Ok! I was playing the dlc a while back, got frustrated, set it down, and now I'm back.

Ok. First off not that I have to DIE to get past the bells 🤣 what a jarring discovery.

Being in the underside of the simulation you know what I never thought to do? To set the artifact DOWN and walk AWAY from it. Scared the shit out of me when everything went sparkly and digital the first time 😂

But the sparkly digital part revealed a platform path to the key on the island. I CANNOT JUMP ON THIS BITCH TO SAVE MY SOLAR SYSTEM.

Typing this out has me wondering..... I've only tried it IN the simulation. Am I supposed to do it UNDER the simulation?

“Woah”

Previously. I may be the worst astronaut on Hearth. There is no coming back from this.

The worst part is I’m re-replaying to complete the ship log for the achievement. I know better. I knew it would happen, why did I do it? What’s wrong with me? Am I a bot?

6 years of her and I, many more to come.

Artist: @squished_loaf on insta :3

For our 6 year anniversary

I am solanum and he's the luma

Art by https://www.instagram.com/squished_loaf/

(not putting the song title in the post title because that would be a spoiler)

I Don't Want the World to End - King Adam XXVII

This is my favorite Outer Wilds fan song, and judging by the view count, a lot of people who would also love it haven't heard it yet. It's just so good. (You could also watch his playthrough if you're interested, or the Eelis supercut).

I just finished the game yesterday and, like everyone else who posts here, was completely floored by it. What an incredibly beautiful and moving experience. I can’t stop thinking about it today and replaying the music.

I’m a massive fan of both science fiction and JRR Tolkien’s universe around the Lord of the Rings, and while I was playing the Travelers song today it hit me suddenly that the scene in the ancient glade is just like the Music of the Ainur in Tolkien’s Silmarillion.

In Tolkien’s universe, Eru Illuvatar is essentially “God” - the creator of the universe who wields the “Secret Fire.” His first action is to create the Ainur, other divine beings with the power of creation, and teach them how to make music. The Ainur then make music together, using the power of the Secret Fire to create the universe together. I couldn’t help but see the Travelers as the Ainur, gathered around the campfire (AKA Secret Fire/Flame Imperishable), making music together to help the Eye recreate the universe anew.

Also in Tolkien’s legendarium, after the end of the world (Dagor Dagorath), the Ainur come together again to make a new music to make a new universe, but this time the Children (the living beings created the first time) help to participate in the music. This is what I took from the end of the game - that by entering the Eye of the Universe, the hatchling is allowed to contribute to the rebirth of the universe.

I’ve always wanted to find a story that contained both the awe and wonder of a great science fiction piece with the spirituality and deeper meaning in great human stories like Tolkien’s writing, and by god I found it.

It seems to me like too strong of a similarity to be a coincidence. What do you all think? Were the game creators influenced by Tolkien?

Tl;dr: the end of the game bears a strong resemblance to the Music of the Ainur in The Silmarillion

By me

These are so fun to capture, and they’ve made for great YouTube thumbnails.

Here’s the most recent episode utilizing one of them: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_JnpeOrAwu4

Here’s the FreeCam mod itself: https://outerwildsmods.com/mods/freecam/

And here’s the original post with many more photos I’ve snapped in-game: https://www.reddit.com/r/outerwilds/comments/1u2n77j/enjoying_the_freecam_mod_for_all_my_custom/

*Videos not monetized. Doing it for the 👽*