Outer space, one of the many mysterious realms of the universe. Pitch black and sparkling with stars as far as the eye can see. Nobody knows where it begins or ends. For years now scientists have tried to research outer space, constantly building new tech so they can figure out what lies in this cold empty void. It may take more than a decade for something to be discovered out in the black abyss, but once scientists get a hold of new material or information they start developing new theories and ideas about outer space. Space is such an imaginative place. It not only plays a big role in scientific knowledge, but it also plays a big role in entertainment.
Many unique fictional ideas have sparked from the topic of outer space, some of these ideas becoming widely acclaimed million dollar franchises. Blockbuster films like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien, or Moon showed us what space could possibly be like on a theater screen. Meanwhile TV shows like Firefly or Final Space take us on intergalactic adventures following ragtag groups of space cowboys. These shows and films follow the footsteps of those daring enough to face whatever is out in space. Even video games are bold enough to immerse us in environments that take place far beyond our world. Such examples would include Halo: Combat Evolved, the first-person shooter that makes us travel across a giant ring filled with strange structures while fighting multiple alien creatures. Prey, the immersive-sim that forces us to adapt and explore the cryptic corridors of Talos 1. Subnautica, the survival game that takes place on an ocean planet. And Elite Dangerous, what is basically a starfighter simulator. One of my most favorite games in recent years took place in the depths of outer space. This being The Outer Worlds, the western RPG developed by Obsidian Entertainment, same creators of another classic RPG which you may know named Fallout: New Vegas.
I love that game way too much, in fact it was my overall Game of The Year for 2019. Why are we talking about The Outer Worlds when we should be talking about the game in the title of this review? Outer Wilds. Let me explain to you what Outer Wilds is and why you should care. Beginning development in 2012, a man named Alex Beachum began working on what personally deemed an “Advanced Game Project”. A game that he considered to be way ahead of its time. Introducing mechanics, psychics, exploration, and ideas no other developer would try to embrace. Even Triple A studios couldn’t develop something like this. So Alex began drafting concepts for his game, trying to figure out what worked and what would take longer to make. He wanted to make an entire solar system to explore, each planet filled with content and having to be manually driven towards. He wanted this solar system to have depth, so he created characters and writing the player can find throughout the game. He experimented with a time loop mechanic, where every 22 minutes time resets and the player has to start from square one. Basically, Alex chose a path an insane person would choose.
Of course a game like this would take some time to develop and Alex needed more people to help him out with his game. Now with a small team of developers, Alex and his new studio Mobius Digital began working on his game. In 2018, Alex and his team revealed their new game named Outer Wilds. The reveal for Outer Wilds captivated quite a few people, and one year later Mobius Digital released the final version of the game. However, Outer Wilds was released at a pretty poor time. At least a few weeks before E3 2019 where several companies revealed big upcoming games, and apparently it was confused for the similarly named “The Outer Worlds” which was building up hype during the time. However, Outer Wilds was received pretty well among critics. Many praised the game for being well designed, innovative, finding a unique way to tell an interesting story, and some even deemed it one of the best games of 2019.
After playing the earlier mentioned Outer Worlds for a second time I was dying for another outer space adventure and luckily Outer Wilds popped up onto my radar. I bought the game on my Playstation 4, sat down to play it, and by the end I had my jaw hanging open and questioned, "What the f*ck I just played through?" Outer Wilds blew me away and it's surprising that a game like this even exists. It may have even taken the torch for being one my favorite games to come out in 2019. It's truly worth looking into and it's hard to explain why it's a masterpiece without describing late game content, but I'll try my best with this review. Today we’ll be talking about why I love Outer Wilds and why it absolutely deserves your attention! So type in those launch codes, suit up, and prepare to sail across the stars. Towards the great unknown.
