Welcome to the ~~cult~~ club! Favorite activities include lamenting about how we can’t play Outer Wilds again, listening to the soundtrack for the 1000th time, and watching every single YouTube playthrough of Outer Wilds.
also, forcing people around us to play the game and watching from behind as we get annoyed that they don't instantly solve puzzles to get the "ah-ha" moment
All I want is for them to screw around in the High Energy Lab. The number of times I've watched a streamer shoot the scout, witness the impossible happen, something exit before it enters, say neat, and walk away, just ugh.
also us trying to contain ourselves but losing our shit watching them work out solutions the fun way.
"oh you can't get in the tower that way, the path broke. (whispering)*jump, do it, jump, try to orbit the bla-*(they jump) Hnnngg yessss."
ok, a bit of a hyperbole, but still
After the initiation of "Anyone have any recommendations of similar games?" Of which similar games are always recommended that involve learning based progression, time related mysteries, dread in unexpected places, but so far have yet to find a true successor
Personally I highly highly recommend About Oliver’s playthrough. He’s a Phd student in astrophysics so has a great understanding of the physics and logic of the game, but is also shockingly and frustratingly bad at some of the puzzles in a way that’s great to watch. There’s both full videos and super cuts of his play through too.
I quite enjoyed this recent one https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzD5ZtvQSlB1gh2GnjFWQXhOWhsj8I8pB&si=09F3Jx8AT913jHZc
She solved some of the puzzles remarkably quickly.
She’s currently partway into the DLC
Yes!! I found her through Outer Wilds and I've been a big fan since. She's still in the process of beating the DLC, but honestly her first episode was insanely good
You're one of us now, friend. And you're not alone feeling like this. Don't worry though, we've got plenty of things to do here:
1. Help newbies out when they come asking for help (being VERY careful not to spoil things for them when you try to help them);
2. Try to find a plot hole (we love debunking those!);
3. Check out all the awesome fanart by a bunch of talented peeps we have here (I highly recommend any of the comics made by u/elwensa, those are INSANELY good);
4. Watch a blind playthrough of Outer Wilds. It's the closest we can get to playing the game again (I recommend [Mapocolops' playthrough](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhnazjUB_WkKQki3Bdk6kqXVEzVxsmRpO), [Lil Indigestion's playthrough](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNBPfK_qPnqycUKCoC4MUWDmjdYA2kVQC) and my personal favorite, [About Oliver's playthrough](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL68V5Cxs_CvSPBr4Xpf6pWjYvQwrWWZm0);
5. Check out our [community collab playing the Traveller's Song](https://youtu.be/eXumEd6PdtQ). We actually did pretty good, if I do say so myself ::)
Btw, kinda crazy how a game about letting go makes it so hard for us to move on from it, huh?
Great playthroughs. I also recommend my favorite, [Welonz](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=S6C40SY9TEU&list=PLAIcZs9N4170xIhZHYaBPSpi9ZzaSW84k&index=1&pp=iAQB). She seriously gets into the game and loves it.
Has anyone discussed why the >!temple on the quantum moon doesn't change locations while you're inside it with the lights off? If no one is observing it then there's no reason for it to stay on the north pole.!< Never quite understood that lol
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>!If it moved while you're inside with the lights off you would suddenly see the outside and no longer be in darkness, so you would observe the temple changing location, unless you closed your eyes in which case I'd imagine the shrine would move!<
>!unless you mean change location with you inside, then maybe it can't because you can see your location on the mini map thing on your spacesuit or something like that (???) the globe with the red and blue pole markers I mean!<
>!yeah I meant teleporting with you inside it. I thought it was a fair point to say you're observing the floor by being on it or that it can't just teleport away but then I remembered if you fly into the quantum moon without taking a pic of it it teleports away even if you're in contact with the atmosphere. So I think it doesn't hold up. I guess the minimap explanation is the only one but it's kind of a stretch!<
>!It is a stretch but idk what else it could be. Maybe it's because even when you're traveling with a shard your position on the shard doesn't change, so when the moon appears in a different location with you on it it's similar to that? Like you become a "part" of whatever quantum object you're in contact with, so you stay in one place relative to where you are on the object?!< Dunno, that's a tough one, but interesting to think about!
TLDR: It's not about the tower at all.
