My Honest Opinions On Echoes of the Eye 

The reveal when you first drop down into the stranger was so breathtaking for me. my jaw was on the floor

I just realized as I was watching this that the strangers had their own simulation, but we had one too. We could have chosen to stay in the time loop forever, just as the strangers stayed in their simulation forever. But because we and the prisoner are brave enough to accept death and see what's next, we see realty for what it really is. I think we all had that moment where we were staring at the warp core, contemplating if removing it is a good idea.

when you show the prisoner that their sacrifice kickstarted thousands of years of scientific discovery that gave your life meaning all the way up to the end of the universe and all they can do is throw their head back and howl...... im gonna go cry for 14.3 billion years

My absolute favorite thing about Echoes is how its theme and mechanics are diametrically opposed (but in balance with) the original Nomai story. HEAVY SPOILERS TO FOLLOW (PLEASE AVOID IF YOU HAVEN'T COMPLETED ECHOES): With the Nomai story, it's about curiosity, exploration, and the desire for understanding (for both the Nomai and the Hearthians). We piece together clues, read ancient correspondence, and solve a mystery spread throughout a solar system - a very large sandbox! With the Echoes story, we explore, but with a much narrower scope. There's this new emotional layer of *fear* and uncertainty, as we flip back and forth between sympathy and horror toward these creatures...trying to piece the story together through our interpretations of images, not text. And the mechanics. Match. The theme. We learn that fear truly doomed the Strangers' inhabitants. And what does it do for us? Our own fear prevents us from learning the game mechanics that are within our grasp the entire time. Fear tells us "Death is final. Stay away from that burning fire!" It tells us "Your light source is your lifeline. Keep it close by your side." It makes us believe that if we feel threatened, it's for a good reason - so we don't shine our light *back* at what's hunting us and take initiative. We instead cower in the dark. In order to make any progress in Echoes, you have to learn to do something that challenges your instinct to run from death, stay away from the dark, and to freeze-up in terror. In the Nomai story, the challenges are logical and mental. In the Echoes story, the challenges are interpretive and emotional. They're two complementary approaches to get at what it means to truly be an explorer. You have to build an understanding of the outside world, *as well as* your inner self. Total brilliance from Mobius.

The reveal when you drop down with the music swelling up was one of the best reveals of a location since BioShock

I think the moment in the DLC that hit the hardest for me was when I looked at one of the slides in the dream world and find out what the Strangers had to do to construct their ship to travel to the Eye. The same slide in the normal world specifically has that portion burnt out, so it didn't even occur to me why they couldn't just cut their losses and go back home.

I loved the DLC as well. Only thing I'd change is add more objects with light behind them on the dark areas. One of the coolest things the dlc does is making you see with shadows - like the last owl on the well room, on Starlit Cove. You do not see the last owl, instead you see it's shadow on the back light. Adding more objects with silhouettes in the dark would allow the player to keep their bearings using reference points while still in total dark rooms, and would feed into the DLC's theme of lack of sight.

I think the only thing I found mildly disappointing is that we never needed the signalscope inside the Stranger and the Scout felt a bit underused. Like I know they wanted to use all the new cool mechanics, but it weirdly stuck out to me how rarely we used base game mechanics. The red herring with the translator though was top notch 👌

I didn’t even realize a trailer was dropped for the dlc, I found out that the dlc was out a day after release day on a whim so I truly went in blind. In my head I was expecting perhaps another planet or celestial body drifting into the solar system to explore and not much else. The surprise I had when I first dropped into the stranger and looked up was truly magical

9:25 I disagree with your opinion about owlelk slider reel being more personal than Nomai white boards. I think text is less ambiguous than images. When I was playing I feel I understand the Nomai's much better than the owlelks. As such, I feel much, much more connected to Solanum than to the Prisoner.

This is just a detail that may be up to interpretation but I wanted to point it out. The Pursuers (what I refer to the inhabitants by) saw what the eye would do. If you really pay attention, it showed the universe dying after one interacted with the eye. But it also showed that from their dead body, new life began to grow around them. It is possible that the Pursuers knew that it was showing them the universe was dying and that interacting with it would allow a new universe to grow in its place instead of what I think most people think of it just showing them the universe dying. With that in mind their reaction becomes different with how you interpret it. If you just see the eye showing them the universe dying, then their reaction is out of a desperate attempt to trap themselves in an illusion so that they don't have to see the oncoming death of the universe. If you interpret it as them realizing that from this universe's death, a new one would be born, then their actions become much more selfish. They intentionally censored their own history to only show people the bad parts of the eye. They blocked the eye's signal so no one would restart the universe and they wouldn't be destroyed. They were willing to let every other world die and not let new ones come into being. It may not be the correct interpretation but it definitely is something interesting.

