A while back, I made an effort to play through Outer Wilds, but after weeks of being too unnerved to boot up the game, I ended up giving it up. My reaction to certain elements of the game was so visceral it genuinely triggered a touch of astrophobia. My friend, V15, read that article and took it as a challenge.
V15 loves space with a passion. We’ve played through an assortment of games set in space together, from Halo to Mass Effect, and enjoyed them thoroughly. My friend has the spirit of the Space Core from Portal 2, obsessed with space and unable to contain his passions. “Space. Space! Wanna go to Space!”
When he heard about my reaction to Outer Wilds, V15 made it his mission to help me overcome it. Forcibly. By giving me the boot out of the nest and straight into the deep end known as Elite Dangerous.
Over the past few months, my friend and I have taken to the stars in a variety of games. Despite my initial trepidation, I like it out among the stars, and I don’t imagine I’ll be headed back to Earth for quite some time.
Elite Dangerous Sent Me Flying.
Elite Dangerous has a reputation. This game is a notorious complex spaceflight simulator so advanced that the game has an official partnership with a flight stick module in order to play it. This game features a 1:1 scale model of the galaxy based on information gathered from NASA. So far, less than 0.1% of the Galaxy has been discovered by its player base over ten years.
Elite Dangerous is massive and complex, and V15 has been begging me to try it for years. The one time I did try it a few years ago, I got extreme vertigo and moved through the tutorial at a snail’s pace while V15 kept telling me to go faster. After the tutorial, I put the game down, thoroughly overwhelmed. I thought I would never return. This is what my best friend told me to play after getting unnerved by Outer Wilds.
I’ll be honest: I cried a little when I first got started with this game, and I definitely got overwhelmed. However, with my friend beside me, I got the hang of it and had a lot of fun. I’ve even managed to get my name on a few star systems on the galaxy map. Elite Dangerous has become a favorite way for my friend and I to spend time together. Despite the initial difficulty, I don’t regret giving it a try.
You’ll Always Be My Wingman
Elite Dangerous is not a game that is friendly to newbies. The flight mechanics are so complex that I’m not sure how you’re supposed to play this game with a controller. There’s so much information you need to know that it’s hard to know where to go to find it. Many of the best resources, such as trade routes and the best planets to scan, are found outside the game. Without a capable wingman at my side, I wouldn’t have made it this far.
Elite Dangerous has shaped me into an adept pilot. I’ve escaped from the crushing orbit of a star, survived a crash into a planet, and even confronted dreaded black holes and pulsar stars. Each of these challenges makes for a terrifying encounter that can shred a ship to pieces in seconds if you’re not careful.
Elite Dangerous has helped me to be calmer in the face of the terrors of space. With the help of my friend, I’ve learned to handle each of these situations like a complex equation. Solve the right pieces in the correct order and you get to keep flying.
I couldn’t have made this journey without V15. At the end of the day, it’s not Elite Dangerous that helped me overcome some of my fear of space; it’s him. Thank you, V15.
Two Souls in No Man’s Sky
After playing a good bit of Elite Dangerous, my friend and I have recently branched out to No Man’s Sky. This game is much simpler than Elite Dangerous and while it previously had a bad rap, my experience with it so far has been wonderful.
Our first few hours in No Man’s Sky were a mix of mining, surveying plants and animals, and flying through space. With a focus on crafting a survival mechanic, this game almost feels similar to Minecraft. Even if the aesthetics are different, it has a similar relaxing and exploratory vibe. You begin stranded on a planet with no memory of who you are and only the tools on hand to build yourself the means to survive.
My time with No Man’s Sky has been brief, but I played all the way until my controller died right when returning to home base and would have kept playing. This game is not perfect. There are still a few bugs. I even saw a ship get caught on an outcropping of a planet more than once. However, the bugs feel like a part of the charm, not a crippling inconvenience. Regardless of No Man’s Sky’s previous reputation, I’m having a great time, and I can’t wait to keep playing.
The Journey Home to Outer Wilds
Not too long ago, my friend got the rare chance to visit me in person. While he was here, he decided to take Outer Wilds for a spin and see what all the fuss was about. Sitting beside him, I walked him through what I remembered and what had scarred me.
V15 was entirely unphased by the horrors of “Outer Wilds.” The same planets that had left me gripped with fear, unable to progress any further, were the ones he went toward first. Once he heard the tune from the terrifying mass of nightmares and teeth that is Dark Bramble, he headed straight for it!
Watching my friend play this game, I wasn’t so afraid of it anymore. He confronted the games’ challenges in such a different way than I did. Each run was a chance to learn, and he never let the chance go unwasted and never let his failures overwhelm him. Next to him, the things that had stopped me in my place didn’t seem so bad at all.
Outer Wilds remains a challenge I’ll have to confront again, but it remains a challenge for another day. Watching V15 play, I felt like the game had left my hands, and it wasn’t mine to return to. That feeling may change one day. When it does, I’ll happily try Outer Wilds on my own terms, astrophobia be damned.
Flying with a Wingman
I feel better about playing games in space now. The black hole in Outer Wilds no longer terrifies me quite so much. In truth, it has very little to do with the sci-fi games I’ve played. It’s because of my friend.
When I was younger, I didn’t have many friends to play video games with. For most of my childhood, I played single-player games. I’m also naturally introverted, so these games spoke to me. For these reasons, I usually prefer single-player games. Truth be told, online multiplayer games with real people actually freak me out and usually make me really nervous. However, games have always been better with a friend at my side. Now that I have a friend to confront some of the scarier games I’ve encountered, I don’t feel so daunted anymore.
A good friend will empathize with your fears. A great friend will help you to confront them. I’m lucky enough to have V15 as my wingman. If you’re struggling the way I was, find a wingman to help you confront the great unknown and tackle the problem together. I’ll find you out among the stars.
