Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast - The Outer Wilds Review (2025) - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Episode Date: March 13, 2025

Go to http://joinbilt.com/kindafunny to start earning points on your rent payments today. Go to http://get.stash.com/KINDAFUNNY to see how you can receive $25 towards your first stock purchase and to view important disclosures. Thank you for the support! Run of Show - - Start - Housekeeping - Outer Wilds Review - Ads - SuperChats - Outer Wilds Spoiler Talk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up and welcome to the Kind of Funny Games cast for Thursday, March 13th, 2020. Of course, I am Tim Getty's, and I'm joined today by Blessing at Ae Oye Jr. Good day, Tim. And Andy Cortez. Hello. I've missed you, Andy. You were gone for all of 24 hours, but I've missed you. Welcome back.

It was a quick little turnaround. We really needed you yesterday. Yeah, we did need you. The Nuzzlock took a turn. Yeah, I definitely got some messages about it. You heard about the suicide squad? Yeah, I don't, you know. at this point we're just like

I guess desperate to make content it's like why are we sacrificing innocent lives Tim you know what I mean fucking dun sparse that we bought it that we use an ultra ball at god with you know well everybody

the journey will continue later today and also of course if you haven't yet you can catch up on Nick's Nicklock 2.0 by going to our YouTube channel and checking out all of the VODs so far but that's not this show this is the kind of funny games cast each and every weekday. We get together to talk about the biggest reviews,

previews and topics and video games live on YouTube, Twitch and podcast services around the globe. And sometimes we review old games for the very first time. That's what blessing at aioia Jr. is going to do today. That's me. Everybody. If you love what we do, please support us with the kind of funny membership on Patreon, YouTube, Spotify, or Apple podcast to get all of our shows ad free. You can watch us record them live and get a daily exclusive show. For a chance to be part of this show, though, you got a YouTube super chat in if you have any questions, thoughts, or whatever about Outer Wilds, Outer Worlds, anything. You don't know what you mean?

Sure, we can talk about Outer Worlds. Please, please send them our way. A little housekeeping for you. We're an 11-person business, all about live talk shows. This Monday, we have something very special happening. Our annual big, Mix, Cross, Kind of Funny event, comes to see more than 60 amazing indie games when we kick off the Spring Game Showcase at 9 a.m. Pacific on Kind of Funny Games,

following and all, followed by an all-day live stream of devs rotating in and out to show off their games. It's going to be a blast. You can catch it on Twitch and YouTube. We're going to be at this desk all day, kicking it off with a showcase, announcing a bunch of games, and then we're going to talk to a bunch of devs and play a bunch of games throughout the day. So you're going to want to be there hanging out all day long. Games Daily was all about Xbox's handheld and next-gen console. And then after this, we're doing Alien Resurrection in Review, joining our Alien and Predator in review project, then after that is when you get more of Nick's

Nicklock. If that wasn't enough content, we're partnering for a four-episode series celebrating the 10-year journey of the Elder Scrolls Online. Greg and Mike are going to deep dive with Debs about how the game came to be, how it survived, and where it's going. Don't miss the look behind the development curtain when episode one airs Friday, April 11th, the day after the Elder Scrolls Online Direct. If you're kind of funny member, today's Greg waste 15 minutes of Greg plotting Langley and M. Neely's travel.

Langley, I'm neely, a storied member of the kind of funny community. Why Greg's booking his travel? I'm not sure. Where is he going? I don't know. But if you're a kind of funny member, you could find out by checking out today's Gregway. Thank you to our Patreon producers to Lady Twining, Carl Jacobs, and Omega Buster. Today, we're brought to you by

Bilt Rewards and Stash, but we'll tell you all about that later. For now and start with the topic of the show. Outer Wild's review. 2025. 2025. The Steam description says, Named Game of the Year 2019 by Giant Bomb, Polygon, Eurogamer, and the Guardian. Outer Wilds is a critically acclaimed an award-winning open-world mystery about a solar system trapped in an endless time loop.

The developer is Mobius Digital publisher Anna Perna Interactive, first released on May 28th, 2019, currently sitting at a Metacritic of 85. GameSpot's Alessandro Barbosa says in his 9 out of 10 review, Outer Wild's deeply captivating narrative and plentiful mysteries push you further into exploring its richly varied and stunning solar system. The time loop you're trapped in lets you craft bite-sized expeditions that all end up telling their own stories, irrespective of whether you make a monumental discovery

or simply encounter a playful interaction. Having a tool to neatly document your discoveries helps you slowly piece together a tale filled with charming writing and one that presents its own open-ended questions that add emotional heft to the numerous exchanges. pars through during your travels. By letting you chart your own course and piece together, it's mystery at your own pace.

Outer Wilds makes each of its expeditions feel incredibly personal and absolutely unmissable. Now, bless, you have now beat this game for the first time, so you're going to be reviewing this game for the very first time in 2020. Yes, I will be. But Andy Cortez, you played through this game back in 2019. Is that correct? Yes, yeah.

I was talking about it on a bunch of games cast, just pleading with the world. Please play this game. Please, anybody. at Tim, Greg, anybody that's kind of funny please play this game

because I don't want Star Wars Jedi fucking Fall in Order to win game of the year. That's not what you were really rooting for that year though. It was control. Everybody.

No, after I beat Outter Wilde I was like, it's a goatee. Every year since 2019 I've played a new game or I've played a game from 2019. We got to have a segment

at the end of the show where me and Andy just re-ranked 2019. Well, why don't we all vote for it? No, this is there. No, this is me and Andy. They get out there. I also played Sekiro for the first time recently as well.

