Outer Wilds |OT| Life, the universe, and everything else all in 20 minutes!

[Jawmuncher]

Credit to Dee Dee for putting this together

• Release Date: May 30th
• Developer: Mobius Digital
• Publisher: Annapurna Interactive
• Platform: PC (Epic Games Store), Xbox
• Pricing: $24.99, €20.99
• The game is part of Xbox Game Pass

Please refrain from making this thread about current available platforms. This OT is to discuss the game and not which storefront it is currently on.

- - Official Information - -
You're the newest member of Outer Wilds Ventures, a fledgling space program searching for answers in a strange, constantly changing solar system.
Who built the ruins on the moon? What lurks in the heart of Dark Bramble? Why are you trapped in a time loop, and can it be stopped? To solve these mysteries you'll have to venture into the most dangerous reaches of space.
A World That Changes Over Time
The planets of Outer Wilds are packed with hidden locations that change with the passage of time. Visit an underground city before it's swallowed by rising sand, or explore the crust of a hollow planet as it crumbles beneath your feet. Every secret is guarded by hazardous environments and natural disasters as the solar system spirals out of control.
Grab Your Hiking Gear
Strap on your hiking boots, check your oxygen levels, and get ready to venture into space. Use the Little Scout space probe to illuminate dark caves, take photos, or test for hazards in your environment. Track down mysterious audio with your Signal Scope or use your Translator to decipher an ancient Nomai riddle. Navigate the darkness of space with your jetpack and ship.
There's a lot to discover in the Outer Wilds.

- - Launch Trailer - -



- - Game Background - -
The game started out as a student project, with a free "Alpha" version made available in 2013.
After the game garnered more and more attention (and nearly 90.000 downloads) Mobius Digital picked the team up in 2015, after the demo won the Seamus McNally Grand Prize and Excellence in Design at the Independent Games Festival.

The full game was then to be funded through fig, a crowdfunding site, with an initial pitch for a 2016 release and a goal of 125,000 $, that was met.
Initial fig campaign link: https://www.fig.co/campaigns/outer-wilds
Fig-backers that chose PC as a platform "will get both an Epic key upon launch and a Steam key later when released on those services. " (Source)
Annapurna Interactive announced that they will be publishing the game in 2018:

Re-Reveal Trailer



- - Reviews - -

‘Outer Wilds’ Is a Captivating Sci-Fi Mystery About the End of the World

Explore a handcrafted solar system and contemplate mortality in this wondrous, ecological adventure.

www.vice.com

In an elevator ride, maybe you'd say that Outer Wilds is Majora's Mask's time-loop meets the epistolary storytelling of Gone Home meets the golden age sci-fi cover aesthetics of No Man's Sky.

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It's almost a detective game in the way you unpick its universe. You just happen to be a detective who's also an astronaut, an archaeologist and banjo-enthusiast.

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https://www.polygon.com/2019/5/29/18638542/outer-wilds-impressions-epic-game-store-windows-xbox-one

I haven't solved the mystery yet, but what I've discovered so far has kept me literally dying to understand the entire story.

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https://www.destructoid.com/review-outer-wilds-554704.phtml

If this sounds a bit like a Deus Ex-style immersive sim, except wrought over the scale of a planetary system, you'd be pretty close. Outer Wilds' game world is wound like a tightly packed cuckoo clock, all interlocking components whirring endlessly on a 20-minute window of inevitability.

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- - Screenshots - -

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[J_ToSaveTheDay]

Great OT. I'm a bit sad that I don't pay enough attention to games like this -- this one literally came my way just today, and I saw the RPS "6 reasons" video and this seems right up my alley and I'm glad I get to be excited with such little turnaround, but I also feel like the game got kinda waylaid in trying to drum up attention...

 

[Taka]

Beautiful OT

 

[Flunkie]

been hyped for this one for years. hope it does well. I can't wait to dive in

 

[Baked Pigeon]

My first impression is this game is pretty hard to figure out. I did have fun exploring for about an hour though.

 

[Surface of Me]

Will check out on Gamepass

 

[Deleted member 6235]

It's incredible. I wasn't expecting anything, really, and i'm in love with it.

 

[SubvertedTrope]

This looks so interesting! I wonder if I can still use that 14 day trial for gamepass, I never activated it cause there was nothing to do with it. I think I'll try it and just buy it if I like it.

 

[bsigg]

This is such an incredible adventure game.

Also fuck the dark bramble lol

 

[Papercuts]

Game seems super cool so far. Done 3 "loops" or whatever you would call it so far.

Seems hard to talk about things since you can kinda go wherever but I basically stumbled on something pretty cool.

