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LTTP: Outer Wilds. It's the Anti-No man's Sky. Whide as a puddle, deep as an ocean!

KiteGr

Member
That game was hard to search and form an oppinion whether to buy it for 3 reasons.
  1. It's progression is all based around real knowledge and how each clue would lead you to the next one. There are no upgrades or keys and barelly any switches, and the lack of knowledge is the only thing gatekeeping you from rushing to the end in 5 minutes from booting it. Any image could be an answer or a spoiler, so most revews end up just asking you to play it because "Trust me bro!".
  2. It's early hours are clunky. The game uses real newtonian physics, something we rarelly see in space videogames. This along with it being an indie game with poor graphics and no voice acting leaves a bad first impression.
  3. It came out close to "Outer Wolrds". A much higher profile game by a much more known developer, that was sure to catch most search result realestate. By mine and most's oppinion Outer Wilds was by far the better game.

The beggining is hard.
The game is expertly designed to draw attention to some points of interest and have low detail on areas with nothing important to find. Trying to stumble your self on later information before it's time will overwelm you. The ships log serves as a great check list and guilde to your next point of interest.
The second hurdle is the newtonian space physics. Any force requires a counterforce to stop, the astrlal bodies you try to land on keep moving and high jumps on low gravity could put you in real orbit or even worse, strand you into space. The Autopilot and the ability to mach your velocity to the astral bodies is a godsent, and you'll still need some trainning before landing somewhere whithout hicups. By the end you'll be traveling around like an expert astronaut.
Besides that, the game might seem light, but it's actually quite heavy as the solar system keeps rolling with or without you, and all colisions and graphics of you, your ship's and your probe's always stay loaded. Rarelly you'll run into a developer trick such as a loading door or an independent area to mask stuff working in the background. It was draining my Deck's battery in a couple of hours.

The story: (colored by spoiler level from insignificant to endgame)
lvl 1 You are an astronaut from a laid back race of alliens on your first day to explore your small solar system. The astronaut program is still in it's infancy with just a few other astronauts having landed on each of the other 3 planets and your moon. On your first day in the tuttorial area you learn the basic mechanics. How to act in zero G, how to repair your ship, how to use your probe, not how to fly (that tuttorial is very innacurate), how to see and avoid the phantom zones, how to use your translator, how the gravity crystals work, the existance of the Nomai (the advance civilisation that lived on your system before you) and the existance of the quantum obgects.
lvl 2 Leaving for your ship after completing the tuttorial area, a Nomai statue looks at you and stores your memories. As you make nothing of it and let your self loose on the solar system, 3 things become clear. The Universe is a scary place with a lot of ways to die. You are in a time-loop where you are being send back to the beginning of your game, keeping only your knowledge (that thankfully is stored on your ship's computer). Your system is about to go Supernova in 22 minutes. Your only salvation is to uncover the past and technology of the Nomai.
lvl 3 Each planet represents an existential dredd of mine. Brittle Hollow reprisents vertigo, with a literal black how beneath you eating away at your planet. The Ember twin represent the fear of getting crushed in an underground cave. The Ash twin represents your fear of getting sucked back on Ember twin. The Giant's deep represents the fear of storms and water. Dark Bramble represents "I don't Ever want to go to that place again" fear. The Quantum Moon represents existential fear.
lvl 4 The ending killed me! At first you thought that something was causing the sun to explode and could be avoided by researching enough, but then you see your fate is unavoidable, as the whole universe is naturally ending. You have to leave everything behind by breaking your loop sequrity and going to the Eye to face the universe's fate.

I didn't play the expansion content despite owning it, as it's well hidden in the game and all that information was already piling up on my brain to comprehent. I've also heard that it's even scaryer than the main game.

That game was an experience!
Once you go through it once, you'll only have your memory to remember it!
 

kicker

Banned
One of the most easily-spoiled games ever. It's cool that the industry for the most part kept from ruining the experience of discovering the game.
Or maybe it's

I'm on board the Obsidian train again though

Jake Gyllenhaal Reaction GIF


Or otherwise
asia kate dillon showtime GIF by Billions
 

nowhat

Member
I really need to finish this. Started it ages ago, loved it and got maybe 2/3 through it, but somehow it just went to my backlog. Probably will start from scratch (especially with the PS5 patch, the 30fps was kinda jarring even if I'm not a framerate snob).

