In summary: please persist with the horror sections, hidden away in the many layers of this DLC is a wonderful addition to the story of the base game that is worth seeing for anyone who adored this game the first time around. The DLC isn't quite perfect, but more Outer Wilds is still one of the best releases of 2021.
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I was intially extremely concerned about DLC for one of my favourite games of all time. Aside from the fact that Outer Wilds felt like the last game that could support extra content, I was worried that we'd get content that would ruin the ending or would be a subpar experience and sully my wonderful memories of the base game.
Why did I ever doubt Mobius?
Firstly, Mobius designed an extremely interesting new area to explore, a jaw-dropping area when you first see it. The new 'planet' doesn't just look interesting, it fits in perfectly to the game's clockwork system. 10 minutes into the 22 minute loop, something happens to change up the way you explore. So far, so Outer Wilds.
The story felt quite isolated throughout, and the first few hours felt like a tale wholly independent from the base game. But as I learned more about the Owlkin, dripfed information from projector slides, I realised their story was similar to the Nomai's in many ways. I gathered more information over time, and their story turned as dark and depressing as any in the base game. As I neared the ending, I learned that the Owlkin played a bigger part in the universe of Outer Wilds than I ever truly expected. I already felt the original game told a wonderful story wrapped in a neat bow, this DLC briefly unwrapped the story, added even greater depth to it, and then wrapped it back up with bells and whistles. It was beautiful, and tears were shed.
The world and story fitted neatly into the Outer Wilds I loved so much, but I cannot say the same about the 'horror' sections. Whilst I didn't seem to hate these sections as much as others, it did detract enough personally to turn a 5-star DLC to something just not quite as perfect as the base game. Simply put, failing these horror sections felt the same as dying in Dark Bramble. Typically if you died on a planet, it was usually due to a lack of knowledge, but the trade-off is that you would learn something from the loop to better equipped for next time. Here, like in Dark Bramble, failing due to spooky 'walking in the dark' sections felt like trial and error and not because you didn't understand the world itself. You knew where to go, you just failed something that wasn't the actual test.
Personally I think Mobius should have copied from SOMA, and had an option to just remove the deaths in the 'scary' sections, as these didn't really test the player's knowledge, rather it tested the player's patience.
I must disagree however with people who think horror doesn't fit with Outer Wilds, after all Dark Bramble was pure horror. As annoying and cumbersome as those sections were, they were a necessary evil to overcome. I would say these horror sections are the same, as the story beyond is so rewarding.
And whilst this issue is hard to explain without giving lengthy examples, the 'breadcrumb trail' of the original game feels a little more linear here. Instead of finding a breadcrumb to lead you to something on a different planet or a solution to navigating a tricky obstacle, this DLC felt sometimes like it gave you either a key or the location of a lock. If you got both, you made progress. I didn't have as many "aha!" moments as in the base game, is what I'm basically trying to say, solutions often felt handed to you. In some cases, the game practically gave you a video guide to solving the tricks of each area.
((EDIT RE: MY ISSUES WITH 'HORROR' AND LINEARITY - so after some reads of some interesting conversations around the themes of the game, it appears some players believe that the horror and increased linearity is intentional. It is Mobius, so I buy it. The base game focused on the Nomai, a race of scientific explorers, so of course the game felt more open, breadcrumb-y as the Nomai clan excitedly wrote to each other about their inventions and scientific discoveries and such. As for the Owlkin, they're a race of terrified religious nostalgia-lovers. Of course their story is told through scary sections, after all they were scared of what they found on the Eye... that the mysteries are told through projector slides makes sense as they constantly reminsce about their home planet.
So, is this intentional? I say... who cares. The 'horror' and linearity might be thematically strong, but it made for a DLC that wasn't quite as fun as the original.))
Minor gripes with horror and linearity aside, Echoes of the Eye exceeded my expectations for DLC, I'm glad I got my wish of (technically) an "Outer Wilds 2", and I'm even more excited for what Mobius will bring in the future. No, this DLC isn't quite as perfect as one of the best games of all-time, but the 8 hours I had with the Owlkin still stands as one of the best games I've played in 2021.
