If I could erase any game from my mind and experience it again for the first time, it would be this game. One of my favorites of all time.
Today's featured article on Wikipedia: Outer Wilds
Submitted 8 months ago by silverchase@sh.itjust.works to games@lemmy.world
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Wilds
Comments
Thorry84@feddit.nl 8 months ago
samus12345@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
When you do, please leave yourself a note reminding you to send me the mind eraser afterwards.
LongboardingLad@lemmy.world 8 months ago
One of those games you can only experience once. Such a masterpiece!!
ylph@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Once you finish it, it’s actually really fun watching other people’s playthroughs as well - getting to relive some of the moments vicariously through other people’s eyes is almost as much fun as experiencing them yourself the first time.
It’s also quite amazing just how different each playthrough can be, since the game is so non-linear, people take some crazy paths to get to the end ! It can be frustrating as well when someone just can’t see what is in front of their face though :)
There are also so many subtle elements scattered around that most people miss on their first playthrough, and watching someone else play it really made me appreciate many of the details I missed on my own playthrough and even make connections I didn’t before, and understand aspects of the story that I didn’t fully get the first time.
Blackmist@feddit.uk 8 months ago
I keep trying to get the missus to play it, just so I can experience it again.
SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 months ago
Playing this game anew would be an upside to early onset dementia for me.
Klanky@sopuli.xyz 8 months ago
I played this game and loved it but never finished it. I feel like I was either too dumb to figure out what to do next, or I could tell what I needed to do but couldn’t maneuver my ship/character well enough. Total skill issue on my part, though I intend to dive back in at some point.
Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
Read a walkthrough if you have to. The ending is 10,000% worth experiencing, even if you need a little help to get there.
In fact, getting to the end with help from strangers actually feels more in keeping with the themes of the game.
ThunderWhiskers@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Definitely this. It’s pretty easy to lookup exactly where you are and find mostly spoiler free walkthroughs or sometimes even hints. IIRC there are a few spots that a lot of people got hung up on.
This game is too good not to finish.
lazycouchpotato@lemmy.world 8 months ago
On the same boat.
I definitely want to go back and complete it some day.
kksgandhi@lemmy.ml 8 months ago
The Outer Wilds community is very helpful. Just post where you’re stuck and people will give you hints without spoilers!
Zoomboingding@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Your ship computer shows hints and places you haven’t fully explored. Alternatively you could say where you are and helpful internet people can give you a nudge.
Klanky@sopuli.xyz 8 months ago
I know, like I said I was too dumb to figure out exactly what to do when I got there :-). I definitely plan on diving back in, though.
shneancy@lemmy.world 8 months ago
one of my top favourite games of all time! And one of the two narrative experiences on that list that I can’t talk about with the “uninitiated” (other is Inscryption)
if you like space, and you like thinking - don’t look up anything about this game. Watch maybe 5 minutes of some gameplay if you’re hesitant.
Though a word of warning, this is a game that’ll take all of your focus, it’s very hard to play it with a YouTube video or a movie in playing the background. And yes the ship movement can feel clunky at first, you’ll get used to it don’t worry - the story is worth it
MurrayL@lemmy.world 8 months ago
In my experience, if people are going to bounce off the game it’ll come down to one (or more) of three reasons:
- They hate the flight controls
- They hate the feeling of being on a constant timer
- They hate the lack of explicit direction in what to do next
It’s one of my favourite games of all time, and it has good reasons for all of the above, but it’s definitely not for everyone!
shneancy@lemmy.world 8 months ago
in my experience as a impatient person you simply need to make peace with the timer, it stings at first but then- i think thanks to Outer Wilds i can play souls likes now ::: spoiler spoiler because it shows clearly how death is simply a part of the learning experience, it’s not a failure :::
JigglySackles@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I have a friend who stopped for a whole other reason. But I can’t talk about it without revealing too much. But basically had to do with bramble and deep, things that don’t bother most people much, triggering some actual phobias.
