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Author Topic: Outer Wilds  (Read 2068 times)

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pacovf

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Outer Wilds
« on: April 05, 2020, 01:21:50 pm »
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I’ve just finished this game, and it’s sincerely one of the best games I’ve ever played. It’s a game about exploring a toy-sized solar system, discovering the ruins of a long lost ancient race, and a series of mysteries that reveal the close relationship between them and the many strange phenomena happening all over the place.

It’s hard to talk about this game and how good it is without giving anything away, but because the whole point is the exploration and discovery, any “spoiler” I give will take something from your enjoyment of it. The gameplay is unlike anything I’ve played before. The closest might be the Myst games, if you had a focus on exploration instead of obtuse puzzles, but with a similar feel and atmosphere, although more lighthearted and funny. It’s also not a hard game by any means, with a tremendously useful spaceship log that records your discoveries: you always have access to all the info you’ve collected, and it also points you in a few directions that might be worthwhile to explore. But just pointing to a random astral body, landing, and walking for a bit will uncover something, the game is dense with content. And information is the only thing you need: there are no unlocks of any kind, and you could technically finish the game within 20 minutes if you knew how to (and in fact you will). The planets and moons are themselves very imaginative even before you find any ruins, and make for unforgettable vistas.

If you’re looking for a unique ~15h experience during these trying times, I can’t recommend this game enough. It’s beautiful and clever, and will leave you thinking about it for a while. It’s also cheap for the quality you’re getting. There are a couple snags in a couple puzzles that involve waiting (the “time skip” feature is a bit clunky), and one or two locations that involve manoeuvring that is a bit more precise than what the controls allow, but those are literally the only complaints I have for a game that would otherwise be perfect.
« Last Edit: April 05, 2020, 01:28:11 pm by pacovf »
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Cuzz

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Re: Outer Wilds
« Reply #1 on: April 05, 2020, 02:01:55 pm »
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This sounds very up my alley. What platforms is it on?
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pacovf

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Re: Outer Wilds
« Reply #2 on: April 05, 2020, 04:12:16 pm »
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It`s on PS4, XBox, and PC (Epic Store now, but can wait until June if you want it on Steam). The game recommends you use a gamepad, but it should be playable with mouse and keyboard just fine, some things will even be easier. The main thing the controller is good for is travelling around in 0g, but the basic autopilot and "match velocities" buttons cover 95% of your space-faring needs.
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pacovf

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Re: Outer Wilds
« Reply #3 on: December 11, 2021, 07:13:21 am »
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Necro: They released a DLC for Outer Wilds a few months ago, Echoes of the Eye. It honestly could have been a standalone expansion, it's roughly half as much content as the base game. If you liked the base game, then I definitely recommend it. It's almost as good as the base game, which means it's still fantastic...

...although with one snag. Towards the end, the DLC ramps up the "spook" factor up to eleven. It's objectively not *scary*, but to me it felt extremely anxiety-inducing anyway, where the "spook" factor of the base game was well within my tolerance. I ended up looking up online how to beat those sections because they were sapping all the fun for me. Unfortunately, while there are legitimate ways to avoid those sections if you're observant/patient, I got stuff spoiled that I shouldn't have known and didn't need to know, marring my enjoyment of the final act. So if you play the DLC and want some non-spoilery tips, ask here. There is also an option in the menu that significantly drops the difficulty of the relevant sections, so you can just brute force them instead.
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Kuildeous

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Re: Outer Wilds
« Reply #4 on: February 28, 2022, 09:46:39 am »
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I want to like this more, and I do like it. It's a really good game actually. I think maybe it's not 100% compatible with me.

I loved the flavor of the game, especially the fact that everything is basically held together with lumber and hope. There are some really clever uses of the planets, and the overarching force of the game provides some interesting exercises in timing. It does feel all so overwhelming because where on earth do you start with this game?

While I enjoyed uncovering many of the secrets, I couldn't get them all on my own. I probably could have if I were willing to keep trying at them, but the timing mechanic that makes the game so enjoyable was also the obstacle here. I didn't want to go back through some of these explorations. The closest analogy I can think of is when you're playing a game with a boss who keeps beating you, but when you return to your save point, you have to go through the grueling level that gets you to that boss. Or sit through an unskippable cut scene each time. Finally you just want to cheat code the boss because you don't want to keep going through all that stuff each time.

An obvious solution here would be to provide save points, but that would honestly defeat the whole point of the game, so it's an awkward situation.

Fun game, even if I did have to look at a walkthrough to get through the bits I missed. Many of the texts you find in the game give you a hint on what to check out next, so it's really put together well. It just didn't click perfectly for me. Like two gears that look great together but are just a micron off.
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pacovf

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Re: Outer Wilds
« Reply #5 on: March 07, 2022, 05:06:43 am »
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I get what you mean. I did need a walkthrough for a couple of puzzles for the reason you stated. In all the cases, I basically had the right idea, but implementation was slightly off, and waiting 10 mins to try again was too much to ask for me. But I felt that was only a problem for the final hour of the game or so. Before then, you can just go explore elsewhere during those 10 minutes, then try again.
I also found the freedom to explore anywhere pretty well realized, not overwhelming: no matter where you go, there is stuff to uncover. There is no *wrong* choice. Plus, you’re expected to visit most places multiple times as you get “hints” for how everything works, so it’s fine to miss stuff the first time around. The hollow planet is by far the densest, so I could understand feeling overwhelmed if you start the game there and try to 100% it before moving on to the next, it gives you the wrong expectation about how “big” everything else is going to be.
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