The first time I experienced the time loop I was blown away, witnessing it from space. Going through the atmosphere of the gas giant was epic, finding all that's in there. When I entered the hollow planet with the black hole at the center of it, whatever it is called I pretty much shat myself. In a positive way, if such a thing exists.

The physics are just the right kind of mix between realism and enjoyable gameplay (distances be damned, it's a video game). And the soundtrack, ohmigod. It's god tier stuff and fits the game perfectly. Don't let the cartoony graphics fool you. This may be the best sci-fi game you've played, or will play, in years.
 

alucard0712_rus

Gold Member
Recently played it. Was shocked how interesting it is!
But as VR enthusiast I will say that it will be a perfect PSVR2 game. You kinda always want to be in this game, not watching outside. And it's hard to look at the sky on non-OLED display.
 
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KiteGr

Member
Recently played it. Was shocked how interesting it is!
But as VR enthusiast I will say that it will be a perfect PSVR2 game. You kinda always want to be in this game, not watching outside. And it's hard to look at the sky on non-OLED display.
Doesn't look like it's happening.


Aparently there is a mod for PC that allows it.
Dispite it's simple looks, the game is quite heavy with all the stuff going on. I don't know how much firepower you need to double render it for VR.
 
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Fbh

Member
I love this game, easily one of the best games from last gen and easily in my overall top 10.
The way the world is constructed, all the clever and unexpected interactions of different elements, how progression is achieved through gaining knowledge. It's really incredible.
Most games I've liked over the last 10 years just take a familiar and well established formula and then execute it really well or, at most, give it a bit of a unique twist. But Outer Wilds is the first game since OG Demon Souls's that has really impressed me with the way its designed.

I'd recommend taking a break and playing some other stuff but definitely come back for the DLC. It's not as consistently good as the main game but it's still really good and has some of the most clever "puzzle" solutions of the whole experience.
But yeah it's a more spooky vibe, though I remember seeing an option in the menu to "make it less scary" (not sure what it does).
 
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ANDS

King of Gaslighting
Great that this game is getting recognition so long after release. The comparison to NMS is odd as they are two completely different genres trying to do two entirely different things. Like, other than space, what exactly do they share in common?

. . .and the gameplay in NMS I would hardly call "shallow", particularly for a procedurally generated game.
 

KiteGr

Member
Great that this game is getting recognition so long after release. The comparison to NMS is odd as they are two completely different genres trying to do two entirely different things. Like, other than space, what exactly do they share in common?

. . .and the gameplay in NMS I would hardly call "shallow", particularly for a procedurally generated game.
If you think about, there are many similar consepts with those games.
Both try to satisfy our desire to travel straight up and explore freely the solar system.
Both tell an existential story about the universe's iminent end. In NMS the Universe is a simulation that is about to break down in 16 minutes of the real world. In OW it reached the end of it's natural lifespan.
Both are indie that have been made by a handfull of people.

Other than that. The philosofofy is the exact oposite.
NMS tries to give you infinite exploration by procedurally generate the whole univeres, while OW gives you just one small solar system that is packed with hand-made content of substance.
On NMS the the variety of the planets suffer, as most planets consist of the same variation with diferent colour grass, and you'll eventually reverse engineer the whole algorithm in your head and get numbed to the idea of finding something new. You'll be more interested to find a good combination of assets and resources, so it might as well be randomised loot. The other activities being added are pretty much a live service game. The story tried to be big, but lost everyone once again once they reversed engineered it's workings and mentioned that "you are on a simulated world", which is the equivalent of "it was all a dream"..
On OW each rock is placed there by hand, each ruined building was carefully placed, taking into account it's location to the nearby walkways, vistas, teleporters, envaromental hazards and facilities, and even the inhabitant's goals and personality. All planets are filled with important points of interest, all the way to the inside of the planets, and some times it's very core. The character's story have a clear timeline, and even in the present everything changes drastically over time.

Both games are a diferent take on the same phylosofy of exploring the star. One tried to be infinite and it's content often leaves us uninterested besides the "gamy" parts. The other tried to handcraft the experience to touch us to our very core.
 

Bragr

Banned
One of my most frustrating experiences of the previous generation.

I loved the idea of the solar system and the physics, but I thought the breadcrumb trail was boring and lacked interesting revelations and tidbits, I thought you spent too much time just wandering around. It should have been twice as short.
 

winjer

Gold Member
I tried this game a year ago.
Started the game and played for half an hour. But then I had to go out. I had noticed checkpoints, so I thought my progress was being saved. But no.
When I tried to continue the game later that day, it sent me right to the very start. Fucking piece of shit.
Immediately, alt+f4 and asked for a Steam refund.
 

nkarafo

Member
I really wanted this game to grab me, especially since i absolutely love the "groundhog's day" concept, like in Majora's Mask.

