- [RoboKast] I've been playing video games for nearly 16 years now, so I'm pretty familiar
with gaming as a whole. There are first-person
shooters, platformers, simulation games, management games, and countless other genres that
are pretty easy to describe. For example, a first-person
shooter is a game where you're in the eyes
of the main character, usually shooting something. A management game is
where you're in charge of managing a scenario or
resource in order to meet an end goal. Most modern games fits
snugly into one genre or another with an easy explanation, like the ones that I just mentioned, but sometimes something truly
unique and revolutionary comes out and it tests the boundaries of these predetermined genres of gaming. One of the biggest examples
of this that I've seen in my life lifetime is "Outer Wilds." After recently picking it up to play for the first time since
it's released in 2019, I have to say that this
game is a truly once in a generation gaming experience. I've never played a game
quite like "Outer Wilds." Fusing exploration,
puzzles, mystery, action, and space all into a single game, with tons of twists and turns
that keep you intrigued, is a hard task but Mobius
did an outstanding job. "Outer Wilds" is one of the most unique and memorable gaming
experiences that I've ever seen. And today I'm going to try
my best to tell you why. This game is pretty hard to explain, especially without spoiling it, so in this video I'm
going to try to help you understand what it's about
and why it's so awesome. I'm telling you that
after watching this video you're probably going to
want to play this game. So instead of rambling on let's go ahead and get into today's video, talking about why "Outer
Wilds" is so freakin' awesome. (upbeat music) A lot of games talk about
giving the player freedom, freedom to customize your character, freedom to choose if you
want to approach a scenario with stealth or with guns blazing, or freedom to explore an open world and find a bunch of cool
locations at your own pace. I talked a lot about freedom in my "Breath of the Wild" review, and I spoke about how
that game did it right. I mentioned how the game says, "Hey, here's your end goal and
do it how you want to do it." Which to me, it sounds like
the definition of freedom. But the freedom and "Outer
Wilds" is completely different and it's on an entirely different level from any game that I've ever played. And that's the first thing
that makes it so awesome. In "Outer Wilds" there is no
story that you have to follow, no end goal, no beginning goal, and no explanation of what you have to do. In the beginning you are given one task, which is to get launch
codes to launch your ship and explore outer space. You get the launch codes, which activate a single event necessary for a core gameplay element, and you're thrown into outer
space with no direction at all. I am not exaggerating. They don't tell you anything, and you start your adventure
however you want to start it. You can go to any of the
planets in the solar system, land at any point on any of those planets, and start your adventure there. If something looks cool you can go there with no restrictions whatsoever and see what that location has to offer. Even comparing it to a
game like "No Man's Sky" it's more open than that. In "No Man's Sky" you have to make sure that you have the resources, fuel, and ship necessary to
reach a specific location. In "Outer Wilds" there is no limit. You have infinite fuel in your
ship and no food or hunger. Your only limited resource is time. So you may ask what's
the point of this game, and what's so cool about being
able to explore something if there's no reason for doing so? Well, let me explain this to you as spoiler free as possible. While there's no set
goal from the beginning, you do discover your own goals. Wherever it is that you may land for the first part of your
journey you will find something. Throughout each of the planets in the game there are little landmarks
such as ancient ruins, strange gravity-defying villages, or weird scientific instruments in orbit. These locations are all unique and they will definitely
catch your interest as you fly around the
outskirts of a planet. In each of these locations
you'll find ancient texts or people to talk to. Reading the texts or talking to some of the other space explorers you can learn a small
tidbit of information. The explorers may mention
that they're stuck because they lost their ship, or you may find an
ancient text talking about some failed teleportation experiment. Each of these little bits of information will always spark some form
of curiosity within you, whether it's why the person's
ship suddenly vanished, or what the strange experiment
was trying to accomplish. One thing leads to another
and you inevitably end up trying to piece together the story, which leads you down another wormhole, which you try to piece together and so on. "Outer Wilds doesn't have a linear story, but your exploration will
cause you to try to figure out what happened in a specific situation. These little sub stories add up and result in a web of
mystery that you end up trying to solve in order to figure out why all of these strange
things are going on within the solar system. Your curiosity is the driving force behind the unraveling of this story, which makes it feel much more personal, and like you are the one in charge of how the game is played. When you think of a
game with a good story, you probably think of something
like "The "Last of Us"." The "Last of Us" is one of my
favorite games of all time, but when you play it, you feel like you're living Joel's story, which is the point. Naughty Dog wrote the
characters and the plot to be played out in a specific way, making it feel like you're being thrown into someone else's life. On the other side of the spectrum, think of a game like "Fallout: New Vegas." This is a story-based game where you're presented with
choices that change your path. You can side with Caesar's Legion or you can side with someone else. You do things that shape your own story, but ultimately the story is
still somewhat predetermined and there are only so many ways that you could change the plot. "Outer Wilds" is different
from both of these scenarios. While, yes, there's still a story talking about the weird occurrences and what happened to cause things to be the way that they are, it isn't predetermined. You can hop around from
one planet to another to piece together different
aspects of the situation and discover it in any order
that you could ever imagine. It's like playing the "Last of Us" but starting three fourths
of the way through the story, then going back to figure out
how you got to that point, and then jumping forward to
use the knowledge you gained to figure out how to change the ending. It's hard to grasp, but it's another thing
that makes this game such a memorable and outstanding one. Both of these things that I just mentioned helped to create the backbone
and foundation of this game, but there are layers upon
layers of depth on top of each of these core
mechanics that shape this game into the polished masterpiece that it is, one of which is the world building. In a game where you have to
explore the world on your own with a story that you
have to piece together on your own time, it's extremely important that
the world is worth exploring. If it was boring, had no character, and was empty then there
