Any Austin
| Any Austin | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube information | |||||||
| Channel | |||||||
| Years active | 2013–present | ||||||
| Genre | Video essay | ||||||
| Subscribers | 755 thousand[1] | ||||||
| Views | 63 million[1] | ||||||
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Last updated: April 21, 2025 | |||||||
Any Austin is an American YouTuber known for creating video essay content about video games such as The Legend of Zelda franchise, Grand Theft Auto V, and The Elder Scrolls games. They focus on obscure, specific or technical aspects of them and their setting. Topics covered in these videos include the hydrology, infrastructure or economies of the games's worlds, surveying them like real world places. He has also released music under the name "The Excellent Man from Minneapolis".[2]
Content
[edit]Austin studied the hydrology of several video games. He applied real-world hydrology to the waterways of the video game The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, arguing that the so-called rivers were actually sloughs before refuting his own analysis and argument.[3] He also mapped the rivers in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (which turn out to be one river which splits up) and analyzed the geographical changes to the map that could have occurred as a result of the water flow.[4] Austin studied the rivers of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and analysed the impact that its weather would have on a living experience in any of the game's cities.[5][6]
Austin's study of video games also led him to analyze the power grids in Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto V.[7] He analyzed the number of nuclear bombs detonated in the map of Fallout 3, finding it to be much lower than the number stated in the game, which he attributed to game designers condensing areas for improved gameplay.[8]
Austin has also observed the behaviour of non-player characters within games, noting their employment status, daily activities, and general behaviour. He followed NPCs in Fallout 4, observing where they travel and their routines, and noticing their general aimlessness.[2] Austin conducted surveys on all NPCs within various towns in Skyrim, as well as numerous other games such as, analysing the economic situation of these towns through unemployment, diversification of industries, and property.[9][10]
Austin has a series on his channel in which he searches for 'odd and unremarkable places' in video games - these are usually places that a player would not normally explore in any great detail.[11]
Reception
[edit]Dan Schindel of the arts magazine Hyperallergic included Austin's video essay on the power grid in Los Santos in a list of video essays for the holiday season.[12] A Skyrim modder created a mod to correct an inconsistency in the direction of a river in Skyrim in response to Austin's video.[5] Several writers at PC Gamer recommended his videos, with Joshua Wolens remarking that Austin probably put more work into analyzing Morrowind than the game designers themselves.[5][3]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "About any_austin". YouTube.
- ^ a b Bolding, Jonathan (July 1, 2024). "Guy who mapped Skyrim's rivers decides to follow Fallout characters home after dismissing them". PC Gamer. Retrieved May 14, 2025.
- ^ a b Wolens, Joshua (October 8, 2024). "YouTuber hero-scientist reveals the hidden lie at Morrowind's heart: Its rivers aren't rivers at all". PC Gamer.
- ^ Jones, Ali (August 13, 2024). "Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom mapper discovers a weird geographical plot hole that puts Hyrule in direct opposition to Skyrim". GamesRadar+. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
- ^ a b c Macgregor, Jody (May 12, 2024). "YouTuber spots something unusual about Skyrim's river flow, modder gets on it immediately". PC Gamer. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
- ^ Velde, Issy van der (February 20, 2025). "Skyrim's foremost geographer uses weather stats to explain how it actually feels to live in each of the iconic RPG's cities". GamesRadar+. Retrieved April 23, 2025.
- ^ Velde, Issy van der (November 29, 2024). "Have you ever wondered where GTA 5's powerlines go? Me neither, but the YouTuber who followed Skyrim's rivers to their source has found out and it's fascinating". GamesRadar+. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
- ^ Litchfield, Ted (June 2, 2024). "One Fallout 3 fan investigated how many bombs actually landed on the Capital Wasteland: it turns out, not that many". PC Gamer. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
- ^ "Skyrim's Whiterun has higher unemployment than UK and US combined". PCGamesN. September 21, 2022. Retrieved May 14, 2025.
- ^ Murray, Sean (September 25, 2022). "Skyrim Needs Help: Whiterun's Unemployment Problem Is Far Worse Than US And UK Combined". TheGamer. Retrieved May 14, 2025.
- ^ Colp, Tyler (March 20, 2025). "The expert on finding weird places in Skyrim, GTA 5, and others does it out of love". Polygon. Retrieved May 14, 2025.
- ^ Schindel, Dan (December 12, 2024). "Five Video Essays for the Holiday Season". Hyperallergic. Retrieved April 22, 2025.