Outer Wilds
exploring the greatminuteness of spaceRobinValentine
PublisheRannapurnainteractive/DeVeloPeRmobiusdigital/ReleaseDate out now / cost £20.99/$24.99
to be discovered, from the forgotten
settlements and inventions of a
long-dead alien civilisation, to the
weird phenomena generated by each
planet’s unique physical quirks. This is
a game that will frequently leave you
in genuine awe at what you’ve found,
casting aside sci-fi cliches in favour of
worlds of such creativity and cosmic
strangeness that we’re loathe to spoil
the details of a single one.Wild things
Without combat or crafting, Outer
Wilds leans almost solely on the
pure magic of exploration. You’re set
completely loose to follow whatever
trails interest you, never funnelled
in one direction or another, ensuring
every player’s experience is entirely
their own. Along the way, you’ll create
your own organic moments of quiet
contemplation, ridiculous slapstick,
genuine terror and ‘a-ha!’ satisfaction- a greater range of more memorable
events than a scripted game packed
with cutscenes could ever manage,
and all uniquely yours.
This game of
haphazard space
exploration charges
you with uncovering
the secrets of a
wonderfully tiny solar
system. At a time when it seems every
developer follows the adage ‘bigger is
better’, Outer Wilds dares instead to
offer up an experience so focused and
intricate that you can’t help but be
utterly absorbed.
The game’s spatial constraints are
almost surreal – your rickety space
pod can travel between worlds in mere
moments, and once there it might
take you two minutes to walk around
the entire equator. And, crucially, it’s
a temporally small game too, giving
you only 22 minutes to complete each
trip before the solar system resets
and you must begin again. Bill Murray
had a whole 24 hours to enjoy his loop
in Groundhog Day, but you’ve barely
got time to watch an episode of your
favourite sitcom.
And yet Outer Wilds has so much to
show you. Wonders abound waiting
The time loop makes leaving any
lasting marks on your environment
during these travels, or physically
carrying anything over from run to run,
impossible, and so your key resource
is information. Outer Wilds is a game
about discovery, but more crucially
learning. That manifests most literally
in your ship’s log, which creates a
record of everything you’ve found out
about the mysterious alien precursors,
visually the high-tech equivalent of
a corkboard covered in photos and
bits of string. This serves as an ideal
guide, allowing you to easily keep
track of where you’ve been and where
you might want to head next.
But just as crucial is learning the
ins and outs of Outer Wilds’ systems.
At first its zero-G movement and
spaceship controls, for example,
feel hilariously wonky, reflecting
the shoddy construction of your
equipment – but with practice, you
come to realise they’re actually
exactly as precise as they need to
be, only requiring a learned pair of
hands at the gamepad. Similarlyshort
cutWhat is it?
Groundhog Day meets
space exploration in a
strangely small alien
solar system.
What’s it like?
Funny, scary, chilled
out, awe-inspiring,
intriguing and, above
all,trulyunique.
Who’sitfoR?
people who love
going their own way,
finding cool stuff and
figuring things out.084 theoFFicial xbox magazine