Have you been Outer Wilds? We'll give you a tip of the hat. We'll give you a tip of the hat like that. You'll give you a tip of the hat. But Andy, what did you think about Outer Wilds then? And how do you think about it now? I mean, when I first, I played Outer Wilds because everybody was just singing its praises. Every podcast you listen to, everybody loved the game.

I'm typically not a puzzle-type gamer. even harder that this game, that I play this game on stream, which just sort of really messes with the ADHD. I'm already operating at like 20% mental capacity when I'm streaming a game because I'm talking to chat, I'm trying to be entertaining.

That's already like kind of hurting the experience. So I ended up beating this game off stream. And I'm glad I did that and I'm also sad I did that because I wish I just had it kind of cataloged for myself or whenever I'd, you know, when you get to the sort of ending moments, I don't really want to get into spoilers unless Blessing really wants, like maybe after the break we get into kind of talking about more about what happens. But I just, for me, I've just been wanting Roger and Kevin to play this game,

which would just be like a disaster to watch them both on camera together. I'll try to chart through this game. That would be content. Yeah, but it, it just reminded me of, the sort of existential, I guess dread and also hope and the sort of emotions that I felt kind of leaving the theater after watching Interstellar and being like, damn, what's all this for? We're so insignificant.

Exactly. But, you know, even though everything will be gone and, you know, this plant, the sun will blow up and nothing that we've done will ever matter ever again. It's like, but we still have each other. And we still have the moment. So let's make the most of it. It's just such an awesome story. And I love the way that it deals with kind of the investigative aspect of it.

The string theory, the finding clues, letting each clue go into the next. And of course, the soundtrack just kind of keeps, you know, kind of keeps you going through. And I remember after I beat it in 2019, 2020, Daniel Dwyer released a no-clip doc on it. And that was awesome. Yeah, that was really, really damn good. really cool to just sort of get insider knowledge about how they built the game and how kind of every video game is built on planes right like PLA and i guess they're spelled the same way i guess no but i guess aeroplanes oh and like a flat plane i thought you meant planes like a like a field

yeah no no like a uh every game is sort of you know you're always building on a flat surface and that's how you deal with but like to kind of get insider knowledge from the developers and how this game is built on spheres because each planet is sort of like that that sort of Mario Galaxy vibe where you can kind of just run around a planet in a couple minutes and find the other side of it. But the way that the game deals with weird sort of mechanics and you know these two planets called the the twin planets that oh yeah that eventually you know they revolve around each other Tim but one you know over the 20, two minute cycle.

The sand from one planet is slowly the hourglass ones is what they're called. The sand from one planet is being sucked to the other and how you deal with puzzles there and just like, it's all just so genius. I think it's maybe the smartest puzzle game you'll ever play and

also one of the most charming games you'll ever play when, you know, when you start to kind of find out about this ancient race of beings that saw, you know, explore the galaxy and and kind of came before us. It's amazing.

CP says just tuned in. Thought about buying it earlier today. Bless, you've beat this game for the first time in 2025. Should CP buy this game? Oh, your thoughts.

Yes. Yes. So I, to paint the picture of me and Outer Wilds, I think I have to, my journey, yeah, I kind of have to go back to 2019

when it launched because I was in the same boat as Andy of listening to podcasts, reading reviews, right? This is back when I listened to like every video game podcast on the planet. And so many,

podcasters and so many of media folks and game journalists that I follow were like post playing out our wilds were saying this is one of the greatest game to ever play like this is one of the greatest games that's ever been made experiences experiences yeah and I'm reading this and I'm like dang I got to check this out I got to play this game and I believe it launched on Xbox Game Pass if I remember correctly because I remember playing it on Xbox in particular yeah and I tried it played for probably about five to six hours and then fell off. And then a year would pass, I'll pick it back up, try to play some, and then it fall off. And then another year would pass. I'd be like, I'd hear somebody else maybe mention

Outer Wilds. I remember, I think the last time I really tried to give it a shot was after I played the Forgotten City, which was a game that came out quite a few years ago now. That was also a time loop game where you are, essentially you enter the forgotten city and you have to solve the mystery of, you know, who's committing the, I think it was like the Golden Sin or some shit like that, right? And I remember falling in love with the forgotten city And after beating the forgotten city A lot of people were like Oh you got to play Outer Wilds

This is a similar sort of thing It's kind of a detective-ish game You are trying to figure out what's happened in this world And there's a time loop element And all these things And I would give it another shot And I've I've tried out Outer Wilds Maybe like five or six times

Putting in significant amounts of hours into it And it just never clicking I didn't like how directionless it was I didn't really love the art style and the presentation of it. I didn't like how, like, it didn't really feel great to play and navigate around because you are in a lot of like zero gravity slash low gravity environments. And so I'm like jumping around and floating into the sun and doing all this shit. I'm getting in my ship.

My ship gets lost and all this shit. And like, it's a very frustrating game to play a lot of the time. This last time playing it, I decided that I wanted to see it through because on paper, Outer Wilde has always been my exact type of game when I read things about it. It is like, you know, play your own pace, go any direction. Like I love games or you can go any direction, right?

Like Breath of the Wild is my favorite game because they just plop you in and go over you want and kind of do whatever you want. I love that shit. It is the time loop shit that I love. It is the investigative stuff that I love, right? Like, I love puzzle games too. It has so many elements of something like The Witness,

something like The Forgotten City, something like the immersive sims that I always talk about. But for some reason, this game that seems to be a combination of all these things just wouldn't work on me. And I picked it up this time because later in the year we're doing our top 100 games thing. And for that, I looked at Andy. I was like, Andy, it's time. I got to play Dark Souls because I know I love Elbin Ring.

