[1k Sub Special] Outer Wilds - The Masterpiece We Don't Talk About

[@yehudaspitz]

This was such a funny and well thought out video!! I don't usually comment but I'm genuinely surprised by the quality of your work. You hit all the points I've been ranting to my friends about, and I can't wait for them to watch this video if they ever finish playing the game.

[@sethvizel]

Absolutely fantastic video. Really. When you stumble across a video essay with 400 views and a channel with 1k subscribers, you normally don't expect much, if nothing else just because the editing is usually so-so. Which is understandable - editing is hard and takes time, effort, and skill many small creators don't have. But this was a phenomenal video, by any standard. Over an hour of video essay with b-roll at every step. That's really impressive. And of course the analysis was great. What you said for outer wilds applies for this too - you can really see in all the details that this is a labor of love. A lot of channels don't have that. Kudos for this fantastic video. (Sorry if that was a bit much :P I just really want to encourage someone doing something so cool!)

[@Rannockh]

@@sethvizel Thank you very much! It's a huge struggle because usually people don't give smaller channels that chance unless they are already established or have quite a few views already. And you giving me that chance is something I appreciate deeply! And please never apologize for having a kind word to say, comments like yours make my effort feel seen and genuinely make my day ❤️

[@DomovoiCookie]

So the Owlks are now going to be "the Hoot Hoot Men" to me forever, thankyou for that 🤣 What a complete and detailed retrospective, as someone who came to the game late and has devoured every other scrap of essay content on this game that KZbin has to offer, you've made my Christmas 💖

[@Rannockh]

@@DomovoiCookie Now that's the effect I wanted to have! Thank you for checking the video out and welcome to, probably, one of the hardest gaming rabbit-holes to escape ❤️

[@Redoragen]

Awesome video man, I'm seriously surprised you don't have more subscribers. Silly jokes, interesting topic and analysis, a JoJo reference. This video truly does it all.

[@Rannockh]

@@Redoragen It's the KZbin grind haha, and hey, thanks for watching ☺️

[@viteav208]

Great review and analyses!!! ::)) And yes, it is a Masterpiece game in many aspects. About DLC "flaws" - not all puzzles are built in lore, but I found to myself some explanations for them. Maybe existed 2 factions: followers of the Prisoner (or Society of Burned Reels) and Secret Police. And followers tried several times to escape the Prisoner, but Police always prevented to finish that. 1st try - followers found were codes are in Real World and remain a vision how to find them. Police destroy real copies of the codes. 2nd try - followers found "body-cam" memories of how secret police hides digital copies of codes and put reels in Real World. Police convert this places to deadly traps and destroy digital codes. 3rd try - followers remain in Glitches reels and code to Signal Blocker Control. Police destroy all Controls on a Stranger or disable them.

[@Rannockh]

@@viteav208 Thank you ::) I did consider the idea that there might be two groups, because it would seem odd that every one of their species would agree on the same thing so completely, and only one wouldn't. But in the end, the game never hinted at this divide, or even had additional prisoners as a consequence to anyone trying to free them. The game itself is very detailed, so I'd think they would be able to encapsulate that if it did happen. Maybe in a sense this secret police tried to bait others who might follow the prisoner with the reels, but this second group never came to exist because no one wanted to free the prisoner.

[@sepiar7682]

Holy cow this was an amazing video!! I expected at least some rough edges from a 1k sub channel but nah, crazy quality. Also surprisingly hilarious lol. Thanks for giving me one more great Outer Wilds video essay! My favorite game ever made

[@Rannockh]

Thank you so much for the kind words and for checking the video out ♥️ It's hands down one of the most memorable and well crafted experiences I've had with a game ever and I really wanted to do it justice

[@LukaelPlays]

Fantastic video! I can tell a whole lot of time went into editing this together, great job! Thanks for including me in it, and you definitely deserve a ton more subscribers with this quality, I hope you get there! ::D

[@Rannockh]

@@LukaelPlays Thank you so much! And thank you for accepting to be in this video ♥️ I've been wanting since forever to make this type of video to appreciate one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had, and you agreeing to be being part of it means a lot ::)

[@ArpanBhowmik9]

Wonderful video! ❤ Outer Wilds is one the best games, (if not the best) I have ever played. Unfortunately we will never be able to experience it for the first time again. So the next best thing: Watching other people analyze and play the game. 😊

[@Rannockh]

@@ArpanBhowmik9 Thank you so much for the kind words! I can only hope I've done it as much justice as I could - it's a masterpiece and I am so excited for whatever the studio will make next 😁

[@supersonic_kai_99]

Can you make a video on Void Stranger sometime soon? It’s a niche indie and I think you might like it.

[@Rannockh]

@@supersonic_kai_99 The fact that it shows Outer Wilds under 'more like this' definitely intrigues me. I'll add it to my backlog for sure

[@merezko4339]

Never to early to appreciate an Outer Wilds video

[@Rannockh]

@@merezko4339 You know it! 😁

[@RaptieFeathers]

Thank you SO MUCH for getting the Hearthians' genders/pronouns (mostly) correct. ❤ An often overlooked and vital aspect to the game is that the Hearthians are all non-binary. They understand the concept of gender, and may even have different sexes, but as a society they've moved beyond gender as being a defining part of oneself. This is such an important thing that the developers went to great lengths to ensure that this aspect was present in every language the game was translated into (which isn't easy!) What I find amusing is that, even though the Hearthians exclusively use they/them pronouns in speech, people seem to be blind to that and impose their own ideas of gender onto the characters. :O Going through the game an additional time with this understanding adds a whole new layer of depth and understanding and nuance to everything. :D Edit: It's nearly impossible to find a video that discusses this game or that's a playthrough of it that actually notices this. :O

[@Rannockh]

@@RaptieFeathers Thanks! It was indeed sometimes a bit of a challenge - recording something and then hearing it back only to realize I used the wrong pronouns. I did consider the idea that the Hearthians are non-binary, and while I think it would've been a lovely piece of representation, I think it's more about them having no or one biological sex and consequently having no genders. Sort of similar to the Asari from the Mass Effect series - they look like a race of aliens with only female individuals, but that's just our perspective influenced by the gender binary, the Asari don't really have sex and gender. That being said, it's another great aspect of the writing - that it can make such distinct differences between species through small touches in its text, and the consistency in doing so is fantastic. I didn't even know they managed to achieve this in every language translation!

[@RaptieFeathers]

@Rannockh So! They have the concept of sex and gender, as seen through the Nomai translations. I'll have to dig up the interview, but it was mentioned somewhere that the in-universe reason that they're non-binary is because gender doesn't matter to them. I don't think of it as being far-fetched, either, and it's a conclusion that can be reached using only the information presented in-game, without any speculation needed. :D Edit: Aha! From the development blog, under the entry "Localization," if you search for the term "concept of gender for themselves", that paragraph specifically mentions that they are actively non-binary and that they don't feel the need to address sex through using gender. :D

[@Rannockh]

@RaptieFeathers That's very neat! It's definitely one of the more hidden things then. I also find it interesting how, technically, they must've had a notion of gender since they do have words for he or she to use in translations for nomai text. Although for both species, whether they have biological differences in sex or not, gender indeed does not seem to matter at all.

[@OiseauTriste]

Why was alpha giants deep so terrifying

[@Rannockh]

@@OiseauTriste It really was, wasn't it? I think it was the art direction at the time - since it was more on the realistic side, it made it look really unnerving.

[@bowreed]

I was terrified of giants deep more than dark bramble honestly- and I played it this year

[@Rannockh]

@bowreed Oh yeah, being afraid of water and deep seas can absolutely make giants deep intensely scary