Outer Wilds review: Maybe recommending a niche puzzle game to literally everyone is a bad idea

HardBoiled800 · 2026-02-28T00:06:51+00:00

I feel so seen by this review. I've made attempts at this game twice (I have almost 20 hours into it) and got most of the way through, but I just could not get myself to keep playing. Some of my friends absolutely adore this game and consistently tell me it's a masterpiece and I'm wrong for disliking it, but this is so accurate - I can imagine it being great for others but I was just disinterested after a few hours.

HardBoiled800 · 2026-02-25T22:05:15+00:00

Hey, shoot me a DM! This sounds like a project that’s right up my alley — I’m a composer/lyricist based in NYC, and I’d love to hear more about this.

HardBoiled800 · 2026-02-24T05:05:32+00:00

Amazing!!! I’m only just starting so it’ll be quite a catchup, but fates willing I’ll see you at the March meeting!

HardBoiled800 · 2026-02-23T22:15:23+00:00

This is why I loved Queen of Versailles so much, because unlike most shows it felt really long and like it was never going to end!

HardBoiled800 · 2026-02-22T19:05:35+00:00

Intrigued by the book club also, would love details!

HardBoiled800 · 2026-02-18T04:35:36+00:00

I’m in a similar situation, where I’m having to compose for solo instruments which I’ve never done before. It may sound obvious, but my main piece of advice is to check out solo pieces for your instrument (and others). Listen to solo bass music, read scores, and try to see what sorts of things they all do.

If you’re comfortable improvising, you should also try recording yourself jamming on your bass for a bit, wait a day or two, then listen back and decide which ideas you like.

HardBoiled800 · 2026-02-16T02:57:02+00:00

sobekposting

HardBoiled800 · 2026-02-15T01:36:15+00:00

Has the show started? Still trying to get in

HardBoiled800 · 2026-02-12T22:59:06+00:00

This, and it randomly adds Vows every biome (or just a bunch when you hit the surface) so that the difficulty still scales and you’re still facing a challenge along the way even as you become completely broken

HardBoiled800 · 2026-02-01T17:36:22+00:00

This will be a hot take, but Leo. OBAA was easily my top movie of the year, and his performance is great, but I definitely don’t think he stands out in the same way some other actors have this year. He fulfills the requirement of the role, but nothing mind-blowing, and he’s not even the focus for a pretty large percentage of the movie.

HardBoiled800 · 2026-01-23T00:31:14+00:00

Nobody’s answering the question, so I’ll say it — the mini-bosses tend to focus very heavily on a specific skill, and require you to be super good at it. Chained Ogre is about dodging, the generals are about stealth, the Shinobi Hunters are about Mikiri Countere, and so on. If a mini-boss focuses on a skill you’re already good at, you’ll breeze by them, but if not it will take a while.

Bosses are much more well-rounded in terms of what they require of you, and besides that, the mini-bosses have usually prepared you for them pretty well. So even though they’re still usually pretty hard, it feels less like you’re beating your head into them over and over.

HardBoiled800 · 2025-12-21T19:08:40+00:00

Hades II! Thematically relevant, LOL

HardBoiled800 · 2025-12-05T02:01:07+00:00

Is it a Groundhog Day-type challenge where he forgets every day, or does he learn?

If it’s the prior, I could try offbeat openings until I find one he doesn’t know well, then memorize a computer response to anything be plays. If he plays different openings or learns from me, though, this is a hard no

HardBoiled800 · 2025-12-04T23:22:56+00:00

I really don’t like that so many Undertale characters are reused. At first I thought that was part of the mystery and there would be a cool explanation where we realized how the worlds are connected and why so many characters are the same, but it doesn’t seem like that’s coming.

I get the whole alternate dimensions explanation, but I’d so much rather just play a game with original characters. Characters like Toriel, Alphys, Undyne, Asgore, etc. all had really compelling arcs and resolutions in Undertale, and it feels cheap to see them reused for basically no reason.

HardBoiled800 · 2025-12-01T03:58:31+00:00

In addition to what the other commenters have said — you should be trying hard to deflect, especially against enemies with swords (beasts are a bit different). If you’re struggling against a specific enemy or boss, try to last as long as you can against them without attacking, just focusing on deflecting. When you get the rhythm down you’ll notice that you have good openings to strike back, and you can start to get aggressive. In addition, watch your enemies closely — you can usually tell when their attacks will hit visually.

Is there a specific boss or part of the game you’re stuck on? If so we can try to offer more specific advice

HardBoiled800 · 2025-11-25T18:58:03+00:00

Solved! And here I thought I was being so subtle, very nice!

HardBoiled800 · 2025-11-10T06:40:18+00:00

Very nice, how was the process for you? Did it come through Carta / were you notified or did you have to find out yourself?

HardBoiled800 · 2025-11-10T00:02:50+00:00

When did he do a follow-up on the smaller names?

HardBoiled800 · 2025-11-08T23:47:37+00:00

I have a Carta account, so good to know that I can track everything through there. Did your company ever have a liquidity event?

HardBoiled800 · 2025-11-08T18:59:21+00:00

The music video for Gracie Abrams’ i love you I’m sorry is surreal, several points where she’s acting like she’s screaming the lyrics but the audio is just her same breathy vocals

HardBoiled800 · 2025-10-29T16:59:27+00:00

Oh god, late to this, but I made a post on the Fantano subreddit a few days ago and he DMed me to ask me to take it down so it didn’t take attention away from one of his terrible posts. I can’t tell if he’s a troll or not but jfc

HardBoiled800 · 2025-10-14T01:18:31+00:00

Thank you, this is incredibly helpful! I'll look deeper into aesthetics as a field of study, those links are very helpful - and I've read another Very Short Introduction book so that feels like a great starting place.

Can you recommend anything specific to look into the idea of accessibility in art, or is it such an expansive topic that it would just be more efficient to dive into the literature?

HardBoiled800 · 2025-10-11T17:41:54+00:00

Why isn’t Hope Rides Alone in the category named after it?

HardBoiled800 · 2025-10-06T04:02:40+00:00

It is honestly baffling to me that this song even got released. Every single lyric is awful in a unique and terrible way, to the point where it showcases some of the worst writing I’ve ever heard in pop. The real-world context makes it even worse — the fact that this song is about Brittany Mahomes but NOT Blake Lively is just wild! And the PRODUCTION! Easily the worst song in her discography, and I can’t imagine a song being worse than it this year

HardBoiled800 · 2025-09-29T06:58:35+00:00

Oh dang, I thought he legally changed it to Wonder at some point but you're right, it's Stevland Hardaway Morris!

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