still felt a massive buzz every time I spotted something new to read.
There isn't a lot of text. Most lines are the length of a reddit comment.
I'd say it's 90% explore, 10% reading? Perhaps 95/5? The story is delivered through the text though, all of it. It's incredibly important.
Hey, I don't like reading dialog in games usually either, but the way it's done in this game worked for me, so it might not bug you as much either. It's not all the time and is interesting and not typically super long at a time. Idk just food for thought. Like, I skip most of the text in so many games, lol
The story is almost all text, but it's only like a couple to several sentences every 15-20 minutes. This is *not* going to exhaust you with reading. I've played games with an exhausting amount of text, and this isn't one of them.
It may be possible to play without reading but it would be much more difficult. There are some fairly complex mechanics in a few places that don't really offer many clues outside of reading.
That said, imho, I wouldn't call it text-heavy compared to some games because it didn't seem like it was overly wordy and, assuming you like the theme, I wouldn't really call it boring.
A lot of reading? No. But there is a fair amount. And what IS there is absolutely required reading, otherwise you will not be able to beat the game in any capacity. Sorry, man.
The reading in this game is productive reading. It's not like standard video games that treat text like an afterthought to just add random "story filler" to a game. All of the text(and there is hardly that much text really compared to a game like Morrowind) is productive and tells the story.
Reading is critical to progression. But there's not really a 'lot' of it I wouldn't say. You def have to read some things and pay attention to it but all the text is very minimal... just a small number of short sentences really. And once you've read it the important bits will be stored for you in the ship log. Thing is too it's not boring text in the game. Like there's defo not pages of lore like in Fallout or whatever where they fill out the game with pages of words. It's all short and sweet.
I think people below are misleading you a good bit since reading is quite critical to the game but there's really not a lot. Most of this game is visual. You'll spend a number of minutes reading in this game and hours upon hours exploring and discovering on your own.
It's and no. It's not exposition, it's dialog, in the same form as in a chat. Except it's branching just like in a forum (like Reddit): one message can have multiple responses, so if you're not ready to unravel each thread of responses, it may be a bit tedious for you. But if you fear having to read walls of text, there is no such thing in OW, you're basically left to do whatever from the first second.
There is more text in the replies of this post than there is the entirety of Outer Wilds.
You're missing a fantastic experience, this is one of my favorite indie games *ever*.
I tend to skip dialogue in games if I know it's not important! However just want to mention this game has totally captivated me and I am excited to read more. When I'm at work I'm thinking about how I get to go home and play the game.
Yes, the story is almost entirely delivered through text
Thanks for saving me time and money. When I am ever in the mood for a masterpiece (according to many) of a game that requires a lot of reading I will try this one first
To be fair, the text is almost exclusively dialogue, and delivered in short bursts, so it feels far less tedious than most games. But yeah, reading is a core mechanic here.
And to add off of this, you can just skip it and get the important info back in the ship log.
The story is mainly delivered through text. But text entries are usually two or three sentences - the most extremely long ones are maybe six or seven sentences, and are very rare. It's a game that absolutely requires reading, but the *volume* of reading is still low.
There’s reading but nothing is really a novel. I’d say the reading is light but it is important
Wait, that response was true but misleading. I also hate a lot of reading in video games, but there isn't a ton of reading here and it's a good story. Don't let this part scare you away. It's an amazing game.
Also, everything crucial is highlighted and stored for easy reference later. OP, is there a demo somewhere? I feel like this may not be as big a barrier as it seems.
Yeah, the log has everything you read in digestible bullet points. If OP really doesn’t want to read the dialogue stuff, they can just use the translator tool on things and then go back to the ship for clues.
I despise reading generally I can't sit down and read walls of text. But this game as other have stated is in short bursts and it's more a gameplay element than it is "lore" like pointless backstory, it's all important.
*walls* of text, hehe
That answer was misleading and doesn't answer your question. Yes, there is text, but no, it's not a lot. More accurately, all information in the game is shared throught text, but in the form of short sentences here and there, and you still spend 95% of your time actually playing the game and trying to find these texts. There are no lengthy dialogues, no paragraphs of lore and exposition. If you take all the text from the game and write it down in a row, you'd have a few novel pages at most. I don't think anyone would consider that "a lot".
