Outer Wilds

[Ross Scott]

Genre: Exploration

Year released: 2019

Ross's rating: Unrated

Link to game: https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/outerwilds/home

Free to play: No

GaaS: Unknown

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[Scifi Rice]

I have played this game. and i can tell you with complete sincerity that it is one of if not the top game of 2019 for me. But i must warn you, do not look up a walkthrough or playthrough of this game unless you absolutely have to. You advance in this game not by collecting items or upgrades, but by collecting knowledge. there is nothing stopping you from beating the game before the first cycle. you just dont know how. to give an example, there is the planet giant's deep. an ocean covered planet with perpetual cyclones and a current under the surface preventing anything from getting too deep. there is a simple trick to get underneath, but you discover that trick on another planet trying to do a different objective. 

 

this game has an amazing soundtrack, dynamic worlds, good writing, and a simple art style. i cannot recommend it enough. Also i dont know why it is still classified as early access since the game seems to be finished from what i've seen.

[Blackswitch]

Just parroting the comment above, it's first class in the exploration genre.

 

 

[General Custard]

This game was awe inspiring from beginning to end, and the only way to appreciate it is to go in blind. Avoid any spoilers before going in in order to get the full experience, I didn’t even watch any trailers when I got it, I saw a streamer doing the introduction and I bought it before he even left the planet.

[kerdios]

Incredible game, if you like pseudo-physics, this game is for you.

Haven't played it myself, but watched a let's play of it (I have a crappy machine) so I can't attest of it's controls, but the soundtrack fits amazingly, the mysteries are beautiful and the story line really encaptivating.

This is partially a cosmic horror kind of game so it also contains jump scares, so be warned.

 

[blabberblah]

Excellent game, can't recommend it highly enough.  But it's a game very easily ruined with spoilers, so if you have any interest in it, ignore everything anyone has to say about it and just play it as soon as you can to avoid accidentally seeing spoilers.

[Surname117]

Good/Great: This is another one of those games that would have an absolutely fantastic sequel.

[Konrad]

It's now available on the slightly less but still very despicable plattform of Steam and most likely totally not my jam.

[redinator2000]

The less spoilers the better!

Its like a refined Subnautica with less cooking fish and more elliptical orbits.

Puzzles and story are very rewarding.

You are free to explore anywhere, but somehow on my blind playthrough, it felt like a linear game pace.

Every time I ran out of health felt like a "yeah that was a dumb". You eventually become proficient and master the solar system with just your experience and knowledge.

[manifoldkaizen]

I thought I'd totally love this game. Published by one of my favorite game publishers, annapurna interactive. It seems like I SHOULD really like it with the charm and graphics style. Reading the speech bubbles without voice actors kinda causes me to loose attention. I'm sure I'll give it a try again.

[BTGBullseye]

I played it (pirated) a while back. Apart from an interestingly kooky story, it's extremely bland and little variety of equipment.

[Bradiculous]

I wish I could forget this game so I could play it for the first time again.

[BTGBullseye]

I just remembered, effectively no replayability IME. Not even any real mods...

[biosynth8]

I can't get myself to like this game. For some reason I can never get into first-person real time puzzle games. For me the slideshow is the prefect form for puzzles. 

[Cargo Commando]

Just played this for the first time last month since it finally went on sale for 12 dollars, HOLY hell it was really something. I remember being exposed a little bit to this game in 2022 and it was interesting, and it had somehow topped bloodborne in the shilling department: Endless "You have to play this game bro, but DON'T look up anything!!", it really got on my nerves and kinda drove me away for the longest time. I can affirm they were all right though. What we have on our hands here is a very intriguing physics/puzzles/reading/mystery game, and like most mystery games you sadly cannot "experience" it the right way again after beating it the first time. After beating it I bought it for two of my friends to try and vicariously experience it through their playthroughs and they both sucked total eggs at it, I was kinda disappointed that they didn't get to run into those "Aha!" moments that got me hooked onto this game. I guess they're stupid or something. Maybe you should have to beat this game without a walkthrough to be able to vote, Starship Troopers-style. Also an underdiscussed aspect of this game is the unsettling-ness of it. For a game that never TRIED to scare me, it scared me an awful lot; perhaps more than any horror game I can think of. This took me ~26 hr to beat, so you're pretty much going to have to dedicate a whole week to knock this game down. Just trust me, it will be worth it in the end. If you like physics, reading (a LOT of reading), buzzing abound in a small spacecraft, bounding across a low-g celestial body with a jetpack, feeling clever when you figure something out, or the movie 'Interstellar', this game has all those things in the spades. But you really can't pick this game up again once you've beaten it. Once I turn 30 years old, I plan on buying the DLC and trying to beat it, but I'm worried by that point I'll still remember too much of this game to experience the rest of it properly. Maybe I should push it up to age 35.