Unpopular opinion warning: After absolutely adoring Subnautica I was excited to try Outer Wilds as I was told it was similar. But for some reason despite my best efforts I just never got myself to care about it. It must be having to start over and over again and having a time limit to do anything that just annoys me too much. I get what they were going for and you can really tell it was made with a lot of love. But it was just not for me.
I don’t know why people constantly compare the two. I mean I get it, but just because you like one does not mean you will like the other. They have some overlap but not in ways that make it easy to recommend them based off each other. They are very different games.
For starters, OW has zero survival game elements other than you need O2 and fuel in your suit (usually).
Unpopular opinion warning: after playing and adoring Outer Wilds, I played Subnautica and, while it’s a fine game, I’m having trouble getting engrossed in it. I’ve never been much of a fan of survival games, though (apart from Minecraft if it counts?) and Subnautica may be my favorite in that category… But it’s still firmly in that category
Everyone should TRY Subnautica and Outer Wilds without being spoiled first. And if they give it a go and don’t like it, they shouldn’t be outcasts for choosing to read about the game instead of playing it themselves. No game is fun for everyone, and that’s ok
Tetris might be the exception to your last rule
Maybe I’m just weird but haven’t played it yet because I don’t have much reason to play it… I want to know why I should play it but not enough to just go play it.
So, there’s a few reasons why everyone wants you to go in blind:
- It’s a puzzle game and a mystery, and one where knowledge is everything. Technically you seem complete the whole game in 5 minutes if you know how. In practice, it’s hours of discovery as you slowly piece together an absolutely breathtaking mystery (there’s literally a “conspiracy board with polaroids and string” on your ship that you can consult as you start to piece things together). That sense of discovery and wonder is everything, and we’re trying to preserve as much of it for you as possible.
- There’s an absolutely brilliant twist about half an hour in that will leave your jaw on the floor.
- The ending is incredible. Real top tier “best endings in video games” kind of material.
- The whole game is just full of really really cool “WOW” moments as you discover new things and just lose your mind over them.
But I get it, you want a little more than that. Here’s the non-spoilery version:
Its a puzzle game that deftly avoids presenting you with “Solve this Sudoku” style puzzles. You’re not doing an IQ test, you’re solving a vast mystery that reaches across space and back into the past. You’re an archaeologist, unearthing the ruins of a dead civilisation. You’re an explorer (most of the puzzles are about navigation; figuring out how to get into or out of places) diving deep into the unknown.
On a more practical level, it’s a game about flying around a tiny but surprisingly well simulated star system in a little tin can space ship, landing wherever you want, and exploring whatever you want, as you try to solve a mystery that threatens your whole civilisation.
It’s a game of cosmic wonder. If you’ve ever felt awestruck by the idea of things like black holes, wormholes, four dimensional space, megastructures in space and so on, this game has it all and more. It’s cute and fun on the surface, but really it’s 2001 and Solaris and Interstellar, just slamming you with the sheer majesty of space.
And it’s just full of heart. It’s a game about life and community and the beauty of building great things together.
Now the more spoilery stuff. Let’s talk about that big twist that happens early on. This doesn’t give much else away, but it does slightly lessen the impact of one really cool moment.
Spoiler
About half an hour into your first exploration of the solar system, the sun goes supernova.
It is terrifying, and awe inspiring. And you die.
And wake up again, 22 minutes in the past.
That’s the game; it’s a time loop. It’s groundhog day but instead of I’ve Got You Babe it’s the fucking sun exploding. So now you have to repeat the loop, over and over, trying to piece together an answer to why the sun is blowing up, and how you can stop it, and perhaps how it all ties into a dead alien civilisation and their quest for something called The Eye of The Universe.
That should be enough to give you some idea of why people are so hype about this game. It doesn’t even come close to covering some of the truly wild discoveries you’ll make along the way, or indeed the truly heartbreaking emotional gut punches the game will deliver.
It’s one of the best games ever made. I cannot recommend it enough.
Absolutely perfectly written explanation. I admit I’m biased as it’s one of my favorite games ever.
Genuinely the best review of the game I’ve read to date. Very good writing to showcase the “Feel” of the game with none of the real content being spoiled.
I know, it was exactly the same for me. I hated it when people didn’t tell me anything about the game and just said ‘Play It’.