How many loops ended with the Nomai probe crashing through the stranger and noone knew about it because they didn't bother to log errors, only the final coordinates? Imagine if they added an entry in the sunken module that could serve as another hint to hook you into the DLC story if you purchased it! "Loop number 20569, connection with the probe has been lost for a few seconds, after which its trajectory has been altered. No object could be detected at the estimated location of the anomaly. Displaying coordinates..." Though I guess the only way to use the Nomai coordinates is with the Vessel's systems, and warping the already broken vessel straight into the stranger's original position in the supernova's range after turning off the ATP is not a thing you want to accidentally do...

Another thing to add. I don’t think the strangers were inherently “mean” to us. Through the reels we see it can be assumed that although the Strangers are curious, they are absolutely fearful and skittish, especially after seeing what the Eye can do after destroying their home world to get to it. It makes sense that they would want to snuff out anything new in their simulation they built to try and feel normal again. Furthermore, when the strangers do catch you in their simulation, all they do is kick you out of it by blowing out your lantern, nothing more.

What do you think of the discussion around the frustrations caused by the horror segments? i do like the interpretation of pushing through fear to find the solution, but i think i agree more with the sentiment that the dark world was frustrating to navigate, and that the tools you need to make navigation easier and more fun are hidden at the *end* of said segments. i got turned around very easily trying to figure out where to go in the swampy area next to the music hall for example.

The reward in this game was always information and DLC gave it. A small piece of entire puzzle made the entire picture more clear. The Eye is no longer an elusive quantum object, unreachable without following the quantum rules. It's orbit and position are actually pretty certainly defined, but it's signal is blocked by alien sapient will. Even Nomai's brainstorm in Sanctuaries now look different. Even Solanum's thoughts from childhood seemed to be in right way - she just didn't suggest that there could be another force involved. And that was the biggest satisfaction. There are still missing pieces remaining tho. So, who knows, there possibly will be even more to explore ;).

I think Echoes is just as good as the base game, which is just about the highest praise I can possibly give anything. It's very different in terms of gameplay and story, but does a really great job further exploring the main game's themes, but from a totally different perspective. The story has so many devastating emotional gut punches throughout, and they're communicated to the player without a single word of text or dialogue. An extremely impressive feat, considering that the main game's story is communicated to the player almost *entirely* through text. The ending was absolutely brilliant too, tying perfectly back into the main game's story while also standing on its own as a fantastically powerful emotional payoff for what the player had to go through to get there. The gameplay was fantastic too, completely ditching the quantum puzzles from the main game and going in a totally new direction. The techniques needed to beat the game were ingenious too. They're so easy to do, yet none but the most experimental would think to do them until the game teaches you about them. The uh... *intense*... sections were simple in design, but very effective (i.e. terrifying) due to the fantastic sound design and lighting. Andrew Prahlow and the entire sound design team did an outstanding job here. Same goes for the environment artists, and the gameplay designers, I mean holy crap really just the entire dev team deserves as much praise as I can possibly give them. They knocked it out of the park, again. I thought Mobius caught lightning in a bottle with the original game, and that it was pretty unlikely they'd ever be able to make something that good again. Never been happier to be so wrong.

One thing I thought was cool: even though the owlks represent everything the game is opposed to (fear of the unknown, shutting out others, holding onto the past instead of building a new future), it still shows compassion to them. You're not able to blow out their lanterns or shut down the servers, respecting their choice. And we also respect their experiences and knowledge, so there're things worth learning and experiencing in their virtual world. You can pass judgment on their race of a sort by not letting the prisoner play along, but you get a better ending if you value what they bring as well. Great way of exploring more themes in an already amazing game.

"My Honest Opinions on Echoes of the Eye" Brutally honest, I thought you'd start the video with a facecam and a heavy, apologetic sigh

Wow, you sure do look really small on the raft. I didn't perceive the raft that big 😄 I loved the DLC. Sure there are things you'll miss, flying your ship and easy access to ship log, low gravity, etc., but the Stranger is so cool and unique it's fine putting those in the background. The game design of your introduction to the ring world is so awesome too because you'll feel confused, scared, panic (when the raft falls) then immediately in awe and fascination with how the environment looks.