I know I love From Software games. I got to play Dark Souls for this. And then I looked at myself and I was like, all right, Outer Wilds, I'm picking it back up. I started playing it on stream. And it was a similar thing as Andy where I played for about a few hours on stream and went, I can't stream this. This is not a stream game. It's a lot of reading.

It's a lot of struggle. So then I started playing it just slowly. I just started playing it just on my own time. And the more I played it, the more I fell in love to it, to where now, after beating it, after rolling credits and putting in, I think, maybe 30 hours into this particular play-thru of the game. So you started fresh from the beginning. I started from the beginning. I downloaded the PS5 version.

And I started- The other times that you played, were you starting over every time or were you trying to jump back into it? starting over every time. Okay. Yeah, which is kind of poetic for like the ethos of the game being about like starting over and getting knowledge. Um, but I started fresh this time. I've played through it. I've beaten it. I think this game is a 10 out of 10 game. Wow. And it is one of my favorite games of all time. Wow. It is one of the most magical experiences I've had playing a video game ever. Um, and there are so many good things I can say about it. I think the highest praise I can give to it is how smart it is as a video game. how well designed it is. You know, I've already dropped the name of many other video games I love, but if I was to look at the witness, because the witness as a puzzle game, that is a game that I fucking love just for how much it is about,

you know, kind of like the same thing of go in any direction and kind of just like solve things as you go and put things together and really put your brain to the test. Outer Wiles is that, except the puzzles aren't like straight up puzzles, like they are on the witness, right? The puzzles are more so understanding the properties of the world, world in understanding like the scientific, hey, if you do this, then this happens. Hey, this is the way that this planet works and you kind of have to navigate it in these

particular ways because this is just the way science works in this world. It is fucking smart. But then it's also just, it's also an emotional experience. How is that told to you? Like how you get to a planet and how do you learn the science behind it? Is somebody telling you or are you just kind of like experimenting until you figure out how the gravity is effective. You play the role of the of the Harthians and you're just kind of like this civilization who is really curious about their own universe and you are you've been sending out

astronauts to different planets to kind of figure out more about your universe but you're uncovering all these clues from the no-mai and the nomi are these super advanced one of those typical things which like these you know these people existed thousands of years ago but they were like way more advanced than we've ever been. And they also were very, very curious. And you essentially have a translator that finds clues

about what the no-mai were doing and saying and discovering in real time. And so you will maybe discover something and see a little writing on the wall. And the way that they write is also very fast, they write in kind of like these swirling thing. Yeah.

And so you use your little scanner to kind of start to decrypt what they wrote and you go, okay, they're mentioning this planet and they're mentioning maybe this thing that's very, very fascinating about this planet. And then that gets added to your string theory board, which when you

go back to your ship, you see kind of this clue pops up here. And now if I go to another planet and I find another clue, then those two things relate to each other. And it's like, oh, okay, we're starting to kind of uncover this now. So it is a lot of you, yeah, taking in this information that was left by

this old civilization. But then a lot of the things you just kind of experience, right? Like, there's, it's, it's hard to explain without spoiling actual things, but like, I'll go to a planet and notice a weird thing. And I'm like, oh, why is it that way? And the more I kind of tinker with it, the more I then understand the rule. And then I'll, like, walk a bit further. And then, yeah, there will be a text that is kind of somebody experiencing the same thing.

I think the fascinating thing about a lot of the text you're reading is that a lot of the notes left by, left behind are by scientists, right? Like, they are kind of in a similar place of you as they are exploring the universe. they're putting things together. They're talking about their theories and all this stuff. But then they're also, they're just also having these casual conversations of, oh, wow, I looked at this rock.

And then this thing happened. And, like, they'll integrate, like, these small stories into it to kind of help you understand, okay, this is why this thing is happening to me because it happened to these people the same way. So this is just the way that this thing works. I know it's very vague, but also, like, it's the only way I can explain it without spoilers.

If we get a spoiler section, I mean, here's the thing. I can give you examples. Is this the type of game that a spoiler conversation is necessary? Like, because if so, I like Andy's idea of after the things like. We can do that a little bit. All right, cool. Yeah, I'm down for that.

Great, great, great. Yeah, I don't know. I think this is one of those ones where I want to give a few anecdotes and then maybe we can hop into spoilers. Oh yeah. No rush, by the way. And we have some super just I want to get to as well. I just want to shout out like how well the world is designed. Because you're in a galaxy.

You have multiple planets that you're traveling to. Each planet kind of has its own vibe and kind of rules to it. You have, for example, you have Brittle Hollow, which is a planet that in the middle of it, spolar, but not really spoilers, right? This is just one planet. In the middle of Brittle Hollow, you have like a black hole that is sucking parts of the planet in. And so as you get there, you kind of have like, one, you have a limited time to sort of explore it,

but then also, as these parts of Brittle Hollow are getting sucked in, you can then start exploring the inside of the planet, which is fucking cool. And, like, that's the gimmick of just one planet, which leads to really, really fucking cool things. Every other planet is kind of equally cool in terms of, like, the different things that they're doing. They all have their own kind of gimmick to them, you know.

