Outer Wilds is a one-of-a-kind experience for me in a million different ways.

When the main theme played on the title screen, I was excited that it had good music. When the intro had me waking up by a campfire with an alien buddy and a "Roast Marshmallow" prompt, I knew it had charmed me. When I jumped for the first time and noticed it "simulated" a squat by requiring a hold and release to get maximum height, I suspected I was in for an all-timer.

The next 30 hours proved that my suspicion was correct.

Everything about Outer Wilds is made with such love that I'm overwhelmed just thinking about it. The movement and physics ooze a frantic, cackling glee at their own barely contained chaos. The writing and story make otherwise voiceless or long-dead characters have beating hearts. The art direction and world designs create such scale and beauty that it's impossible not to stare in awe. The music is so unbelievably perfect that, in many ways, it is the game. And the actual process of going places, learning things, and putting all the pieces together in your head is so finely tuned that you probably won't even notice it's happening.

And all of it leads up to an ending that somehow manages to confidently leap over the unrealistically high bar the rest of the game sets for it.

I have thought about this game every day for over two years. Just listening to the soundtrack is enough to make me start crying (in a good way). It's impossible for me to exaggerate how good I think this game is because my honest thoughts already sound like they're an absurd exaggeration. So the best I can do is say that Outer Wilds is my favorite game of all time and I love it deeply.

So if you play Outer Wilds, I hope you'll love it too.

Almost everything I said in my review of Outer Wilds applies here. There's a few changes/additions that definitely make this a different experience, though.

The new stuff is much more explicitly scary than anything in the base game, which was a positive for me since I appreciated the change in atmosphere. Base Outer Wilds locations feel like passive, naturally dangerous places that don't particularly care if you're there or not, let alone if you live or die. What Echoes of the Eye adds feels like it actively doesn't want you to be there and is trying to make you go away, by intimidation and obfuscation if it can or force if it has to. It's a clear change in direction that fits what the expansion is trying to do, but some people will for sure bounce off of it.

The new music is as fantastic as you'd expect, with one modified version of an old song that plays once you've finished the expansion being my new favorite track in the entire game. They even managed to add a lot of new mechanics without changing your basic toolkit (ship/jetpack, probe, signalscope, translator, and flashlight), which is really remarkable after how fleshed out everything felt by the end of the base game.

The only real "downside" is the new stuff isn't super tightly integrated into what was already there, but I can't even imagine how it could have been since there aren't any gaps in the base game that an expansion could slot into. What little integration is there, though, is excellent.

Overall, a worthy addition to the original. Probably best played late in a first-time playthrough or gone back to after finishing the base game, considering the difficulty seems balanced for people who already finished the game 2 years ago.

Outer Wilds is the best video game I have ever played. It's breath-taking visuals, brilliant world building, and a soundtrack that I still listen to regularly years after finishing it, all come together to create a profound and unforgettable experience. It's a game that can really only be experienced once, and I can do nothing more than insist that you play it entirely blind, as there is not a single game out there that can truly capture the feeling of all-consuming and profound ecstasy that is derived from playing Outer Wilds. This is a must play, and my favourite video game of all time.

I can't put into words how much I love Outer Wilds. I really can't, but I'll try. There's something about mystery media that just grabs me. Slowly uncovering more and more about the world is immensely satisfying to me. Outer Wilds pulls this off better than any game I know. It's interesting to follow the breadcrumbs all throughout the game and when you stumble a big moments/scene and the music changes... Yup, that's the stuff, that's exactly what I need. I don't even understand why it's so much fun for me, it just is.

Flying around with the ship is also a lot of fun and being able to go wherever you want with it? This is free exploration done right. The only thing holding you back is your knowledge about the world. And the fear of what horror of space will kill you this time.

And the atmosphere, OH MY GOD, THE ATMOSPHERE!!! Outer Wilds gave me a feeling of loneliness unmatched by any other piece of fiction. Which made it all the sweeter when I found an NPC I could hang out with for a while, enjoying a campfire and some calming music. Outer Wilds always makes you feel like there's still something out there in space, even if you uncovered all of its mysteries.

Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy the DLC at all. The stealth sections were too much for me. I had no fun and put it down after a few hours. But the main game is one of my favourite games of all time. It's rare to find a game that moves you as much as much as Outer Wilds moved me. It's truly a special game in that regard.