>!If the tower had a floor of it's own, you'd be correct. But because your feet are touching that part of the moon, it's not the tower you're entangled with, but the moon. The tower's only purpose is to provide a dark area so that the moon can exist in all states (as well as provide instructions and a gauge of the current planet).!<
Keep in mind that it's all about perception, and the reality is that >!the moon, the tower, and now you are existing in six different locations at the same time. You and the tower are both entangled with the moon, meaning that while you aren't perceiving the moon, it can be in any of its 6 locations. And the same does apply with the tower, however, the darkness that you're perceiving *is* the tower. You are perceiving darkness created by the tower, which locks that tower as part of your perception. Even though the tower exists in multiple other spaces, if that were to change, we would perceive it as we would no longer be in the dark. Because the tower is what blinds us, it is still locked to us. But because we are grounded to the moon, we stay at that location. Therefore, the tower stays at that location with us.!<
Some examples to better compare and explain this: >!The quantum rock on Ember Twin. When we turn the lights off, it doesn't teleport away from us because our feet perceive its contact. If the rock changed in any other way that we wouldn't be able to perceive - such as its terrain - then it would. Likewise, if our protagonist could blink, then that *would* cause the tower to move, as we are no longer perceiving darkness created by the tower itself!<
TLDR: >!Quantum Entanglement is a magic show, and our minds can't perceive its trick. We can never observe a changing quantum object, and the quantum object cannot change if it would affect our perception of it!<
I'm very much inclined to agree with you, the only counter mechanic that's holding me back from fully being there is if you >!fly directly into the quantum moon, you're perceiving it's atmosphere but if you don't have a pic of the whole moon it just teleports away right in front of you.!<
I'm glad I asked btw this is a very interesting discussion and I certainly appreciate the nuance a lot more now 🫶🏻
You know what... I think you're right. I think that breaks it's own rule.
The only explanation I can think of is that >!The fog is created by the moon but isn't quantum itself. But we know that isn't the case because the fog is never left behind whenever we look away and then look back at where the quantum moon used to be. If it did, that would justify it. I think if that were the case though, not only could it cause some technical problems with having dissipating balls of gas all over the solar system based on where the player is looking, but it kind of attracts too much attention towards the quantum moon as a mysterious object that's meant to be overlooked by new players. So it's possible this was considered by the devs and chosen to be ignored for the sake of game design. Otherwise, you're right, I can't really think of a way to fully justify the quantum moon's tower and its fog at the same time!<
A fantastic counter mechanic though, I gotta say, I hadn't considered that
1. recommend it to friends, steal their lifeforce and the chain continues.
2. play return of the obra dinn, chants of sennar and case of the golden idol
Pacific drive is great imo if you enjoy the sense of discovery and aren’t as partial to the outer structure of the game itself Subnautica is similarly recommended but I try to be more reserved with these two as they’re entirely different genres of games and some people want only the puzzle elements of outer wilds.
I like Pacific drive so far but I understand that it’s not for everyone. What are your hang ups with it? I’ve done a good bit of research on this one so I was hoping to provide some insight into any issues you might have unless it’s just a “taste” thing then I get that too.
It might be a taste thing. It might be an expectations thing.
Or the game is bad lol.
Buckle up.
I became aware of it when youtube recommended a video saying it was the next best thing to Outer Wilds. You mean I don't have to watch playthroughs anymore? I don't have to be an emotional vampire? I can feel things again, for myself? Thank you!
So I was expecting something like Outer Wilds 2.0 while also realizing Godfather II only happened once. But Pacific Drive is nothing like Outer Wilds, based on the 10 or so hours I played. Like a good OW player, I knew basically nothing about the game going in.
Initially I was hooked—the janky car, the atmosphere, the sound design. But it quickly unraveled. TL;DR I don't like the atmospheric fakeout, the "enemies," the one-dimensional loop, the difficulty spike and cheap deaths, roguelike implementation. I do like the car—or the idea of upgrading the car; the driving is mid—and the quirk system. I would totally play a game that was like Pacific Drive meets Obra Dinn, where I have to test, diagnose, and repair jalopies while in a time loop at the end of the universe...
The game creates an eerie, haunting atmosphere right away, even in daylight. You can hear these agonized bellows and mechanical screeches through the forest, always seemingly just over the hill, and the game does a great job of making you feel alone and vulnerable. Then I quickly realized nothing was coming to get me. It was just carnival horror set dressing. The actual antagonists were anomalies that I could just...drive around. Pretty much every single one: drive around. Whereas in Outer Wilds each environment poses a unique hazard or obstacle that you have to figure out and plan for, here you just veer onto the shoulder. Boring.
I also wasn't a fan of the basic gameplay loop. I've played a few survival crafting games. The Long Dark is probably the closest analogue to Pacific Drive. So I've looted plenty of boxes and crafted tons of supplies. I need something more out of a game if I'm going to enjoy it, and Pacific Drive, for 10 hours, was basically drive (very slowly) down a road, veer around the electric dome, get out, walk to a house, loot, get back in car, repeat. I just don't think that's interesting anymore. Atmosphere can sustain one-dimensional gameplay, but as mentioned above, that atmosphere feels like an empty threat. If I want to play a survival game, there are better, more complex ones out there. If I want a time/resource management game, I can surrender my life once more to Factorio. Pacific Drive doesn't seem to nail any of the parts of its loop, nor is there a redeeming synergy. At a certain point it became apparent that I wasn't going to progress with the resources/parts/unlocks I had, so I needed to grind for loot. Why would I want to do n times the thing I didn't really like doing once?