But I think the first time exploring Brittle Hollow was one of those really overwhelming things where, you know, if you take a wrong step, you might get, you start to fall towards that black hole, dude, and I'm just like, what is happening right now? This is freaky as hell, and the effect of it is really cool the way time, you know, the time and space and images like warp around it. It's just, it's really, really damn cool. It's so fucking cool. I was surprised getting toward the end of this game about how well it wraps up as well to you. Again, I'm not going to spoil it here, but like, I played most of the game by myself in the last few sessions. Again, I didn't stream the game, but in those last few sessions,

I had a friend that was watching me play the game just on Discord because she wanted to just like, you know, help me out a little bit slash just experience it because it's one of her favorite games as well. So we're playing and I get to the end. And things culminate in such a powerful way where I'm like, I've never seen a video game do it like this before. I was in tears, man.

I was having full body chills. And at a certain point, like, I'm tearing up. She's crying over the Discord call. Like having this emotional moment together. I'm like, this is unlike anything I've ever experienced. Like this is a game where I know many people were probably like me as far as trying it out, playing some, and then probably falling off because it is, I think, a cumbersome game at first. I can't imagine finishing this game and not feeling something. Like if you're able to push yourself through this game to get to the ending and experience the full thing, it is fucking, like, again, an insane video game that I can't believe exists in the way that it does, especially because it's indie.

And it does things where Andy mentioned that about how the usually games are. designed on like a plane, right? Usually games are flat. And every planet here, not only is like, every planet here is obviously a spherical thing, so everything has to account for gravity in different ways. Different planets have different kinds of gravity, but then also, like, you have your scouter

that you can send out to take pictures of things, you have your ship, and everything kind of works on an ongoing continuous system. So, like, if your scout is on a planet, that planet on a video game design level needs to remain rendered to some extent. If your ship gets fucking flung out into space and lands on a different planet, like the things that are happening to your ship have to remain consistent.

And so I don't know if they're rendering the entire world at all times, or if they're just figuring out ways to render, like, where you are, where your ship is, where your scouter is, and like those kind of things. But it, on a technical level, is just fucking insane that this game works. One thing I really loved about it and loved listening to or watching the NoClip documentary on it was talking about, you know, this game began development in, 2012. And Alex Beecham is sort of like the main guy who created all of it.

And it was his college thesis, like in game development. And so it started that early. It obviously looked a lot. You know, I think once Anapurna started getting involved, that's where, you know, budget was able to raise a bit and they were able to, you know, hire more artists and stuff because the game looked a lot rougher way back when it was being developed. But him talking about this is not a game that you're going to level up.

or power up your ship or power up your suit or get this. You're not seeing, you're not getting progression. And the reason why he wants you to keep playing is because you are interested in something. Yeah. And if that is enough to keep you around, then he did a really good job of keeping you there. Because you're not, you know, we've seen some games that even if you're kind of bored with the overall prospect or the overall mechanics or the story or whatever, it's like, oh, but I'm leveling up. that feels nice. There's none of that.

You are, if you continue to play this game, it's because you want to know what's happening. You're really fascinated by something. And that's like just what the human fascination can do and can drive you towards, which is, I don't know,

it has a lot to do with like, you know, space exploration nowadays where it's like, we are still fascinated by things. We want to still learn. That's like part of our human nature. It's a very bold thing to you because the game does not point you in a direction.

Like even in something like I mentioned Breath of the Wild and how you can kind of go in any direction. At least in Breath of the Wild you have towers and you have like four main objectives. And so like the game is kind of pushing you towards things. This game is purely trying to push you towards things just with how it designs the world. But it doesn't have waypoints. It doesn't have a go here. You don't even know what you're looking for when you start the game. Playing through it is there any sense of progression or is it entirely just you're always doing something?

There's a log on your ship that if you go to, the more things you discover, the more the log fills in, that's really the only kind of sense of progression. That slash, I guess, your own knowledge of the world and kind of like, the more you learn, the more you kind of want to know, like, where this story goes. And so you have yourself as a motivator and then you have the log that helps to kind of keep track of, um, if I go to an area and I say I missed a thing, if I missed like a piece of text or something, my log will be like, hey, this is what you learn here, but then also there is more to learn here in this area. Um, but it kind of doesn't tell you that until you get to those areas and then they pop up

and I think the game does a good job of making sure that you've uncovered what you need to uncover. But outside of that, it really is just your own motivation and I am, again, it all comes back to just me being impressed by how fucking smart this game is and how confident and bold it is

with being like, hey, just fly. You have a whole galaxy, just fly around and like you can discover things in any sort of way and everybody's going to experience the story in a different order, but it all, by the end of it is hopefully going to make sense to you. And I think, yeah, child's a bear for bringing up the spherical thing from Jake and Josh. But yeah, I don't know. There's just a boldness in the way

that it does that. Willie the Duce superchats insane. I finished my first OW play through a week ago. Haven't felt that way about a game in forever. Genuine astonishment as you connect the dots to the ending. Yeah. I think it's impossible for anyone to not feel that. Yeah. Like, well, if you see this to the end, I think it would really be shocking me for someone to be like, yeah, I didn't do much for me. I don't see how anybody with human emotion could be, like, apathetic to the messaging and the themes by the end of it, you know? Yeah. Jordan Vickers says, if you want more Outer Wilds talk, please check out the Portland Kevin's episode on it on the PlayStation Plus Game Club podcast. Check that out.

Oh, yeah. And then Zeke Speak also giving it a shout for something to check out here. Please check out Austin Walker's review of the game previously from Vice and Waypoint. Perfectly encapsulates being an ecologist, someone who has studied and understood the environment on a profound level. Does that resonate at all for you? Oh, I mean, yeah, I think so. It's one of the things that

toward the end of the game I started feeling was just like, it's tough to talk about without spoling. But I guess you talk about sort of, I don't know, there's this feeling of it all is going to end because like the thing is the sun keeps exploding in this world, right?