Wrapped up the story earlier today and finished off the achievements an hour ago. I really disliked the stealth segments mechanically but found it manageable after you get told about the lantern-trick. I liked the Reduced Frights option too but I really wish they didn't plaster it on the opening menu and create unnecessary paranoia. I definitely preferred getting to know the Nomai through texts in the main game as opposed to the Owlks through reels, but what sealed the deal for me with this story-telling method was the amazing soundtrack accompanying the reels, and the use of segmenting the music into certain slides on the reel. Like when the faces on the Owlks become sinister in the reel where they realize the universe is dying, the music changes to give more life to the slide. The error report reels are by far the coolest tutorial/reveal method I've ever seen where the moment the "glitch/bug" in the simulation happens, the music changes to the eerie soundtracks 'Secret Ways' or an extended loop of the end of 'Test Chamber Three' from the OST. The music and it's implementation really makes the DLC rise to the occasion for me. I also think it's very clever how they positioned the ship to let you in through the front the first time because you approach it from the satellite, so you can have that drop-down raft inside the hut the first time and get wowed floating down the river, but once you start traveling directly from Timber Hearth you enter the backside and can get yourself to relevant locations quicker.

When i got to the end i didn't hesitate on letting him in on the new universe

I Never really tought about the Eye being sentient but after the dlc it started to fester on my mind. The Eye, by what I understood, was seeking a being to commune with it and recreate the universe, because, alone, it couldn't. The owlks destroyed their planet to answer the call of their God, in hopes of wonders only to be met with the prospect of the impending doom. Really well done. Such a nice game

I think the Owlks overall are a very visual species, like there are the projectors and the projection of the dream world, but they also scan and beam information through light, like they did with the Eye and like the conversation with the Prisoner (as well as the other sources of light you can walk into to watch what appear to be memories). So maybe it's a metaphor, but mostly I think it's thematic. What fascinates me about this though is that the Nomai were obviously a very textual species. Even the recordings we encounter are stored as text (or we wouldn't be able to understand them), and if anything it suggests their primary method of communication was through text even given other options. It's like the devs decided to do the exact opposite of everything they did with Outer Wilds for Echoes of the Eye, and I mean that across the board: OW: -Friendly but (almost) wholly absent aliens, most of their history is explained through text, few examples of images -Multiple planets to explore, ship is a major feature -Primarily traversing areas that are unfamiliar to both the player and the inhabitant of an Earthlike world -Knowledge can be difficult to find but is freely shared; player is encouraged to seek out connections -Player faces the primary antagonists from within their ship (ideally) EotE: -Decidedly unfriendly and very present (so to speak) aliens, most of their history is explained through images, few examples of writing -One location, ship all but unnecessary (and I loved the observation that the raft is kind of a substitute, esp with its physics) -Primarily traversing a very Earthlike world that would not be unfamiliar even to the player character -Knowledge is intentionally obscured; player must fight against both the location and its former inhabitants to claim it -Player faces the primary antagonists without so much as a suit I could go on forever about the design of that last one, like. The whole fact that when you doze off, it works like normal, making you think "ah, it didn't work," and then the moment you woke up either the creepy coffin or the creep-ass corpses are GONE, and (if you're in one of the corpse locations) you immediately discover the lack of suit because you have to jump up on a ledge to get out? Marvelous. I was deeply horrified.

Just like the main game, the world hides its secrets by paralyzing you with fear. Since the solutions were even closer to under your nose in the dlc, they had to crank up the fear. Make sure the player is too scared to experiment. Despite being in a time loop we still can’t overcome our base instincts. Also can we all appreciate how disturbing those teleportation hands are?

"Not a video game journalist qualified to do a proper review" - If only more journalists WERE qualified, that's why we like your content =D

Lemmino had an interesting question in his video about virtual reality (or another video that brought up the topic) about what happens if we make a perfect reality in the computer. Will we continue to keep exploring outwards, or just keep going inwards to further perfect this artificial reality? I think that’s what happened to the strangers. They saw the eye, were infatuated by it, and sacrificed so much to explore find out more about it. But when they saw the truth, they got scared and shut themselves away from the universe. They clung to the past, and wanted to find the best possible way for things to go back to the way they were. Back when things made sense. There’s a lot of things I want to talk about the dlc, but that was something that stood out to me while playing it.

Notice how the water isn't flowing, it's actually lagging behind the rings rotation!

