Outer Wilds

At its core, Outer Wilds is a game about exploration, knowledge and experimentation. It's the sum of all those parts and more, perfectly blending them together to create one of the most fascinating games of this generation. Outer Wilds proves a micro - as opposed to a macro - take on space exploration works just as well, if not better.

Outer Wilds is a hard game to talk about. On the one hand, it's a mystery, so you don't want to know too much going in. On the other hand, it's got an interesting hook, and if you go in ignorant of what that hook is, it's going to seem very, very...

Having a tool to neatly document your discoveries helps you slowly piece together a tale filled with charming writing, and one that presents its own open-ended questions that add emotional heft to the numerous exchanges you parse through during your travels. By letting you chart your own course and piece together its mystery at your own pace, Outer Wilds makes each of its expeditions feel incredibly personal and absolutely unmissable.

Outer Wilds gets most of the “big picture” stuff right. It boasts a solid structure, wonderfully imaginative planets, and an involving slow-burn mystery. Unfortunately, clunky controls, a few irritating design choices, and a multitude of other little...

At the end of it all, I admire a lot about Outer Wilds. The entire world operating on that 20-minute timer is a fascinating theatrical accomplishment of craftsmanship, but I find it more fun to think about than to play. A lot of ideas linger here, some of them beautifully executed, others slipshod and pushing against each other. I love roaming inside the bellies of mysterious planets, but don’t like how the urgency of the timer undercuts my exploration.

Outer Wilds' tricky exploration and puzzle solving is definitely an acquired taste. Its very specific brand of active storytelling differs wildly from highly guided open-worlds that many of us think of when we talk about non-linear gameplay. Though it...

Moreover, the game's pint-sized solar system is full of models of itself, from the star lifecycle models you'll find in your home planet's observatory, to the holographic sandtray projections and swivelling, Stone Henge-scale orreries left behind by the Nomai. It's a setting mesmerised by its own intricacies, and it wants you to share in that delight. Whatever their differences on the subject of the apocalypse, I like to think that both Eisinga and Alta would have enjoyed it.

Outer Wilds’ tricky exploration and puzzle solving is definitely an acquired taste. Its very specific brand of active storytelling differs wildly from highly guided open-worlds that many of us think of when we talk about non-linear gameplay. Though it can be confounding at times when events don’t unfold in precisely the right way, the feeling of discovering something new about the story, or following a couple of facts to something totally unexpected on a faraway planet far outweighs those hiccups.