In Outer Wilds, I play as the newest pilot for Outer Wilds Ventures, a space exploration outfit based on a fertile planet called Timber Hearth. Outer Wilds Ventures outfits their recruits with a single-occupant shuttle and sends them out to explore a small solar system filled with the ruins of an ancient alien civilization. Pilots are given no specific direction on where they should go or what they should do on their first expedition. They can make landfall on one of five large planets or any of the various satellites and other stellar phenomena passing through the system. They can visit veteran Outer Wilds Ventures pilots who have set up camps on other planets and will share the knowledge they have acquired. At first the player character’s exploration is aimless, but the more they explore, the more they discover a mystery that links every location in the solar system together. Solving this mystery will have a profound impact on the inhabitants of Timber Hearth and their future in this unusual solar system.

It is here that I make a request to the reader of this review: If this summary sounds at all interesting to you, stop reading now and go play Outer Wilds. This is a wonderful adventure videogame, and though I am not without certain criticisms of its campaign design, I ardently believe that discovering it on your own is the best way to first play it. If you are not quite convinced then carry on into the following paragraphs where I will describe some of the qualities that make this videogame so incredible and unique.

Spaces in videogames are typically condensed for practical reasons. The phenomenal distances between interstellar bodies in our solar system take years or even decades to traverse even at the most incredible speeds. To keep a videogame engaging, the amount of time it takes to journey through outer space is condensed to hours or minutes. What makes Outer Wilds special is it makes the opposite design decision for its solar system. Instead of condensing time, it condenses space.

By any stellar standard, Outer Wilds’ solar system is tiny. Distances between celestial bodies are always shifting as they rotate around their star but this system is so small that even these varying numbers remain similar. The distance between Timber Hearth, the player character’s home planet, and its satellite, the Attlerock, is only about two-thirds of a kilometer. Brittle Hollow, the planet in the system next to Timber Hearth, is about nine kilometers away. This solar system is remarkable because a healthy, typically-abled person can walk the twenty-five kilometers from The Hourglass Twins, the innermost body, to Dark Bramble, the outermost body, in a single day. The player character, equipped with a rocket-powered shuttle with an endless fuel supply, can zoom between bodies in seconds.

The tiny scale of the solar system is reflected in the size of the planets themselves. If a person could walk between two different planets in a day, they could circumnavigate any of Outer Wilds’ planets in minutes. The size of each planet makes them manageable to explore in their entirety without sacrificing the sensation that the player character is navigating an entire solar system and marking their footsteps on entire worlds.

Much of the wonder in Outer Wilds comes from exploring the unique conditions that exist on each planet. Timber Hearth and the Attlerock are the most typical environments to my human eyes. If it weren’t for their tiny size, they would feel remarkably like Earth and its moon. Timber Hearth’s surface is covered by a sparse and pleasant pine forest pockmarked by regularly erupting geysers, though if the player character takes the time to fully explore their homeworld they will discover it hides secrets beneath its surface. The Attlerock is barren and lifeless in comparison but it contains an alien ruin that pushes the player character towards Outer Wilds’ wider, linking mysteries. Their friendly and familiar atmospheres make them the perfect place to begin the player character’s explorations.

Much of my engagement with Outer Wilds comes from exploring the remaining four planets while dealing with the alien environments of their surfaces. Each planet is hostile, if not outright deadly, to the player character’s presence. 

Giant’s Deep, the system’s largest planet, is one single writhing body of water patrolled by almost a dozen perpetually swirling cyclones. Its only land masses are small floating islands that are buffeted around the water’s surface by the roiling waves—until they come into contact with the cyclones, which send the island hurtling into the sky and through the lower atmosphere where they hang for a moment before crashing back down into the waves. It’s very possible for the player character to have their body crushed by one of these violent launches. If they survive that, they may suffocate in the lower atmosphere before the island returns to the surface. While the islands contain a few interesting artifacts, Giant’s Deep’s most significant discoveries lie beneath the surface of its violent waves.

Smaller than Giant’s Deep but denser with sights is Brittle Hollow. It is aptly named, to an exasperating degree, as it consists of a fragile crust around a hollow center containing a black hole. Hundreds of thousands of years prior to the player character’s explorations of its surface, Brittle Hollow was home to an alien culture called the Nomai. The remnants of their civilization, the Hanging City, literally hangs from the inner layer of the planet’s crust. Exploring the Hanging City is enlightening and perilous. Brittle Hollow’s satellite is Hollow’s Lantern, a tiny planetoid containing a single active volcano that bombards its host’s surface with balls of fire. As the player character explores, chunks of Brittle Hollow’s crust break free from this bombardment and get sucked down into the black hole, possibly dragging entire segments of the Hanging City and the player character in with them.