LMagicalus@discuss.tchncs.de 8 months ago
I had the solution to the main game spoiled for me YEARS ago. I have the game sitting on an external hard drive, just waiting for my brain to forget.
kksgandhi@lemmy.ml 8 months ago
The game is magical even with that one spoiler. Hell, I’d go so far as to say the puzzles aren’t even as important as the themes and story.
You should definitely play it!
Joelk111@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I have beat the game. I remember the gist of the solution, but I have no idea how to pull it off any more. I can’t wait to play it again, possibly with the VR mod.
TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world 8 months ago
One of the many games just sitting in my steam library, waiting to be played.
AbsoluteChicagoDog@lemm.ee 8 months ago
Play it today. You need to go in blind. It’s straightforward to learn and super rewarding to ay.
EddoWagt@feddit.nl 8 months ago
I still wish I didn’t watch a playthrough
Nibodhika@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Someone told me the same thing, I started playing it but forgot about it, would need to restart it.
Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
At first, the game will not make sense. But somewhere around the 20 minute mark (it varies depending on what you do) you will encounter The Event. It will happen. You will know it has happened. It will be, unmistakably, The Event. Nothing else could be The Event. And then you will have your first real understanding of what the game is about, and it will be very, very exciting.
After that happens, look at the computer in the back of your ship (to the right as you enter). For the rest of the game this will be your most important tool. You’ll understand why. Once it happens.
Have fun.
EddoWagt@feddit.nl 8 months ago
But somewhere around the 20 minute mark (it varies depending on what you do) you will encounter The Event. It will happen. You will know it has happened. It will be, unmistakably, The Event. Nothing else could be The Event.
I love explanations like this, at first you don’t know what it might be, so anything could be the event, is this the event? No, is that the event? Also no. And then you come across the event and you just know, yes, that’s the event
naticus@lemmy.world 8 months ago
A friend begged me to play this and I just didn’t for a couple years despite owning it. Once I finally did it quickly became an all-time favorite. You should fix this yourself.
dinckelman@lemmy.world 8 months ago
This is one of the best games I have ever played. I know this phrase goes around every day, but I wholeheartedly mean it.
This is the type of game you can only place once, and the experience is incomparable to much of anything else
MvPts@lemmy.world 8 months ago
This game is a Masterpiece!
cholesterol@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I’m really struggling with this game. I got it on sale and played for 3+ hours, but somehow it didn’t grip me. It was really annoying having to constantly start over. Not trying to retract from other people’s experience of it.
itsprobablyfine@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
So one thing I didn’t realize right away is that in the ship there is a board where the game auto stores your discoveries detective-style. It really helps provide guidance when you feel like you’re out of leads or don’t know what to do.
scratchee@feddit.uk 8 months ago
On the one hand, if you don’t enjoy the game that’s fine. It’s a masterpiece, but that doesn’t magically mean that everyone will enjoy it.
That said, if you want to enjoy it more, focus on one thing per loop, everything is designed to be completable in a single loop, (or maybe a few for the more complicated puzzles if you get stuck). And if something is frustrating, do something else.
Things really go wrong if you keep smashing your head against a brick wall or if you keep jumping around and never manage to finish anything.
We’re trained to think of death as a major failure by other games, it’s not in this one, it’s just jumping back home, repairing the ship, and starting from a central location and a known state.
duffman@lemmy.world 8 months ago
It takes some getting used to. And maybe looping games isn’t everyone’s cup of tea(e.g. Majora’s mask).
But the exploration, the knowlesge based progression, the cleverness of the story, and its delivery is absolutely brilliant.
domi@lemmy.secnd.me 8 months ago
It’s a hard game to get into. Played for 2 hours on my first run and didn’t know where to go.
