Outer Wilds

You read reviews of games before you buy them, to make sure you don't throw money away, you are a smart person. If you are reading this review, stop reading reviews, Outer Wilds is best experienced when you know nothing about it before jumping in. My opinion of the game is that unique, masterpiece. There are not many gems like this one.

One in a Million
That's what I felt during my playthrough of Outer Wilds. I am experiencing something that's very rare and special. This one hits different.
It's very difficult to talk about Outer Wilds. The less you know about this game, the better. So I won't spoil the magic. But what I love the most about Outer Wilds without revealing much, is that to progress, you do not need powerups or new skills or tools. All you need is knowledge. This is such a different game design choice from other games, I love it. I often doubted myself if I wasn't smart enough to complete this game and solve the mystery behind it. But after many difficult hours spent, I made it.
Outer Wilds is masterfully done in every aspect and is an experience I will treasure for a lifetime. The soundtrack is simply amazing, they made me feel various emotions throughout my journey. I don't think it has any flaws, even though I tried finding one.
Being able to travel seamlessly in our solar system without any loading screens is quite a feat. That's what a famous game studio should take as an example. And I guess we don't need 1000+ planets to have an amazing experience, do we? By the way, top-notch sound design is what most indie studious can not achieve. But it's implemented amazingly well here. I've never felt this frightened in a game before. Outer Wilds has some of the greatest atmospheres in games ever.
Even if you think you are stuck and can not progress anymore, please do not use Google in your time with Outer Wilds, it will only ruin the experience for you. Believe me, all the knowledge has been sprouted in the galaxy. All you need to do is read carefully and think about the things you discovered. Your curiosity is the key to progress in Outer Wilds.
I can't say that this game is for everyone, but It was definitely for me. If you have a similar taste to me, or trust my taste, I definitely recommend it. Thank you Mobius Digital for creating such a masterpiece, and Annapurna Interactive for seeing the potential and supporting it.
PLATINUM MEDAL
Follow My Curator Page ❤️

I don't know if I have the words to properly describe my experience with Outer Wilds (and the expansion). But I'm compelled to try.

An unparalleled, magical experience. A true sense of exploration and discovery. Wonderfully, cleverly, and beautifully crafted. A masterwork of art.

I'll just leave it at that. No details. You have to at least try it. You deserve to try it. Best to go in completely blind.

Don't fuck with us Outer Wilds fans.
We'll tell you nothing about the game except desperate pleading with you to play it.

Hands down the most incredible, creative, and beautiful game I've ever played.
Everything about it was just so unique. It's one of a kind game.
Trying to describe it would be pointless, it’s a journey you have to experience for yourself.
I wish I could loop back in time to play it for the first time again.
Life is short.

There is nothing quite like Outer Wilds. Simple as that.
I can't tell you it's sort of like this game or that game, because it isn't. Outer Wilds is something different. It has left an impression on me, and I consider it one of the greatest games I've ever played. It has won numerous game of the year awards, and for good reason.
There is nothing to fight in Outer Wilds, except time. Although, even time is something you ultimately have as much of as you want: Just only in 22 minute chunks at a time.
I can't say much without ruining the magic of this game. You'll wake up in your little village on the day you are scheduled to launch into space. Taking a mosey through your town will provide you with some tutorials and a few clues about what is going on in your solar system that you likely won't recognize as such quite yet. That's fine, because like everywhere else in this game, you can come on back anytime you like.
After that, you are handed a bolted together space ship and a majestic solar system to do with as you please.
Avoid looking things up online about this game as much as you can, because that solar system is something to explore; And the more you get to know it, the more impressive it will become. The sheer amount of moving parts in the corner of space you call home would already be an impressive feat in video game design. However, once you start to understand how those moving parts are impacting each other, it'll start to boggle your mind just how mad-genius these developers must have been to not only come up with it all, but actually put it all together in a way that works. It's like a well oiled machine.
One thing I will say because it will become clear to you pretty early on (22 minutes in, to be exact), is that you are waking up on your solar system's final day. You have 22 minutes to do anything you want. Fly anywhere you want. Get out and delve into caves or buildings anywhere you want. Explore the depths of the sea on a nearby planet if you want. The solar system is yours do with as you please... for 22 minutes.
Then your sun goes super nova and destroys everything, including you.
Except you'll wake up again at the beginning of that fateful day. It's a space adventure version of groundhog day. Nobody else knows what you are talking about when you try to explain you've lived this day before... perhaps 100 times before. But for you, this means you have an unlimited number of 22 minute days to try and figure out what is going on. And as you explore, you'll start to learn that the WHEN of being someplace can sometimes be as important as the WHERE. That solar system isn't static for those final 22 minutes of existence. Things are changing, and that's where the genius of it all starts to come to light.
For every discovery, there will come new questions. Why are you reliving the same day when nobody else seems to be? What are all of these mysterious things you are finding around your solar system?
Eventually you will unravel all riddles; You will solve all mysteries: Why the day is repeating. What that thing you see explode in the sky above you each day you wake up is all about. You'll learn the fate of a civilization that came before you (or if you have the amazing dlc, more than one civilization.) And eventually, once you've seen all there is to see and really put the pieces together, you can reach one of several endings. Well, some endings can be reached much earlier, but they aren't good endings.
There is no combat in Outer Wilds. There is nothing to fight except that 22 minute clock. But that doesn't mean there are no dangers. You will die, and not always because of your exploding sun. Sometimes you will suffocate. Sometimes you'll fall to your death. Perhaps you will be eaten. Or, if you get particularly creative, perhaps you will even break the space time continuum (yes, that is actually possible in a few different ways).
But fear not, for each time you will wake up as if nothing happened and try it all again. Each time you will likely wake up with just a bit more knowledge than you had the last time your eyes opened upon that exploding thing in the sky. Each bit of knowledge will lead you to somewhere new, where you will learn more and also come away with yet new questions you didn't know to think about before.
In the end I really can't recommend this game enough. As long as you are someone who is into exploration and solving mysteries, and doesn't mind a game that has no combat, then this gem is something you really should check out. Your life will be lesser for missing out on this one if you find it at all interesting.

It is the first and might be the only time in which I actually sit down to a review and try to convey my thoughts, try to describe what this story did to me, how it touched me.
And yet with every note of the OST and every memory of the game I find myself at a loss, for one reason:
I can't describe this experience to you, I should not describe this experience to you.
It is your experience to live through and your story to hear - however if you allow me to give you one tip it would be to cherish this game, take it slow and dont pace through it.
And by the end if you get touched by this work of art, take one second to remember me saying that I felt the same and I am glad you got to experience this too.