This was posted on an earlier video, I'm bringing it up again: It looks like the Owlks had some sort of divided class society! There is a discrepancy in the number shown in some of the reels and the number contained within the simulation pits. As well, the ones shown burning down the temple to the eye are wearing the same jewelry as the ones in the pits, and don't forget that there is a temple to the burned reels - which means it was made after - not before, the Owlks went in the simulation! And, the second church to the eye was not burned down! There would be no reason for it to survive unless it was built afterwards! In the same area as the burned reels!

it started with THE eye, then the Prisoner with 2 let the signal back out, the the 3 eyed Nomai followed the short signal burst before dying out, and finally the 4 eyed Hearthian pieced it all together to allow a dying universe to reset. Echoes is a masterfully integrated DLC that perfectly adds on to an amazing game seamlessly

I can’t lie when I was watching the final animation of the sharing of stories I literally had goosebumps and so many memories flood back of when I first explored the universe a couple of years ago. Really beautiful

"For every pathway lit up, there was a brave traveler who traversed it while it was dark. Then set a candle so that others could see there's no reason to be scared" I know its not the most profound statement, but that's really powerful to me.

You give off very wholesome and innocent vibes, friend. Love you and your content

There is a little detail I find really cool in the simulation (near the pit area). You can find the prisonner's destroyed house, with his telescope still pointing in the sky.

00:49 "Im not a videogame journalist qualified to do a proper review of the game..." Dont worry, neither are videogame journalists.

I'm pretty sure The Stranger is moving away from the sun constantly as the loop progresses. You may have noticed it isn't destroyed and you aren't killed by the supernova. There's a room at the top of the dam that shows that it is moving away from the sun to escape the supernova. There's even a little timer that kinda shows how far along the loop is.

The thing for me is the themes of exploration I felt this DLC made that much stronger with this new race adding a 3rd theme of exploration to the species. The Hearthians are folksy explorers; on primitive wooden craft, out there in dangerously unsuitable craft in a rush to explore the corners they can survive long enough to reach. The Nomai are researchers; exploring the unknown with proper preparations and technology for the sake of knowledge and seeing what the universe and nature has hidden away. The Outsiders are more religious, went on a mass exodus and sacrificed everything to seek out and find the symbol of their worship. All three races are different themes on explorers that may travel great distances for one reason or another. Primitive colonial explorers, advanced field researchers, and worshipers on a pilgrimage to a holy site. All the races and their core themes come back to exploration of a different style. I mean, I could be reaching, I haven't really shared my thoughts before, but I don't think I am stretching things here. The Hearthians are on wooden craft that barely function, are easy to crash and destroy, and even in-game dialogue points out things like how you're riding in a spacecraft of wood nailed to alien technology that makes it barely work; they want to see space so badly they're hashing together poorly made wooden structures and catapulting themselves in their rush to explore. The Nomai, down to the children, are obsessed with their research and knowledge (even having ticks where they say "hypothesis:" in casual language), knowledge is everything to their species as the game presents them. The Outsiders are a little harder to place since we must interpret from what we see and not explicit dialogue, but between the paintings, candles, churches, and temple-like tower for them to enter the simulation.. I got a certain religious vibe from them. They may have forbidden it after they saw the eye up close, but they did not seek the eye for knowledge, they sought it like it was a deity or object of worship. I loved the DLC, but it's the thing that really made this element of the game's setting stand out to me more. A whole new location with much to see in it... and it builds little on the main story, and is all about a new set of travelers that went to unknown parts for reasons different than the other two races.

you know the video is gonna be good when he says "hello everyone I am the lore explorer and this is outer wilds"

After playing through the DLC, I believe my prediction that the Eye is omniscient stands corrected. There’s now a given reason is started and stopped transmitting, and it can be theorized that it began transmitting in the first place simply because that’s its job- To signal somebody to come and enter it in order to make a new universe once the current one is reaching its end. I think it’s worth noting that the Strangers’ vision of the Eye destroying the universe may actually be true. After all, it’s hard to create a universe when one already exists in the space you need to use. I recall the best allegory I’ve seen being that the Eye is just the universe’s reset button. Heck, you see it happen when you first enter the Ancient Glade.

i was blown away by the DLC. Outer Wilds just has the greatest story telling and captivating narrative i've ever experienced in a video game, fueling my exploration. the way they did the slide reels was incredible, i think. the initial reels being burnt out so they could give you clues and hints as to what is happening, to drive you further into the game and exploration, but not revealing the real heartbreak until viewing the full reels at the end. every aspect of this DLC is genius. the integration, the design, the levels, the puzzles, everything! if i had one criticism it would be that we could have done more or figured out more about their little spaceships in the hangers. i was super intrigued by those when i first came upon the stranger

I was playing the game while watching your video and when I got to the credits of the Eye ending, you were speaking while the epic music was playing in the background. I really got impressed of the timing lol

this is why im subbed, such brilliant insightful commentary. My 2nd biggest mindblow moment (behind the hearthian slide reel) was when i realized that the strangers were the reason the eye stopped sending signals. When playing the base game, one of the biggest questions i had unanswered was why the eye stopped sending signals to the nomai, and during the DLC i was thinking how are the strangers going to tie into the main game? All of this was answered as soon as i saw the reel, which was very satisfying.

