The Moment That Made Me Fall in Love With Outer Wilds

More videos at @razbuten
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[Soul-Burn]

When the music stops, instrument by instrument... it hits differently.

[Table]

3:50 the most mindblowing part of this for me is that Raz doesn't put his spacesuit on the moment he gets into the ship

[Angrenost]

My favorite Outer Wilds moment is reaching the Black Hole Forge, because it was the first time I planned my whole loop in advance and executed my plan smoothly. I was so proud.

[petey]

[Major Spoilers for Outer Wilds]


I think for me, the most impactful moment in this game that made me fall in love with it was when I finally boarded the Sun Station. The whole game you're teased bits and pieces about this station orbiting the sun, and it was created to destroy the sun, and you finally reach this climax, ready to stop the destruction of your world. The crossing from the teleport room to the rest of the station is incredibly suspenseful, with the music ramping up and the shot of the sun directly below your feet. And then you finally enter the station, and find out... it failed. The sun station never achieved its goal of destroying the sun. The researchers on board ended up dying soon after anyways due to the Interloper. And then the realization kicks in that the sun isn't being destroyed, it's dying naturally. And soon after, I finally noticed the stars in the sky going supernova. The universe was dying. That realization, that there was nothing I could do to stop the deaths of everyone in the solar system, really hit me. I fell into the sun on the way back and ended up spending the next loop at the fireplace where you wake up, just sitting there. Taking it all in.

I might be rambling but that singular moment was the most emotional and impactful moment for me in any game. I don't know why, but it really stuck with me.

[andrewprahlow]

@10:21 this was a very similar experience I had while working on the music, and I fully related to this part. especially to capture the feeling of "the good times of being with your friends in the past, and getting the band back together again, but now we all now play our own individual parts". the greatest part about this though, is how seemingly distant friendships remain intact after many years, just like how all the travelers connect together, whether together or apart.  

i'm supposed to be playing tears of the kingdom right now, but instead i'm tearing up at this video.

[Aleyceps]

My older friend told me about his method to find friends as an adult. He said to join or start some kind of group or club that meets monthly. A book club, a hiking group, or even just a lunch group. It has eased a lot of my worries of no longer having a regular group when I graduate.

[Wholesome_Dungaree-Wearer]

I love waking up at the start of the loop, blinking, seeing the Quantum Moon appear in orbit around Giant's Deep, only for it to disappear again on the second blink. Super intriguing to see before you know what the quantum moon is and super satisfying to notice after coming across said knowledge

[roramdin]

I think the moment I fell in love with outer wilds was weeks after I played the game. Watching back the final sequence of the game, laying alone in bed during early quarantine. I had just experienced my last days of high school and had no real contact with people my age. I felt so alone, but I had met someone via the internet to whom I had explained my deep connection with the story. I just laid there, tearing up, watching someone else play through something I'd already experienced. The game never, ever left me. It became a piece of me- I made my friends play it, I tell everybody I know that it's my favorite piece of art. Just a brilliant, sobering reminder of the blissful singularity of life. Then the DLC came along and made me feel the same things all over again.

[ryanmcadam]

Two seperate moments made me fall in love with Outer Wilds. The first was landing on Giant's Deep. I didn't know about the gravity pads, so I parked my ship on one of the islands and went off to explore, but when I came back my ship wasn't there. I looked around for a bit, but I couldn't find it, and then when I looked up it was 17km away from the planet I was on. I clocked on what happened and was amazed at how these systems had come together to create such emergent gameplay. The next moment was my first time on Brittle Hollow. The ground start to fall underneath me and, somehow, I managed to go into the black hole without realising it was there. I didn't see it at all. So I was awfully confused when I ended up getting teleported to the other end of the solar system. Honestly blew my mind when I realised what had happened.

[ensick]

i feel like Outer Wilds will always be my #1 favorite game because of moments like these, the instruments going quiet one by one at the end really got me. Outer Wilds made me realize I love media that makes me cry as weird as it sounds

[milexa]

My moment was the loop right after the Sun Station loop. I was feeling heavy with the knowledge that I couldn't fix the Sun exploding like I had hoped. I couldn't fix anything at all. The only "solution" I could think of was to find the way to make it all stop for good.

