I've been hesitant to play it because I heard it's existentially depressing and I don't think my mental state is in a good place to deal with that. Otherwise I'd probably give it a go. I loved Return of the Obra Dinn and many people who love one of those games seem to also love the other.

[–] SkyeStarfall@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't know, slight spoilers for the general mood, but, outer wilds is that, but it's more like.. wistful, or melancholic, or bittersweet. It's sad, but it's a good sad. It's emotional, and emotions feel good.

I feel like, if I were in a bad place when playing that, I don't think it would have made it worse. It might have made it more meaningful, and be kinda.. nice, in a sense. But I also feel like art like that help me a lot when I am in bad places. It's kinda like seeing beauty in sadness, right?

But I am not you so, y'know, YMMV

[–] Coelacanth@feddit.nu 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's hard because it depends on the type of melancholy. I get what you mean about wistful melancholy and "good sad" if the stories are on the smaller scale. Human tragedy, personal failure, doomed relationships, lost love, that sort of stuff.

I have a harder time dealing with elaborations on an existential level: the ultimate end of all things, the futility of existence, the meaninglessness of life etc. I'm hesitant because I've gotten the impression this is the sphere Outer Wilds operates in.

[–] raydenuni@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 1 year ago

It is some of the things you've mentioned. But it is not nihilistic.

[–] Cowbee@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

It's a kind of hopeful nihilism, a sort of sense that no matter how far apart you are in space or time, everyone and everything is ultimately connected, and looking up at the same stars.