My expectations were too high, but you cant really blame me when the general consensus is to play it without even knowing a thing about it. Outer Wilds is a time loop game set in a GMOD space RP map filled with text logs. Which leads to the only real problem I had with an otherwise impressive game. The story is too basic and can't really make the stakes feel as high as they are, because the game world is relatively boring.
The point is to get you familiar and attached to the world, and while I knew Dark Bramble and the various cave mazes like the back of my hand, I never felt attached to this dying, tired old world. The weird aversion to spoilers in particular is strange. Aside from the cool in universe quantum object science talk, the plot basically goes where you think it would. The world is dying and this is an indie game in the 2010s...surprise me.
It's still unfair to give this game a bad score though, and its approach to free form narrative is truly awe inspiring for the pure freedom offered in the game. It can be beaten on a fresh save in less than 20 minutes without tricks or glitches, because the progression is all knowledge based. A genius way to make the player get the true time loop mentality of slowly picking up bits of info to make a big picture.
The sparse music is always fantastic and atmospheric, the writing is good enough and the overall summer camp vibes given off are appreciated.
But I wouldnt put Outer Wilds in my top 100. It's too long winded and the non linearity ruins a lot of twists by stumbling across the solution to a puzzle before even reading it. It's just a solid unique little indie game like Road 96 or The Pathless, just over sold as a masterpiece.
The point is to get you familiar and attached to the world, and while I knew Dark Bramble and the various cave mazes like the back of my hand, I never felt attached to this dying, tired old world. The weird aversion to spoilers in particular is strange. Aside from the cool in universe quantum object science talk, the plot basically goes where you think it would. The world is dying and this is an indie game in the 2010s...surprise me.
It's still unfair to give this game a bad score though, and its approach to free form narrative is truly awe inspiring for the pure freedom offered in the game. It can be beaten on a fresh save in less than 20 minutes without tricks or glitches, because the progression is all knowledge based. A genius way to make the player get the true time loop mentality of slowly picking up bits of info to make a big picture.
The sparse music is always fantastic and atmospheric, the writing is good enough and the overall summer camp vibes given off are appreciated.
But I wouldnt put Outer Wilds in my top 100. It's too long winded and the non linearity ruins a lot of twists by stumbling across the solution to a puzzle before even reading it. It's just a solid unique little indie game like Road 96 or The Pathless, just over sold as a masterpiece.