I think story-wise, the dlc definitely lives up to expectations. However, I definitely preferred the gameplay in the base game. First, I really liked flying the ship in the base game and was a bit disappointed that the game made the ship less useful in the dlc. Second, with the puzzle solving, the game definitely holds your hand a bit more. Like in the base game you would have to piece together clues from completely separate investigations, whereas most of the puzzles in the dlc consist of you finding a slide reel that essentially shows you the solution of how to progress. Though the base game might've been too cryptic with their puzzles, considering that I either needed to look up solutions or use unintended solutions to reach certain areas. The dlc probably was made easier in response with it but I feel they mightve gone too far because of how straight forward I felt everything was.

Lore you have finally reached 10K Congratulations!

Loved the DLC, would insta buy again! Appreciated the spoopyness too lol The first time I entered The Stranger, I flew towards it at full speed, because I thought it's something like a black hole that I have to catch/enter quick lol. I was so hyped and shouted "Let's fucking gooooo!" just to get scared shitless when everything went black and I crashed into it lmao. I somehow survived it, barely alive, can't see shit... man. This game is a masterpiece

Having played through the dlc myself and beating it 2 days after release then watching your playthrough, lemme tell you. It was great watching you piece things together as You discovered them. I can't wait for my friend to play through the dlc, he's almost finished the basegame (he's still way too scared of DB to attempt the ending yet). But lemme tell you, the fact you called them "owlelks" kinda got to me. Lemme explain, Whatever you decide to call them is your choice, I called them "Dreamers" because I clocked as soon we get the first reel of them crying over pictures of home, that something happened to it. (Also they reminded me of the Dreamers from Hollow Knight so my brain just labelled them Dreamers) And that they couldn't go back be it they didnt have the lifespan or genetic diversity to make a return trip. So instead they researched a way to get "home," creating the Dream. Hell when I first entered the dream, the first thing out of my mouth was 'Dream a Little Dream of Home.'

I couldn't wait to hear your thoughts on this. Your enthusiasm is contagious. I'm glad you enjoyed the DLC!

I love the eerie music that the prisoner plays at the end, also I wonder what he says when you deny him, and how the ending looks without their “stain on your mind”

There is something which is quite amazing. When you share your story with the Prisonner. You can see pictures of the nomai mothership get caught in dark bramble or the ghost matter killing them. But if you haven't done the main story, you don't have those pictures so you share an incomplete story to the prisonner

I would love for the VR mod to become compatible with this dlc that would be so scary but yet so fun

That’s a really cool detail about the screen in the Stranger. I was a bit bothered that we could see the other planets from the stranger, because that means their light was blocked by the ship yet they remained visible through the ship simultaneously. The screen circumvents that problem of physics brilliantly

There is just a ton of attention to detail in this game, every part is incredibly well done. What blew my mind is I launched a scout straight up in one direction, then in the opposite direction, and it actually properly accounts for the gravity you'd get in a ring world

I just finished streaming the dlc, chat loved the original and this one too. Thanks to finding your RU-vid by happenstance I decided to go on this journey of a game and had a blast!

I relate to what you said about expecations - I really did not think they could do it again, but they did. Truly amazing.

i love this moment 2:55

My experience with outer wilds and the dlc was a bit backwards as I’d watched a livestream of somebody else playing through outer wilds and exploring and learning and all that fun stuff. I thought it was a really cool game, but because I had that filter of watching somebody else play it I never connected with the game as one does when playing organically. I decided to buy the complete version of the game when it was on sale on PSN and after trying to find the dlc, I couldn’t get it and got annoyed and gave up. Fast forward a couple months I decided to give it another shot and after exploring the radio tower and going to the space probe, I finally started to feel that creeping sense of anticipation, discovery and connection I’d missed with the base game. Once I made it into the stranger and looked up I had goosebumps and the rest is an experience I will truly never forget. Playing through the dlc gave me that connection, that feeling of being a part of this wacky universe and the discoveries it was hiding. Upon completing the dlc entirely, having unlocked the prison and found the answers I seeked, I was overcome with a feeling of peace and joy, but also a bit of hollowness at knowing I robbed myself of that feeling for the entire game. Regardless of that, outer wilds will remain a very special game to me and definitely one of my personal favorite games of all time

Two strange things about that void: 1. why does it block *only* the light from this one system's sun (and how does it only *not* block the sun from inside). 2. How and why does it completely kill your momentum? But the intro to the Stranger, both finding it and the way you enter is amazing game design.