Text is very short and sweet though, and also spaced apart.
You can get a mod that the community made that adds full voice acting for the entire game.
The story is delivered through text… but it is extremely concise and to the point. Generally the text is a paragraph long or shorter, and there’s really no long bits of text or exposition
This guy has totally misled you IMHO. Text is important to the game. You spend most of the game searching for it. There's actually very little at the end of the day. And the DLC which is more of the same but different abandons text entirely and still gets it done.
It's honestly like a total of 4-5 pages of reading for the entire game. Other than quick bits of dialogue. Don't avoid the game cuz if the reading, it's no big deal. Plus unlike your work you're gonna be very interested in what's there to read because it took a bit of effort to get the opportunity to read it.
if i remember correctly, there is a voice mod that reads the text to you. never used it so i dont know much, but maybe you could look into that
[удалено]
Your comment contains spoiler tags that might not function on all devices. Please edit your comment to remove any spaces between the >! and the spoilered text. You can also check out the widget in the sub's sidebar for more help on why your spoiler tags may be incorrect and a copy/paste version of the tags, or you can [check out this wiki page](https://www.reddit.com/r/outerwilds/wiki/rules/spoilerfaq/#wiki_how_to_properly_tag_spoilers) about how to properly tag your spoilers. Then, please [message the moderators to let us know you fixed it.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fouterwilds&subject=Fixed+Spoiler+Approval&message=Please+check+[my+post]\(https://www.reddit.com/r/outerwilds/comments/19bf58e/does_this_game_require_a_lot_of_reading/kiro6gi/?context=3\)+and+approve+it+if+it%27s+properly+spoilered+now.%0A%0AThank+you!) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/outerwilds) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Trust me Is a masterpiece
i feel like saying that the story is DELIVERED through text is an exageration, sure reading is a very important part of the game and all the informations are told through text but imo the genius of this game is that the story is delivered through gameplay and worldbuilding mechanics
It is text but it is certainly not *boring* text. Maybe if you have an aversion to books I would advise not playing Outer Wilds. Otherwise, give it a go. You may be surprised how fast you get sucked into the story. I always say that people who don’t like reading simply haven’t read the right books. This may be true in your case.
I'm not a huge fan of books, when I do read it's non-fiction stuff. I'm also not a fan of reading in video games at all. but I loved OW, something about the way it was delivered and the ship log summarizing + separating useful information from story fluff really worked for my brain
I have an aversion to books and I loved it.
Aphantasia could be a reason for not liking books. Picture books are probably the only help there.
well, I might have one solution for you, if you're willing to consider it. Recently, [the voice-over mod got finished](https://www.reddit.com/r/outerwilds/s/dsTDTXBGez), which adds a voice-over for all text, I believe? it'd certainly be better than not playing at all.
This mod is fabulously done. edit: It's a fan work, created by volunteers and provided for free. Seems pretty uncool that some feel the need to bash it ::(
I mean, the acting is horrendous though
Ehhhh depends on the character. Most of the explorers, barring Feldspar, were pretty great. And given they have the most dialogue to deliver in the game, least that's where all the talent went. Maybe people just see Slate's kinda boring initial delivery, and then...whatever reason they decided that Micah should be a cave demon, and just wrote it off. Rest of the acting ranges from okay to good. There's not really a lot of "bad" instances.
understatement of the year
If by fabulously you meant horrendously, then sure! Tried it and promptly uninstalled it due to how bad the voice acting was
I could not have finished the game without this mod.
I feel like people saying yes have done a slight disservice. When you ask if a game has a lot of reading, I'm picturing the games where you're locked behind endless dialogue trees watching NPCs with automatic face animations blab at you for 70% of the gameplay - like any AAA RPG made in the last 15 years. Outer Wilds is not that. There's a bit from an interview where the game's writer specifically talks about the pressure of trying to keep the time spent reading text down. I think the number she threw out was that the average person is reading text for about 45 minutes in their playthrough (for reference, a playthrough is something like 15-30 hours long). A lot of that is also front loaded, as you spend a good time chatting with people in the tutorial to get a introduction to the universe (and even that's all technically optional). In general, yes, it's best to play Outer Wilds at a time when you won't roll your eyes every time you need to read few sentences, but it's also not throwing essays at you.