wouldn't be that curiosity that made you want to explore
it in the first place. "Outer Wilds" has an open
world that is large enough to make you feel small, but small enough to make it memorable. Each planet has its own
characteristics, design, and charm, and every little detail
adds up to paint a picture of a solar system worth exploring. Ranging from an ocean planet
with endless water spouts and storms, to a brittle
shell of a planet, with a menacing black
hole in the middle of it, each region has its own
unique characteristics that make it feel completely different from all of the other ones. Spread along the surface, and within the depths of
each of these planets, you can find various little
locations that all give you the details needed to
piece together the story and solve the problem that
plagues you throughout the game. One place can give you
a bit of information that helps you in another
place and vice versa. You have to travel between
these places in your little, clunky spaceship to unfold
the mysteries of the galaxy. The world is intertwined, and the story and every
location has meaning. Most of your journey will be lonely, just you and your brain
solving a giant puzzle, but spread throughout
are little stems of life with fellow travelers doing their thing. You have lonely, little Esker chilling on his abandoned moon base. There's Riebeck playing his banjo and waiting around and hanging out. And there's you meeting
all of these travelers and entertaining them with your presence and your quest for knowledge. They don't move around
or do anything crazy, but they're there to give you
little bits of information about the planets you're
on when you need them. They sit there playing their instruments and act as a sort of guide
to tell you where to explore. While they may be stationary
the planets are not. It's not like you're wandering
around a dry and dead world, or a world full of NPCs
that walk around in circles to make the game feel alive. The very ground that you stand on, and the very solar system
that you're exploring. is an ever-changing one
based on the passage of time. Again, without spoiling anything, you're always in a fight
against time in "Outer Wilds" and time is one of the things
that you have to work with in order to progress. For example, on Hollow Brittle, a planet with a black
hole in the middle of it, the world is constantly
collapsing due to the black hole that's sucking everything inside. You have to use this to your advantage in order to explore
parts of Brittle Hollow that were previously hidden. You also have to find other parts before they get sucked
into the black hole. This mentality goes with
every other planet as well, and it's important to manage
your time when exploring. Unraveling bits of
information to form a story could be a bit confusing
if done incorrectly. It's like trying to remember
all of the Sekiro lore just by thinking about it, but a cool aspect of "Outer
Wilds" is the one thing that helps to tie all of
this information together, your ship's computer. This little portal of
information stores everything you've learned throughout your journey and shows how it connects
and where you found it. This allows you to easily
go back and reference it when needed in order to
continue your adventure where you left off. This is simple but it's
a huge thing that helps to make the task of exploring
so much less overwhelming. But everything about
the process of exploring is extremely exciting. It's not a walking simulator, and there's actually a lot of strategy to how you get around. You have a jet pack with limited fuel and a space ship with unlimited fuel. You can enter and exit your
spaceship without any screens or animations whatsoever, and traversing around with your jet pack is easier said than done. Some planets have extra gravity, some planets have no gravity, and others are breaking off
and falling into a black hole. So you have to use what you
have to navigate these obstacles while learning information and
piecing together the story. You can use these forms of transportation alongside the ever-changing
world to help or hurt you, like the countless number of times that I accidentally got
sucked towards the black hole and used its pull to slingshot
me around Brittle Hollow and get to where I needed to go. I don't know if this
was supposed to be done but let me tell you, I definitely did it. Also, when exploring,
it's not over complicated. As you guys know, I'm a huge advocate for simple game design and "Outer Wilds" does this perfectly. Flying the spaceship is
easy with a few directions of thrusters and a way to slow down and match the speed of a planet,
oftentimes not effectively. Jet pack travel is about the same. You have a little camera that you can use to detect something called Ghost Matter. You read things by clicking on them, and you can find fellow explorers by listening to their lovely little tunes. The simplicity of the mechanics allow you to be able to focus on the
narrative and the mysteries, and with the other
things I just mentioned, help to make "Outer Wilds"
such an amazing game. I could go on for an hour if I was able to get into the details, but since this is a spoiler-free review, I don't want to do that. "Outer Wilds" is one of
those games that is better the less you know about it. I went into it not reading or
watching anything about it, and it was one of the coolest experiences that I've ever had in gaming. So I hope this review gave you a glimpse into what the game is about, and convince you that it's worth trying. Again, I was very intentional and vague with what I talked about so that you can experience the excitement of unraveling the mysteries
of the universe yourself. Mobius did an outstanding
job with "Outer Wilds," and it's one of the few
games that I will recommend to anyone and everyone, regardless of their gaming preferences. Now that we've reached
the end of the video I have a quick announcement. I've gotten into to the
world of reading lately, and let me tell you,
it has changed my life. I am actually addicted to reading books. Ha, what a nerd. So since it's hard to
secure sponsors these days this video is sponsored by
me telling to read a book. I made a list of books that I've read, and I will link it in
the description below. There are some suggestions
for non-fiction books, some for fiction, a few for marketing, and some of the ones
that I remember reading when I was a teenager. My recommendation in this video is "The Fish that Ate the Whale," which is a true story about
an immigrant banana farmer in the early 1900s who
single-handedly decided to start a revolution in Honduras because they were a taxing
his American company. There's more to it than that and it's an extremely interesting story, so I will link it along with
all of my other recommendations in the description below. The list will constantly be updated. So be sure to check back if you
want to find some new reads. I earn a 10% commission on
all purchases through my list and buying from the site below supports local bookstores
that are struggling in the times of pandemics and Amazon. Anyways, guys, that's going
to be it for today's video, so I hope you all enjoyed. What are your thoughts on "Outer Wilds?" Do you like it as much as I do or do you think it's overrated? Let me know in the comments below. Be sure to check out
my book recommendations if you wanna learn something new. I will see you guys next time and peace.