I was in the same building when the dam broke in my playthrough. After a few seconds I was like "what was that noise?". I went out to check just in time to see the wave rushing at me before it hit.

Great video! You made a lot of good points and I really enjoyed the gameplay in the background during the commentary. I have been wondering how the cloaking tech for the Stranger works. I get that it projects what's behind it, but then why does the Sun disappear when the Stranger goes over it, but you can still see the stars from behind the sun. I was also wondering if there is a way to read the unknown alien text. There probably isn't but it would be cool if there was, maybe you could talk to someone about the text and they would give you an ancient translator for it.

One thing I wish they'd done different is lead us back to the some of the other planets for small lore parts. Obviously those parts would be hidden and only solvable with things from the stranger.

The ending of the DLC changes depending on how much you know in the base game. Meaning you can beat it at anypoint without being spoiled of stuff from the main game. Example: Once you figure out the comet is what killed everyone after exploding ghost matter everywhere the projection you show the owl man will then show the Nomai people dying from the comet. Every litle scene is dependent on your characters knowledge of their solar system.

beyond the story elements you discuss in this video, i think the DLC is mechanically even better than the base game. i think it has a lot of more interesting puzzles (such as learning the glitches in the simulation world or discovering hidden paths). the sections where you must avoid the owls in the simulation world are very fun and feel like an extension to dark bramble, wherein the idea of needing to survive against hostile lifeforms is explored further. the one problem with those sections, though, is how easy it is to manipulate the owls. probably the scariest game ever would be one similar to the simulation but with more frightening (and smart) enemies and no glitch in the simulation that allows you to surveil the place easily Also, it seems as if the anglerfish have become more alert since i last played the game. i was probably just out of practice while getting to the eye of the universe but the one in the first seed began chasing me even thoughi provoked less than what i would expect to be necessary

Can someone please explain to me the glitch that happens in the stranger about 10 minutes into the game, the light panels flicker and the whole inside goes dim for a second.

I cried, I cried at the end of the DLC. Ir was just so FUCKING beautiful

both of my favorite theorist just posted, one of them include u!

I thought the DLC was pretty nice. I do think i prefered the main game a little more, but this was nice too. Don't have any complaints really. The only small nitpick I have is, I think it is a little odd not a single Nomai ever accidentally found the Stranger. Sure you aren't supposed to think about it so that is why it is just a small thing.

I really love the parallels between Solanum and the Prisonner. They maybe both were children birth in this solar system, with another way of thinking about the Eye Solanum was asking if the eye was bad when she was a child and when she eventually joined the Quantic Moon, she sayd that all the things we don't understand are not necessary bad, she's ready. And we can think that the prisonner thinks that way too because he tried to free the signal of the eye. And I also really love the fact that the game shows us differents behaviors faced to the end of the universe.

The shattered land in the end credit scene is there just from doing the DLC, even if you say no to the Prisoner. It’s only the village and other species that are tied to your response to the Stranger

Love that lantern guy holding the lantern and watching the little campfire bugs

"Another hidden world you can *get lost in for hours*!" .... I don't want to admit how many hours I spent lost as shit in that world lol

This video gives me the chills! A little background: I played the game right when it got released in 2019 and played it only once, together with a friend. We explored everything and got to the very end, we loved it a lot, we were waiting for it since the first old alpha. After finishing it we never played it again. Then by myself I watched almost all your Outer Wilds videos to fill the gaps in my questions. In the meantime I forgot a lot about Outer Wilds, so right now I don't know what to do: restarting from scratch and explore everything again, or begin the DLC? I didn't quite understand how someone gets to the DLC part

Can you spin some theories about The Stranger itself? How did the ghost matter get on board, and why is it only in two places? Did it get in through the breach that was caused by the prototype artifact explosion? That would kind of explain the ghost matter nearby the breach on the way to the scroll burner temple, but what about the ghost matter on the exact opposite side of the ring, in the lowlands? Why only those two places? And what about the solar sail's opening causes the dam to break? Is it really just disturbed by the rumbling that comes with the power flickering?