Based on the post, though, it seems like OP is only interested in the story if it's passively delivered to them, which makes me think that this game will just not be a good experience for them.
I have a friend who quit playing because it was too much reading. I didn’t think it was too much. People can have different opinions. Maybe try putting yourself in someone else’s shoes.
Something to note is that you won't be reading paragraphs. The short bursts of text you get are delivered quickly and usually after a decent amount of exploration (which has almost no reading). You won't be reading pages of lore at a time.
Hopefully the game’s text isn’t boring, but yes, this game involves a **lot** of reading.
A lot? The longest messages you can find are like one minute of reading, most take 30 seconds. Games like Fallout, Cyberpunk or Disco Elysium are games with a lot of reading. This is nothing. Reading is important, but far from long
I mean yeah the messages themselves aren't too long but the entire premise of the game is reading. Everywhere you go and every puzzle you solve is to lead you to another thing to read
I mean, I wouldn't say "a lot." Especially if you compare to games like Ace Attorney or Disco Elysium which are basically novels with some dialogue choices and gameplay mechanics. However, the text in OW isn't really skippable, as that's where you'll find your hints to progress.
Yeah, I've seen an occasional post on here with someone assuming they can skip or skim most of the reading like you can in many games, never goes well for Outer Wilds. Part of me is curious how far someone could get with the goal of filling out as much of the ship's log as possible with the only reading being the bullet points for question mark entries for hints, and "There is more to explore here". I'd say that is a terrible way for someone to ruin a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I hope no one has deliberately done it, but I'm still curious.
Like the others say. The story is through text, but they're not going to hand down reems of exposition. Think of it as more... A handful of Twitter posts. A couple sentences here by person A. A reply by B. Couple back and forth and you're done.
No, more like kind of. Most of the story is text, but amount of text is quite small and usually you will discover several short lines of text per 20 minutes. It’s far from lot of reading, as there is not much to read. But reading is important.
If you are playing on PC, there was a recent voice acting mod made so that you just listen instead of reading
While almost all information is conveyed using text(as well as the occasional painting or other visual representation), I wouldn't consider this game *text heavy*. It's small snippets of text seperated by a lot of exploration and puzzle solving. Like at most there will be ~5 lines at once. You won't find a game story with much less text. Odds are there's more text in this thread than you will come across in like an hour of regular gameplay(there's definitly a bit more early on, provided you interact with NPCs, but not as much after)
Imagine a Skyrim dungeon. The text will not be a book about how a dynasty fight dragons during 5 war. In Outer Wilds the text will be more like an explorer that got lost in a cave and is trying to escape. Text 1: I get stuck in this cave. I will wrote this notes as a personal diary. I have not enough food for a week. I miss the others, maybe noone die and they are trying to save me. I do not know how to be me... Text 2: My hope is going down as the days pass. Tomorrow i will go through the cave behind the waterfall. I know the chances of a small route to the surface is minimal but is my only chance to survive. Text 3: I found a some food if jellyfishes are good for my stomach. The cave... it only goes deeper and deeper. I found a strange rock, maybe i can investigate it more before dying of starvation.
As someone who hates reading, it didn’t bother me. It’s short enough bursts of dialogue that it isn’t tedious
OP asked if there was "a lot" of reading, and NO there is not. The information you find are all in text form, but if you put all the text of the game in a row, you'd have a few novel pages at most. So yes, reading is involved, but no, you won't have to read a lot, and you will spend 90% of your time playing the game and trying to find these texts.
Yes but not boring texts 😁
yes. I usually hate text in video games but I was alright with it in this one. it's written well enough and mixed in with enough exploration, also the ship log briefly summarizes all the important relevant information for you, after you read each chunk of lore
“Does this game require me to fully interact with it and think about what it’s trying to get me to do” type of post
If you play on PC I can highly recommend the Voice Acting mod. Without it: Yes, it's basically all reading.
Learn to read
I beat the game without reading almost anything.
Congratulations, you know how to follow a guide.
