exploration. It lets the planets act like
living environments that can change
over time. The Hourglass Twins, for
instance, are two planets connected
by a giant column of sand. Over the
course of the loop, the sand is
transferred from Ash
Twin to Ember Twin,
filling in the canyons of
one while revealing
what hides under the
surface of another.
Each planet has
something that makes it
an immediately
interesting space to explore, and
often one that rewards repeat visits at
different times throughout your loop.
More importantly, Outer Wilds
understands that if everything
physical resets, then what truly
matters is the only thing that can be
carried between loops—information.
You can be confident that you won’t
need to go on some convoluted,
multi-part quest, gathering multiple
doohickeys to perform intricate
operations across the solar system.
There simply isn’t time. While
unlocking some of the biggest
mysteries requires a bit of planet
hopping, it’s always designed to fit
within its fixed timeframe.
It helps that, when the sun’s not
blowing up, Outer Wilds is a nice
place to potter around in. There are
dangers, sure—one planet in
particular ups the tension to an
almost unbearable degree. But
elsewhere, whether it’s poking about
in the remote corner of a planet, or
just taking in the spectacle of the
solar system from a distance, the
expressive, characterful artstyle and
jaunty soundtrack—a mix of acoustics
and synths that blends Hearthian
personality with the promise of sci-fi
revelations—make for a pleasant,
welcoming space.
It’s also an efficient sandbox. The
small planets with their almost
comically extreme curvature are
clearly designed and curated with
discovery in mind. Wherever you
land, you’re always close to
something. And, fortunately, even
basic traversal can feel joyfully
expressive. Your suit has a jetpack
equipped, meaning it’s pretty easy to
navigate the surface of a planet—
usually, at least. Again, each planet is
slightly different. The Hourglass
Twins, which are particularly small,
have about half the gravity of your
home planet. As long as you’ve got
enough fuel for your jetpack, you caneasily jump from one hemisphere to
the other, and—if you’re feeling
particularly brave—even from one
Twin to the other. Giant’s Deep,
meanwhile, has twice your home
planet’s gravity, making extended
jetpack flight
practically impossible.
While that can lead to
frustration in places—
particularly when
you’re low on oxygen
and need to make a
quick retreat back to
your ship—it’s for the
better that every location feels so
distinct.OUTER LIMITS
Exploration works best when it’s just
you and the things that you’re
discovering. If Outer Wilds falls
down, it’s in conversations with your
fellow Hearthians. The dialogue trees
feel limited to the point that many
don’t update after you’ve discovered
you’re in a time loop. I’m not saying I
should be able to respond to the
question of how I feel about my first
flight with something as specific as “I
just died trying to navigate through a
thick patch of cactus on the off
chance there was something at the
other end”, but it’d be nice to have
more than just the same two options
I had right at the start.
I also need to call out one specific
late-game mystery for being slightly
too obtuse. I’d gathered the clues and
interpreted them correctly, but my
execution turned out to be flawed.
My problem became the lack of any
reinforcement that I was on the right
track—something that elsewhere
Outer Wilds had often provided in a
way that felt natural and
unpatronizing. With no hint that my
instincts were correct, I instead
started to chase more convoluted
solutions, rather than refining my
actions in the correct place.
Still, if Outer Wilds isn’t as
perfectly tight as Return of the Obra
Dinn et al, it’s because its interactions
are broader, more interactive and
often more surprising in their
slowburn revelation. It’s a mystery
that spans multiple worlds, after all,
and untangling it is a delight.89
Beneath its charming,
inventive, and beautiful
worlds, Outer Wilds
hides a cleverly
unfolding mystery.VERDICTGiant’s Deep,
meanwhile, has
twice your
home planet’s
gravitySAFETY NOT
GUARANTEEDLook, landing can be
difficult, OK?Engage autopilot
Cross fingers that the autopilot doesn’t
fling you into the sun
Arrive at planet
Manually and awkwardly fly-hover
around, looking for something interesting
Attempt to land, usually diagonally
Bump on some trees. Or rocks.
Or the ground
Break your headlights
You’ve lan ded!that a tragedy befell the Nomai—you
can see their skeletons littering each
ruin—but, when I finally uncovered
that mystery, I was surprised by how
much I cared.
The slow drip feed of information,
and the story contained within, is
precisely why it’s so easy to set the
greater mysteries to one side. The
death of the sun and the fact that
you’re seemingly the only person
experiencing a time loop both feel
like big, distant problems. But there
are plenty of smaller threads to
follow. Perhaps you land at a site
simply because it looks interesting,
and translate a note that mentions
some other location. Later, you go
looking for it, only to find that the
entrance is blocked. You put that
thread to one side—every discovery is
stored on your computer for future
reference—and go looking for
something else. Then, many loops
later, maybe on another planet
entirely, an offhand reference causes
inspiration to strike. “If
this works like that, then
maybe...” And
suddenly you’re
back on the case.
The time loop
might feel like a
gimmick, but it’s
central to Outer
Wilds’ thesis of
REVIEW