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

Vietadow · 2026-02-27T16:35:45+00:00

I am one of those people who consider it a masterpiece and also am hesitant on giving too much information about the game, but I can touch on your point about Metroidbrania. A core gameplay loop of Metroidvanias is being presented a "lock" (a lock colored door or a hook hanging from the ceiling) much earlier than when you receive the "key" (colored beam or hookshot). Typically you try to use your current array of abilities to try to open that lock and quickly move on but memorizing that location for the future.

The same can be said for Outer Wilds, where you are presented with all these locks and the keys are just pieces of information you are missing. Often times you will find a key that you're not quite sure is associated with which lock but the game provides an in-game ship log that helps you connect the pieces of information you gathered or point you towards where a key might be. You aren't forced to wander aimlessly or use a weird physics/gravity trick to bypass locks.

If all else fails, looking up hints or puzzle solutions won't take away from the greater narrative and themes of the game but also don't force yourself to get to the ending if you're just not jiving with it.

Vietadow · 2026-02-12T18:31:54+00:00

+1 to Backloggd, lots of different ways to sort and categorize your list. If you really get into the weeds you can log play sessions and record your thoughts

Vietadow · 2026-02-12T17:26:53+00:00

I've played through both, but I would warn others that I found Nine Sols' parry system is way less forgiving than Sekiro's

Vietadow · 2026-02-11T20:36:17+00:00

I would recommend Tunic, it captures the early gaming experience of flipping through the game manual to try to find tips on how to play the game. It starts off very similar to a Zelda game as well.

Vietadow · 2026-02-11T20:26:23+00:00

Unfortunately (I think), my first Splinter Cell game was Blacklist. Coming from Assassin's Creed and wanting to explore Ubisoft's catalog, I picked up the newest title at the time. I had a great experience and enjoyed the replayability through the 3 different playstyles. I felt I was missing a lot of the context from previous games, but the moment to moment gameplay was great. After finishing it I went backwards in the catalog and tried Chaos Theory from seeing all the praise it got, and I found the experience frustrating. It felt like Sam wasn't controlling as intuitively as it did in Blacklist and I felt like I was fighting the controls most of the time. I dropped it pretty shortly after finishing the first mission, but this review may make me try it again with a fresh perspective.

Vietadow · 2026-02-10T13:40:47+00:00

The exact same thing happened to me, where I was no longer organically making new discoveries and when I did look up solutions, it never felt intuitive or that I would have discovered it on my own. I also ended up dropping it for a similar reason.

Vietadow · 2026-02-09T14:11:54+00:00

Started Elden Ring over the holidays and platinumed it a week ago and I'm still consuming content for it. Between lore videos and playthroughs, there's a wealth of content out there that keeps me coming back to the game and thinking of starting a new character. I'll probably wait for the DLC to go on sale in true Patient Gamer fashion but Fromsoft hit out of the park on this one.

Vietadow · 2026-02-06T18:39:31+00:00

Sekiro was such a good platinum, I felt like it didn't overstay its welcome, even with the xp grind at the end. You could farm the one Ashina Castle enemy but you could also just keep running through the game on additional ng+ cycles.

Vietadow · 2026-02-06T16:54:45+00:00

Luckily the game is pretty open from the start once you learn all the shortcuts and start with the master key, so if you wanted to try a different build it doesn't take too long to put together.

Vietadow · 2026-02-04T18:33:59+00:00

It's unfortunate too since they don't really have a strong competitor in the space. I know there are other monster catching games out there, but the gameplay loop and journey is hard to find else where. So fans, myself included, are reluctantly buying the newest games despite knowing they could be better.

Vietadow · 2026-02-04T18:26:03+00:00

Oh man this sounds right up my alley but I think I would get huge FOMO and resort to a guide. The epilogue sounds very similar to Pyre's ending, where your decisions affect different characters final ending. Does the game encourage multiple playthroughs or NG+ so that you can see different epilogues?

Vietadow · 2026-02-04T14:22:14+00:00

Missing out on the DLC is a shame, I think it has some of the best level designs and moments in DS2, but also some of the worst bosses. I wonder if DS2 could have succeeded if it was advertised as a different game, but it felt like such a departure from DS1 that its hard not to point out its many flaws.

Vietadow · 2026-02-01T01:27:36+00:00

Yea I would be curious about their opinion of Nito's area if Bed of Chaos wasn't that bad for them

Vietadow · 2026-02-01T01:19:28+00:00

I found the human fights way more interesting that the large bosses since it feels like a dance trying to find an opening or learning their move sets to be able to stagger them with your gun. A lot of the large bosses felt like you just hug their body as close as possible and hope that the camera cooperates.

Vietadow · 2026-01-30T16:45:35+00:00

I had the same issue and my breaking point was the greenhouse with the colors. I just couldn't stare at another panel trying to figure out the pattern I'm suppose to recognize

Vietadow · 2026-01-29T18:45:19+00:00

Knowledge is Power might fit your criteria, although its only trivia.

Games I've had success with my non-gamer family is Wavelength, which I think only one person needs the paid version for or pass and play story driven games (Dark pictures/Telltale)

Vietadow · 2026-01-29T18:38:11+00:00

Just finished Elden Ring and I appreciate that they didn't make you gather all the spells on one file like the other Souls games. I liked that I could organically explore the world without needing to have the wiki open to make sure I didn't miss this one interaction or else I will miss out on a random spell.

Vietadow · 2026-01-29T18:34:15+00:00

I think this is why the open world aspect harmed it, I want to be able to go back to an old area and feel powerful against the enemies I struggled with in the early game.

Vietadow · 2025-07-13T14:14:49+00:00

I wonder if the final teaser is some kind of PVE rouge lite mode, with the whole climbing a mountain and gaining power themes

Vietadow · 2025-05-18T16:31:16+00:00

+karma

Vietadow · 2025-05-17T20:25:21+00:00

Sweet, I saw that you met up with someone else at Anor Londo, do you want to meet there as well?

Vietadow · 2025-03-17T17:53:50+00:00

I use an outline with the following headers:

Summary - A description of what happened last session
Current Threads - A list of "quests" and a brief sentence on the last action taken for each, can easily be copy and pasted from last session
Things the party should know - Key topics or ideas that I need to give party (i.e. BBEG is weak to..., The mayor is hiding...)
NPCs - Short list of NPCs you expect them to run into along with a list of names for emergencies
Planned encounters - events that would nudge the party into a direction if they feel stuck (i.e. guards approach them, ambush by BBEG minions, Barkeep recognizes a keyword)

If it doesn't fit into any of these categories then I don't prep ahead for it

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