After 2 weeks or so I tried again because everyone was recommending it to me. Now it’s one of my favorites, even though it took another 2 hours before I had any idea what I was doing.
pyre@lemmy.world 8 months ago
same here. i keep hearing good things and restarting the game but every time I’m just losing interest by the first hour.
Blackmist@feddit.uk 8 months ago
The most common gripe I hear is the ship controls. It’s really designed for controller, and manual space flight is kind of pointless when the autopilot can do it so much better (as long as there’s nothing in the way).
It’s really a game about pulling threads until you find interesting things. The ship’s computer is useful for keeping track of the thread ends. Most places can be reached in a minute or so right from the main planet, although depending on where you’re going you might have to wait longer to get access to what you want. There isn’t really any “starting over” because what you’re gathering is knowledge in your own head.
I think the hardest part initially is finding an interesting thread to pull on. I think Giant’s Deep was where it started to click for me, but there’s undoubtedly more.
SimplyTadpole@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
I beat it last week. Amazing game.
Can’t wait to get the DLC and play it!
Blackmist@feddit.uk 8 months ago
I put off playing it for ages because I didn’t know how it could possibly stand up to the main game.
It does, and more so. Enjoy.
boaratio@lemmy.world 8 months ago
When I got echoes of the eye, I was confused as to how to play it. Once I figured it out, my mind was blown for a second time. I wish, as others have said, I could re-experience this game.
domi@lemmy.secnd.me 8 months ago
I still remember how confused I was when story DLC was announced for a game which I considered to be complete story wise.
Turns out the story was not complete.
Setiyeti93@lemmy.ca 8 months ago
My favourite letsnplayer has finally picked this up. I will never experience it fresh… So watching others is the closest I’ll ever get.
tekila@lemmy.world 8 months ago
After playing this game I watched so many streams and let’s play of it. I enjoyed seeing how people did it differently than me.
I also convinced my partner to play it on Christmas as my gift for me to watch. (They were instantly hooked)
This is one on my favorite games ever
sylveon@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 months ago
It’s so much fun to watch other people figure things out. It’s the closest we can get to playing the game again.
Setiyeti93@lemmy.ca 8 months ago
My partner tried to play…
But sadly they struggle with that"platforming" mostly Brittle Hollow
Coelacanth@feddit.nu 8 months ago
Which Let’s Player? I’m always looking for new ones I’ll like.
Setiyeti93@lemmy.ca 8 months ago
A YouTuber by the name of Kikoskia. Just started
I have previously really enjoyed a play through by a YouTuber by the name of Welomz which is long complete.
Let me know if you try either
recursive_recursion@programming.dev 8 months ago
vicariously watching others is our only solution now unfortunately
PaupersSerenade@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
There’s a really well done VR mod for this game. It’s actually the only way I’ve played it so far. If you can run Steam VR I highly recommend it! I had to do a reinstall of some stuff so haven’t finished the game yet, but it’s been high on my ‘to-do list’.
Wrufieotnak@feddit.org 8 months ago
Yes it is wonderful, especially floating in space and just drifting. But be aware, certain parts are… intense in VR.
Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Yeah, I bet there are some fishy sequences.
AceTKen@lemmy.ca 8 months ago
It looks like I will be nearly the only dissenter here. I didn’t care for the game.
PROS:
- The music and sound design were completely appropriate and fit the world.
- An initially interesting story setup.
- Some of the planets have a SUPER cool premise and are a joy to explore.
- The DLC adds some much-needed (albeit mild) horror elements.
NEUTRALS:
- Achievements are implemented, but are mostly for irrelevant side activities. Do you like using a guide to figure out how to get all the achievements? Well, you will have to.
CONS:
- This is not an adventure game, this is a puzzle game first and foremost. If you are not down with figuring out hundreds of vague Dark Souls-style lore blurbs scattered all over in order to work out how to solve environmental puzzles to progress, do not get this game.