---
I was intially extremely concerned about DLC for one of my favourite games of all time. Aside from the fact that Outer Wilds felt like the last game that could support extra content, I was worried that we'd get content that would ruin the ending or would be a subpar experience and sully my wonderful memories of the base game.
Why did I ever doubt Mobius?
Firstly, Mobius designed an extremely interesting new area to explore, a jaw-dropping area when you first see it. The new 'planet' doesn't just look interesting, it fits in perfectly to the game's clockwork system. 10 minutes into the 22 minute loop, something happens to change up the way you explore. So far, so Outer Wilds.
The story felt quite isolated throughout, and the first few hours felt like a tale wholly independent from the base game. But as I learned more about the Owlkin, dripfed information from projector slides, I realised their story was similar to the Nomai's in many ways. I gathered more information over time, and their story turned as dark and depressing as any in the base game. As I neared the ending, I learned that the Owlkin played a bigger part in the universe of Outer Wilds than I ever truly expected. I already felt the original game told a wonderful story wrapped in a neat bow, this DLC briefly unwrapped the story, added even greater depth to it, and then wrapped it back up with bells and whistles. It was beautiful, and tears were shed.
The world and story fitted neatly into the Outer Wilds I loved so much, but I cannot say the same about the 'horror' sections. Whilst I didn't seem to hate these sections as much as others, it did detract enough personally to turn a 5-star DLC to something just not quite as perfect as the base game. Simply put, failing these horror sections felt the same as dying in Dark Bramble. Typically if you died on a planet, it was usually due to a lack of knowledge, but the trade-off is that you would learn something from the loop to better equipped for next time. Here, like in Dark Bramble, failing due to spooky 'walking in the dark' sections felt like trial and error and not because you didn't understand the world itself. You knew where to go, you just failed something that wasn't the actual test.
Personally I think Mobius should have copied from SOMA, and had an option to just remove the deaths in the 'scary' sections, as these didn't really test the player's knowledge, rather it tested the player's patience.
I must disagree however with people who think horror doesn't fit with Outer Wilds, after all Dark Bramble was pure horror. As annoying and cumbersome as those sections were, they were a necessary evil to overcome. I would say these horror sections are the same, as the story beyond is so rewarding.
And whilst this issue is hard to explain without giving lengthy examples, the 'breadcrumb trail' of the original game feels a little more linear here. Instead of finding a breadcrumb to lead you to something on a different planet or a solution to navigating a tricky obstacle, this DLC felt sometimes like it gave you either a key or the location of a lock. If you got both, you made progress. I didn't have as many "aha!" moments as in the base game, is what I'm basically trying to say, solutions often felt handed to you. In some cases, the game practically gave you a video guide to solving the tricks of each area.
((EDIT RE: MY ISSUES WITH 'HORROR' AND LINEARITY - so after some reads of some interesting conversations around the themes of the game, it appears some players believe that the horror and increased linearity is intentional. It is Mobius, so I buy it. The base game focused on the Nomai, a race of scientific explorers, so of course the game felt more open, breadcrumb-y as the Nomai clan excitedly wrote to each other about their inventions and scientific discoveries and such. As for the Owlkin, they're a race of terrified religious nostalgia-lovers. Of course their story is told through scary sections, after all they were scared of what they found on the Eye... that the mysteries are told through projector slides makes sense as they constantly reminsce about their home planet.
So, is this intentional? I say... who cares. The 'horror' and linearity might be thematically strong, but it made for a DLC that wasn't quite as fun as the original.))
Minor gripes with horror and linearity aside, Echoes of the Eye exceeded my expectations for DLC, I'm glad I got my wish of (technically) an "Outer Wilds 2", and I'm even more excited for what Mobius will bring in the future. No, this DLC isn't quite as perfect as one of the best games of all-time, but the 8 hours I had with the Owlkin still stands as one of the best games I've played in 2021.