Spoiler

On the starter planet I moved up to the big ice mountain with the middle carved out, messed up landing it and broke my ship. When I ejected out it actually shot me off the platform and I thought I was going to die...but there was actually stuff underwater there. Found dialoge to scan, weird tunnels that pushed me around, some creepy rock thing that I can scan now, and I did some SUPER weird platforming using geysers to shoot me back up the planet.

Game is also pretty creepy/eerie to me. Might be my general unease of being underwater but I had some of that same feeling just being in space here. Looks cool visually.

 

[Deleted member 6235]

Game is also pretty creepy/eerie to me. Might be my general unease of being underwater but I had some of that same feeling just being in space here. Looks cool visually.

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yeah some parts/planets terrify me because of the darkness/low visibility/underwater stuff

 

[bsigg]

I have flown into the sun multiple times now lol

 

[sredgrin]

Finishing up Sexy Brutale to get my time loop mystery fix while I wait for this to unlock on PC.

Time loops make for such interesting games.

 

[sheaaaa]

The reception has been great. I've been watching this since the free alpha years ago and I'll pick it up once it's on Steam.

 

[ghostcrew]

Thought this game looked cool from the trailers and stuff but after playing it a bunch today it might be the best new game I've played all year.

It's cool as fuck.

 

[Munch Pokeballs]

This game definitely makes me feel uneasy. Also I died before getting to the statue and that was hilarious

 

[saenima]

First time i went into space i decided to turn around and investigate the starting planet, and crashed immediately lol

Flying is hard. Loving everything else about it.

 

[Smurf]

nice OT, this game is looking good.

 

[water_wendi]

Game looks cool, initial impression very positive, $15 near payday.. sure, why not?

 

[bsigg]

This game is shooting to the top of my list for the year. The exploration is just amazing

 

[staedtler]

I'll be purchasing this day one online on PC, looks amazing!

 

[fieldafar]

Been looking forward to this one since its reveal, thanks Game Pass!

 

[Hella]

I didn't know what this was, but that Vice/Waypoint review got my attention. Sounds fascinating. Been a really great year for adventure games, outta nowhere.

It's $15 on Epic Game Store (thanks to their bananapants discount) which makes preordering hard to resist.

 

[Lazybob]

Is there no pre-load on PC?

 

[PurpleMoustache]

Just got my key. Very excited. Backed it on FIG years ago... and still don't really know what it is. I mean, I know the basic premise, but I never got around to playing that early Alpha. Excited to go into it completely fresh.

 

[Jambi]

Is the game pass version also available on PC? Or just console game pass?

 

[Mollymauk]

*hugs game pass*

 

[Hella]

Is the game pass version also available on PC? Or just console game pass?

Click to shrink...

It's not on Game Pass for PC ("XBOX Play Anywhere"), no.

Might be on MS's store but navigating it is kinda a maze...

 

[wafflebrain]

I played a few hours earlier, quick impressions are it has very rewarding sense of exploration, and the non linear evolving story as you discover more alien texts is done pretty well. The ship mechanics feel a bit wonky at times in terms of landing safely, sometimes it appears easy to land safely while others it doesn't seem like you can avoid coming in hot and hitting the surface too hard. Repairs are easy enough though so this is a minor quibble. Overall visual style is quite pretty, and the general space exploring atmosphere is achieved splendidly thanks to just how seamless everything works with regards to seeing the sped up orbits of everything in real time while on the surface of something or in a ship. Variety in planetoids is great as well, I won't spoil it for others but that one twin planetoid mechanic is something I can't say I've seen in a game before, kudos to the devs for implementing some pretty out of the box ideas.

I got one question hopefully someone can help me out with though (you can spoiler it if need be), how the heck do you land on the platform orbiting the sun? That sucker is way too tiny and fast for my piloting skills to land on.

 

[TheCalcutec]

I got one question hopefully someone can help me out with though (you can spoiler it if need be), how the heck do you land on the platform orbiting the sun? That sucker is way too tiny and fast for my piloting skills to land on.

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Spoiler: Gonna spoiler this even though it's not really that spoiler-y because of the sort of game this is

Though there is an achievement for doing this, it's not the way you're intended to get there. Keep exploring the world and eventually you'll learn what it is and how to get there.

 

[Ultron]

Played 4 loops. I died early in two of them, lol. Once by very quickly crashing into the sun and once by falling. This seems cool as hell!

Just on the first planet I went to there seems to be a ton of mysterious stuff pushing me in various directions.

I'm so glad the rumor view on the ship's log exists. Otherwise I feel like this would be completely impossible to keep track of.

 

[Tappin Brews]

i forgot about this one! watched a few vids and i'm sold. damn good month for game pass

 

[Hella]

Wait is it out already?

 

[Lethologica]

I missed out on this last year from the Mixpot so I am really happy that this is coming to Game Pass; not happy about it no longer being Play Anywhere though. =/

Is this X1X enhanced? I assume no since it didn't say it on the store page.