I tried but it didn't keep my interest at all. I didn't care for whatever that was going on. I'm also not sure what my goal is supposed to be, if there is one. The art direction/graphics also didn't help. Might try it again sometime, maybe.
 
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Kadve

Member
Steam page:
Named Game of the Year 2019 by Giant Bomb, Polygon, Eurogamer, and The Guardian, Outer Wilds is a critically-acclaimed and award-winning open world mystery about a solar system trapped in an endless time loop.

Any other person who hate when companies do this? Don't bother explaining what the product is, just brag abut how many awards its gotten and/or how popular it is. Seen plenty of books and movies do the same thing.
 

Hugare

Member
Steam page:


Any other person who hate when companies do this? Don't bother explaining what the product is, just brag abut how many awards its gotten and/or how popular it is. Seen plenty of books and movies do the same thing.
... Its an open world mystery about a solar system trapped in an endless time loop.

What more you should know?

"There are 7 planets! Discover the mysteries of an ancient civilization!"

The heart of the game is about discovering stuff by yourself. Their description should be enough.

The game trully is amazing, but I droped it after a while. I like story heavy stuff, so the breadcumbs werent enough to keep me engaged.
 

KiteGr

Member
I tried this game a year ago.
Started the game and played for half an hour. But then I had to go out. I had noticed checkpoints, so I thought my progress was being saved. But no.
When I tried to continue the game later that day, it sent me right to the very start. Fucking piece of shit.
Immediately, alt+f4 and asked for a Steam refund.
As I said... Hard start.

This game is about being in a time-loop and gathering information. The "start from the begining" was how it supposed to work, though you don't have to go through the entire tuttorial area this time if you already have the lunch codes. The world and the planets, with the exeption of the starting one, break apart and change as time passes and every 22 minutes the world resets and you start again. If you quit, the game counts it as ending your loop and starts you again from the beginning, but saves the knowledge you've gathered on your ship's computer. If you want to go forward in time to some event that happens at a specific time, you just waste time by a campfire.

Unless you where trolling....
Then you shouldn't play this. It's to much for you.
 

winjer

Gold Member
As I said... Hard start.

This game is about being in a time-loop and gathering information. The "start from the begining" was how it supposed to work, though you don't have to go through the entire tuttorial area this time if you already have the lunch codes. The world and the planets, with the exeption of the starting one, break apart and change as time passes and every 22 minutes the world resets and you start again. If you quit, the game counts it as ending your loop and starts you again from the beginning, but saves the knowledge you've gathered on your ship's computer. If you want to go forward in time to some event that happens at a specific time, you just waste time by a campfire.

Unless you where trolling....
Then you shouldn't play this. It's to much for you.

I just hate games that waste the players time. And rogue lites are really bad for doing this.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
I tried this a while back, but the framerate and input lag on PS5 was just terrible. Did the game get a PS5 update since then?
 

Eotheod

Member
Brilliant game, absolutely loved the loop and having real world Newtonian physics was just a cherry on top.
 

KiteGr

Member
Steam page:


Any other person who hate when companies do this? Don't bother explaining what the product is, just brag abut how many awards its gotten and/or how popular it is. Seen plenty of books and movies do the same thing.
I hate it to, but this particular one is very sensitive to spoilers. Instead of keys you get actuall info and clues to advance.
I just hate games that waste the players time. And rogue lites are really bad for doing this.
Then I have good news.
This isn't a rogue like/lite. This is an adventure game, similar to "Return of Obra Dinn" and "Gone Home". Unlike the traditional old school adventure games where you rub items with each other until something cool hapens, here you get pieces of information. Hints on how to reach new locations, clues on what is happening, and what your goal should be. Other than that everything is open and with the right info you can reach the ending in 5 minutes from starting.
The time loop works more like Manjora's Mask where it's just an excuse for the wolrd to constantly change and stuff might only happen at a specific time. Since you only gain knowledge in each loop, you loose nothing when you die.
I tried this a while back, but the framerate and input lag on PS5 was just terrible. Did the game get a PS5 update since then?
I've heard it did get a free upgrade. The game is deceptivelly heavy with all stuff going in the planets simultainusly. I personally played it on the Deck caped at 40fps.
 
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