Outer Wilds + Echoes of the Eye. A Masterpiece and More

[brat-sampson]

Did we really never have a topic for this? It's a beast of a game, a bona fide classic in my view and one you can never truly relive, as your progression is entirely based on knowledge. Embarking as the latest in your small village/planet's home-spun Space Exploration Squad, you explore a hand-crafted and fully physically simulated system of wind-up planetoids, each more intriguing than the last, discovering fascinating evidence as to the laws of your universe, solving the mysteries of an ancient civilisation, and... well. Anything else would be spoilers. But it's charming, terrifying, awe-inspiring and incredibly gratifying, when you're not accidently flying into the sun or gasping your lungs inside out because you opened the ship without your suit on.

I bring it up now as there's new DLC. Acting as a separate 'path' to explore from the main game, I'm literally only at the start of it but already it's shown multiple impressive new ideas. I can't wait to see where it goes. It even has a menu warning about an option to tone down the fright-level if it gets too much, so honestly I'm a little nervous already.

[The Crumb]

Bloody loved Outer Wilds, one of my favourite games ever. It really did stick the landing, the whole sequence starting from the final loop is incredible. The soundtrack is perfection too.

Had a bit of trepidation about the dlc, as the game was such a perfect contained story that didn't really need extending. But everything I've heard suggests it's brilliant and complements the main story nicely, so I reckon I'll be getting stuck in as the evenings get bleaker.

[ProvanFan]

It's up there for me too.

I'd probably have lapped up any DLC, because even though the story didn't need touched the world definitely had more to offer. But having played an hour or so it looks like they've managed to tie it in beautifully anyway. What a lovely buzz before bed.

[Zetetic]

A really neat game, that I've not finished and fear I never will, having screwed myself over by taking a break and forgotten what I was last doing.

[madhair60]

Genuinely the most bored I think I've ever been by a supposedly brilliant game. I'm not actually saying that in any real judgment of it, I think its just Not For Me, because I just hated it. Utterly bereft of interest and felt like shit just to move around.

[bgmnts]

Right now this the game with the spaceship controls? I was well into the tutorial and was excited to go out into space and explore but trying to fly that little drone thing at the start pissed me off.

Is it worth mastering then?

[Zetetic]

Edit: Hah, was about to say:

Setting aside the lovely way that progress and the loop works, just the experience of jetting around the micro-solar-system is fantastic.

The ship is bulky and unwieldy, as are you in some environments, but I found that charming and engaging. But then I thought the controls themselves were very intuitive.

[Zetetic]

Right now this the game with the spaceship controls? I was well into the tutorial and was excited to go out into space and explore but trying to fly that little drone thing at the start pissed me off.

You can't really fly the drone, just fire it forward. Or do you mean the spaceship itself?

[bgmnts]

You can't really fly the drone, just fire it forward. Or do you mean the spaceship itself?

I think the latter. But I remember you launch a drone too so was confused.

It was just a bit unwieldy and cumbersome as you say. Might be worth going back though.

[ImmaculateClump]

Genuinely the most bored I think I've ever been by a supposedly brilliant game. I'm not actually saying that in any real judgment of it, I think its just Not For Me, because I just hated it. Utterly bereft of interest and felt like shit just to move around.

Yeah, I hated it. Bored me to sleep, I had to bail after 5 or 10 hours or so.

[The Crumb]

Right now this the game with the spaceship controls? I was well into the tutorial and was excited to go out into space and explore but trying to fly that little drone thing at the start pissed me off.

Is it worth mastering then?

The little remote control ship is an absolute bastard, flying the actual ship is not as bad. It does take some getting used to, but it has an auto pilot and you don't need much finesse in your flying for the most part. If you can land on the right half of a planet you're good.

[brat-sampson]

A really neat game, that I've not finished and fear I never will, having screwed myself over by taking a break and forgotten what I was last doing.

The Ship's Log is brilliantly engineered to record literally everything useful you might find along with where you found it. There's a map mode where things are organised by planet or an even better Rumour Mode where connected ideas and concepts are joined together. You can also Tag a specific location in the log and it shows on your HUD so you can return easily.

Ship/flight controls do take some getting used to, but they're easily good *enough* and yeah, the clunkyness is part of the charm. This thing was literally built in a back yard and is just barely even functional as a spaceship. Having said that it has an Autopilot that's essentially magic in terms of getting you to a planet and matching velocity etc, but will also fly you into the sun if the destination is on the far side. There's some frustration built in to the design maybe that yes, you might accidentally fall off a cliff and die, or get crushed by a chunk of rock, or get thrown into deep space, or run out of O2 just as you reach something new,

The only negative I have about the DLC so far is having to return from the start point to the same area every time you die, but it's a small thing really. Everything else has been revelatory, as usual.