And so like that kind of triggers this like, all right, let's go again, let's go again. When you're getting close to 22 minutes, you start to hear the music. Yeah, and you're like, oh, this run's about to end. The sun's going to supernova. Everything's going to die. I hope I can discover enough before I wake back up on Timberhart.

And there's some times where I'll be in the middle of reading something and I'll hear the music. And I'm like, fuck, I got to read, read, read, right? And there are other times where that run for me is kind of tapped out of, all right, I've kind of like explored this area and this music starting. So I know I don't have time to go somewhere else. and I just sit and I just watch the sun explode. And it's this feeling of like almost peace. And the more you play it and the more you kind of understand the what's gone on in this world

and the civilization that was here before you. And also the more you kind of feel, I guess, like the vastness of it, but also kind of get a sense of like there's a finality here just based off of kind of the situation you're in. it turns into like it turns from a scientific like puzzling game to a very emotional one in a way where I remember growing up we used to go to church right and like in church they gave a lot of sermon illustrations and there's like a lot of metaphor and all this stuff right but one of the ones that always stuck with me for some reason is my pastor talking about how you know there's in church there's praise and worship we sing music right we sing songs to God is a way to worship God right And like the, in the sermon illustration, the pastor would talk about why, one of the reasons why worship is important, I guess, as fulfillment for us as fulfillment for people.

And it's almost the idea of like when you acknowledge something is like way bigger than you, right? The idea that God is way bigger than you. When it acknowledged that something's way bigger than you, it almost takes things off of your shoulders in a way that is important for you. they compared it to the idea of going to the Grand Canyon and when you look at the Grand Canyon you stare at like this gigantic space and it makes you feel small there's something freeing about that feeling of

oh like I don't really matter to this universe like you do but also like it is kind of freeing knowing how small you are in this vast universe and how little your problems are yeah and like Outer Wilde kind of gave me that exact feeling in like many of the final hours and many just many of the hours throughout this game where I am I am a small cog I am just here to learn I am just here to

like see all this happen and like it started happening toward the latter half of the game where with every death I'm like all right cool like I can't do anything to stop the sun I can't do anything like we're gonna sit here and watch it explode and supernova and supernova and that feeling kind of got compounded more and more to where I got to the end of the game and like to an emotional point like again I can't I can't express how much this game made me feel toward the end of it And that's all we're asking for, you know. Yeah. I just want to feel.

I just want to feel everybody. Thank you so much for hanging out with us and supporting a review of an old game. I love that we get to do that here at Kind of Funny. And we only get to do that thanks to your support. You can get the kind of funny membership on YouTube, Patreon, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify to get the shows ad free. But for everyone else, here's a word from our sponsors. This episode's brought to you by Built. Y'all already know I'm a big points and rewards guy, but here's a PSA for anyone who rents.

If you haven't heard of Bilt, you're about to thank me. Earning points on rent is now a reality where you pay your rent through Bilt. You don't even have to check it with your landlord to start earning points that you can use towards flights, hotel stays, fitness classes, and even your next rent payment. Let me break it down for you. There's no cost to join Bilt, and as a member, you'll earn valuable points on rent and on your everyday spending. Built points can be transferred to your favorite hotels and airlines and even the ones you haven't heard of. There are over 500 airlines and 700,000 hotels and properties around the world you can redeem your built points toward. Points can also be redeemed towards a future rent payment and unique experiences that only built members can access.

So if you're not earning points on rent, my question is, why not? Start earning points on rent you're already paying by going to joinbilt.com slash kind of funny. That's J-O-I-N-B-I-L-T dot com slash Kind of Funny. Make sure to use our URL so they know we sent you. Joinbuilt.com slash kind of funny to start earning points on your rent payments today. This podcast is brought to you in part by Stash. Saving and investing can feel impossible, but with Stash, it's not just a reality. It's easy.

Stash isn't just an investing app. It's a registered investment advisor that combines automated investing with dependable financial strategies to help you reach your goals faster. They'll provide you with personalized advice on what to invest in based on your goals, or if you just want to sit back and watch your money go to work, you can opt into their award-winning expert-managed portfolio that pick stocks for you. Stash has helped millions of Americans reach their financial goals and start at just $3 per month. Don't let your savings sit around.

Make it work harder for you. Go to get.stash.com slash kind of funny to see how you can receive $25 towards your first stock purchase and to view important disclosures. That's get dot stash.com slash kind of funny. non-client endorsements, not representative of all clients and not a guarantee. Investment Advisory Services offered by Stash Investments LLC and SEC registered investment advisor. Investing involves risk. Offer is subject to T&Cs.

And we're back with a couple super chats here. Stefano says this is my favorite game of all time. So happy to hear some coverage. Zeke speak once again says to your point less on progression equals knowledge. You'll get to areas and be like, cool, but how do I explore this dangerous place? And then you go elsewhere, learn and come back later with the tools. Yep, the amount of times that that has happened where I'm like, okay, I guess I can't go here and I go somewhere else and I learn something and I'm like, what the fuck, that's cool. That's how, oh shit, I pass by this thing. I gotta go back. Like, it is almost that Metroidvania feel. But if it's like if Metroidvania, again, it's like if instead of getting a double jump, you're understanding that, you know, gravity pushes you down. Like you're learning like a new concept like that. The tools are your knowledge, Tim. Yeah. Yeah. We know, we were kind of debating how spoiled we want to get. I think it's kind of really tough. to talk about the game without

any of the without getting into kind of the spoilery mechanics of it all, but just some of the ones that really stuck out to me and Oh, I'm talking about spoilers now? Yeah. Okay, hold on, hold on. So, Rekesh, Roger writes in saying, love you guys, please play at least the first hour of the DLC on stream.

