Base game review

In my most recent review of the base game, I mentioned that discovery is the ethos of Outer Wilds. That ethos is successfully carried over to the Echoes of the Eye DLC, but not in a way that I expected. A key aspect of discovery is the ability to bravely face the unknown, and it’s that very aspect that Echoes of the Eye tests its players on. The farther you progress throughout the DLC, the more the game tests you in this regard, as you gradually learn more and more about the fate of the species that occupies The Stranger, and you eventually trespass through a world that’s hostile, oppressive, and foreboding in order to learn the truth about this mysterious and unheard-of alien race, as well as how they tie into the mystery regarding the Eye of the Universe.

The DLC feels very segmented from the core game, while at the same time managing to integrate itself naturally with the rest of Outer Wilds’ galaxy. Its explanation for why you wouldn’t have discovered it over the course of your original playthrough makes sense. The Stranger uses cloaking technology to make itself invisible so you likely would never find it over the course of your original journey. I like how they made getting to The Stranger a puzzle itself, further justifying why you wouldn’t have discovered it during your original run.

The Stranger is a very cool environment to explore. Making it a ring world like Halo was a great idea, and I love how its environment is more or less an extension to that of Timber Hearth’s, with its woodlands-based climate. Navigating The Stranger is quite fun. Regardless of your overall feelings towards the DLC, I feel like almost everyone can agree that water rafting to the different areas throughout the ship is really fun, especially with the accompanying music track that plays when the raft picks up speed.

The storytelling is done differently in the DLC. Since your translator doesn’t understand the language of the alien race aboard The Stranger, the story is told via the different projector reels that you find all throughout various abandoned and rotting buildings in the ship, and eventually, the dream world as well. Once you start to discover the various projection reels, the DLC gradually becomes more and more ominous as you learn additional details regarding the race that’s aboard the Stranger. I can’t tell you how uneasy I felt when I discovered the corpses of this race hidden away in one of their dream rooms. It was extremely unnerving the first time.

The contrast between dark and light is a key theme of the DLC, and like the base game, the DLC ties its key narrative theme with its gameplay very well. From the moment you board The Stranger, you discover how the ship’s systems generally operate via sources of light, making your flashlight a key tool throughout the entire DLC. This contrast is explored even further when you explore the dream world, which is enshrouded in pitch black darkness. Going from the bright and serene environment of The Stranger to the dark and oppressive atmosphere of the dream world is such an intense transition. The devs went above and beyond in making you feel like the dream world is a place you are not supposed to be in. Thanks to the incredible sound design as well as the usage of darkness to make it difficult to get a grasp on your surroundings, it feels like anything can come out of the dark to surprise and attack you at any moment. This is how Echoes of the Eye tests your ability to face the unknown in order to reach the truth.

I truly admire the lengths gone to in order to tie this narrative theme with the gameplay. The devs definitely accomplished what they set out to do with it, but at the same time, part of me feels like they did a little too good of a job. The dream world is so dark that it’s actually a bit of a nuisance trying to explore it. That in addition to its overwhelming atmosphere and the inability to fight back against enemies is the primary reason why unlike the base game, I wasn’t enthusiastic about exploring the dream world, and there were times where I actually had to sit down and force myself through it. I don’t know why I had such a reaction to the dream world when I’m normally an enjoyer and advocate for horror. It might be because of how much the environment is obfuscated in the dream world. In other horror games, I feel like I can at the very least prepare for threats by being aware of my surroundings, and I’m generally able to fight back against enemies, even in a limited capacity. In the dream world, my inability to always have a firm grasp of my surroundings due to the darkness or fight back at all against the patrolling enemies, as well as the oppressive soundscape, kept me constantly uncomfortable and on edge at all times. Even if the enemies are telegraphed by the lanterns they carry in the dark, they could still be hard to spot, and I would occasionally just turn around a corner and run into one of them with no way of knowing beforehand.

