At its core, Outer Wilds is about exploring a scaled-down solar system. While I’d wholeheartedly recommend that anyone reading this who hasn’t played Outer Wilds go and play it instead of continuing, I’ll provide a short framework for what Outer Wilds actually is, just in case. Something I’ll use as an excuse to wonder about the Outer Wilds universe a little longer. And so, instead of attempting to match its extraordinary design, I’ll relish the opportunity to write about what is undoubtedly one of the best video games of all time. It owns a vision that I could not have conceivably imagined, yet still feels distinctly human and artistic. I don’t say that to put it on a pedestal – it’s not beyond critique, and I’ll offer plenty of my own – but it’s bold in a way that’s hard not to appreciate. But the truth is, I’m unlikely to conjure up anything half as smart as Outer Wilds. It provided me with something untraditional, and it seems only fair that I’d return the favor when talking about it. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever played – and chances are, it’s unlike anything anyone has ever played. It’s through a distinct set of rules, through structures that are foreign to the things we as people think we know, that Outer Wilds crafts a sense of new and established that same wonder – the wonder of a hypothetical alien on Earth – in me.Īfter I finished Outer Wilds I couldn’t stop thinking about how I wanted to write about it. In Outer Wilds, I have no such assurances. For instance, on earth, I know that if I stare at a large boulder it will still be there if I were to do a quick spin. Its universe doesn’t follow the same set of rules that exist on Earth. Outer Wilds takes the things that we think we know, throws them in a blender, and spits them back out as something new. We don’t know what the alien will wonder about, exactly, but we do know that they will wonder. They might wonder why people sleep when the moon shines but not when the sun is up. They might wonder why we stop when the light turns red, or even what the concept of color might be in the first place. Playing Outer Wilds, I imagine, is much what it would feel like for an intelligent alien to step foot on Earth for the first time. The following content involves spoilers and a post-play perspective. Ben suggests listening to Andrew Prahlow’s Outer Wilds’ original score while reading and watching.
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