One of those games you can only experience once. Such a masterpiece!!
Once you finish it, it’s actually really fun watching other people’s playthroughs as well - getting to relive some of the moments vicariously through other people’s eyes is almost as much fun as experiencing them yourself the first time.
It’s also quite amazing just how different each playthrough can be, since the game is so non-linear, people take some crazy paths to get to the end ! It can be frustrating as well when someone just can’t see what is in front of their face though :)
There are also so many subtle elements scattered around that most people miss on their first playthrough, and watching someone else play it really made me appreciate many of the details I missed on my own playthrough and even make connections I didn’t before, and understand aspects of the story that I didn’t fully get the first time.
One of the many games just sitting in my steam library, waiting to be played.
Play it today. You need to go in blind. It’s straightforward to learn and super rewarding to ay.
Someone told me the same thing, I started playing it but forgot about it, would need to restart it.
I’ll give you $10,000 to swap brains with you so I can play it for the first time again 😄
At first, the game will not make sense. But somewhere around the 20 minute mark (it varies depending on what you do) you will encounter The Event. It will happen. You will know it has happened. It will be, unmistakably, The Event. Nothing else could be The Event. Nothing else could possibly be as momentous as The Event. And then you will have your first real understanding of what the game is about, and it will be very, very exciting.
After that happens, look at the computer in the back of your ship (to the right as you enter). For the rest of the game this will be your most important tool. You’ll understand why. Once it happens.
Have fun.
A friend begged me to play this and I just didn’t for a couple years despite owning it. Once I finally did it quickly became an all-time favorite. You should fix this yourself.
This is one of the best games I have ever played. I know this phrase goes around every day, but I wholeheartedly mean it.
This is the type of game you can only place once, and the experience is incomparable to much of anything else
This game is a Masterpiece!
I’m really struggling with this game. I got it on sale and played for 3+ hours, but somehow it didn’t grip me. It was really annoying having to constantly start over. Not trying to detract from other people’s experience of it.
So one thing I didn’t realize right away is that in the ship there is a board where the game auto stores your discoveries detective-style. It really helps provide guidance when you feel like you’re out of leads or don’t know what to do.
It takes some getting used to. And maybe looping games isn’t everyone’s cup of tea(e.g. Majora’s mask).
But the exploration, the knowlesge based progression, the cleverness of the story, and its delivery is absolutely brilliant.
same here. i keep hearing good things and restarting the game but every time I’m just losing interest by the first hour.
I beat it last week. Amazing game.
Can’t wait to get the DLC and play it!
one of my top favourite games of all time! And one of the two narrative experiences on that list that I can’t talk about with the “uninitiated” (other is Inscryption)
if you like space, and you like thinking - don’t look up anything about this game. Watch maybe 5 minutes of some gameplay if you’re hesitant.
Though a word of warning, this is a game that’ll take all of your focus, it’s very hard to play it with a YouTube video or a movie in playing the background. And yes the ship movement can feel clunky at first, you’ll get used to it don’t worry - the story is worth it
In my experience, if people are going to bounce off the game it’ll come down to one (or more) of three reasons:
- They hate the flight controls
- They hate the feeling of being on a constant timer
- They hate the lack of explicit direction in what to do next
It’s one of my favourite games of all time, and it has good reasons for all of the above, but it’s definitely not for everyone!
And for anyone wondering, my counterpoints to the above would be:
- Learn to use the autopilot but don’t trust it; learning to manoeuvre precisely will come over time
- Don’t overthink the timer element; pick just one thing to investigate and focus on that, anything else is a bonus
- Use the ship’s computer and follow the unknowns; avoid walkthroughs unless you’re absolutely 100% stumped on what to do next
I have a friend who stopped for a whole other reason. But I can’t talk about it without revealing too much. But basically had to do with bramble and deep, things that don’t bother most people much, triggering some actual phobias.
I dealt with that too, sadly. Thankfully there is a mod that can alleviate it. (I’d link it but it’d also reveal spoilers…)
Nice, I’ll have to look those up for him. I keep trying to talk him into trying again.
in my experience as a impatient person you simply need to make peace with the timer, it stings at first but then- i think thanks to Outer Wilds i can play souls likes now ::: spoiler because it shows clearly how death is simply a part of the learning experience, it’s not a failure :::
i have no idea if this spoiler is working
Whether or not it’s a failure, it’s a waste of time. Imagine if a relaxed open world game constantly interrupted you with cutscenes of your character falling over, slowly waking up, and trudging back to where they fell.
it’s not supposed to be a relaxing open world game though?
it’s the mystery of the entire game, why is this happening? how do i stop it? It’s also the basis of all main mechanics in the game, the entire world is on the clock, some things aren’t available at the start or become unavailable as the clock ticks. It’s not a pointless gimmick, it serves both a narrative and a mechanical purpose
But there HAVE been other games based around time loops that manage to avoid that frustration, for instance by letting you manually restart the loop yourself in a quick way, or giving other starting points.
Famous examples include Majora’s Mask, The Sexy Brutale, and others. I understand Outer Wilds tries to hold the trappings of its story around the loop being more sci-fi than magic/fantasy in nature, but that’s still a goal of the writers to wrap the rules of the world around mechanics that are fun to play.
I can even think of many games that gave themselves minor plotholes and odd exceptions to the “world rules” just so that the player could get through it more conveniently.
You can manually restart in OW - it’s an ability you can learn from one of the characters you meet.
There’s a really well done VR mod for this game. It’s actually the only way I’ve played it so far. If you can run Steam VR I highly recommend it! I had to do a reinstall of some stuff so haven’t finished the game yet, but it’s been high on my ‘to-do list’.
Sounds like the pukiest VR game yet. I’m in.
When I got echoes of the eye, I was confused as to how to play it. Once I figured it out, my mind was blown for a second time. I wish, as others have said, I could re-experience this game.
I’m testing it in VR, the modder did an amazing job. Unfortunately my GPU absolutely blows with VR games (Intel Arc A770)
What headset do you use? I thought getting a a770 meant no VR for me… wish it would render Celeste properly lol
Lenovo Explorer. I don’t play VR games really, but it’s fun when my little nephews visit (the A770 handles simple games like Beat Saber well). Outer Wilds in VR seemed like a good time to dust of the headset but it’s a bit too stuttery. I didn’t look for any type of fix or optimization though.
But if you’re serious about VR gaming Intel Arc is not a good idea for now. However on /r/intelarc some report good results, saying it varies from game to game.