We'd love to see y'all's reactions to the new planet. Have you guys played the DLC? I did not play the DLC. I heard it was a little scary, so scared. Yeah, I'm also kind of scared, but I definitely I'm down. I'm so down. That can be cool. But yeah, now we are officially going to transfer into a spoiler section. It won't be for the rest of the show.

Just want to let them talk about whatever they want to hit on spoiler-wise for this game because it has been out a couple years. People in the chat seem to want that as well. So, spoilers, bro. I wanted to talk about just one of the planets that having to do with the hourglass twins and how anytime you would land on one of the planets either, there was a clue that really drove you there and you wanted to find out what the heck was happening there.

But your space suit would get broken by like these. cactus spikes or whatever. And it was kind of impossible to navigate through there without having your suit get punctured and then that would end a run pretty quickly. But to find out and to kind of understand and realize

that the sand that is being pulled from one of the planets to the other, the other planet, the floor is getting higher. And near the end of that run as the sand is compacting more and more, it helps you kind of find an easier route to avoid the cactus.

And it's just, it's little things like that that when you first land there, it's like this is impossible. But then you, once you kind of get the tools and the knowledge to discover, oh shit, the sand is, you know,

it's like in any game whenever you, you know, when you drain like a dam in a game. And like, oh, I can walk down there now. But it's kind of the opposite where, This is, the sand is now building up on this planet. Now my floor is no longer what my floor was at the start of the run because it's higher now.

I can now avoid the things I need to. And another thing to talk about is the idea of like the quantum moon. Dude, I immediately like the first thing I wrote down getting to the smaller section was quantum stuff. Because that was the thing that, I think that was maybe the turning point for me of, oh shit, I fuck with this. where there, so in the same location on the hourglass twins, so it's two planets that basically revolve around each other. It's the Ember Twin and then it's the Ash Twin. The Ash Twin is the one with all the sand and all the sand is being pulled onto Ember Twin.

And so like you have a cave system that's on Ember Twin that's slowly being filled up with sand. So like in the 22 minute interval that you have to like explore and stuff, like by the end of that 22 minutes, like the fucking cave system is all filled. You can't really explore it anymore. But within that cave system, one of the first things I found was like a tablet with like a note on it that was written by the I keep want to call it.

I keep want to say zonai but that was written by the nomai and you know I go up to it and I read a note that's basically somebody who is writing a note to somebody else being like dude have you seen the rocks that disappear and like reappear it's really weird right and I'm like I read that and I'm like oh that's weird

and I turn around there's a rock right there and I'm like oh fuck that's weird and I turn back around and read the note again. I'm like, I'm interesting. I turn it around. The rock's gone. I'm like, what the fuck is happening? And I keep doing it where every time I turn my camera away and turn my camera back, the rock like the rock appears, reappears, appears, reappears. And it's this really eerie thing, but it was the start of a gigantic mystery that I did not think would go as far as it goes where like the more I explore probably maybe 10 hours later of me looking at like not,

me not worrying about it, me focusing on different mysteries and stuff. I end up learning about what they call the quantum moon, which is this moon that the know my people like they're fascinated about, they're interested in, and they're talking about how the moon appears

at different planets or whatever. I'm like the moon. And then like for some reason, I never noticed it. I never noticed that there is a moon that just appears randomly and then reappears. And I start looking for it.

I'm like, I look up in the sky and I'm like, oh yeah, I guess that's a weird looking moon. I look away and I look back and I'm like, all the moon's gone. The moon's a big rock.

The moon's gone. So then I'm like, my goal, that then shifted my entire goal to being I am going to land on that moon. You become religiously obsessed with this moon. Legitimately. It's so sick.

And I start chasing after this moon. During one of my loops, I see it at a plane. I'm like, okay, I can't look away because if I look away, the moon's going to disappear. So I'm going to stare at the moon and I'm going to fly to it. And as I'm flying to the moon, I fly to it and then my ship goes through it.

And I'm like, oh, that's where I turn around, the moon's gone. I'm like, so it's not a solid moon. All right, I guess that's the mystery. And then I keep playing and I come back. to those cave systems that were on Emmer Twin that had the rock. I'm exploring it, not Dwayne Johnson, but they had the big rock, the disappearing rock white, right? I go back

to exploring those caves and as I'm exploring I, or no, it's not on the, it's not on there. It's on a different planet that has like a tower of knowledge or some shit. So I go into the tower of knowledge and the tower of knowledge is basically a tower that the nomi

made to teach people about the quantum mechanics. And you get there. And how when something, you get there. And how when something is being perceived it exists. Yes. So like when it isn't being perceived it is gone. So that's one of the things you learn is

yeah, when you can perceive something it exists when you can't is gone. And they talk about how that even works through pictures and stuff. And one of the things that you have in your tool set is a scout that can take pictures. And so as you're going through the Tower of the Tower of Knowledge, it's kind of like

a trial of hey, let's teach you how this thing works. And so I am taking pictures of the rock not Dwayne Johnson. And I look away and I look back and the rock's still there the same way and I'm like, all right, cool. This is working the way I wanted to. I figure all that out and then I don't even think about the quantum moon

until the next time I see the quantum moon where I'm like... Well, I just want to talk about like how this little scout thing that you're taking photos of. Like you can, at any point you can just shoot this thing out of space from your little ship shoots out and if you take a photo it takes a... It shows you in your UI

like in, you know, up on your screen. the photo that it took, right? And it'll keep flying. And you can take another one then it'll show you at that time and space where that photo was taking place. So there's a lot of moments where when you want to see what the scout is seeing

