Outer Wilds is hands down one of my favorite games of the last decade, and one of its major strengths is forcing the player to make peace with mortality in a way that is neither weepy nor explicitly frightening. The universe ends, and you are part of the universe. Simple as.
But for dealing with such an inhetently human concept as facing our own mortality, the game's story is pretty emotionally sterile. There's no complicated interpersonal relationships to deal with, no moral dilemmas to struggle through, no real attachment to the characters you know are doomed to die every 22 minutes.
This is a common limitation of a lot of existential Western sci-fi. It's partly why Lem wrote Solaris: to try and inject humanity into a genre that seemed to consider humans tangential while exploring the Big Questions of life, the universe and everything.
I don't have any real point to make here I just like using hexbear as a diary to jot down my shower thoughts that can also give me feedback on said shower thoughts
I have to disagree with it being emotionally sterile. It doesn't have hammed up dramatic conflict, but the hopes and dreams of the npcs are woven effortlessly into the brief snatches of dialogue. It was certainly enough to evoke a deep sadness in me as I sat beside the fire with my fellow explorers, waiting out the last minutes of existence.
I'll give you that watching
spoiler
Chert go from curiosity to shocked realization to angry panic to peaceful acceptance all in the span of 18 minutes was quite the fucking journey.
I agree, the end of that game put me in an absolute state of supreme and raw sadness for like a month.
It's been on my Wishlist for weeks, and happens to be discounted by 40%. I was on the fence but your comment convinced me to buy it. Good job.