The Hourglass Twins nearest the center of the system make a similarly radical transformation during the player character’s exploration. This body is two small planets locked together by an invisible force: the emaciated Ash Twin and the arid Ember Twin. One of the pair is always covered in sand which transfers to the other through a massive column. This complicates exploring both surfaces. As sand fills the Ember Twin, the warren of tunnels beneath its surface become inaccessible and may even crush the player character to death if they become trapped within them. As sand leaves the Ash Twin, it reveals many Nomai structures buried beneath its surface. Fully exploring both of the Twins requires the player character to visit them at multiple times during their transference process.

What makes the solar system truly incredible is its persistence as a whole. There are no loading screens in Outer Wilds past its front load. When the player character lifts off in their shuttle from Timber Hearth, flies through space, and enters the atmosphere of Giant’s Deep, the transition between all three areas is seamless. Through some programming wizardry, no matter where the player character travels, Outer Wilds always knows exactly where every other body in the solar system exists at all times and keeps them rotating at their furious pace. When the player character explores the crumbling Hanging City on Brittle Hollow or the tunnels beneath Ember Twin, it does not forget that Timber Hearth and Dark Bramble still exist, swirling in space a few kilometers away.

The best way to witness the majesty of Outer Wilds’ tiny solar system in action is to visit one of the observatories on the surface of the Attlerock or the Ember Twin. Similar to archaeoastronomical sites on Earth like Stonehenge, the Taosi Observatory, and Mnajdra, these ancient and advanced Nomai structures track the positions of the other planets in the solar system. When the player character stands at one of their centers, they are given an spectacularly unobstructed view of the solar system around them. The observatories’ spinning mechanisms follow each planet perfectly, capturing in miniature the beautiful dance of Outer Wilds’ celestial order. There is no other way to describe this tiny solar system than as an intricate work of art, a mastercraft of programming and design, determinedly persistent whether the player character’s eyes are on it or not.

Now that you have read this far into the review I once again ask you to stop and go play Outer Wilds. I have described only the contents of this solar system but not the goals the player character must accomplish while they explore its bodies. This adventure is the essence of the Outer Wilds experience. I have some criticisms of that adventure which I will expound in the remainder of this review. The design of the planets and the persistence of the solar system’s model are Outer Wilds’ best attributes. I believe you will enjoy them most if you discover the player character’s actual goals by yourself.

Despite their occupation as a pilot for Outer Wilds Ventures, the player character is essentially an archaeologist. This is reflected in their equipment. A signalscope, a handheld tracker that can pinpoint radio signals, helps the player character locate pilots and other important objects from anywhere in the Solar System. Their Launcher fires a Scout, a stationary probe that transmits photographs back to the player character; at first a tool used to peek into otherwise unreachable areas, the Scout proves to have many unusual functions when combined with the strange occurrences around the solar system. The player character’s last tool is their Translator, a device that converts and logs the Nomai’s strange spiraling language into plain English for the benefit of my eyes.

The player character’s remaining tools make them feel much more like a space travel pioneer. Their spacesuit is outfitted with thrusters that can push them in all directions. The amount of gravity in a space affects how impactful the thrusters are. In the ultra-heavy environment of Giant’s Deep, the thrusters have no effect at all. In the lower gravity of Brittle Hollow, a burst from the thrusters can turn a short jump into a massive leap. In the zero gravity of outer space, the player character must rely entirely on their thrusters to get around. Patience and a feather-light touch are needed to push them where they need to go. Too much power put into the thrusters may send the player character hurtling into deep space.

The spacesuit has limited resources. Oxygen is precious. When its tank empties, the player character immediately suffocates. Thankfully, oxygen is also easy to replenish. Any time the player character steps near a living tree, a wondrous and invisible mechanism automatically refills their oxygen tank. The fuel that powers the spacesuit’s thrusters is harder to come by, refillable from tanks found in just a few places throughout the solar system. It’s easy to go from an environment where I barely have to think about the spacesuit’s remaining fuel to one where the fuel tank empties quickly. Once depleted of fuel, the spacesuit automatically substitutes oxygen for propulsion. Aggressive and imprecise use of the thrusters in a zero gravity environment can quickly drain both of the spacesuit’s resources, dooming the player character to a lonely and miserable end alone in space.

