For 22 Minutes...'Outer Wilds' is, by its nature, a very hard game to sell you. That is assuming that my job as someone writing a review is to do that, but it's the wrong attitude. So, screw it, I'm not going to sell you this game, I'll offer only promises, wax on my experience, because to pigeon-hole Mobius Digital's astounding work here would not only spoil it, but also fail to deliver justice to what has been done. I had been advised to play this by people I trust and went in completely blind, knowing only what I saw on the cover art and that it would apparently 'change my life.' I came out the other end eyes wide open. The nature that 'Outer Wilds' possesses that makes it hard to sell you is that it is through and through a game about 'discovery', in all senses of the word. I can't give you a tangible example of an instance where exploration in this game 'clicked' for me because it would spoil it, I can't tell you how this game's utterly profound conclusion made me feel so human again, I can't tell you any of this because it would ruin it for you. I doubt many people who played this expected it to, well, explode the way that it did, because you wont fully understand how Mobius' ludic magic has worked on you until it really has. To attempt to summarise what makes this game such an incredible achievement, know that 'Outer Wilds' excels in two specific broad accomplishments that stuck out to me, for one, it successfully de-gameifies the concept of discovery. It becomes the artifice of the experience, it is free form, it is unbound by any systematic chains or intrinsic player fuckery, it exists in a form so pure here that the player becomes forced to engage, and to stop thinking about it as a game. It is the true beauty of game design, right here, all the justifications for systems here simply wash away before you, allowing you to sink into the contemplative reality of what you are uncovering. As for the second, it greatly breaks ground in the space of ludonarrative theory. Mobius' work here has become the ultimate modern exemplar in what makes this medium special and worth being a critic or an analyst for. I have gone blue in the face perpetuating my theory on the future of design as an art, I shout to this medium: free yourself of your chains; of the imperatives of all other art forms and their conventions, let the 'cinematic' be what it is away from you! Recognise your beauty, your artistic oneness! Let ludic wings bring you to heights that we have never seen before. 'Outer Wilds' has done so with elegance. To the theory-preacher of the common idiot, that still believes 'gameplay' and 'story' are concepts that should remain sharply divorced, give your time to this experience and see just what can be done when one allows them to embrace. 'Outer Wilds' is one of the most profoundly human works I have played in a good while, and again, I cannot sell its magic to you, because you deserve to know it for yourself. Know only this, on the passionate word of a stranger, if you love video games—and I truly mean love—then you must play this. If you love them such as I do, if the future of ludonarrative is something you value, if you want to see the ground broken in a medium where industrialisation has hit the hardest, for the sake of everything, play this game. A flurry of tear-jerking, elegant existentialist grandstanding, a cohesive form in a demonstration of unity between all facets of design, 'Outer Wilds' is the best piece of science fiction work I have digested since reading 'The Sirens of Titan' for the first time. So, I can certainly confirm that you should really listen to those people who keep saying "ohhh you just gotta play it I cant tell you anything about it." Bravo, Mobius Digital.
Thank you for reading :)

I feel so empty yet so full. The Klaus story has finally come to a close after 13 years. My journey started all the way back in 2016 with the 1st and 7 years later here I am at the end. This was the perfect send-off. It's over. I can't believe it's over...

Everything I've felt during my journey of this series has become so dear to me. Each and every one of the games, DLC and story means so much to me beyond words. What I experienced in this final act is beyond anything I can say. Only a few things have ever reached this (ex: Pikmin)

This DLC truly embodied everything that had happened and gave us Xenoblade fans that went through all the stories, developments and twists to give us the vindication like I've never felt before. The pay off is unimaginably satisfying. I think this might be my new favorite series

For the longest time I thought nothing for eternity would ever surpass Pikmin for me. It was my true gateway to video games, which made me fall in love with the medium. But Xenoblade... It's like I've been put back in that position again all anew as a little kid. Wow. Just wow...

I think before I truly decide this I want to play through both Pikmin 4 later this year and Xenoblade Chronicles X. THEN I will make the final judgement call. It feels weird that after 2 decades I'm finally in a position where I'm debating to change my favorite video game series

Those credits... Those credits broke me in every single way. I'm just there watching them roll. Water in my eyes overwhelming me as I say "it's over..." Over and over again. I'll remember this for the rest of my life. This series has impacted me more than I could've ever imagined

Overall, yes the DLC is fantastic and every bit worth the wait. I forgot to mention that I also loved all the qol features and additions. It felt like an even better refinement of the base third game's systems and mechanics. I just wish it had been a bit longer but I'll always cherish what I got

It's hard to really review a game about this when it's one best experienced completely without spoilers. So without going into much detail, I can at least say it is one of the meaningful times I have had with a video game. For the first time in a long while, I was completely absorbed with what I was playing. My headphones were in, my lights were turned completely off, I was fully immersed and thinking only about what I was playing until the journey was done.

The game itself is a puzzle with such a large-scope that you don't even know what you're trying to solve.. until you do. That instant your mind hits a stunning revelation is unlike anything else in this game, you venture into a new location so important that it has its own dedicated song you feel the chill bumps on your arms, what you find there solves a question you've been asking for hours leaving you in shock, but you suddenly remember what this knowledge in turn unlocks for you and you're already venturing off to the next location. This game is an Odyssey, and you're both a Pilot and a Voyager in the madness of Space and Time.