Then I bought it anyway during a sale, and now I’m one of those people: Play It. Without any spoilers.
That usually means it’s a knowledge-based game and the fun is in the figuring out. Tunic had a similar feel even though the gameplay was very different.
It’s weird, I absolutely adored Tunic, it’s one of my favorite games of all time, yet Outer Wilds was just “alright” for me? Like IGN 7/10 good but nothing to write home about.
Part of that was probably because I felt constant nausea due to being unaccustomed to playing 3D games with controller - the fact half of the game occured in space with two additional axis of rotation significantly worsened it.
Fantasy Space exploration puzzle game with lots of lore and extremely unique and intriguing environments to explore.
But it’s true. Play Outer Wilds. Don’t look anything up!
fr though, play Outer Wilds. Don’t look anything up.
Don’t do this to anything
::)
I really enjoyed it up until the end, where I knew exactly what needed to happen, but I couldn’t figure out how to do it. When I finally looked it up, it was the most unintuitive solution that felt more like an easter egg than the intended path. I would have never finished it on my own, which left a bad taste in my mouth.
Yeah, the flow of the game is interesting and unique but the trick is bullshit
The logs explain what you need to do…
Yea you got logs and an info board on your ship that explained it.
I mean, the entire game can sort of be described as an easter egg hunt. If you’re talking about >!warping inside the Ash Twin project!< then I get it, I got stuck on that for a while too but I love puzzle games and am used to that feeling of being stuck. I’ve noticed watching playthroughs that most people miss >!clues for how to tell the warp towers apart or how to apply the knowledge that warp towers activate when oriented towards the gravitational center of a destination!<, so there could’ve been more clues for that.
Edit: I think something that could’ve improved it is if they made a mini-game of the ship log to get more people to interact with it. A lot of the issues people seem to have with the game stem from them not meaningfully engaging with the clues they’ve been given. As it is the game relies heavily on people actively trying to piece together the puzzle themselves without any mechanism to ensure they do it.
I got stuck on the same thing
I like collectathon games so I thought of the ship log as the collectibles in the game, trying to fond every clue but when I got to the ash twins, I stayed on the correct spot two entire cycles and the teleporter didn’t want to work. Then I searched for it to confirm I was following the correct lead.
The game was really fun but sometimes it asked you to be on position x at time t and gave you only two opportunities with 5 minutes of waiting in between. Something like a teleporter detector when you get close enough to them, as with the radio detector would have helped.
I really enjoyed the game and 100% completed it in two sittings. I keep recommending it.
You do have a >!teleporter detector!<, sort of. You can use the >!scout launcher to see when the teleporter activates by shooting the scout on the platform and hanging back. A black hole will appear when it activates and you can jump in.!<
Your spoiler tags aren’t working. I think Lemmy uses a different style from Reddit.
Yeah they work like
this
–where the title of this spoiler is “this,” attempting to make this interjection fit smoothly inside the sentence– ::: but the markup and formatting makes them kinda weird to try and put inside a block of text.
I think it might depend on what client you’re using. They’re working on Sync.
Outer wilds was great but going to some of the planets gave me the willies so hard I haven’t finished it.
The statue at the beginning got me good
Exploring the interloper got and upset me for a while afterwards.
First time I approached the gas giant I fell in. I bout pissed myself. If you do go back, I suggest turning off frights for the DLC content. It’s definitely willy-filled in a couple of small parts.
The gas giant is exactly the planet I stopped at.
Giant’s deep was the first one I explored. It was stressful. Fantastic time.
LOL I did Brittle Hollow first several times in a row and was trying to figure out what the hell was happening and why it looked different each time.
No matter where you start, I feel like that’s the experience hahah. Nothing stays the same, and yet everything is predetermined.
Yeah. Live the existence and it will be unique to however you do it but the end is the end, the best you can do is hope to observe it and share it with others.
So good at its entire theme and message.
Fuck me, the DLC got dark. Like, really fucking dark.
Like, mechanically dark
I see a very normal and reasonable interaction.
he’s right
Outer Wilds, Subnautica, and 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. Play them all, and don’t look anything up, because the unfolding mystery is half the charm and you can never unknow it.
True, it’s amazing. But don’t look it up.
Outer Wild fans also apparently get very large cakes.