in real time, you spam that picture. You span, do, do, do, do, and it kind of shows you in bursts where it's flying through, right? So in one of these sort of, in one of these trials, the way to, you discover, oh, the way to make something always, the way to make something being perceived, which is not a grammatically correct sentence, but I can, if I take a photo

of the rocks that are disappearing, these quantum rocks or whatever, if I take a photo of it and I have that photo up on my screen, then it's always going to be there. Yeah, because it's being perceived. And so because of, and you start to learn these things to, in order to progress this sort of, this tower of knowledge, right? Yeah. And then you go, shit, if I take a picture of the moon. Of the moon,

then, like, maybe that's how I get it to, like, maybe that's how I land. And this was a whim where I was like, this isn't going to work, but I'll try it. And so I'm flying towards the moon. You're going to goose some I'm stinking about.

I know. I'm flying towards the moon. I send my scout out, and I, like, take a picture of the moon as the scouts, like, flying or whatever. And I then go to the moon, I then fly to the moon, and, like, I fucking land on the moon.

And I'm like, this is the fucking coolest thing of all time, right? I won't say anything past that. But like, that was just like one of many, many cool moments. I'll say the other one of, with the quantum stuff of going back to the cave system that's on Ember, Ember Twin. I realized in my log, the log kept saying, oh, there's more to discover here, there's more to discover here. And I'm like, I feel like I've really explored these caves. There was one note that I missed that was talking about, or not a note, there was like a specific cave system that I missed that I started going down. And as I'm going, I'm reading notes about how

the no-mai have this friend that disappeared and I'm like, oh, that's wild, like what the fuck happened to the friend? And I go all the way down the path and I enter this room that has there's like a light switch and there's a quantum rock and I'm like,

okay, well this is the end of the path. They're talking about their missing friend, like what the fuck happened? And then I'm like, I'm there for about three minutes before I'm like, oh, what happens if I like turn off, if I stand on the rock and turn off the lights, Like what happens? So I do that because you have a flashlight.

So I'm using my flashlight the entire time. But I turn off the light. I open my flashlight. I get on the quantum rock. And then I cut off my flashlight. But cut on my flashlight. I'm in a different location. And I'm like, this is fucking cool, dude.

So now I know I can use these rocks to fucking jump around and travel to different places. Yeah. The quantum stuff was this was the thing early on that made me go, oh, this is fucking incredible. AK dot 98 says this exact stretch of the game was where it went from. what are they cooking to oh they're cooking exactly yeah they had those discoveries happening and you feeling like a genius you feeling like you are uncovering some of the craziest shit the universe has to offer and um and that's like definitely one of the larger aspects of it

all the the sort of quantum things that you are experimenting with but i mean there's a lot of other awesome planets that have their own yeah little like cool things about it there's There's the, the, gosh, I'm blanking on the name of the planet, bless the... What's the planet like? It's just an angler fish. Oh, dark bramble.

You're dark bramble, yeah. Dark bramble being one of the ones that you kind of fly into with your ship and it's all foggy, but you start to like kind of follow little lights in, you know, you might see a little light and you might fly towards it. And, uh,

and suddenly it's not just a, light or a waypoint, it is the light of a monstrous anglerfish. Freaky-ass picture. Most terrifying thing like you can experience. And it's scary as shit, right? And then

any time you try to fly away from them, you get eaten by this gigantic thing, the run ends, right? And then in another cave, you discover these No My kids who were at one time playing a game called like hide from the anglerfish.

And they, and they, you discover, you discover these no-my kids who were at one time playing a game. They said, no, those rules are too easy in the game. You have to wear a blindfold because anglerfish can't see. And you're like, oh, I have to just float to this place without igniting my engines or thrusters because that's how they are. God, it's so fucking genius. I got to be silent flying through this planet. I want to shout out.

I want to bring up Brittle Hollow again, which is like the planet with the black hole in the middle of it that sucks in different parts of the planet as the time goes. Because because of the planet being hollowed. Hollow, the Nomai, who I guess they tend to do this. They tend to make societies underground is what I gather, because they did that with Ember Twin as well. But on

the inside sphere of Brittle Hollow, they have like multiple civilizations that are now dead civilizations but like, you know, as you're exploring the planet, you find your way into the inside. And one of the coolest things was going from

where you can kind of enter on the surface, kind of seeing kind of tracking the no mile like okay they were here and then they went in and as you go in you see a lot of these um gravity crystals that change the flow of gravity so like if you have like say there's a bunch of gravity crystals on that wall i can then start walking on that wall right and that'll like you know keep me there without falling um there's the coolest fucking path of going into the planet seeing a bunch of gravity crystals on the inside of uh brittle hollow which is like, you know, already

you have those crystals, but then like the inside of itself is kind of crystallized already. It's just a very cool visual that I wish I could have recorded to Baird and sent to bear it. But that then leaves you just walking upside down on the inside of this planet that then leads into this Nomai city. It's so fucking cool.

So the way this game just sort of, I think one of the cooler things about reading about what the Nomai were discovering was like they're very interested in interstellar travel and like teleportation and like going through portals and wormholes and stuff and at one point

the no-mai discover that walking through this one thing makes them appear at another spot but one thousandth of a second before they entered it and they're like what that can't be a mathematical anomaly

that every time they test it they are appearing before they walked in so they're like shit we're going back in time how do we really kind of experiment with this? How do we overpower it? And they're like, well, we could use the power of the sun. And in doing so, we can go back in time further,

but doing so causes the sun to supernova. And that's the things that you're discovering as like, oh, that's what's making it all go to shit. And for the last, I don't know how many hundreds of years, everybody has been experiencing this time loop for, you know, I don't know how many hundreds of years, but we've been stuck in this day for a long time. Wow.