After I connected the dots of why the time loop actually happens, I didn't leave Timber Hearth that loop. I stayed and talked to everyone again. Went and did the zero g cave again. Flew the little drone around. Visited the exhibits again. And roasted lots of marshmallows before dozing off until it was time for the sun to explode again. It was the moment I found what I consider the games only flaw: you don't have an instrument yourself. I wanted so bad to go out playing a little tune like my other astronaut friends. Instead I just sat there listening to Feldspar's harmonica until the loop reset.

Although it was one the most "empty" loops I've had, it made me realize I had already fallen in love with the game and I was going to miss it dearly once it was all over.

[ChillinWithTheCapuchins]

Why did I not think about using the signalscope?! I would often try to see if I could line up the whole band, but when I hunted down the probe that thought just didn't come to mind. Seeing you show that off felt incredible and made me laugh and then almost cry.

Edit: And then you DID make me cry!!! Using the signalscope as the star explodes was so sad. That would never have occurred to me.

[Skyehoppers]

Each instrument dropping out as the supernova gets bigger is haunting. Ive never seen that before. Brilliant work all-around, such a cool concept for a video

[inferno]

"It’s the kind of thing that makes you glad you stopped and smelled the pine trees along the way, you know?"

[kyozou]

Man, what is it with EVERY Outer Wilds video making me cry in the last minute or so? Without fail, it doesn't even matter what the topic of the video is. I always break down into tears by the end of the video... Thanks for sharing your story of your experiences. I'm so moved with how many thousands of people resonate with these feelings and understand them.

[ShynyMagikarp]

I finished Outer Wilds the night my mom stopped being responsive in the hospital. The next day we had to tell the doctors to remove life support and say our last goodbyes (it was my mom’s wish to never be in that state long if it came to it).

Beating outer wilds that night helped me mentally for what was the come the next day. Despite me beating the game being associated with a terrible moment in my life, I have this moment to look back on and feel comfort, too.

Thanks for sharing this, Raz.

[Juni_Dingo]

I didn't really take the time to slow down and appreciate the game very often, because I was always chasing lead after lead, and didn't really have that many issues figuring things out. But the few moments where I simply appreciated the nature or structures in the game were very calming. And that's why Gabbro made me cry at the end...
"It's the kind of thing that makes you glad you stopped and smelled the pine trees along the way, you know?"

[jnoinm]

My favorite and most defining moment of Outer Wilds is probably something I will never forget. Walking along Ash Twin later into a loop, trying to find something, anything among the ruins. As I walk through the Brittle Hollow room... Im transported somewhere. In retrospect, I completely understand what happened, but in the moment i was very confused. I look around, and for whatever reason, I jump, boosting myself into the air. Once again... I didnt understand what was happening, but in retrospect i understand that the teleporter takes you to a place where you're upside down. My character flips, and i get sent down into the abyss, falling into the black hole and being transported to the other side of the solar system. In the span of maybe 20 seconds, so many things happened that I had no idea what was happening. Teleportation? A planet with a black hole in the middle? Wormholes? A space station on the edge of the solar system? It was a moment of genuine confusion and fear, as odd as that may sound, me laughing hysterically, both out of amusement and shock, as my character gets sent tumbling fron location to location. God, I love Outer Wilds.

[JamCam]

Wow. This was an incredible video. I can't believe you were able to make such an amazing script that is timed perfectly to the footage of this loop that was so impactful to you. You did an amazing job of recapturing what you went through and learned from this experience. I know so many people will benefit from being able to now share this experience with you. Thank you so much for making this.

[imnotrunny]

Major spoiler!





What hit me hard in outer wilds was the discovery you make on the interloper. You suddenly find out that despite all the goals and things the nomai had going on that suddenly everything was just taken away from them in just seconds.
Everything they'd planned for gone. It made me realise that its the same as real life in that you, or things can suddenly be teared away and gone forever.

Made me start to appreciate how precious everything in life truly is.