- In the same vein, if you are not down with having a loop end before you’re done exploring an area only to have to trek all the way back there and go through everything all over again in case you missed something, do not get this game. This could be partially solved by having the logs you find on a planet permanently NOT GLOW any more after you had read their chain, or maybe a ship notice letting you know there were undecyphered texts on a planet still. I had to re-tread an astounding amount of ground just to make sure I wasn’t missing something.
- When your ship directs you to a planet that you need something from, the navigation on some of them is so obtuse that I found several places I could not find again even after dozens of visits to their planets. A map or better signposting would alleviate this.
- The characters were deeply forgettable, and you are constantly inundated with dozens of gibberish alien names so unless you follow a lore guide or take notes, you’re not going to figure out who did what. And speaking of…
- The story has a veneer of “pretty good sci-fi” but is told quite poorly. You will beat the game, get the incredibly lacklustre ending that doesn’t close out the story in any way, and watch one of many lore explanation videos that will make things click into place. The fact that the lore videos have SO MANY HITS is endemic of the fact that this is a narrative poorly delivered. You will find the lore in random order. If spread over multiple sessions like I played, this will mean you will not make some absolutely needed connections.
- Many things do not make sense within the context of the world and there is no reason for them to be happening at the time except for the hand-waving “It’s a video game” excuse, which breaks immersion. Why only now is sand being moved from one planet to another at the beginning of a cycle? Why only now is one planet being broken by lava? These (and other that I can not speak about due to spoilers) are not explained - the systems have existed for ages and would have (and should have given the environments they set up) occurred before this, but because it makes for a more interesting setup, it all happens now.
- The controls are… an acquired taste at best. Look at many of the negative reviews; many state the controls as an issue. There is a reason for this, even though I did become accustomed to them over time. I swapped to a controller and it was less bad. The keyboard and mouse controls are abysmal.
- I played the final build after the DLC came out, and even this far in development, I had some severe bugs. Controls would get “stuck” and force a game restart, achievements didn’t unlock correctly, etc.
- I wound up quitting because I didn’t know what to do next and didn’t care to watch yet another video to figure it out. There were hundreds of text logs that may or may not have been useful, and no idea how to find what was missing to help me progress without consulting guides, and it became too much. I eventually realized that I was just throwing time into a hole with nothing to show for it. It genuinely felt like it wanted me to give up and I couldn’t help but oblige. I just… stopped. I hated it. I kept doing the same thing over and over and eventually felt that I wasn’t enjoying anything. I hate the very concept of repetition as a game mechanic unless executed well; this wasn’t executed well.
- Despite quitting, I have seen all the endings. The real ending is legitimately nonsense and is basically an appeal to emotion while leaving the reality of the universe behind. It abandons the premise with what can only be described as a narrative hug that does essentially nothing, but presents the veneer of “feel good.” It is nothing. It is empty. Everyone but me loves it for this, and I can’t figure out why.
CONCLUSION: Meh? I really don’t understand the adoration people have for this game. It’s a mediocre non-combat roguelike with about 3 hour of content they’ve spread over 20 hours. It feels very much like a case of style over substance. This game genuinely makes me sad. I really wanted to like it, but… ugh. It feels like work.
recursive_recursion@programming.dev 8 months ago
one of the best games of all time🙏
if you haven’t played please don’t spoil yourself as The Outer Wilds is an incredible and enjoyable journey that many and I wish to experience for the first time again
this is a game classified in the legendary status
Imhotep@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I’m testing it in VR, the modder did an amazing job. Unfortunately my GPU absolutely blows with VR games (Intel Arc A770)
8000gnat@reddthat.com 8 months ago
yuuuus
subignition@piefed.social 8 months ago
If anyone hasn't played this game yet: don't read the article!
I highly recommend you experience this for yourself while knowing as little as possible about it. Top tier game.