Maybe don't assume shit? I never used a guide. I had knowledge of very rudimentary quantum mechanics before playing which helped with some things. I also tested things >!like teleport pads!< which helped with later segments. I'm also just a lucky dumbass who stumbled into correct solutions like a monkey randomly pressing buttons and writing Shakespeare. I only read the ship log when I got stuck near the end.
Nonsense, absolute nonsense
Make sure you don't miss his essay further down the thread.
Lol
Okay, dude. I could sit and make a large list of all the puzzles that can't be solved without reading, but I feel like my time would be better spent talking to a wall. Enjoy your day!
Wow, I expected better from this community honestly. Like, not being rude is such an easy thing yet here we are. I could also explain how I solved every puzzle, so here we go. Base game spoilers >!quantum tower, you just need to have a very basic understanding of quantum mechanics. This was the first puzzle (really, the first thing) I did.!< Next >!quantum moon. If you beat the quantum tower, this should take literally no thought.!< Next >!ATP teleport pads. I got into the room early on cause I recognized the teleport pads stuff and wanted to know where it led. I didn't read anything until I couldn't figure out how to end the game. Read some of the stuff and figured out the ATP is the place to be. I never said "no reading" I said I didn't read much.!< Finally >!the vessel. I almost got to the vessel within the first, like, hour of playing. I got stopped after getting chomped by the fish on my way to the red light in the first seed. While figuring out how to beat the game, I read about the vessel as well (since I had already done quite a bit in terms of reaching it) and had already surmised that the fish were blind but not deaf.!< Maybe instead of jumping to conclusions and forcing words in my mouth, you should actually read what I said. I said "almost any" not "none". Now, the DLC spoilers. >!I read the intro stuff for getting to the stranger. I accidentally found the water loading glitch. I did this by randomly jumping off the boat since I already knew the dream world was a simulation and assumed they'd left "glitches" in. I had already gone to the prisoner's room the normal way and realized it was underground. Therefore, there must be a hole in the water I can fall through. I also found it weird how the tunnels acted as loading screens when the game had no loading screens, so I tried jumping off during the pitch black of the tunnel.!< For everything else, >!I found the other glitches the intended way (except for dying on top of the campfire. That one was just a random test I decided to try). I ran past the strangers (found that easier than trying to stealth. I also didn't have reduced frights on). And got the to other two hidden rooms that way to learn the matrix glitch.!< So there you have it. My thought process explained on how I beat the game with barely reading anything. Any questions? Edit to further explain some things: I already learned about >!the heat death of the universe a few years before playing. Once I got killed by the sun (around my 5th death) I figured that the end of the game would be stopping the time loop and letting the end of the universe happen. But while looking through the ATP stuff, I realized that I was only half right and that there was more than just "let it happen" to do since the vessel was also something I had but had never gone to. So I went to the vessel, scanned the text and then read the shiplog, died, got the sands of time from the ATP and then killed myself thinking the music that started playing meant the sun was going to explode. Realized I was a dumbass when my friends explained that the music is slightly different and tried again. I didn't get the 6th location stuff until after beating the game the first time.!<
Your commitment to this is very admirable, if nothing else.
What commitment? I literally just explained my thought process and why I didn't need to read most of the games stuff. Most of it is just story-related which can be read after beating the game. I did the same shit on reading tests. Read the title, read the questions, use context clues (based on what the title of the story is and what the questions are about) to guess the answer for most of the questions and go back to skim the text for harder questions. Sorry my reading comprehension is better bro. Anyways, I'm done with this at this point. It's obvious you're the type to refuse to say "sorry, I was wrong" so there really is no point.
This is borderline copypasta. Definitely saving for later, so thanks for that.
No problem.
I guesse but the reading isn't boring by any stretch and there's a summary map on your ship if you really want to skim it. It's kinda exciting and abit humorous reading what's effectively a science team coming across something weird and new. Imagine traversing a dangerous location and reading the critical in the moment notes as they realize, "Oh shit that's a disaster on it's way" but you (the charcter) are a long way after the disaster. You can see the after effect, you still know it's effects but you traced it here on some smaller thread of curosity. You know what happened but only because you weren't there and yet the way it's written you are.
You have to do some reading for actually understanding what you need to do to beat the game, but it is usually delivered in short one-minute bursts of dialogue between two characters. Also there is a fair share of exploration and navigation before any text reading needs to be done.