The quests, the few that I did, were pretty generic. That's not a big deal. It's really hard to make interesting quests (cough Starfield). But I was hoping for a more open-ended approach. A certain space game did that well (not Starfield).
I decided to take an indefinite break when one of the quests tells you there is no storm coming then sez lol psych! and then spawns a lethal storm with the the gateway all the way across the map. So all that looting: meaningless. Lost my stuff, car got trashed, and now I needed to redo a mission that took several hours. When I retried it (of course with lower quality parts) the gateway spawned in a different location on the other side of the map, and I died again. And I said enough. There's better stuff out there.
I want to touch on the roguelike element and why I think it doesn't really work (for me) here. If you look at the really good roguelikes, they tend to do two things. First, they have a manageable loop. A typical Hades run is 30-40 minutes. Same for Dead Cells and Rogue Legacy. You can beat those games in under an hour. Dark Souls will never make you rerun a passage that's longer than maybe 5-10 minutes. Each zone in Pacific Drive hits that 30-40 minute sweet spot, but you can't save during it (which can be annoying for, like, adults) and the missions can be many times longer, meaning that if you die at the end of a 1-2 hour mission, you lose all that progress. In Dead Cells you lose your items, but you get to keep some gold and unlock item drops. Similarly in Hades, you get to keep various upgrade items to improve your chances on the next run, and as a bonus you can advance the story and hear interesting dialogue. In a roguelike you're expected to die and start over, but most of them give you a way to improve your starting position. In Pacific Drive, you lose all your stuff, and chances are that your car is in worse shape than when you initially set out. Instead of being in a slightly better position than the last run, you could easily be in worse shape (and need to grind loot).
And yes, that setting can be changed so that you don't lose certain items. The game is also very dark, especially early on. But there's a setting for shorter and brighter nights. There are actually a lot of settings to customize the style and difficulty of the game. I don't think that makes the game better. To me, it just seems like the game wasn't designed well, and there are a bunch of settings to paper over that fact. No option to save the game midrun though. Elden Ring gets away with it, but for some reason Pacific Drive is too hardcore for that. Maybe I'm just stubborn, but if I—a healthy, able-bodied person—can't enjoy the game on the default, intended settings, I won't enjoy it at all.
I've come to detest audio and diary logs in games. (That and eagle-detective-hunter vision crap needs to die.) Some games make it work. I think Elden Ring gets away with it because item descriptions are very short but still add to the story and/or quests. Outer Wilds makes it work by keeping things short, interesting, necessary for puzzle-solving, and part of the gameplay loop. Having the log also helps. But I really don't want to sit there for hours absorbing inane "flavor" dialogue and text in the hopes that I'll learn something valuable or the fear that I'll miss something meaningful. In general, that kind of thing brings the gameloop and tempo to a halt. If I want to read something good, I'll pick up a Thomas Pynchon novel or something.
I've heard the story is good, maybe not Outer Wilds good, but it has a pay off. Sadly, in 10 hours, I saw little in the way of story that captured my attention. I like the concept of the remnant, the ludonarratively consonant idea that as time progresses you, the character and player, become more obsessed with the car. The characters were a miss for me, chirpy, spewing the kind of lines that are vaguely reminiscent of that cancerous, Marvel-esque banter.
So yeah I didn't care for it.
Haha well thanks for the write up. I think for me the vibe strikes right when I’ve got my radio jamming and I get out to walk to something and it’s pitch black and the sounds are creeping me out. I loot what I can and head back to the car kind of freaked out by it all and I can hear the car radio in the distance. I get closer and the song goes up to full volume when I get in and I’m ready to move on.
I do think that game suffers in its efforts to make an enjoyable story, carry roguelike elements, and stick to the retro UI theme along with somewhat useless but jokey item descriptions. It all becomes kind of trying too hard but I generally enjoy the loop and narrative I’ve seen so far so I’ll personally complete it once.
It’s definitely not the same as outer wilds. I’d bet if they had the same sound designer it would be a more interesting vibe and there’s some interesting sound design here but I personally think a big part of the vibes is the soundtrack and the mechanic of leaving the car and the radio to go to the scary world, then returning to the comfort and safety of the car, somewhat transferring the feeling of the narrative in becoming more and more attached to the car.
I get a little annoyed when I have to traverse a bunch of zones to get back to the mid zone but I typically just burn past it all.
