This game has such a culture of protection around it that I will try and honor that by having my review be more generally about the game and less about anything specific to the story. That being said, there is the very real possibility that I don’t consider something a spoiler that you do so, with that in mind, if you’re still actively playing this game yourself, you may want to go ahead and just bookmark this and come back and read it later. Or don’t, my feelings won’t be hurt. With that being said, I now present to you one final warning and then a giant image of the menu.
BEWARE There is a very real chance of spoilers below, I am adding a big honking image of the menu as a nice barrier so that you don’t accidentally stumble upon something and have it ruined.
Outer Wilds had come highly recommended to me by several people as one that would go down in my list of best games ever. While I do think that the overall concept of the game was amazing and the story was incredibly rich, there were definite downsides to the game that really pulled this out from being one of those S-tier games for me.
Everything about the initial town that you start in is super cute and I took my time in exploring and speaking to all the citizens there. It’s also your first opportunity to learn some of the mechanics you’ll be using as you explore about the system. Take the time here to really test out some of these skills as it’s a no pressure scenario where you have a chance to really practice them. Once you’ve explored enough and received your launch codes, it’s time to step into your ship and start exploring!
The game gives you almost no direction at first and that’s kind of the point. This is an exploration game first and foremost and curiosity is going to help guide you to the right places. As you explore the various worlds available to you, you’ll unlock additional rumors that you can view in your ship’s log. Think of this as a pseudo quest log or journal system to help remind you of the places you still need to check out. Reference it often as it is extremely helpful.
There’s multiple worlds that you can visit and each have their own environment that comes with it. Giant’s Deep, for example, is a heavily water based planet with whirling cyclones whereas Timber Hearth is a planet full of trees and valleys for you to explore. There’s several others out there but even describing them can kind of give clues to their purpose so I’ll leave those for you to discover.
Fair warning, you will die. A lot. Sometimes in very silly ways but it’s very much a part of the game. The nice thing is that you get to keep all your own information that you have learned so while you will restart at ground zero, you’re much more informed than you were the last go around.
The story is amazing and, for me, the highlight of the game. I had more fun picking up the clues from piecing together the various ways you learn about the story and unlock your understanding of the universe than I did with any of the puzzles or figuring things out. This makes sense since games like Mass Effect and other story driven / decision matter games are some of my favorites.
There’s no correct order in which you need to explore things, but as you learn bits and pieces, you’ll unlock ideas that help you push further in other areas. Sometimes it pays to go back and revisit an area after you’ve learned some new information as it can unlock new and hidden areas for you to explore. There will be many times where you learn something and say “Oh, wait, hang on…. ohhhhhhhhh I get it” which is a really cool feeling to get from a game.
This is the part of the review that is the most likely to spoil something so FINAL WARNING
The end portion, to me, is where the game kind of lost me. There’s a bit of an issue where if you haven’t basically 100% completed things, you’re going to be lacking in some areas to know how to actually finish the game. It was starting to get to the point where I knew what I needed to do, but just didn’t really know how to do it. There’s also certain things that have to happen at very specific times or in extremely specific orders which you’ll probably accidentally stumble into more than just figure it out. At least that was my experience. By the end, I had all the pieces together but I’ll admit that to get the last few pieces I was missing, I had to refer to a spoiler free walkthrough.
I was grateful to complete the game, and don’t get me wrong, Outer Wilds IS a good game, but it’s definitely not my favorite game of all time or anything or maybe not even in my top 10 or 20. It’s solid, but not every great game is great for everyone.
That being said, make up your own mind, hop in your ship and explore the universe. I hope you enjoy your journey, traveler!