Story
We play as an alien space adventurer in a galaxy several light years away, specifically a Hearthian who lives in a small village located on a forest planet named Timber Hearth. They wake up to find the stars sparkling in the skies and their friend toasting marshmallows by a campfire. They are told it’s their last day before they set out into the solar system and explore whatever secrets lie on other planets, following the tradition of the Outer Wilds Veturers. They head off to the observatory to pick up launch codes to gain access to their ship, but before they leave they are scanned by the ancient Nomai statue that is on display. The Nomai were once an alien race that tried to research the secrets of the universe. They possessed technology unlike any other alien race and nobody knew what they were truly after. All of the Nomai went extinct and whatever is left of them is tucked away deep within ruins on other planets. Once the player activates their ship they will probably get into an accident trying to explore other planets and immediately die. They wake up back at the campfire they started from the night before they took off and soon they realize they are stuck in a time loop.
The statue that interacted with them earlier caused this to happen and they don’t know how it did it. Not only that but the sun explodes every twenty-two minutes, sending them back to where they started before they launched off. The player soon begins to discover the Nomai ruins located on other planets, and through the scriptures they left behind it claims they were trying to find a place called the Eye of The Universe. They built several laboratories to research quantum anomalies scattered around the solar system, but in between that research something went wrong. It’s up to the player to explore the solar system, learn the ins and outs of each planet, piece together the information they find, what happened during the Nomai expedition, and figure out why they are reliving the same day over and over. To be reborn again and again.
Gameplay
Outer Wilds’ gameplay mostly consists of exploration and discovery. There is no combat and there is no sense of direction. There’s no side objectives, collectible resources used to craft better equipment, and there are no specific landmarks that need to be reached to trigger a cinematic cutscene that progresses the game. Just you, your ship, and a handful of planets to explore. You’ll pilot your ship through the solar system trying to find a structure of interest, and once you find one you will carefully land near the structure, exit your ship, and start exploring whatever is to be found. Maybe there’s some ancient ruins with writing on the walls, so pull out your scanner so you can transcribe what it says. The dialogue you uncover can describe what came before you and maybe give hints on where to go next. Sometimes you may not be able to enter a certain area instantly because the obvious way in is out of reach, so come back at a later time or when you have more information to figure out how.
You have a jetpack that allows you to reach higher areas, but it has a limited amount of fuel and misfiring it can send you flying in the wrong direction. If you run out of fuel your jetpack will start using whatever is left in your oxygen tank to give you the boost you need, but this will likely lead to a faster death if you can’t reach your ship quick enough and refuel. The oxygen tank slowly drains overtime and when it’s empty it instantly kills you, but the tank can be refueled at your ship or whenever you're around trees. You can tell by now that Outer Wilds isn't really a systematic game yet the mechanics on display, while being simple manageable resources, aren’t really things you need to worry about later but rather always. It’s simplistic stuff like this that helps you maintain focus on what is happening while aimlessly exploring each area.
Outer Wilds can be considered an open world game since you can explore any area right when you exit the first area, but it can also be considered a puzzle game as well. Each time you make a new discovery you put together more of a bigger picture, and a few hours later you're rocketing towards the next location which may contain more clues to add to the frame. Every piece of information you find is cataloged onto your ship, and the game carefully organizes what you discover by the location it was found on. There are no enemies in the Outer Wilds, but that doesn't mean you can’t die. Recklessness can lead to your unpredicted demise, as the laws of nature will constantly work against you. You may be flying your ship too fast towards a planet and crash onto the surface. Your ship’s fuel tank may be leaking and you may want to repair it before it makes contact with the fiery engines and ignites. A room is filling too quickly with sand and you’ll be crushed against the ceiling if you don’t make it out in time. You decide to abuse your jetpack and the next second you are circling around a planet and smacking face first into a solid wall. You need to play carefully while exploring each area, but play efficiently so that you can discover as much as you can before the clock hits twenty-two minutes and the sun explodes.
There are several planets to visit in the game, each having their own traits and rules. Brittle Hollow has several Nomai ruins hidden beneath its surface, but thanks to meteors coming down from Hollow’s Lantern the planet will slowly break apart, meaning you want to work fast to obtain the info you need and reach specific landmarks. Ash Twin and Ember Twin are two planets that circle around each other. One will drain sand into the other and reveal sets of towers, and the other has a ruined city buried deep beneath the surface but will fill up with sand overtime. Then there’s Dark Bramble which I'll let you discover by yourself. Time management is a key factor in Outer Wilds, as every twenty-two minutes the sun will explode and you’ll be sent back to the beginning area, keeping nothing more than what you learned. Every location will be reset along with specific events, but now you can use the knowledge you gained on previous runs and deaths to have an easier time to get back to your last goal or next objective. With enough patience, planning, memorization, and skill you’ll figure out the secrets to the solar system and end this timeless cycle once and for all.