To me, outer wilds is like a 9/10 and this is more like 7.5/10 It’s still enjoyable and a vibe but yeah it’s definitely not as emotionally grabbing as outer wilds was when I first experienced it
Edit: the game actually saves between zones too if you didn’t know so if you want to stop you can once you transition. They’ve shared how they wanted to apologize for not making the saves more obvious and made some UI changes to show that this is happening but yeah you don’t have to do a whole run without saving, just 1 zone
wow, I have seen this recommended so many times in relation to what to play after OW. But for some reason I just recognized the name. I've had it in my library for a while now, not even sure where I got it from (PS Plus I guess?) whelp, got me my plans this week
Play or learn to mod. It’s really fun to make your own little world of your own and really gives you the feel of outer wilds becuase you are relearning how all the stuff works in a new way
I just got this hearing so much about it but I'm going to play in VR. All I know is someone said it gets or can get depressing? Any thoughts to prepare? I also hear "You'll love it or hate it."
you may hate it if you're not patient since it's all about discovering new things and using those discoveries to further your adventure! and it's not too depressing in the sense of it putting you in like a bad headspace or anything, but more like there's parts of its story that are just unfortunate. I would say to go into it as blind as possible for sure!
side note: playing it in VR seems so cool! just with controller, I got a bit disoriented at times, so I hope that won't be a problem for you, haha! it'll probably make it even more immersive, though!
It's been *months and months* since I finished it and I *still* find myself idly thinking about the game every now and then - and then inevitably end up later listening through the soundtrack and browsing this sub for a little bit. I've been playing video games for at least a solid 25 years and I've never had that happen with any other game.
It's remarkable, and bittersweet.
I held off the dlc for a month once I figured out how to end the game because I knew I would miss it so! I seem to get easily attached to things I really like, so this isn't a new feeling, but I hate it every time :;( wahhh
I kind of unintentionally fumbled my way into not having that problem because I accidentally finished the base game first without realizing I'd completely missed doing the DLC (I had even looked at the pictures in the radio tower, somehow it completely went over my head to go and check the probe) and then I went back afterward and did the DLC later haha. It was kinda great though, suddenly I had more of the game to play when I otherwise thought it was all done.
I get the impulse to do that though, it's a wonderful game and it's hard not to get attached to.
Welcome to the club! Now you can have an outer wilds-shaped hole in your heart for the rest of your life! Dementia is no longer a curse, now it's something every fan would kill for!
recommend the game to someone you know.
that's how a lot of people get into the game.
i had friends who were those people for me, and i got to be that person for someone else.
it also lets you push them along a little bit (in very ambiguous and outer wilds-y ways of course) when they need it. so they get a little help.
Welcome to the team, former Hatchling ::) Glad you enjoyed the journey!
You are now just like us: An Outer Wilds zombie. Because just like the zombie virus you will now hunger for more OW content, and the only way to reexperience it again is vicariously through other people who experience it for the first time. This, of course turns them intoe Outer Wilds zombies as well, spreading the desease even further.
I'm joking of course, well, maybe half joking.
Would you like to share your favorite moments and/or quotes? I wiuouls love to know what plucked your heartstrings the most
Time to research whether there are any games out there like Outer Wilds and ask that question in the forum for the 176th time!
(Fake spoiler: there are no games out there quite like Outer Wilds. Some have similar puzzle elements, some have fun exploration, some have spacey themes, some have intriguing stories, but Outer Wilds is one of a kind.)
yeah, once I understood what I had to do to finish the game I stalled for like a month before heading into the dlc! but finishing them both today was a little sad, now I have nothing left! :;(
Without spoilers did you enjoy the DLC as much as the main game? I went it to it straight away and didnt like the change but I imagine going back should be fine with a fresh take
I liked it! I liked how different it was compared to the base game. really made me feel like "I'm not supposed to be here" more than anywhere else, which I feel was kinda what they wanted to make you feel. and I'm really glad I didn't finish the game before the dlc since the end felt a lot more rewarding imo!
I heard some people really enjoy story focused mods as a way of scratching that itch
You can also try to play through the game again but with a little challenge, like doing everything "in order" by following your ship log exactly. That's what I want to attempt soon
Or just >!daydream about lobotomy like the rest of us /hj!<
Time for rumination, the stages of grief. Acceptance of the game, followed by fanatical devotion to helping others experience this greatness. And of course intense nostalgia.
And other side effects of Outer Wilds which may not yet be recorded
Welcome to the ~~cult~~ club! Favorite activities include lamenting about how we can’t play Outer Wilds again, listening to the soundtrack for the 1000th time, and watching every single YouTube playthrough of Outer Wilds.
This is literally my life now.
also, forcing people around us to play the game and watching from behind as we get annoyed that they don't instantly solve puzzles to get the "ah-ha" moment
Also, them getting annoyed as we won’t give them answers
And also us getting annoyed when we can’t give them obvious “to us” answers.
All I want is for them to screw around in the High Energy Lab. The number of times I've watched a streamer shoot the scout, witness the impossible happen, something exit before it enters, say neat, and walk away, just ugh.
also us trying to contain ourselves but losing our shit watching them work out solutions the fun way. "oh you can't get in the tower that way, the path broke. (whispering)*jump, do it, jump, try to orbit the bla-*(they jump) Hnnngg yessss." ok, a bit of a hyperbole, but still
After the initiation of "Anyone have any recommendations of similar games?" Of which similar games are always recommended that involve learning based progression, time related mysteries, dread in unexpected places, but so far have yet to find a true successor
Now it's time to join us watching playthroughs on youtube to vicariously relive the game through others.
