Vibe Checks in Video Games

Razbuten is teaching me how to actually enjoy games this is awesome

Thanks I really needed this reminder

Beautiful

I hadn't realized until I watched this video, but I haven't accepted a vibe check in a game for soooo long! I think the biggest reason was the end of Outer Wilds :( I finished, and after that I was devasted by, but kind of accepted, the fact that I can't experience it again, so when I played it I just zoomed through everything I knew how to do. Same thing with in Hollow Knight a stop on the bench is usually just to get masks back, or to change a charm or two. I hope to find new games that force me to take advantage of the vibe checks they provide :(((

Hollow Knight really is the best game I’ve played in the last ~10 years.

Journey before destination my friends

Huh excuse me. I came here for video game entertainment. Not a life changing experience thank you very much

Huh excuse me. I came here for video game entertainment. Not a life changing experience thank you very much

Never laughed so hard at an ad transition. Dude, what a catarsis

VIBE CHECK drops grenade

I have diarrhea

Cool title man and amazing video man :]

This got way too deep at the end. I just wanted a nice 12 minutes of vibes to enjoy my break at work, not be launched into a mid life crisis

Thanks man. I just started a new job and I HATE it. I’ve spent the last 2 weeks thinking that exact phrase: “I just need to keep my head down and make enough money to cover our costs until I can find something else.” I needed a vibe check for this moment in my life.
Then comes along your helpful video. It started about video games… but it ended up really helping me. Thank you.

One of my favorite vibe checks in games that is purely driven by me is a small ritual I made for myself in outer wilds: whenever I could, once the music signalled the end of another time loop and the beginning of another supernova, I liked to just fly into space and get out of my ship, and just drift in space for a bit. It made it all so much more beautiful and I think a part of it that made it so memorable was how it came from me and nothing else.

i remember on my 17th birthday my dad took me to San Francisco, and we just walked around the city for hours. eventually we went to a hotel where he had a business meeting on the top floor a couple day's earlier and then we just went up after someone let us up by swiping their card. we got to the top floor and just stared at the night time city lights for about a half hour. its one of my favorite memories, i'll never forget just sitting there, let everything i was worrying about slip away and just be in the moment.

one of my favorite vibe checks in a game is in Infamous 2. the entirety of a world ending phenomenon is at hand and earlier in the game it has you frantically searching for more power to defeat the villain, but for a few solid minutes you and the MC's best character Zeke just sit and drink while watching TV.. temporarily reverting back to how their friendship was before the world changed them.

Valheim is a vibecheck.

Your writing and your delivery are beautiful.

GW2's Vistas offer a good implementation of a vibe check I think.

Holy shit. This fun game design video made me actually consider my life.

"I wish the real world were like that too," that's what interstate rest areas are like.

This whole video is a manipulative attempt to get you to use the soap from the advert. Lol

Favourite Hollow knight vibecheck:
*tries to heal and fires a shadesoul at the blacksmith*... 👁️👄👁️...

My favourite vibe checks are in Horizon Zero Dawn. There's a few of them. One of them is a kind of semi-cutscene - you can return to the protagonist's father's grave every once in a while and she sits there and talks about all that she's been through in the game since you last went there. It's a nice reminder that she's not just an action hero or a chosen one, she's a human who misses the person who raised her. It's a scene similar to Life Is Strange, where she eventually stops talking, but you can just keep sitting there as long as you like. In the bounds of her childhood home, nothing will come to harm you.
Another vibecheck is a series of collectible locations called Vantage Points. You can either buy the map or discover them by coincidence. Vantage Points let you see a holographic projection of what the area looked like before the apocalypse, usually accompanied by a voice message from the one who left the projections there. You get a peek into the life of a person who lived hundreds of years ago, when the world was still somewhat recognizable to us the players, and to hear thoughts they'd leave behind while not knowing who, if anyone, would ever hear it. You can look at a vantage point hologram as long as you want to. It really adds to the poignant sadness of realizing an entire world was lost, and makes you appreciate that you're still able to live after everything that happened.

But while those are both very intentional vibe checks, they're not my favourite ones. My favourite check is a collectible item quest for little figurines left behind by a famous hunter. The hunter would climb high on mountains, leave his little figurine behind, and paint patterns on the path he took there. The result is that in going to collect the figurine, you have to parkour up a mountain, following a path of beautiful geometric paintings to an adorable little animal figurine, and are greeted there by the most breathtaking view of the game's landscape and atmosphere. There is no cutscene there, no voiceline, but getting up there is so enjoyable and the view there so beautiful that it makes me want to sit and enjoy the sights anyway. Especially because I love the game's Photo Mode so much, that scenes like this just make me feel like composing a shot, and that in itself is therapeutic after a game of running, hiding, and fighting for my life. It feels not like the game is pushing me into a vibe check, but that the game has given me the perfect place to have for myself a natural vibe check moment.

Ah so that's why they put the creepy laughing sceen in FFX! So that we would reconsider using Tidus and Yuna in every fight and give the other characters some exp.

This man got me thinking about life when I'm just trying to learn game design 😭 Love these videos

Im going to make sure to do vibe checks irl from now on!

Vibe check? You should play spiritfairer

This was a legit wonderful life lesson, and a great lesson in game design as a bonus.

3 words: visiting Rost’s grave

How did a video about games made me tear up? You, sir, are a genius. And a trickster! Lovely stuff. Thank you!

Your talking about Hollow Knight convinced me to finally pick it up. I'm not a fan of platformers, especially 2D ones but Hollow Knight is simply amazing

That was beautiful

Me coming in: "but how do make game?"
Me going out: "but how do live life?"

Really cool perspective on the pause moments in games.

what has this video come to

This video is so cool to watch and enjoy today and nice title dude :]

For all the things Mass Effect 3 got wrong with the last 5 minutes, the memorial wall moments with your crew were beyond words. Stood there a long time before the final mission.

i love u man

This is actually among the best gaming video essays I’ve ever seen. Maybe it’s because I’m 34 and am in that ‘create my own vibe check’ phase of life… but yeah this gave me big feels. Thank you for that!

I can't remember the exact quote but Mr. Rogers said he likes the blank space on the page more than the words, because it forces you to think about the words

Beautiful video ! The transition of the conversation to our own lives is really refreshing and thought provoking :) thank you !

yes I like jazz, I love it

Same here