I loved watching Materwelonz play this. She did a 20 episode series and I caught them as soon as I saw them posted. I also watched Many A True Nerd play for an episode or two, but he doesn't do serious runs on stuff like this, and he heavily edits his work to hide details so he doesn't spoil it for potential players. I watch him mostly for the humor and the mechanics diving on the games he enjoys.
This game fucked me up.
I was kind of vaguely aware of it from popping up on my Steam recommendations, and it having rave reviews. But I also thought, you know, I could keep playing Deep Rock Galactic. But then hololive EN's Ceres Fauna did a Let's Play of it to tide the saplings over while she was visiting family for Christmas, and I didn't want to watch her play it before getting to experience it for myself, and...
Yeah, the aforementioned vertical copulation of yours truly.
In a sense, it's something like Subnautica. I never considered myself thalassophobic, but still felt that primal terror when going out into the open ocean without any visible landmarks, the dread of going deeper into the lightless abyss. I am intensely acrophobic, so you can imagine what my first spacewalk in Outer Wilds was like, or walking along the underside of Brittle Hollow's crust. But like in Subnautica, I eventually mastered my new environment, getting used to relative notions of "up," or the whirl of stars and planetary bodies overhead. And like Subnautica, Outer Wilds is best experienced for oneself, unspoiled. Once you complete the story, you'll wish you could somehow wipe your memory of it so you could experience it for the first time all over again. Instead, you settle for watching others' blind LPs of it to get the sensation secondhand.
There's also something Myst-like about it, going through the ruins of an alien-yet-recognizable civilization, uncovering the mysteries that explain why it's in ruins, treating the environment as a riddle to solve to allow progress. And I'm sure other puzzle games do that, but I like Myst.
And yes, the big comparison is to The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Even our work page spoils that there's a time loop (fortunately, I didn't know that when I started playing). There's a lot of time management, choosing what to do each loop, being in the right place at the right time to progress. But the big thing is the feeling of the game, that sense of grim inevitability, of fatalism or even full nihilism, clashing with your desperate attempts to break the cycle and avert a terrible fate.
I had a couple of theories and ideas about what was going on and what I might do to save the day, but as I put together more and more of the puzzle, and got a look at the result, fully understood what was happening... that was a mood, yes. I guess it was quantum - all the possibilities I had been considering collapsed, the scenario became fixed as I properly observed it. As the causes and solutions I'd considered were invalidated, there was only one thing left to try, even if I had no idea how or if it would work.
(Well, I had some kind of idea. Anticipating the tropes, genre savvyness, etc. Also, I made the mistake of buying the soundtrack before completing the game and saw the names of some of the music tracks.)
At any rate, the ending.
The piano counter-melody.
Still hits me, days later.
Easily one of my top ten games of all time, maybe even in my top five. Enthusiastically recommended for anyone who appreciates a great story with a side of platforming and spaceflight, served with puzzles that respect your intelligence.
Three important tips for new players:
- Play it blind
- Look up
- "Best played on a controller" my ass. Both of the LPs of the game I've seen have had the players hit with some controller bug that disables a button until they re-bind it, and having to use an analog stick to look around interferes with the previous "Look up" rule. I went through it just fine using my mouse and keyboard, and had a much easier time looking around. But still failed to notice something crucial on the "ceiling" of a space station I thought I'd fully explored.-
Once I recover from the base game, I'll be tackling the DLC. I poked around it for about 15 minutes and wasn't hit by any spooky stuff, but I'm sure it's just getting me to lower my guard.
Edited by Tacitus on Jan 31st 2024 at 1:08:55 PM
I recently got into the game this past holiday season when it got released on physical for the Nintendo Switch. I will say that I'm now a rabid fan of this game and have been encouraging many of my friends and family to play it - specifically my dad. He and I were big Myst fans and loved solving those games together when I was growing up - so good to know I'm not the only one drawing that comparison!
As for the DLC, which I see not many have talked about - it can be frustrating at times and a bit scary for those who don't like horror, but I promise you the end result and conclusion is so worth the effort and investment! Don't give up! I know it can be tough because unlike the base game, where if you get stuck, you just 'go somewhere else' to find a clue to help crack the puzzle you were stuck on! Not so in the DLC. If you're stuck, you're kinda confined to one location to figure it out. It's definitely a different vibe and feel to the DLC, but it is distinctly Outer Wilds regardless. I played without reduced frights and honestly, it's the best way to play. (After having seen what reduced frights does)
Good luck and take the curiosity of those that came before with you!

This game
. This game is super good and I am obsessed with it. Been watching Let's Plays just to re-experience it again for the first time vicariously.
Outer Wilds is basically the Morrowind of No Man's Sky, alongside a dash of Majora's Mask. It's about space exploration in a carefully hand-crafted solar system. Each of its planets and celestial bodies is a wealth of things to explore and discover, all in service of solving a central mystery at the heart of it.
At the same time, there's a strong time-based element to it. The game takes place over the course of a recursive 22 minute cycle. At the end of 22 minutes, the game resets and the events that transpire over that length of time begin again - mostly regarding the motion of stellar objects. As time progresses, some things become inaccessible while others open up. Time is a critical factor.
There is no combat in the game; its obstacles are meant to be overcome through the discovery and ascertaining of knowledge. Indeed, it's possible to reach the game's emotionally powerful ending in a single 22 minute loop. But unless you know exactly what to do, you won't. But since knowledge is such a critical element, it's also a spoiler-heavy title. Which is why I've been a bit hesitant to talk about the plot.
If you're curious about a plot summary and don't mind light spoilers, see below:
At the end of 22 minutes, the sun explodes and wipes out the solar system. Why does the sun explode? Can it be stopped? These are some of the questions central to the game's mysteries. Further questions surround an ancient race of Precursors called the Nomai, who left strange ruins littering the various planets around the solar system. Who were the Nomai? What were they searching for? Why did they die out? And how do these ruins connect to each other? All of these are questions to be answered in pretty much any order the player chooses, as the has total freedom of exploration as soon as you get your spaceship.
All in all, Outer Wilds is a cute indie game that tugged at my heartstrings and left me with a lot of feelings to feel. I had a blast exploring this little solar system and I hope you will too.
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