Wait is it out already?

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If you are on Xbox and have Game Pass, you can trigger it manually from the store page. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/outer-wilds/c596fkdkmqn7?activetab=pivot:overviewtab

 

[Flunkie]

Installed and playing via Game Pass now. The atmosphere and acoustic guitar-playing aliens named after rock types is extremely my shit.

 

[Hella]

If you are on Xbox and have Game Pass, you can trigger it manually from the store page. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/outer-wilds/c596fkdkmqn7?activetab=pivot:overviewtab

Click to shrink...

Oooh, but I don't unfortunately.

Thanks!

 

[timmbp]

Got my backer key. Excited to jump in.

 

[Moms_Spaghetti]

When does the PC version unlock on the epic games store? The epic game store continues to drive me crazy- no indication of unlock time or countdown. Can spend all the money in the world to lock down exclusives, but can't spend any money on dev to get their store anywhere close to feature parity with every other digital marketplace.

 

[timmbp]

When does the PC version unlock on the epic games store? The epic game store continues to drive me crazy- no indication of unlock time or countdown. Can spend all the money in the world to lock down exclusives, but can't spend any money on dev to get their store anywhere close to feature parity with every other digital marketplace.

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The email with my key said 11:00 am EST.

 

[Moms_Spaghetti]

The email with my key said 11:00 am EST.

Click to shrink...

Thanks. Xbox it is...

 

[Ishmae1]

What a charming game! I had no idea what I was in for, but an exploration / adventure game with some fun narrative / clue connecting is a breath of fresh air. I love the short-session loop and stumbling onto a new story thread, rushing around trying to get it completed and connected before the reset, maybe succeeding, then taking mental notes for the next loop and heading out immediately for wherever you didn't get to finish at.

There's some pretty time-sensitive stuff I've found so far. I'm curious if there's ways to actually stop some of it from occurring during a loop permanently, or if you'll eventually have to do all of it in one go perfectly.

I'm glad they're pretty forgiving on landing and shuttle damage. If that was more realistic this game would be nearly impossible to enjoy.

My favorite death so far: sliding on ice uncontrollably, gaining speed as I go, hitting a tiny rock just right and getting launched so far off an asteroid that I have no hope of return, only to be pulled into the sun anyway as I'm trying to figure out how to unscrew myself from drifting through the void.

Reminds me a bit of The Return of the Obra Dinn, which was great as well.

 

[Lowblood]

Tip: When using autopilot, make sure there are no lava moons between you and your destination. The autopilot will not adjust for them.

That was a quick loop.

 

[Wok]

Nice OT.

I am afraid of spoilers: back then I stopped playing the 2015 prototype after seeing how good it was, because I did not want to spoil the 2019 release.

 

[vsMIC]

won the game some months back while watching xbox festival on mixer...

no idea what it was about, but will give it a try now following these positive posts.

 

[Algorum]

So this isn't a play anywhere title anymore? Shame for my gamepass then :/

Traveling and don't have my console with me. Didn't they promise this at one point?

 

[Edge]

What's going on with many cool interesting (most indie) titles not being X enhanced lately. I thought that was mandatory for new games?

Traveling and don't have my console with me. Didn't they promise this at one point?

Click to shrink...

Thank Epic for that.

 

[Wok]

OpenCritic has finally woken up and added an entry for Outer Wilds on their website.

They do not have a banner though. This is how their hall of fame currently looks like.

 

[Irrotational]

I'm hoping it's like stardew valley and the game takes off (pun intended) via word of mouth and positive reviews.

Anyway, I'm making it my mission (pun intended) to get through the game (if I can).

Going to avoid spoilers until then!

Dee Dee - no need to apologise, imho everyone who helps on a game is part of "the team". Thanks for whichever language(s) you did!

 

[smokey5604]

The Epic Games launcher isn't very good at communicating info, around what time is this supposed to release? Looks pretty interesting.

 

[Edge]

I don't know what to think about this game, first experience was a bit of a mess. Controls are not good explained, looks and runs pretty mediocre because of no X enhancement and my first run was me landing on the big water planet, searching for a guy who is supposed to be in his workshop but when I was there nothing happened and I can't go in, at the same time these small circles with the tornados didn't do anything and the big beam circle in front of the workshop also didn't do anything, then storms comes closer, the whole game physics get crazy where you start to fly and then everything is under water and your ship starts to move and fly around and everything is just a mess until it gets normal again but you don't know what the hell to do or what is even possible to do in this game.

20 minutes over, without a cutscene or anything happening, just a white screen and first run over. Come on game, even 20 year old Majora's Mask showed you the moon crashing down, this game just confuses you with absolute everything it does.

Will start another round now but if this doesn't work better, I don't know if I will continue, to be honest. Do you have any kind of progression here?