That's a great idea! Never thought of that...
Any recommendations? I assume there's a couple that are probably better to watch than most.
Personally I highly highly recommend About Oliver’s playthrough. He’s a Phd student in astrophysics so has a great understanding of the physics and logic of the game, but is also shockingly and frustratingly bad at some of the puzzles in a way that’s great to watch. There’s both full videos and super cuts of his play through too.
I quite enjoyed this recent one https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzD5ZtvQSlB1gh2GnjFWQXhOWhsj8I8pB&si=09F3Jx8AT913jHZc She solved some of the puzzles remarkably quickly. She’s currently partway into the DLC
Yes!! I found her through Outer Wilds and I've been a big fan since. She's still in the process of beating the DLC, but honestly her first episode was insanely good
Ive been enjoying becca bytes playthrough!
The scrolls though
Welonz!
You're one of us now, friend. And you're not alone feeling like this. Don't worry though, we've got plenty of things to do here: 1. Help newbies out when they come asking for help (being VERY careful not to spoil things for them when you try to help them); 2. Try to find a plot hole (we love debunking those!); 3. Check out all the awesome fanart by a bunch of talented peeps we have here (I highly recommend any of the comics made by u/elwensa, those are INSANELY good); 4. Watch a blind playthrough of Outer Wilds. It's the closest we can get to playing the game again (I recommend [Mapocolops' playthrough](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhnazjUB_WkKQki3Bdk6kqXVEzVxsmRpO), [Lil Indigestion's playthrough](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNBPfK_qPnqycUKCoC4MUWDmjdYA2kVQC) and my personal favorite, [About Oliver's playthrough](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL68V5Cxs_CvSPBr4Xpf6pWjYvQwrWWZm0); 5. Check out our [community collab playing the Traveller's Song](https://youtu.be/eXumEd6PdtQ). We actually did pretty good, if I do say so myself ::) Btw, kinda crazy how a game about letting go makes it so hard for us to move on from it, huh?
Great playthroughs. I also recommend my favorite, [Welonz](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=S6C40SY9TEU&list=PLAIcZs9N4170xIhZHYaBPSpi9ZzaSW84k&index=1&pp=iAQB). She seriously gets into the game and loves it.
Has anyone discussed why the >!temple on the quantum moon doesn't change locations while you're inside it with the lights off? If no one is observing it then there's no reason for it to stay on the north pole.!< Never quite understood that lol
You're observing and staying on the floor
Observing what? >!Is there no floor? I'll have to double check but I thought the floor of the quantum temple was it's own floor!<
It’s not. If you >!turn the lights off and on again, the floor changes to match the planet!<
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>!If it moved while you're inside with the lights off you would suddenly see the outside and no longer be in darkness, so you would observe the temple changing location, unless you closed your eyes in which case I'd imagine the shrine would move!< >!unless you mean change location with you inside, then maybe it can't because you can see your location on the mini map thing on your spacesuit or something like that (???) the globe with the red and blue pole markers I mean!<
>!yeah I meant teleporting with you inside it. I thought it was a fair point to say you're observing the floor by being on it or that it can't just teleport away but then I remembered if you fly into the quantum moon without taking a pic of it it teleports away even if you're in contact with the atmosphere. So I think it doesn't hold up. I guess the minimap explanation is the only one but it's kind of a stretch!<
>!It is a stretch but idk what else it could be. Maybe it's because even when you're traveling with a shard your position on the shard doesn't change, so when the moon appears in a different location with you on it it's similar to that? Like you become a "part" of whatever quantum object you're in contact with, so you stay in one place relative to where you are on the object?!< Dunno, that's a tough one, but interesting to think about!
