Outer Wilds is my favorite game ever made, and I would consider it a flawless masterpiece. Every now and then I think about Outer Wilds and my love grows for it evermore. So of course, when DLC is announced for the game, it has quite a lot to live up to. Echoes of the Eye is able to deliver on the fantastic story and world building of the original game, while providing a vastly different but still fun experience... for the most part.

I want to get the bad out of the way first; The virtual world parts really needed to go through a second revision. I do enjoy the horror of it, and I'm fine with a slower paced style of gameplay to contrast the original speeds. However, the stealth portions are just badly made. You have Strangers that walk around in complete darkness that, if seen in the light, will chase after you and send you back to the start.

So you have to bumble around areas completely blind, praying to God you're going the right way and are not about to fall into water, with turning on the light for even a second potentially causing death. And what I can only think was added just to add further misery, the light has an incredibly limited range, and even when you focus it to see further ahead, they had the audacity to make it so you slow to an agonizing crawl. For a game as masterfully crafted as Outer Wilds, seeing these glaring mistakes is a shock.

And the worst part is, the fixes are so easy. First, get rid of the focus crawl. There is zero reason for that. And while you're at it, maybe increase the size a bit so I can actually see somewhat. Secondly, have the Strangers have their lights on much more often. I remember the first stealth segment I had to go through, in the woods next to the house with the fireplace. Strangers are walking through it with lamps, making it less of a chore to walk through and explore without being killed. Make more of them have their lamps on, ESPECIALLY the ones inside that big mansion. That entire mansion is an absolute nightmare to crawl through. From what I can tell, there's really no point in actually going through it, but tell that to me when I spent 30 minutes walking around aimlessly. Adding light would make this so much less agonizing while also now being fun and stealthy.

There were only two I liked the complete darkness of, the first being the Stranger down below the bell alarm in the virtual tower world. What makes it good is that at the end of the hallway, there are actually lights, giving you a point of reference while exploring, which the other areas completely lack. This made stealth fun as I had a visible end goal while also having to try and keep track of the Stranger. It falls apart when you leave the light area and discover that the other end is not lit up, leaving you in total darkness yet again. The second one, while not nearly as good, is alright. It's in the aforementioned mansion, next to the tree mural you have to turn the lights off to get to in the first place. There's a single Stranger down there, and to get past you have to hide behind these two shutters and wait for him to pass. I thought this was clever, but it was still way too dark.

And that's it for the bad. It may seems long and really bad, but honestly I can excuse it for the rest of this incredible DLC.

The game really ignites that feeling of Outer Wilds again. Exploring an unknown land, piecing the story together piece by piece, until eventually you figure out what to do and can never experience it again. And the writing is done just as well. EOTE goes for a different approach than the rest of the game, telling its story completely visually without any text. While this does sadly remove the unique characters like those that made up the Nomai, I'm actually fine with this as it makes sense. The Strangers are, well, strange. They're meant to feel more foreign and unsettling compared to the Nomai, so for their civilization to have barely any text outside of an odd sign here or there makes perfect sense. The story itself is fantastic too, telling a really sad story just as, if not more tragic than that of the Nomai, but I won't go over it as it really speaks for itself.

There's also the general gameplay. I think the gameplay is a slight downgrade but nothing bad at all. Outer Wilds' gameplay was near perfect, flying from planet to planet and getting into shenanigans along the way. EOTE takes place in a much smaller environment with no spaceship, which is a little disappointing. However, it does give rafts, which are really fun to control, but aren't nearly as silly or fun as the spaceship. I can understand this choice though, as at this point a spaceship just wouldn't work and would ruin the feel, and having stuff happen to the raft would feel more annoying than what can happen to your spaceship. One more thing, I never felt lost during my playthrough, which is actually a step up from the main game. EOTE is very clear on where to go, and it never oversteps in giving too much information. There's only two times I felt like it gave me something I didn't need to be told, that being the underwater cave to the tower and the third reel burn spot, however these are also kinda easy to miss so I can understand pointing towards them.

There's also the second half of the gameplay, inside the virtual world. I went over all my gripes already, so I wanna go over the positives. The horror is done fantastically, for a long time the suspense never pays off, leaving you in a constant feeling of discomfort and dread which I love. Outer Wilds was a scary game at times, especially Dark Bramble, however this takes it to another level and I love the way its done. The overall puzzle for it was also really fun too discover, going glitch by glitch until you finally unlock the strange locked box.

The music, as always, is just fantastic. Some of the best in the entire soundtrack. Getting on the raft for the first time and being thrusted into this strange ring planet vessel while an exciting melody plays with the travelers theme snuck in was just an amazing moment.

And speaking of moments, EOTE is just full of them. One of my favorite parts of Outer Wilds was the moments. Some of them were things expected of you, like finding the Nomai grave or getting the last piece of the puzzle for the eye, while some were completely unique to my experience, like accidentally going into the Ash Twin project or being hit by the Interloper out of no where and instantly dying. EOTE is filled to the brim with these, and there might be even more of them than in the main game (but my memory could be a little foggy).

Finally, I want to talk about, well, the finale. After you finish everything in The Stranger, you can finish the game yet again and have the Prisoner in the ending. He is finally able to speak in the Eye, and says that he apologizes for his species actions and asks for forgiveness. You can actually deny him forgiveness, which I'm curious on the outcome, but of course I welcomed him in as a friend. Along with this he brings a new small event to grab his instrument, which perfectly fits with all of the DLC. The instrument itself is really fascinating, and when he begins to play it creates a foreign but beautiful sound that fits perfectly into the travelers theme. I'm not going to lie, during the credits I nearly cried. When I first beat Outer Wilds, I didn't really feel anything. I was sad the game was over and that I would never experience it again, but nothing else. After experiencing EOTE, which is arguable a sequel in disguise, my love for Outer Wilds as a whole rushed out. It was only after viewing it for a second time that I realized I never wanted to expereince it again. Not because it was bad or anything, but because of how precious my journey was. As I said before, many things happened both during my original playthrough and EOTE that are unique to my experience, and to forget those and play it blindly again would just feel hollow. I will always treasure my experience with this game, and just as I accepted the doom of one universe for the rebirth of another, I accept the loss of experiencing this masterpiece ever again for the birth of a new experience that I will be looking forward to, whether it be from Mobius Digital or somewhere else.

Overall, Echoes of the Eye is a flawed, but still fantastic addition to the original Outer Wilds. It had a lot to live up to, and while it didn't hit the nail everywhere, where it did hit the nail it hit it hard under the guidance of what came before it. Finishing EOTE caused me to fall in love with the game for a second time, something that I once thought impossible after beating the game for the first time. This game and the DLC are truly masterpieces, and I suggest without hesitation that you play Outer Wilds.