A year ago, I finished playing Outer Wilds. This week, I finished Disco Elysium. While they are very different games, I believe there exists a conversation between them.

I have been to two universes.

In the first, I went as far as I could go. It was dark. The further I went, the smaller I became. The smaller I became, the further I could see. I saw the lives of entire species, their memories and purposes etched into the lands they left behind. Heavenly bodies at their beginnings and their ends. I shrank, until my Self was completely diluted. In doing so, I was met with an incomprehensible web of connection. Each entity, sentient or otherwise, a blip entangled within. The threads stretched through space and time. A vastness. Everything.

With great effort, I poked one of the blips. It, along with a few others nearby, jittered imperceptibly. Nothing else moved. I faltered.

What was meaningful in a Self so insignificant?

In the second, I again ventured to the edge. The darkness, however, was within. I met the parts of me, but the more I got to know them, the more splintered they became. Soon they were infinitesimal, until I faced another web. Connection between the parts in every direction, uncountable and unknowable. A vastness. My Self.

With frightening ease, I disturbed one of these immeasurable pieces. The ripple was aggressive. As I followed the wave, I was startled. The Selves outside were shaken, their pieces deeply intertwined with mine. This web that was without ending, also had no beginning. I faltered.

What wasn't meaningful in a Self so all-encompassing?