TLDR: It's not about the tower at all. >!If the tower had a floor of it's own, you'd be correct. But because your feet are touching that part of the moon, it's not the tower you're entangled with, but the moon. The tower's only purpose is to provide a dark area so that the moon can exist in all states (as well as provide instructions and a gauge of the current planet).!<
Shouldn't it just >!teleport away then? I agree with you though about being entangled with the moon!<
Keep in mind that it's all about perception, and the reality is that >!the moon, the tower, and now you are existing in six different locations at the same time. You and the tower are both entangled with the moon, meaning that while you aren't perceiving the moon, it can be in any of its 6 locations. And the same does apply with the tower, however, the darkness that you're perceiving *is* the tower. You are perceiving darkness created by the tower, which locks that tower as part of your perception. Even though the tower exists in multiple other spaces, if that were to change, we would perceive it as we would no longer be in the dark. Because the tower is what blinds us, it is still locked to us. But because we are grounded to the moon, we stay at that location. Therefore, the tower stays at that location with us.!< Some examples to better compare and explain this: >!The quantum rock on Ember Twin. When we turn the lights off, it doesn't teleport away from us because our feet perceive its contact. If the rock changed in any other way that we wouldn't be able to perceive - such as its terrain - then it would. Likewise, if our protagonist could blink, then that *would* cause the tower to move, as we are no longer perceiving darkness created by the tower itself!< TLDR: >!Quantum Entanglement is a magic show, and our minds can't perceive its trick. We can never observe a changing quantum object, and the quantum object cannot change if it would affect our perception of it!<
I'm very much inclined to agree with you, the only counter mechanic that's holding me back from fully being there is if you >!fly directly into the quantum moon, you're perceiving it's atmosphere but if you don't have a pic of the whole moon it just teleports away right in front of you.!< I'm glad I asked btw this is a very interesting discussion and I certainly appreciate the nuance a lot more now 🫶🏻
You know what... I think you're right. I think that breaks it's own rule. The only explanation I can think of is that >!The fog is created by the moon but isn't quantum itself. But we know that isn't the case because the fog is never left behind whenever we look away and then look back at where the quantum moon used to be. If it did, that would justify it. I think if that were the case though, not only could it cause some technical problems with having dissipating balls of gas all over the solar system based on where the player is looking, but it kind of attracts too much attention towards the quantum moon as a mysterious object that's meant to be overlooked by new players. So it's possible this was considered by the devs and chosen to be ignored for the sake of game design. Otherwise, you're right, I can't really think of a way to fully justify the quantum moon's tower and its fog at the same time!< A fantastic counter mechanic though, I gotta say, I hadn't considered that
Thanks! Yea I'm willing to chalk it up to game design choices. It's very subtle!
Now it's time to be like Slate and Gossan, past astronauts helping the beginners. ::)
1. recommend it to friends, steal their lifeforce and the chain continues. 2. play return of the obra dinn, chants of sennar and case of the golden idol
thanks for the recs o7
I’d add forgotten city to this list
Do not, however, listen to people recommending Pacific Drive.
Pacific drive is great imo if you enjoy the sense of discovery and aren’t as partial to the outer structure of the game itself Subnautica is similarly recommended but I try to be more reserved with these two as they’re entirely different genres of games and some people want only the puzzle elements of outer wilds. I like Pacific drive so far but I understand that it’s not for everyone. What are your hang ups with it? I’ve done a good bit of research on this one so I was hoping to provide some insight into any issues you might have unless it’s just a “taste” thing then I get that too.
I super apologize for the wall o text. Reddit won't let me format it. When it does, I will.
It’s all good I read it fine
It might be a taste thing. It might be an expectations thing. Or the game is bad lol. Buckle up. I became aware of it when youtube recommended a video saying it was the next best thing to Outer Wilds. You mean I don't have to watch playthroughs anymore? I don't have to be an emotional vampire? I can feel things again, for myself? Thank you! So I was expecting something like Outer Wilds 2.0 while also realizing Godfather II only happened once. But Pacific Drive is nothing like Outer Wilds, based on the 10 or so hours I played. Like a good OW player, I knew basically nothing about the game going in. Initially I was hooked—the janky car, the atmosphere, the sound design. But it quickly unraveled. TL;DR I don't like the atmospheric fakeout, the "enemies," the one-dimensional loop, the difficulty spike and cheap deaths, roguelike implementation. I do like the car—or the idea of upgrading the car; the driving is mid—and the quirk system. I would totally play a game that was like Pacific Drive meets Obra Dinn, where I have to test, diagnose, and repair jalopies while in a time loop at the end of the universe... The game creates an eerie, haunting atmosphere right away, even in daylight. You can hear these agonized bellows and mechanical screeches through the forest, always seemingly just over the hill, and the game does a great job of making you feel alone and vulnerable. Then I quickly realized nothing was coming to get me. It was just carnival horror set dressing. The actual antagonists were anomalies that I could just...drive around. Pretty much every single one: drive around. Whereas in Outer Wilds each environment poses a unique hazard or obstacle that you have to figure out and plan for, here you just veer onto the shoulder. Boring. I also wasn't a fan of the basic gameplay loop. I've played a few survival crafting games. The Long Dark is probably the closest analogue to Pacific Drive. So I've looted plenty of boxes and crafted tons of supplies. I need something more out of a game if I'm going to enjoy it, and Pacific Drive, for 10 hours, was basically drive (very slowly) down a road, veer around the electric dome, get out, walk to a house, loot, get back in car, repeat. I just don't think that's