I definitely understand what the devs were trying to do by making the dream world dark and difficult to navigate. At the same time though, it made the dream world a pain to explore at times, as well as figure out what to do and where to go. When you discover the Forbidden Archives in each of the three key locations and you get the clues you need to figure out how to make navigating the dream world easier, it gets a lot better. You also learn additional details of the alien race that occupies The Stranger, including the contents of the projector reels that you discover on The Stranger that have burnt out slides, making them a particularly strong reward.

The conclusion of the DLC, which you reach by freeing the Prisoner after utilizing the techniques you learn in the Forbidden Archives, was rather satisfying. I really enjoyed the scene with the Prisoner where you exchange information with one another via his projection staff. I can’t imagine the complex emotions the Prisoner must’ve felt when he realized that his actions weren’t in vain, and in-fact, lead to core events that kick off the base game’s narrative. You can really grasp those feelings by listening to his pained, yet vindicated howl after the vision exchange. It’s a very tender and beautiful moment that only Outer Wilds is capable of. I was told to redo the base game’s ending again once I finished the DLC, and I’m glad I did, I’m actually a little ashamed that I didn’t think to do so after initially completing Echoes of the Eye. The addition of The Prisoner to the finale sequence was a welcome one, and it was very nice seeing him join up with the rest of the crew, introducing an additional race to the new universe that we birth together.

Echoes of the Eye is a different, yet excellent addition to Outer Wilds. However, I feel like I’d be lying if I said I completely enjoyed the experience. The dream world can be frustrating to navigate even when you do get used to the scary atmosphere and the enemies stop having that effect they once had on you, simply because of how difficult it is to see anything while you’re in it without leaving your artifact behind. Like most things in Outer Wilds though, it does become easier to navigate thanks to repetition. The DLC as a whole is still an excellent experience, and a worthwhile addition to the game. It’s not consistently fun, but at the same time it’s not trying to be. It challenges you to face the unknown, and I’m glad I braved that challenge.

This is going to be a bit different from my usual reviews. Nowadays when I review games, I prefer to do so while my most recent experience with it is fresh in my mind. Sadly, when I first played Outer Wilds a few years ago, I didn’t write a review for it, and as you likely know by now, the game is a once in a lifetime experience. That’s not just me being hyperbolic for the sake of gassing the game up as much as I possibly can. The game is designed in a way that you can really only ever get the most out of it a single time. Sure you could go through the motions of filling out the ship’s log again, but the entire ethos of Outer Wilds hinges on discovery. Once you’ve figured out the answers to its mysteries and you learn what you need to do to clear the game, you can never enjoy it the same way again. As such, nothing I write will be able to accurately capture those feelings I experienced when I first played the game. However, after recently finishing the Echoes of the Eye DLC and realizing I’m not especially satisfied with my non-spoiler review of the game, I’ve decided to make an effort to at least try.

Like I said, discovery is the ethos of Outer Wilds, and that’s what makes this game so euphoric. Each planet is so much fun to explore. They’re all layered with so many elements that make them intriguing. They’ll either have unique physics like the more intense gravity of Giant’s Deep or the pocket dimension seeds that can be found in the Dark Bramble, or they drastically change over the course of the loop like the Ash Twins and Brittle Hollow. All planets also feature logs of the Nomai people, pointing you in the direction of the Eye of the Universe, as well as allowing you to learn more about their history, culture, and legacy. As you play the game more and more, you constantly learn new things about this fascinating galaxy, which feels incredible and appeals to your sense of curiosity to make you want to play the game more.

The developers have frequently cited The Legend of Zelda - my personal favorite video game franchise, as a major influence on the game, and it definitely shows. I remember all throughout my playthrough feeling a very similar sense of childlike wonder that I feel whenever I play a Zelda game. That feeling, that sense of adventure, is one that I greatly cherish. It reminds me of more innocent times, and it makes me very excited and joyful when games I play manage to evoke it. I love it when games encourage me to want to visit every nook and cranny of it’s world (or in Outer Wilds’ case, its universe) by making everything you can find all worthwhile instead of filling the game with fluff for the sake of making it seem bigger than it is. Every planet, and everything you can find on those planets, ties into the game’s overall goals of figuring out what you can do to keep the sun from exploding, as well as tracking down the Eye of the Universe. Finding everything there is to discover, as well as figuring out how all of those things you discover are connected not just with one another, but your main goals as well, is indescribably satisfying.