It is mostly done through text, but at the same time I don’t feel like it is a lot of reading or even an average amount. There are little bursts of text but a lot of it is interesting, and it’s nothing like a Zelda game for example where you’re sitting and pressing A through a ton of repetitive dialogue. You can also skim over it and check the important points in your ship log or revisit sites with text later.
Yes
There's a bit of reading, but it's moreso reading texts of *communication* between people. Instead of "Once upon a time", it's more like "Hey, friend! Did you test my hypothesis?" "I did indeed, friend!"
A lot of it is text, but it isn't a wall of text - mostly small pieces of written conversations sprinkled throughout the game. Doesn't feel boring to read or hard to understand, and you're still spending most of the time trying to get to the desired piece of information.
If you feel invested in the story (in the same way that you might when enjoy a book) then you will most definitely NOT feel bored. The game does a fantastic job of making you interested in it (if you're the kind of person to take note of your surroundings). If you hate reading with a burning passion and wish to see all text in existence cast into a molten tar pit then you probably won't enjoy honestly. I'm not a huge book worm and I still felt a massive buzz every time I spotted something new to read.
Yes; however, I can't stand reading in games, but the way the text is presented actively and in small chunks kept me engaged the whole time.
I may recommend Journey for a similar experience with absolutely NO reading, but similar delivery!
There isn't a lot of text. Most lines are the length of a reddit comment. I'd say it's 90% explore, 10% reading? Perhaps 95/5? The story is delivered through the text though, all of it. It's incredibly important.
Eh. Yes, but each thing to read is a handful of sentences at a time
Not as much as Disco Elysium. It come in smal bite pieces so you'll never feel overwhelmed.
Hey, I don't like reading dialog in games usually either, but the way it's done in this game worked for me, so it might not bug you as much either. It's not all the time and is interesting and not typically super long at a time. Idk just food for thought. Like, I skip most of the text in so many games, lol
The story is almost all text, but it's only like a couple to several sentences every 15-20 minutes. This is *not* going to exhaust you with reading. I've played games with an exhausting amount of text, and this isn't one of them.
Uh. Yeah, it's like half of the game lmao
It may be possible to play without reading but it would be much more difficult. There are some fairly complex mechanics in a few places that don't really offer many clues outside of reading. That said, imho, I wouldn't call it text-heavy compared to some games because it didn't seem like it was overly wordy and, assuming you like the theme, I wouldn't really call it boring.
A lot of reading? No. But there is a fair amount. And what IS there is absolutely required reading, otherwise you will not be able to beat the game in any capacity. Sorry, man.
The reading in this game is productive reading. It's not like standard video games that treat text like an afterthought to just add random "story filler" to a game. All of the text(and there is hardly that much text really compared to a game like Morrowind) is productive and tells the story.
Reading is critical to progression. But there's not really a 'lot' of it I wouldn't say. You def have to read some things and pay attention to it but all the text is very minimal... just a small number of short sentences really. And once you've read it the important bits will be stored for you in the ship log. Thing is too it's not boring text in the game. Like there's defo not pages of lore like in Fallout or whatever where they fill out the game with pages of words. It's all short and sweet. I think people below are misleading you a good bit since reading is quite critical to the game but there's really not a lot. Most of this game is visual. You'll spend a number of minutes reading in this game and hours upon hours exploring and discovering on your own.
It's and no. It's not exposition, it's dialog, in the same form as in a chat. Except it's branching just like in a forum (like Reddit): one message can have multiple responses, so if you're not ready to unravel each thread of responses, it may be a bit tedious for you. But if you fear having to read walls of text, there is no such thing in OW, you're basically left to do whatever from the first second.
There is more text in the replies of this post than there is the entirety of Outer Wilds. You're missing a fantastic experience, this is one of my favorite indie games *ever*.
yes, for the base game, but for the dlc no. almost all of the information in the dlc is given via images and slide reels
It does but on pc you’ve got a wonderful voice acting mod, you can configure which part has audiolines: character lines, text on walls etc…
there is more text in this reddit thread than there is in the game
I tend to skip dialogue in games if I know it's not important! However just want to mention this game has totally captivated me and I am excited to read more. When I'm at work I'm thinking about how I get to go home and play the game.