this game is trully amazing, the DLC is pure gold

god the comparison of white water rafting as a camping activity is an awesome observation i didnt even realize through the whole dlc lol

a theme of the game is having a spark of wonder, adventure and exploration. and the only important part of life is the road you take and sharing it with your family and friends even if the universe will end and existence is pointless the journey to get their still mattered to you the conscious observer 1) The signal the eye sent sparked such a drive to explore and ride out into the unknown in the elk people that they decimated their own homeworld to do so. They were never planning on looking back, only going forward to the next adventure. 2) upon learning the truth of universes rebirth and the eye they fell into despair losing their spark of adventure and exploration choosing to wallow in the past and fearfull of what comes next after the end of the universe and the start of a new one without them 3) that spark and drive of wonder, adventure, and exploration that led the elk people to come to the hearthian system was still present in the prisoner. He released the eyes signal to spread that spark to the universe. even if the universe is destined to end eventually isnt the jouney to get their the important part 4) the player sees his younger self get that spark as he smiles at the museum exhibit of nomai text and symbol of the eye which leads us on our own adventure in the face of a nihilistic universe 5) riding into the sunset with a fatal wound is a classic western movie ending. the prisoner also recognized the spark of adventure, wonder, and exploration in the player and is extending his hand to invite on a metaphorical journey together as kindred spirts. the classis line of "it was honor to know you, wish we had more time, we could of been good friends" as dieing last words from a new friend whom briefly shared a grand adventure together

Is it possible for the nomai probe to hit the stranger? Although even if it hit, I guess it wouldn't affect the stranger in any way tho

I love the trinity-like role of the hearthians, the nomai and the owelks. The nomai completed the story of the owelks, and we completed the story of the nomai. Brilliant storytelling, this dlc is a 11/10 for me

the lore of the DLC is perfect, the strangers is full of amazing idea, but some points in the game design make that it didn't reach the expectation I had. (still a great game, I just had huge expectation!) My main complain is that even after finish the DLC, I still can't figure out what was the intended way to pass through the second and third virtual world, as it fell very dull the just try to dodge the owls to finally reach the information you would have need to pass them the "intelligent" way. I really felt like if I had to outrun de angelfish "Feldspar style" and only discovering once deep in Dark Bramble that you can just pass quietly. Or like if you had to land on solar station to know about the way to teleport there. Or the fact that there is two type or tornado once in the centre of Giant's Deep... i've heard it's suppose to make you live things differently, but it's still dull to me. a less important complain is that i feel like 50% of the things in the stranger had to be done before the dam break, while 40% is available all the time and only a few things have to be done after (actually except to go though the first virtual world, I can't even think of something you have to do after the breaking, i've visited the house surround by ghost matter while in water at first, but you could totally do with the camera).

Oooo what if this dlc explains why the eye is stationary? The device being used to stop the eye’s signal from being heard could be the one “observing” the eye, which would explain why the eye has SET coordinates that allow the vessel to travel there.

This game taught me that darkness is the most frightening thing in the world… until it becomes a nuisance. It was great to see that the main gameplay ideas from Outer Wilds can be transported into a shorter, less expansive experience. The pursuit of knowledge, being wow'ed by your discoveries at every turn of the game and interesting secrets that were right under your nose the whole time. I would happily play games in this style exclusively for the rest of my life if I had to. That being said I got extremely frustrated with the Owlelk, especially the final room in Starlit Cove and I spent way too much time figuring out what to do in the house in with the fireplace, before I realized I had to come back when they're dead. Maybe it was my own fault, maybe I got a bit unlucky, but getting caught over and over in pitch black darkness without any idea what to do about it, made me almost want to throw my controller a few times. Being annoyed (even if only at times) was not a feeling I wanted out of a Outer Wilds DLC. Edit: I also read that they made some changes and added improved audio prompts the Owlelk make in a recent patch. It would be cool to see all the smaller and bigger changes they made to the game over the years. Maybe an idea for a video, if you have tons of footage from over the years :)

I was so overwhelmed by everything coming at me, falling into the river, looking up, the sense of wander was palpable. Yet, despite being overwhelmed, I couldn't stop playing it. I was so utterly enthralled by how organically this game fits both intense moments of gameplay and jaw dropping revelations/events (that are actually really scientifically plausible) make you question everything you've seen up until that point in time, with slower exploration based lore digging bits that employs the old "show, don't tell" adage. I truly adore this game and I believe people should play it. It's a hundred times more fascinating and consistently well presented than any other sci-fi I've seen in recent years. It's truly a work of art. The game as a whole is a masterpiece. I mean, campfires, marshmallows, rafting, supernovas, quantum singularities and giant killer anglerfish, what more could you ask for?

