Two months after finishing Outer Wilds I'm still not over this game and its ending. Only now do I feel ready to write my thoughts on the game down. For the people who never played this game before, I will try to keep this as spoiler-free as possible. Also, I don't want to sound cliche but go into this game completely blind, that will give you the best experience.
In Outer Wilds, you play the newest recruit of the Outer Wilds ventures (a space program) and you're tasked with exploring the solar system. The only catch? (small spoiler ahead) The solar system, including you, is stuck in a 22-minute time loop. So you can explore the solar system for 22 minutes and then you restart at the beginning. But not empty-handed. Every little thing you learned while exploring the solar system and its different planets you take with you, with that knowledge you can start your next expedition. For example: Maybe you learned something about the location of planet B while exploring planet A, so now you want to use this loop to explore planet B. This is the Outer Wilds gameplay loop, use knowledge to find new and more knowledge so you can solve the 22-minute loop. This may sound boring in an action game-filled world, but it's super satisfying to learn those different things and solve puzzles to get new information. There is this 'map' in your ship that keeps track of all the information you find and it's one of the best feelings to see it all coming together.
All this information combined creates one of my favorite gaming narratives.
The beauty from Outer Wilds for me comes from its 'simplicity. The tools you get at the start of the game are the same tools you use to end the game. No unnecessary upgrades or annoying RPG-style skill trees like the latest God Of War. You get the tools you need to explore the universe and it is more than enough. It was really refreshing to play a game that does not have tons of side content that are just copy-passed and brings nothing interesting to the game. It let's you be free to explore at your own pace without pushing you in a direction. You choose where to go and when. There are no giant markers pointing you in a direction and it made me feel like I was exploring this solar system and not someone guiding me through it. The only game that gave me this exact feeling was Hollow Knight.
So I've talked about how great this game is and how unique it is. But I've not mentioned the BEST thing about this game: the soundtrack. The soundtrack is not only beautiful but it is also weaved in the narrative as I've never seen before. Even now when I hear certain songs, I become emotional because they're connected to certain parts of the game that left a huge impression on me.
Outer Wilds has some flaws, like the controls can be a bit awkward (especially in the beginning), and sometimes you need to be at a certain point, on a certain planet, at a certain time to solve a puzzle and it can be a bit annoying. But these flaws are so small compared to all the good things.
There are a lot of things I haven't mentioned, like the different planets and how they work, but I really don't want to spoil these things. Arriving on a planet and seeing how it works are very special moments and you should experience them for yourself.
So in conclusion, I LOVE Outer wilds (if that wasn't obvious yet) and it has become one of my favorite games. Months after finishing the game I still think about it almost daily. I can't wait to see what Mobius does next and I'm very excited to see what they do with the (at this points unanounced and only leakd) DLC for Outer Wilds.
In Outer Wilds, you play the newest recruit of the Outer Wilds ventures (a space program) and you're tasked with exploring the solar system. The only catch? (small spoiler ahead) The solar system, including you, is stuck in a 22-minute time loop. So you can explore the solar system for 22 minutes and then you restart at the beginning. But not empty-handed. Every little thing you learned while exploring the solar system and its different planets you take with you, with that knowledge you can start your next expedition. For example: Maybe you learned something about the location of planet B while exploring planet A, so now you want to use this loop to explore planet B. This is the Outer Wilds gameplay loop, use knowledge to find new and more knowledge so you can solve the 22-minute loop. This may sound boring in an action game-filled world, but it's super satisfying to learn those different things and solve puzzles to get new information. There is this 'map' in your ship that keeps track of all the information you find and it's one of the best feelings to see it all coming together.
All this information combined creates one of my favorite gaming narratives.
The beauty from Outer Wilds for me comes from its 'simplicity. The tools you get at the start of the game are the same tools you use to end the game. No unnecessary upgrades or annoying RPG-style skill trees like the latest God Of War. You get the tools you need to explore the universe and it is more than enough. It was really refreshing to play a game that does not have tons of side content that are just copy-passed and brings nothing interesting to the game. It let's you be free to explore at your own pace without pushing you in a direction. You choose where to go and when. There are no giant markers pointing you in a direction and it made me feel like I was exploring this solar system and not someone guiding me through it. The only game that gave me this exact feeling was Hollow Knight.
So I've talked about how great this game is and how unique it is. But I've not mentioned the BEST thing about this game: the soundtrack. The soundtrack is not only beautiful but it is also weaved in the narrative as I've never seen before. Even now when I hear certain songs, I become emotional because they're connected to certain parts of the game that left a huge impression on me.
Outer Wilds has some flaws, like the controls can be a bit awkward (especially in the beginning), and sometimes you need to be at a certain point, on a certain planet, at a certain time to solve a puzzle and it can be a bit annoying. But these flaws are so small compared to all the good things.
There are a lot of things I haven't mentioned, like the different planets and how they work, but I really don't want to spoil these things. Arriving on a planet and seeing how it works are very special moments and you should experience them for yourself.
So in conclusion, I LOVE Outer wilds (if that wasn't obvious yet) and it has become one of my favorite games. Months after finishing the game I still think about it almost daily. I can't wait to see what Mobius does next and I'm very excited to see what they do with the (at this points unanounced and only leakd) DLC for Outer Wilds.