Outer Wilds

when you first launch this game and it seems terribly confusing, and too directionless, and maybe a little unorthodox compared to the games you usually play, and maybe just ever so slightly nauseating because you're not used to the movement, please just do yourself a favour and keep going and trying to figure it out. eventually it will click and you will get exactly why it felt that way, and why it [i]had to[/i] feel that way, and experience one of the best narratives in gaming I cannot recommend it enough. it's the kind of game that makes you glad you stopped and smelled the pine trees along the way, you know?

AMAZING GAME. go in without spoilers if you can. oh, I cried. puzzle, story, music, science, wonder, beauty, time, space. if you like doctor who you will love this game.

If we ever make a voyager 3 and put a video game on it for aliens to find, this would be it. "Our curiosity goes with you on your journey"

Странная игра. Идея игры мне понравилась, сюжет понравился, лор, атмосфера тоже на уровне. Но игру заканчивать я не стал. Казуал, не осилил, но факт остается фактом - игра перемудрёная, если можно так выразиться. Пока что дроп, но когда-нибудь обязательно допройду. В любом случае советую, игра реально очень атмосферная. Может быть и обзор переделаю, когда допройду... через год или позже.

This is a very difficult review to write. I wanted to love this game, I really did. It's clearly a masterpiece. But the hype ruined it for me. I actually quit this game in frustration after about 25 hours. I felt like I was too stupid to figure it out, and it hurt my self esteem. Surely a computer game shouldn't do this to people? Everyone else seemed to be having this life changing experience, and I couldn't join the party. A couple of years later I revisited it, and with some gentle help from AI I was able to finally start approaching this in the right way. The hardest part is to stop thinking of it as a game at all. From then on it clicked, and I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed the challenge of piecing together history and understanding how this crazy solar system functions. Several times I would solve a puzzle while lying in bed or driving to work, after letting it all stew in my mind. But the great life changing moment never came. It was satisfying when I solved a big puzzle or understood something profound about the game, but I never felt emotional about it like most people do. And when the ending came it was a huge disappointment to me. I expected some kind of reward for my hard work, and I personally didn't find what I was looking for. It might not look like it, but this is a game about characters as much as it is about physics. Without that, I think the emotional payoff just doesn't land. I am someone who rarely cares about characters in video games, and this affected how I approached the game in a subtle way, and I think this is where I went wrong. If I had found this game with no reviews and just played it, I think I would have loved it for what it was to me. But I was labouring under the shadow of the hype, expecting something that never came. People are different and approach games in different ways. I'm glad so many people get so much out of this game. It truly is something special. But if you are like me, just beware that I don't think you will experience it in quite the way the devs intended. At the end of the day, the negative experiences I had with this game outweigh the positive ones. So with a heavy heart, I'm giving it a negative review.

What actually is Outer Wilds without spoiling it? It's a space exploring, puzzle and mystery solving game built on top of a world with amazing, unhinged and delightful physics. There is a ton of stuff to do and see as you learn about the solar system and its previous inhabitants. The presentation of everything (especially on the audio side!!) is jaw dropping and there are some frankly ridiculous things packed in here that I didn't know were possible at all in a game engine. It is an absolutely magical experience that I would recommend to anyone who is willing to play a game that doesn't put a checklist in front of them!

The one downside of this game is that you can only play it once. Outer Wilds is like a metroidvania but instead of backtracking after getting new abilities you backtrack after learning new information. The entire game is built around what you learn, so getting something important spoiled could ruin your playthrough. What I'm saying is to stop reading potentially spoiler-y reviews and buy the game. You already know its good, you see how it says Overwhelmingly Positive right there? Thats all you need to know, the hype exists for a reason. Have Fun.