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IMPORTANT NOTE: This is based on my experience with the PC version of this title and its DLC. The PS5 version reportedly shipped an incorrect version without the DLC included. If you have purchased the Outer Wilds Archaeologist’s Edition for PS5, you can email support.iam8bit.com for a DLC code.
What do Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Remedy’s Control have in common? Jaw dropping graphics? Of course. A protagonist overcoming overwhelming odds? Absolutely; but more importantly, both lost a BAFTA to a four eyed blue alien and his spaceship. Outer Wilds is getting a physical release and if you have somehow eluded its cult classic reputation so far, I am here to tell you about it.
Conclusion
No no, this is not a typo. As much as I would like to discuss Outer Wilds there is one thing I want more; For you to play Outer Wilds with as little information as possible.
With that in mind, if you like exploration, if you like mysteries, if you want a game that will make you feel like both a genius and an idiot in equal measure, then I give Outer Wilds my unequivocal recommendation. Without hyperbole I believe that Outer Wilds is the best designed game I have ever played and one that everyone should try. Minor puzzle gripes do not stand in the way of my recommendation because there are very few games out there that deliver this kind of experience and none that do it as well. Between the base game and the included expansion Echoes of the Eye you have at least 20 hours of solar system spanning mystery to get stuck into. Not to mention the additional hours of entertainment you will gain from trying to get your loved ones to also play Outer Wilds and relive the experience vicariously through their discoveries.
Launch Day
If you are still here you have either played Outer Wilds and want me to further confirm your existing opinion or my salesmanship is poor and you actually want more information so let’s get to it.
In Outer Wilds you take on the role of a young astronaut from the planet Timber Hearth, about to join your species’ burgeoning new space program. Fortunately for you, you are the first recruit to be sent off with a translator tool able to decipher the writings of the Nomai, the solar system’s previous inhabitants. Unfortunately for you, your ship appears to be roughly cobbled together from wood, scrap metal and alien technology but hey, at least it worked for the other astronauts. On top of this you have your trusty scout, which serves as a launchable camera, as well as a tool called the signalscope, capable of directing you to various signals being sent across space. Oh and you are stuck in a time loop, more on that later.
Archaeologist's Edition is appropriate because the game is entirely about unearthing knowledge from ancient alien ruins and deciphering their old texts in a quest to answer what is happening to the solar system. In a twist to standard storytelling logic Outer Wilds sends you looking for these answers without ever telling you the questions. Instead it leaves you to start asking them yourself as you explore around you and record the information you find in a handy ships log. It’s a big risk from a storytelling perspective, especially for a mystery game because the developer needs to think of all the questions a player might have and leave satisfying answers for them to find. We have likely all fallen victim to a mystery without a satisfying conclusion that has made us want to launch the book/game/film out the nearest window in frustration. Through some arcane magic Mobius Digital has pulled it off flawlessly. I ended the game feeling like I had a complete understanding of what had happened as well as why. It’s important to note here though that some information is missable. The answers are out there but you might not find all of them before you finish the game which could be frustrating to some.
Now that is already impressive from a design perspective but the true beauty of Outer Wilds is that once you have grabbed your launch codes, that's it. There are no levels to gain, no upgrades to unlock, no new tools to find. Nothing about this game is going to change from your first run to your last run other than your knowledge about the world around you. If you are fresh off a binge of AAA gaming titles then I suspect this might leave you with a bit of an empty feeling but for the most it ends up being a breath of fresh air. It’s almost an overwhelming feeling, you are handed a whole host of planets to explore without any real guidance on where you should go, because of this though it makes for a wonderfully unique experience. Everyone will have the same endpoint, but how you get there and the stories you create on the way will mean the journey is yours alone.
A Living Universe
That’s enough glazing of the mystery itself, we still have a whole universe to talk about. The planet design is nothing short of fantastic. You’ll be visiting an ocean planet plagued with cyclones, a pair of binary planets constantly exchanging a dessert's worth of sand, a planet aggressively being destroyed by its own moon and that’s only a sample. These serve to both make the universe an interesting and diverse place to explore as well as introduce different mechanics where those sneaky developers can hide clues for you to find. Now I do have a minor grievance with one particularly infamous planet because I have a personal distaste for poorly telegraphed stealth sections but it didn’t sour my overall experience.
The fact the planets are constantly in motion with changing conditions allows the developers to involve an additional timing aspect into a number of puzzles. Adding an additional layer of thought into how you want to approach any given area. In most space games, planets act as a ground based instance. Essentially two separate games, a space flight section and then a more traditional RPG when you actually land on a planet which is usually represented as a fairly horizontal plane. In Outer Wilds there is no such separation and everything is scaled down to the point you can see and land on the entirety of the planet’s surface. While this can cause a slight feeling of loss of scale compared to some sci fi games, it does allow the solar system to feel more like, well, an actual system, rather than a series of just differently themed levels.