The game’s core controls can definitely take some getting used to, and is a common point where I see a lot of people struggle. The “tutorial” with the remote control ship on Timber Hearth does not do a very good job at simulating the controls of flying the actual spaceship you use throughout the game, but at the same time, you do get the gist of it, and it’s not too dissimilar from controlling your own playable character in zero gravity. The more you play the game, the more you get used to them, as you do with any other game that has competent controls, and beating the game does require a fundamental understanding of them.

The time loop itself is a constant source of anxiety all throughout the game. In some ways, it can cause you to make mistakes, since there are so many instances where you need to be in a specific location at a certain point in time over the course of the loop, and you can accidentally kill yourself or destroy your ship trying to get somewhere in a hurry because you’re rushing. It can also be a bit annoying at times. You could be in the middle of making some kind of important discovery right as the sun is exploding. At the same time though, the time loop also pushes the player to get better at the game. The concept of an open-ended exploration game requiring a level of skill may sound strange, but it’s true. The time loop pushes you to not only get better at handling your character and ship, but to also memorize the planets and the locations within them, as well as how to get to them as quickly and easily as possible.

Its storytelling is excellent. Normally, I’m not a fan of when games tell their story through extensive log entries. It feels like homework that you need to do in order to get the context for the plot which the game itself doesn’t really provide. Games like Transistor and DOOM Eternal are two examples that immediately come to mind. Outer Wilds manages to make storytelling through logs fun by writing them in a way that tells a story as it unfolds. They not only provide context to the current state of the location you're exploring as well as the Nomai’s actions, but they also serve as pieces of the game’s overall puzzle. The Nomai logs are actually a reward, rather than homework. Another storytelling element the game does masterfully well is how it ties in its narrative themes with its gameplay. You need to make the best use of what time you have in your life. That’s both one of the key themes of the game as well as what you literally do over the course of each time loop you go through. Then there’s the finale. No words can really capture the sheer wonder and the overwhelming multitude of emotions you experience over the course of it. Thematically and cinematically it’s one of, if not the most concise and impactful endings in any video game I’ve ever played.

Outer Wilds is the game that I feel like is the closest to being perfect that I have ever played. While I do prefer other games for reasons such as their gameplay or aesthetics, I can ultimately find flaws in them that can detract from the experience, even in minor ways. For Outer Wilds, it’s very difficult to find anything wrong with it without doing the most egregious nitpicking imaginable. The closest thing to a flaw that I could think of was that the planets themselves aren’t constructed in a way where they actually feel like they’re planets. They’re way too small to be a planet, as evidenced by the single teeny-tiny villages and settlements you can find on most of them. Despite this, the game still manages to capture the feeling of traveling to distinct planets thanks to each world’s unique characteristics and how they change over the course of each loop. Even if the planets aren’t big enough to feel like actual planets, they are the perfect size for the game’s core gameplay.

The one single game that I choose to recommend to anyone is Outer Wilds. It may not appeal to everyone per se, especially if they don’t have a natural sense of curiosity and aren’t especially fond of doing a lot of reading in their games, but I still think it’s worth it for everyone to at the very least give the game a shot. Despite taking clear inspiration from specific pieces of media, the developers managed to create something wholly unique and original. There’s nothing out there right now at the time of writing this that’s like Outer Wilds. It is a true, honest to god, once in a lifetime experience that can’t easily be replicated. Sure, there might be other games out there that I prefer to Outer Wilds despite their flaws, but in all honesty, this is the greatest game I’ve ever played. It is a nearly flawless masterpiece and one of the most genuine, sincere, and beautiful works of art I have ever experienced.