This review contains spoilers
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.
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.