It's just so freaking fascinating and cool to kind of discover these things on different planets. And in one of the documentaries, I'm bling on the writer's name, but she was talking about how she... I think it's like the lead dev sister. Yeah, she didn't want the, you know, who's writing the dialogue for the nomi. I think at first you, the nomi feel like the celestials in Marvel,

where it's like, oh, they're these all-powerful, all knowing. But the more that you read and find out about them, it's like, oh, they're just, they're just curious, curious space faring race. You know, they just want to discover stuff. You know, they're flirting with each other here. They're kind of talking about it. She personifies them in a way that makes it feel a lot less kind of like, oh, these were some elder gods or whatever. No, they're just another race of human being or another race of creatures that were really curious. And you also discover that they see your inception as well.

You're the race that you are, the Harthians or whatever. They at one point discover. They discover like these little tadpoles. And like, oh, that's kind of cool. Let's keep an eye on. And so they've been watching you for hundreds of years. It's just so damn cool, man. Yeah.

I think people are, you're wrong to you in the chat. But I also think it was, it's one of those things where, I don't know if you're keeping vague on purpose of like what the actual nature of it is. Because it is a reveal of what is actually. happening. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. One of the things I want to shout out, and this goes to the writing, is like, how well done the transition. I don't even know if I'll even call it a transition, but I guess the balance of where it goes from, these are no-my scientists that I'm following to, oh, these are characters. Like, these are people who are having conversation that are learning. Like a lot, so much of the game is about the knowledge that you gain and like the knowledge that the zone, that the no- Oh God, I keep on it say Zonai. The knowledge that the no mic are gaining as they go. And so they speak very logically and they speak very much like smart scientist people.

And there are moments where you realize that they are kind of realizing that things are going to shit. And it goes from that like, oh, yeah, oh, this discovery is cool. Oh, if we do this than this to, there was one quote that my friend that was watched me play. like it was so cool of seeing the um like seeing one of the quotes that was essentially like hey i i can't do this without you type thing right of like you kind of get get a sense of the connection that they were making with each other of you know if i have to do if i have to like figure out how to live uh on this planet without you like i can't like you are the lie of my word like types type stuff um and yeah like i don't know it's it's done so well and like

You know, I think there are many games that we've gotten. We've gotten, gone home. We've seen the environmental storytelling of in games like Fallout or Boshok where you see you riding on the wall and it's set dressing, but it's cool to see that they're road building here. The way in which Outer Wilds, you know, does the, hey, there's riding on the wall. Hey, it's audio logs. But that transitions into such a powerful story where, you know,

I'll end up seeing like the left behind bodies of no-mai. And I'm like, fuck, dude, like, that's crazy that y'all went out like this. It's just done so well. And so, hell yeah. What a game. That's great. What a game. So getting out of spoilers at this point.

Rapping this up. Because I feel like we should say if you're 2019 talk for, that sounds like a different game. That's fair. You know what I mean? It's tough. Because, like, I was thinking about this after I tweeted of like, man, another banger from 2019. And I started putting it together of like, what would my list be? And I started thinking about the games that came out that year.

I'm like, fuck, dude. I don't know what I like more between this and Sekiro. Both are probably, both are in my top 25. I got a, hmm. Both are top, both are just masterpieces. Just 10 out of 10 video games. Then you put in Death Stranding in there. Shit, Death Stranding was that?

Death Stranding was 2019. Dagum. Katana Zero. A lot of good, oh my God. Fuck. I know, dude. Disco Elysium. Disco Elysium. Fuck.

And I know this is a weird one, but bless I did enjoy spending a lot of time. Apex Legends. Borderlands 3. I mean, yeah. It was more so us spending time together. Fun game. Yeah.

And also Star Wars Jedi Fall in Order. Resident Evil 2. Resident Evil 2. Dude. 2019, everybody. Did we say control? Control there as well.

Astrol chain. In the comments below. What your favorite game from 2019 was. And what you think about Outer Wilds and if you haven't played it yet, has blessed and have, bless and Andy convinced you to give it a shot. I don't need a play it.

It's super cool seeing how many people both in the super chats and the chat are like, this is my favorite game of all time. Like it's all I almost didn't want to spoil it for you, Tim, because I'm like, Tim, you need to play this game. But I'm also don't think you're ever going to play this game. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love hearing you talk about it though. Like if you ever got to the end of this game, Tim, oh, fuck. Yeah. Oh, fuck me up.

It's like a religious experience. It really is. Yeah. Like, it's one of those. It's probably my favorite indie game I've played since inscription. And I think I probably just, I think I like it more than inscription, uh, which is saying something. Like, I can't remember the last time I played something like this. I don't know how I would have reacted to this video game experience

if I were like a year into the pandemic. I would have just like had a full-blown meltdown. Like it was one thing to experience it in 2019 and to still have just full on tears of my eyes. The music swelling, and it's just like this all encapsulating like, holy shit, this is so overwhelming. I'm feeling every emotion you can pause.

we feel. But if I had to experience that in like 2021, just trapped in my room, I don't know what would have been, man. Video games, everybody. Hey, we're going to keep the live shows going. Right now, we're about to get into our very space

themed, continuing the space adventures with Alien Resurrection. So strap in for me, Andy, Nick, and Greg's thoughts on that 1997 classic. Then after that, the boys will return to Joto for the continuation. of the Nick Locke. Until next time though, love you all. Goodbye.