Look To The Stars
The graphics are not going to win any awards in terms of fidelity, however I definitely can’t describe them as bad. When needed Outer Wilds does a rather visceral job of representing its various space phenomena. Sitting on a planet near the sun and looking up will cause your skyline to be encompassed by a gigantic burning inferno that you feel you could fall into at any moment. As for the planets themselves, if one were to take a more fleeting glance they could easily mistake them for being rather barren or low in detail. The developers have explained this was an intentional design choice and that were the planets to be fully fleshed out it would cause players to turn over every stone. The current look allows the visuals to focus the player on areas that clearly have something to hide. It makes it far harder to criticise the game when a lot of things that may seem lacking actually reinforce a positive player experience.
I would be remiss not to mention the excellent soundtrack that accompanies the game. It sets an appropriate tone and hits with surprising emotional weight at key points, but that’s not why I like it so much. The true selling point to me is just how reactive the music is. Space in Outer Wilds is often a quiet experience punctuated by the slight roar of your thrusters, but when you chance upon a discovery and the music winds up, you know you are on the right course. It serves both as an excellent nod that there is something here as well as building your general excitement for the new location.
Finally I want to make a nod to the theme of the game. From cobbled together spaceships to sitting around a campfire amongst a forest of pines, trying to roast the perfect marshmallow, it definitely has a rather US centric space camp feel. I suspect this is not going to hit as much for people in a European audience but it adds a cosy, slightly whimsical feel to the game even if I have no personal connection to it.
Echoes in Space
Everything I have mentioned so far relates to the base Outer Wilds experience but the Archaeologist’s Edition comes with the DLC expansion titled “Echoes of the Eye”. This slots neatly into the base game and features an additional 10 hours or so of gameplay. An odd image has been captured by your species’ space telescope and it’s up to you to unravel its mysteries. Of course with any expansion there is one important question:
“Is the expansion as good as the base game?”
Maybe? This one is going to depend on what you enjoy about the base game. Echoes of the Eye fits neatly within the main game rather than being its own separate campaign. Both parts are still exploration focused with some mysteries to unravel, but while Outer Wilds takes place across a whole system, Echoes is mostly focused on one large location. This allows for a much tighter design but also loses the scale of exploration where each loop had you debating which planet to go to next...It also makes me jealous of how the developers were able to get such good reveals with a limited space and toolkit.
The other clear difference is that the DLC focuses on playing a lot with light alongside some mild horror/stealth elements. My distaste for stealth sections in non stealth games was highlighted earlier which is why I consider the base game to be slightly better than the original but I can see some people enjoying this aspect, it adds a slightly spookier atmosphere than the base game. Whatever your taste I do recommend turning on the “reduced frights mode”. Not because the game has particular scares that need toning down (although this may help those less horror inclined) but because it actually serves as an easier difficulty setting to make the stealth sections a little bit less frustrating and Outer Wilds is a game that tends to avoid putting mechanical obstacles in your way.
All in all though it’s still more of the excellent Outer Wilds formula and it will not leave you disappointed. Almost every compliment I have of the base game holds true for the DLC.
Wibbley, Wobbly, Timey Wimey
Finally I want to talk about the time loop itself, no spoilers will be given but I left this for last, to give anyone who wants as little information as possible a chance to opt out. One of the make or break aspects for the game is likely going to be the time loop aspect. If you are just on the verge of discovering something and get suddenly thrown out, is your immediate reaction to be frustrated and feel like the time you spent was wasted? Or is it to jump back in your spaceship and make an excited beeline to your previous location to uncover the knowledge that so narrowly escaped your grasp? Thankfully Outer Wilds strikes the right balance to respect your time. Nothing takes too long to get to and the average time loop is not long enough that I ever feel like I truly wasted time, even if I didn't discover something new. If anything it’s just an area that doesn’t need looking into on the next run.
Conclusion (Again)
Well, now you have reached the conclusion again, this time filled with more knowledge than you had at the start. It’s up to you if you will use this knowledge to uncover the truth behind the Outer Wilds. For some, this is a rather transcendent experience, for me, it was simply a great time and I struggled to keep myself from going far beyond the world limit while talking about it. The highest recommendation I can give is that I introduced this game to my partner and it rocketed to become her favourite game of all time.
With that said, here are your launch codes Hatchling, get exploring.