Do you know that longing dissatisfaction you feel after finishing a really good book?

I've been following this game for a long while, and it has easily surpassed (most) of my expectations. I was surprised when the crusty but mostly whole demo was left in the dust by an actual game with far improved look and story – this one has a story. This game turned out to be a master in 'show, don't tell', and despite it taking less than 19 minutes to finish the entire game by design, it really is about the journey, not the treasure at its end. It is a game unhampered by most videogame preconceptions, a game which manages to tell its story through its mechanics, not despite them. The grand, impossible views it presented even in its fledgling form are still there – but augmented with the grand scale, clarity and complexity worthy of a true alien solar system.

The closest comparison I can think of is The Return of the Obra Dinn; it, similarly, is a crafted investigatory experience, but Outer Wilds offers the player fewer bounds and an open reign over the game's world, to explore as and however they see fit. This, of course, leaves more space for cracks in its narrative to show, but the sheer inertia of is enough to glaze over all of them. Many of the game's obstacles have multiple ways around them, and those which don't offer much explanation why. The gameplay loop may be frustrating at times, but the game offers you many alternatives to progress, including an in-game glossary of places visited or alternative routes and time-saving tips. Even the lessons needed to find the Sixth Location aren't strictly necessary, and can be inferred from two different sources. If all else fails, all you have to do to ignore the paved path is perform some spaceship parkour.

Outer Wilds would have been a near perfect game were it not for being forced to stay in Epic quarantine for a year, – for which the publisher should likely take the blame – a host of technical issues and crashes, and other small tidbits like a selective lack of polish in the animations, NPC behavior and a few inconsistencies (Really? You won't pause playing the drums even while your life's work falls apart around you? No animate reaction whatsoever to the fiery death of all things what follows shortly? And why do these aliens sometime record their live, spoken conversations on stones in dialogue? 'Tis an extinct literary form.)

Despite that, I've felt that longing feeling. It is a good feeling. It means nothing more is left to be said. But I can say this is one of the best games I've ever played.

Oh, and Outer Wilds does N-body simulation and I think that's pretty neat.

Do you know that longing dissatisfaction you feel after finishing a really good book? I've been following this game for a long while, and it has easily surpassed (most) of my expectations. I was surprised when the crusty but mostly whole demo was left in the dust by an actual game with far improved look and story – this one [i]has a story[/i]. This game turned out to be [i]a master[/i] in 'show, don't tell', and despite [spoiler]it taking less than 19 minutes to finish the entire game by design[/spoiler], it really is about the journey, not the treasure at its end. It is a game unhampered by most videogame preconceptions, a game which manages to tell its story through its mechanics, not despite them. The grand, impossible views it presented even in its fledgling form are still there – but augmented with the grand scale, clarity and complexity worthy of a true alien solar system. The closest comparison I can think of is [i]The Return of the Obra Dinn[/i]; it, similarly, is a crafted investigatory experience, but Outer Wilds offers the player fewer bounds and an open reign over the game's world, to explore as and however they see fit. This, of course, leaves more space for cracks in its narrative to show, but the sheer inertia of is enough to glaze over all of them. Many of the game's obstacles have multiple ways around them, and those which don't offer much explanation [i]why.[/i] The gameplay loop may be frustrating at times, but the game offers you many alternatives to progress, including an in-game glossary of places visited or alternative routes and time-saving tips. [spoiler]Even the lessons needed to find the Sixth Location aren't strictly necessary, and can be inferred from two different sources.[/spoiler] If all else fails, all you have to do to ignore the paved path is perform some spaceship parkour. [i]Outer Wilds[/i] would have been a near perfect game were it not for being forced to stay in Epic quarantine for a year, – for which the publisher should likely take the blame – a host of technical issues and crashes, and other small tidbits like a selective lack of polish in the animations, NPC behavior and a few inconsistencies (Really? You won't pause playing the drums [spoiler]even while your life's work falls apart around you[/spoiler]? No animate reaction whatsoever to [spoiler]the fiery death of all things[/spoiler] what follows shortly? [spoiler]And why do these aliens sometime record their live, spoken conversations on stones in dialogue? 'Tis an extinct literary form.[/spoiler]) Despite that, I've felt that longing feeling. It is a good feeling. It means nothing more is left to be said. But [i]I can[/i] say this is one of the best games I've ever played. Oh, and [i]Outer Wilds[/i] does N-body simulation and I think that's pretty neat.