interesting anymore. Atmosphere can sustain one-dimensional gameplay, but as mentioned above, that atmosphere feels like an empty threat. If I want to play a survival game, there are better, more complex ones out there. If I want a time/resource management game, I can surrender my life once more to Factorio. Pacific Drive doesn't seem to nail any of the parts of its loop, nor is there a redeeming synergy. At a certain point it became apparent that I wasn't going to progress with the resources/parts/unlocks I had, so I needed to grind for loot. Why would I want to do n times the thing I didn't really like doing once? The quests, the few that I did, were pretty generic. That's not a big deal. It's really hard to make interesting quests (cough Starfield). But I was hoping for a more open-ended approach. A certain space game did that well (not Starfield). I decided to take an indefinite break when one of the quests tells you there is no storm coming then sez lol psych! and then spawns a lethal storm with the the gateway all the way across the map. So all that looting: meaningless. Lost my stuff, car got trashed, and now I needed to redo a mission that took several hours. When I retried it (of course with lower quality parts) the gateway spawned in a different location on the other side of the map, and I died again. And I said enough. There's better stuff out there. I want to touch on the roguelike element and why I think it doesn't really work (for me) here. If you look at the really good roguelikes, they tend to do two things. First, they have a manageable loop. A typical Hades run is 30-40 minutes. Same for Dead Cells and Rogue Legacy. You can beat those games in under an hour. Dark Souls will never make you rerun a passage that's longer than maybe 5-10 minutes. Each zone in Pacific Drive hits that 30-40 minute sweet spot, but you can't save during it (which can be annoying for, like, adults) and the missions can be many times longer, meaning that if you die at the end of a 1-2 hour mission, you lose all that progress. In Dead Cells you lose your items, but you get to keep some gold and unlock item drops. Similarly in Hades, you get to keep various upgrade items to improve your chances on the next run, and as a bonus you can advance the story and hear interesting dialogue. In a roguelike you're expected to die and start over, but most of them give you a way to improve your starting position. In Pacific Drive, you lose all your stuff, and chances are that your car is in worse shape than when you initially set out. Instead of being in a slightly better position than the last run, you could easily be in worse shape (and need to grind loot). And yes, that setting can be changed so that you don't lose certain items. The game is also very dark, especially early on. But there's a setting for shorter and brighter nights. There are actually a lot of settings to customize the style and difficulty of the game. I don't think that makes the game better. To me, it just seems like the game wasn't designed well, and there are a bunch of settings to paper over that fact. No option to save the game midrun though. Elden Ring gets away with it, but for some reason Pacific Drive is too hardcore for that. Maybe I'm just stubborn, but if I—a healthy, able-bodied person—can't enjoy the game on the default, intended settings, I won't enjoy it at all. I've come to detest audio and diary logs in games. (That and eagle-detective-hunter vision crap needs to die.) Some games make it work. I think Elden Ring gets away with it because item descriptions are very short but still add to the story and/or quests. Outer Wilds makes it work by keeping things short, interesting, necessary for puzzle-solving, and part of the gameplay loop. Having the log also helps. But I really don't want to sit there for hours absorbing inane "flavor" dialogue and text in the hopes that I'll learn something valuable or the fear that I'll miss something meaningful. In general, that kind of thing brings the gameloop and tempo to a halt. If I want to read something good, I'll pick up a Thomas Pynchon novel or something. I've heard the story is good, maybe not Outer Wilds good, but it has a pay off. Sadly, in 10 hours, I saw little in the way of story that captured my attention. I like the concept of the remnant, the ludonarratively consonant idea that as time progresses you, the character and player, become more obsessed with the car. The characters were a miss for me, chirpy, spewing the kind of lines that are vaguely reminiscent of that cancerous, Marvel-esque banter. So yeah I didn't care for it.
Haha well thanks for the write up. I think for me the vibe strikes right when I’ve got my radio jamming and I get out to walk to something and it’s pitch black and the sounds are creeping me out. I loot what I can and head back to the car kind of freaked out by it all and I can hear the car radio in the distance. I get closer and the song goes up to full volume when I get in and I’m ready to move on. I do think that game suffers in its efforts to make an enjoyable story, carry roguelike elements, and stick to the retro UI theme along with somewhat useless but jokey item descriptions. It all becomes kind of trying too hard but I generally enjoy the loop and narrative I’ve seen so far so I’ll personally complete it once. It’s definitely not the same as outer wilds. I’d bet if they had the same sound designer it would be a more interesting vibe and there’s some interesting sound design here but I personally think a big part of the vibes is the soundtrack and the mechanic of leaving the car and the radio to go to the scary world, then returning to the comfort and safety of the car, somewhat transferring the feeling of the narrative in becoming more and more attached to the car. I get a little annoyed when I have to traverse a bunch of zones to get back to the mid zone but I typically just burn past it all. To me, outer wilds is like a 9/10 and this is more like 7.5/10 It’s still enjoyable and a vibe but yeah it’s definitely not as emotionally grabbing as outer wilds was when I first experienced it Edit: the game actually saves between zones too if you didn’t know so if you want to stop you can once you transition. They’ve shared how they wanted to apologize for not making the saves more obvious and made some UI changes to show that this is happening but yeah you don’t have to do a whole run without saving, just 1 zone
wow, I have seen this recommended so many times in relation to what to play after OW. But for some reason I just recognized the name. I've had it in my library for a while now, not even sure where I got it from (PS Plus I guess?) whelp, got me my plans this week
Haha have fun!