Thoughts
Outer Wilds is a magical experience well constructed by the surprisingly brilliant minds at Mobius Digital. This game spent quite some time in development hell and after seven years I’d say it was all worth it. One thing that impressed me the most about Outer Wilds was it’s hand made solar system. Being able to construct each individual planet, the locales scattered across and beneath the surface, explore them easily without any stuttering, and fly to each one without any loading times or transition animations. It’s amazing and it saves up a lot of time since you only have twenty-two minutes for each cycle. In most games you would have to wait for the game to load to explore to continue exploring the world and areas separated from the main map, but here in Outer Wilds due to the condensed size of each planet the game shouldn’t take long to load into. There are scheduled events happening within the twenty-two minute time loop and even those don’t have loading screens that cut away to a cutscene or adjust your camera to get your eyes on the sight. That’s another aspect which I love about Outer Wilds. It shares some similarities to other well designed open worlds where it’s the detailing of structures and how they pop towards the player to go check them out.
The amount of psychics in Outer Wilds is also jaw dropping. Each death felt fair because I failed to understand the natural laws of psychics, the rules for each planet, or failed to learn from past mistakes. If I’m exploring Brittle Hollow and I fall into the blackhole then I should avoid falling next time by treading carefully along the crumbly cliffs and surfaces. For an indie game the graphics are crisp. Each location is brimming with color. Glistening with shine and detail. The character models are really good as well, each having this silly cartoonish look that made them believable alien creatures. Just when Outer Wilds begins to run out of things to do it draws you back in by giving you something new to find and explore. The game is packed with lore and Outer Wilds has a good setting between signaling beginning, middle, and end. The game reminds me of Subnautica at times due to the sense of exploration, and it also reminds me heavily of Return of The Obra Dinn because of the sense of mystery. You explore each planet trying to find a piece to the puzzle and once you have a clue for the solution you end up rocketing towards where it may be. It’s a cleverly well designed game with lots of good ideas and I don’t have any major complaints about it.
I don’t have any complaints at all! Whatever I can complain about is just nitpicking. It would have been nice if your ship had a brake pedal, because most of the time you end up crashing onto or zooming past planets because you couldn’t slow down fast enough. Yet this is the game telling me to fly around more carefully and learn how to properly pilot the ship. A good chunk of it is made out of wood and nails for crying out loud. I can see people with nausea having a difficult time getting into this game, because of how much the camera will spin about in zero gravity sections and when maneuvering your ship. The final complaint I have is while I absolutely loved the game, it’s lacking replayability. Outer Wilds is most enjoyable when you figure out all its secrets on your own by using what information you find, but most of that enjoyment is lost on a second playthrough when you remember where the secrets are and how to get to them. Yet again, I had a similar complaint during my Return of The Obra Dinn reveiw, gave that game a 10/10 review score, and deemed it one of the best games I ever played so screw it! Plus I came back to a couple months later after I had forgotten a majority of the info gained and still had a fun time solving murder cases.
Besides my unnecessary nitpicking, Outer Wilds is a tremendous experience and I cannot stress enough how much I highly recommend it and wish everyone would play it already. No it’s not for everyone, but making games that go outside the box and aim to be a work of art should be what more developers should do. That’s why I haven’t reviewed Overwatch, Red Dead Redemption 2, or The Witcher 3 even though my friends have been begging me to cover them already for how popular in demand they are. We need to point to the smaller more well rounded experience like this. The ones that aim for the best. The auteurs of the video game industry. The ending of Outer Wilds left me amazed and questioned what mysteries the actual universe really had left to offer, but it also left me sad because I know we are never getting a game like Outer Wilds ever again. Outer Wilds was worth the time and effort, and the amount of love and content put into the game should leave Triple A developers either ashamed or amazed. In the end I going to give Outer Wilds a 10/10 because it’s an incredible masterpiece.
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