[wooders1978]

Sorry you can add me to the list of philistines who didnt quite get it and bailed after 4 or 5 hours

[ImmaculateClump]

This character was a proper creepy perv as well, put me off playing.

[ProvanFan]

That's The Outer Worlds! How could you possibly confuse that with Outer Wilds?

[bgmnts]

I wish the Obsidian team made more games :(

[ImmaculateClump]

That's The Outer Worlds! How could you possibly confuse that with Outer Wilds?

Oh. Hahahaha.
I have not played the outer wilds. Disregard my previous comment.
Jesus fucking christ :D

edit: Oh, it's on sale look - https://store.steampowered.com/app/753640/Outer_Wilds/

[brat-sampson]

I honestly wasn't sure if they was a bit, as the first comment could easily have come from someone who bounced off Wilds...

[ImmaculateClump]

Yeah, I could probably just copy and paste that for any game that isn't a shmup right now!
Though I did quite like trying this peglin demo - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1296610/Peglin/
Nice little comforting, brainless thing for when you're tired.

I try not to do bits, I usually end up marching down the wrong road too far and nobody follows.
If you think I'm being an idiot, it's just me being an idiot. I'm not smirking at you with a cocked eyebrow behind ten layers of irony.

[Ferris]

Just bought this for twenty quid as I've been meaning to play it for ages and keep forgetting, will not look at the rest of the thread now.

Ok cheers.

[brat-sampson]

Finished the DLC! Some mildly irritating bits and I needed a couple of teeeeeny hints, but pleased I could get most of it done by myself. I'm consistently impressed by the originality they showed here, from the setting to the mechanics, then the discovered mechanics etc. If anyone stuggles with... certain parts, apparently reducing the fright level makes them much easier to get through.

[Obel]

Yeah I wish I did that as well, I found those parts utterly infuriating and not fun. I don't like games in that style though. However that's a mild blemish on what was a fantastic addition to an amazing game. Loved it. Sad it's over.

[Hank Venture]

Genuinely the most bored I think I've ever been by a supposedly brilliant game. I'm not actually saying that in any real judgment of it, I think its just Not For Me, because I just hated it. Utterly bereft of interest and felt like shit just to move around.

Me too. Not for me! Oh well!

[brat-sampson]

Shame :(

I get the flight controls can take some getting used to, but considering the kind of space sim they're going for they work well and I don't think there's a better way to do it. You get the autopilot too, which along with the ability to mark targets on your HUD from the ships log should make getting to where you want to explore a lot easier. But yeah, if you didn't find any of the threads interesting enough to follow then I don't know what to tell you :p

[madhair60]

I think I'm just a bit too basic for its method of storytelling. I'm going to give it another shot sometime.

[brat-sampson]

Cool spoiler nugget for people who have COMPLETED the DLC:

Spoiler alert

The Speedrun for EotE involves going directly to the prisoner chamber, inputting the three codes and blowing out the lamps. That's right, 3 codes are actually built into the game that allow you to reach the lamps, there's just no way to actually find out what they are in the game. They were datamined, but do work to solve the puzzles. One summons the raft from the other side of the lake, and the other turns off the lights over the bridge, allowing you to sneak past the towers.

[close]

[Zetetic]

Having had to restart this from scratch (due to Epic's ropey cloud sync), I was very pleased about how easily I fell into a completely different path of discovery to any that I'd actually pursued properly last time

Spoiler alert

taking me fairly directly to the Quantum Moon, its sixth location and the Nomai stranded there

[close]

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Although I guess it depends more than a bit on knowledge of one of the mechanics (although I feel you really don't need the game's/the Nomai's lessons to learn these).

[Zetetic]

Finished it, and I'm glad I did. It really is lovely and it manages to keep up an experience of revelation, where you suddenly see what you need to do to get past an obstacle, almost from start to finish.

The Ship's Log is brilliantly engineered to record literally everything useful you might find along with where you found it. There's a map mode where things are organised by planet or an even better Rumour Mode where connected ideas and concepts are joined together.

This does work really very well, but it's not a substitute for concentration and a few notes I found - at least if you're exploring very aimlessly and jumping from one place to another.

[The Crumb]

Finished it, and I'm glad I did. It really is lovely and it manages to keep up an experience of revelation, where you suddenly see what you need to do to get past an obstacle, almost from start to finish.

Spoilers for ending chat

Spoiler alert

It really is a great ending, everything from picking up the core  and the special end times music kicking in really felt like the thrilling conclusion that a lot of games fail to hit.

That scene in the glade with all the lights/galaxies fizzling out was so haunting, one that'll stick with me forever.

I really liked the ending being positive about science and discovery without leaning into tech utopianism

[close]

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[peanutbutter]

Finally started playing this a few days ago, gonna try and persevere because I can see it's really well put together and all but I fucking hate landing spaceships, just feels bad to do.