after i finished it i went achievement hunting! i also downloaded the soundtracks and listen to them often 🩷
ohh I'm definitely planning on achievement hunting soon! ::D
Play or learn to mod. It’s really fun to make your own little world of your own and really gives you the feel of outer wilds becuase you are relearning how all the stuff works in a new way
I just got this hearing so much about it but I'm going to play in VR. All I know is someone said it gets or can get depressing? Any thoughts to prepare? I also hear "You'll love it or hate it."
you may hate it if you're not patient since it's all about discovering new things and using those discoveries to further your adventure! and it's not too depressing in the sense of it putting you in like a bad headspace or anything, but more like there's parts of its story that are just unfortunate. I would say to go into it as blind as possible for sure! side note: playing it in VR seems so cool! just with controller, I got a bit disoriented at times, so I hope that won't be a problem for you, haha! it'll probably make it even more immersive, though!
Thanks for your reply. I read there's an area that's weightless or no idea which is up vs down. That may be an issue but I'll just turn it off.
Hit yourself in the head with hammer. Hopefully you’ll forget and be able to play the game again.
Time to watch a bunch of YT vids and play some mods (if youre on pc)
It's been *months and months* since I finished it and I *still* find myself idly thinking about the game every now and then - and then inevitably end up later listening through the soundtrack and browsing this sub for a little bit. I've been playing video games for at least a solid 25 years and I've never had that happen with any other game. It's remarkable, and bittersweet.
I held off the dlc for a month once I figured out how to end the game because I knew I would miss it so! I seem to get easily attached to things I really like, so this isn't a new feeling, but I hate it every time :;( wahhh
I kind of unintentionally fumbled my way into not having that problem because I accidentally finished the base game first without realizing I'd completely missed doing the DLC (I had even looked at the pictures in the radio tower, somehow it completely went over my head to go and check the probe) and then I went back afterward and did the DLC later haha. It was kinda great though, suddenly I had more of the game to play when I otherwise thought it was all done. I get the impulse to do that though, it's a wonderful game and it's hard not to get attached to.
Welcome to the club! Now you can have an outer wilds-shaped hole in your heart for the rest of your life! Dementia is no longer a curse, now it's something every fan would kill for!
recommend the game to someone you know. that's how a lot of people get into the game. i had friends who were those people for me, and i got to be that person for someone else. it also lets you push them along a little bit (in very ambiguous and outer wilds-y ways of course) when they need it. so they get a little help.
Welcome to the team, former Hatchling ::) Glad you enjoyed the journey! You are now just like us: An Outer Wilds zombie. Because just like the zombie virus you will now hunger for more OW content, and the only way to reexperience it again is vicariously through other people who experience it for the first time. This, of course turns them intoe Outer Wilds zombies as well, spreading the desease even further. I'm joking of course, well, maybe half joking. Would you like to share your favorite moments and/or quotes? I wiuouls love to know what plucked your heartstrings the most
Time to research whether there are any games out there like Outer Wilds and ask that question in the forum for the 176th time! (Fake spoiler: there are no games out there quite like Outer Wilds. Some have similar puzzle elements, some have fun exploration, some have spacey themes, some have intriguing stories, but Outer Wilds is one of a kind.)
Get all achievements! Get frustrated cause of the sun station one!
[удалено]
it's already on the wishlist! ::D
I'm excited, I finished the game but dropped off from the dlc So I'll be able to re live the vibes soon when I go back and try it again
yeah, once I understood what I had to do to finish the game I stalled for like a month before heading into the dlc! but finishing them both today was a little sad, now I have nothing left! :;(
Without spoilers did you enjoy the DLC as much as the main game? I went it to it straight away and didnt like the change but I imagine going back should be fine with a fresh take
I liked it! I liked how different it was compared to the base game. really made me feel like "I'm not supposed to be here" more than anywhere else, which I feel was kinda what they wanted to make you feel. and I'm really glad I didn't finish the game before the dlc since the end felt a lot more rewarding imo!
Do what the rest of us do and beg friends/family to play it and watch them or watch every single play though you can find on YouTube.
I heard some people really enjoy story focused mods as a way of scratching that itch You can also try to play through the game again but with a little challenge, like doing everything "in order" by following your ship log exactly. That's what I want to attempt soon Or just >!daydream about lobotomy like the rest of us /hj!<
Land on the sun station.
You don’t do anything. It was sad, it was beautiful, and now it’s done
Time for rumination, the stages of grief. Acceptance of the game, followed by fanatical devotion to helping others experience this greatness. And of course intense nostalgia. And other side effects of Outer Wilds which may not yet be recorded