The game is a commentary on video games in general. We are Strangers who fear failure and death in the real world so we satiate our desire to live and our fear of death by acting out life on virtual stages (video games, social media, etc.). The game is literally telling us to go outside and make friends with strangers instead of in our living rooms and basements in front of a fabricated false world.

16:06 wait how come there's that circle of lights and stuff on the far left side? I don't think that showed up in my picture?

Cool detail I found if you have the travelers around the campfire at the eye and their playing the music if you take out your signal scope you can identify the prisoner and soleam as a signal! I don't know if you already know this but hey it's a cool detail

Its funny watching this entire video after watching you play through it and your emotional reaction to the ending. I don't have enough words to express how blown away I was from the base game and the DLC. Outer Wilds is the best game I have played all year and the DLC only enhanced that experience. I wish we could have more from Mobius in the next couple of years but I doubt they can create another world that seemingly fits with everything in a similar way to The Stranger AND completely exceed our expectations.

The thing I loved the most about the DLC ** *spoilers*** was when I finally realized there were no passwords to unlock the vault. When I discovered the padlocks I was slightly disappointed. It wasn't terrible but it felt like a small betrayal of the original game. But then, when I realized I was never going to find the passwords and I was not allowing myself to think outside the box my jaw quite literally dropped. I think they really captured the essence of what made the original adventure such a wild and magical ride. The only thing I was a bit miffed about was that when I found the lantern workshop and the ghost matter I thought I had figured something out. I thought the ghost matter was what powered the lanterns and what allowed conciousness to stay online after death. Coincidentally falling in water wakes you up from the dream just like water nillifies the deadly field of ghost matter. It seemed like a perfect explanation for how ghost matters field kills everything around it and maybe revealed some tie between the Nomai's extinction and the Stranger's presence. It also made sense that if the workshop was abandoned a canister of ghost matter could have blown explaining its presence there. However, as far as I know, there is no confirmed link between the lanterns and the ghost matter and certainly nothing explaining how and why the Interloper transported a compressed ghost matter core right to the system's sun.

I was just wondering if the strangers blocking the eye of the universe's signal was the reason the Nomai couldn't travel there. The Nomai got the signal when the prisoner turned the blocker off for a short time but when they tried travelling there it was already back on which meant they crashed into dark bramble. Creating the orbital cannon meant their probe could travel faster or try to penetrate the blocker in different ways maybe?

13:58 bro I was just vibing???? Why you have to make me jump like that.

8:10 this part terrified me, I spent half an hour trying to figure out how to light the lantern, I tried to hit the roast a mushroom button but accidentally hit the sleep button which I quickly woke up from, only to find all the mummified bodies gone, it was terrifying

Hi everyone, I just realised how the owlks aestetics has been inspired by native American cultures from "Cascadia" (from Northern California to Southern Alaska). Just look for tsimshian art, architecture or clothing, it jumped out at me. I find it also really similar to Tlingit or Heiltsuk cultures as welll for instance

Don't worry, most game reviews don't know what they're doing anyways. As someone who's dedicated so much time into this fantastic game, I'd say you're the most qualified person to review it.

Me and a friend binged this entire DLC in a day, it was amazing

this dlc is ludonarrative harmony. i finished it today and get to watch the lore vids now!

My first go into the stranger, the damn broke the second I picked up one of the artifacts in the little workshop hut surrounded by ghost matter. I thought I triggered some kinda trap as I looked around wildly and was then flung against the wall by a torrent of water. Was hilarious, I just wish I had been recording at the time, my reaction was priceless! XD

Oh wow! I hadn't finished the game after going through the eye. I need to do that now!

Do you think that self has extra dialogue if you finished the dlc?

Does the Discord still exist? All available links do not work anymore.

maybe you should do a video of how to find all the reals???

i feel like this was the best possible way to make a dlc, it didnt add questions, and it wasnt just a thing with the "added in last minute" feel, the fact that the story made so much damn sense and how the stranger's position made even more sense despite the story making already enough sense that you cant have any more sense than that- my brain is broken basically

Even though this was the last we're gonna see from Outer Wilds, I cannot wait for what Mobius Digital has in store for us all next.

Watching this makes me remember the truly moving moments in this game of pure awe.. I don't think I've ever played anything like it in my 20 some years of loving video games. I wonder if there are any recommendations from you guys who also loved this game of similarly amazing yet underrated games?