Dipbeneaththelasers@lemmy.today 8 months ago
A million percent agree. If you haven’t played it yet, look nothing up and play it as blindly as possible. I’m so glad I did and wish I could do it again.
hannesh93@feddit.org 8 months ago
My go-to game for the question: “if you could forget a game just to experience it all over again” such a perfect game
obinice@lemmy.world 8 months ago
This was the game where I couldn’t figure out how to fly the space ship properly, and then I went to land on a strange abandoned space station and couldn’t figure out what to do there beyond reading some alien text that didn’t make much sense, right?
I’m sure I didn’t give it a fair lick, it’s just it took up 2 hours of my time and didn’t hook or particularly engage me up to that point, so I didn’t feel like going back in and slogging through the slow burn to get to the good stuff.
That’s on me I suppose, I should try it again!
Does it pick up and get a little more interesting and robust, at least? I’m not looking for hardcore shooter action, but like, I dunno, interesting people, engaging quests and cool places to go whilst doing them, and such. Something to keep me interested, you know?
Everyone’s different, of course, walking simulators with the occasional small bit of world building text to read just aren’t for me is all.
subignition@piefed.social 8 months ago
Without giving any specific spoilers, the game has a primarily archaeological feel, you will be following breadcrumbs around to various places in the solar system (your journal is important!!!) and learning about the ancient civilization that mysteriously disappeared. finally piecing together the whole picture is one of the most powerful moments I've ever had in gaming.
there's no "correct order" to do things in, so if you feel like you've hit a dead end or you can't figure out what you should be doing at a particular place, consider going somewhere else. and most importantly: follow your curiosity
Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
There’s two essential ship functions, auto pilot and match velocity, it makes flying much easier
Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
In your ship there is a computer at the back (to the right when you enter). That computer contains a digital investigation board - y’know, with the photos connected by string and stuff.
Once you find that, the game really starts to make sense. It’s not a walking simulator, it’s an active crime scene. I won’t say what “crime” (and I’m being somewhat metaphorical here), in case you didn’t play long enough (about 12 minutes after you encounter the statue in the museum) for The Event to happen (The Event will make you think very differently about what this game is, but I can’t talk about that. We don’t talk about The Event). But that’s basically what’s happening. There’s a problem, and you have to solve it, but to do that you’ll have to unearth years of lost history, piecing together the story of an alien civilization that has visited your star system. The gameplay is primarily about exploration, trying to figure out where to find and how to get to the clues you need to put everything together. Slowly, the murder board fills in, the pieces connect, the list of suspects narrows, and you spiral in towards a genuinely shocking and heart wrenching conclusion.
Does it get good? My friend, it gets EPIC. The sheer scale the plot operates on is mind blowing. The ending destroyed me; easily one of the best stories I’ve ever encountered in a video game.
The flight mechanics are intentionally fiddly. You will get used to them eventually. The gameplay is exciting, sometimes terrifying, but don’t expect them to like give you a gun or anything. It’s a puzzle game, but the puzzles are never a fucking Sudoku. If you can handle that, it’s one of the best games ever made.
purplemonkeymad@programming.dev 8 months ago
Don’t feel bad, on my first flight I ran into the sun by accident.
Kept working on it and was rewarded with the rest of the game. For real I continued to die to spaceship piloting issues but it didn’t ruin the game for me.
DamienGramatacus@lemmy.world 8 months ago
It really should be part of the title of the game. Outer Wilds: don’t look anything up, just play it.
I very nearly had to use a guide at one point but I stayed strong as everything I’d read said I’d regret it if I did. So glad I didn’t as the joy of discovery in this game is unparalleled. Top 5 gaming experience of all time, I reckon.
saltesc@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I tried, I really did. But a few hours in, I just didn’t like the gameplay even though I thought I would’ve loved it and the other new games I had waiting won.
Maybe I should grind through. Is there a point where it suddenly gets good a few hours in?
subignition@piefed.social 8 months ago
If exploration, discovery, and puzzling out mysteries aren't engaging for you, it might just not be your type of game.