After the player character obtains the launch codes for their very own shuttle, I make their first destination the Attlerock. There isn’t a lot to see on this tiny satellite. Esker, one of Outer Wilds Ventures’ veteran pilots, has set up camp here. A short distance from his camp, a copy of Esker’s log is set up on a platform overlooking Timber Hearth. At the south pole lies the Nomai observatory that tracks the movements of the solar system’s planets.

Visiting all of these locations along with my clumsy piloting of the shuttle takes about twenty minutes. While blasting off from Timber Hearth, the sun is a pleasant, friendly orange. By the time the player character makes it to the observatory, it has swelled and turned an angry red. This happens so slowly and subtly that at first I don’t even notice. When the sun begins to pulsate, then shrinks into nothing that envelops the entire solar system in a terrifying darkness, I definitely notice. Seconds later, a flash of blue light consumes everything, burning the solar system and its many wonders into the ash of oblivion. Following this supernova, images of everything the player character has seen since their expedition started flashes on the screen, then they reawaken in their camp on Timber Hearth at the foot of the rocket’s launch tower.

This is one of Outer Wilds central mechanics: Every twenty-two minutes, the solar system’s sun goes supernova and the player character awakens just before the start of their first shuttle launch. If they die for any other reason—run out of oxygen and suffocate, get crushed by sand in the tunnels beneath Ember Twin, get swallowed by a giant space anglerfish—they will also loop back to before their first launch. Discovering the cause and purpose of this time loop is one of Outer Wilds’ central mysteries.

The time loop, while disturbing, is surprisingly useful for exploring the solar system. Chunks of the Hanging City may get sucked into the black hole at Brittle Hollow’s center, but any locations the player character misses may be visited on the next loop. There are several other Nomai outposts which are only available at certain points in the loop. Learning where they are located and when they may be accessed is key to solving the mystery.

For the most part, I don’t resent the necessities imposed on me by the time loop mechanic. The solar system’s ingeniously small scale is to Outer Wilds’ great benefit. The twenty-two minute window is more than enough time to thoroughly inspect an area. If I need a little more time to investigate, returning at the beginning of the next loop never takes more than a few minutes. If one single area suffers from the loop, it’s the Ash Twin, which requires a lot of fruitless standing around to explore the ruins buried deepest by sand. Thankfully, the player character can stop at campfires on most planets to advance time when they really need to push the clock forward to a specific point.

While the player character explores the solar system during each time loop, they discover the remnants of the ancient Nomai civilization and their search for an object they call the Eye of the Universe. The more the player character learns about the Eye, the more apparent it becomes that the Nomai’s efforts to find it are tied into the time loop the player character is trapped in and the supernova that will soon consume everything and everyone they’ve ever known. Perhaps by discovering the Eye, they will also find a way to save their home.

The player character’s progress in tracking down the Eye of the Universe is aided by their ship’s log. Whenever they discover a new piece of information about a Nomai artifact or the Eye of the Universe, they log it in their ship’s computer. For reasons never properly explained, these notes carry over between loops. 

Despite the dizzying number of clues to keep track of, the log does a wonderful job displaying how everything ties together. Clues are divided by location and may be viewed by planet or as a massive, murder mystery-style bulletin board. Ant trails join related locations together. If a location still has more clues to discover, it will be highlighted. If the player character has completely solved a particular branch of the mystery, it is greyed out. I quickly adopt the habit of reviewing the log at the beginning of each loop to plan out where in the solar system the player character should investigate next.

The ship’s log is the least realistic and least justified mechanic in Outer Wilds, its most videogamey element, and I don’t resent it at all. It does most of the work for me of determining the truly relevant information in the large amount of text the player character discovers and automatically relates it to other important information. It ensures I’m always on track to the next part of the mystery and not incorrectly inferring importance from a stray comment a Nomai scientist left in a log two hundred thousand years ago. If it weren’t for the ship’s log, I probably wouldn’t finish Outer Wilds.

After spending about fifteen hours pursuing clues all across the solar system, the player character is ready to complete the Nomai’s search for the Eye of the Universe and solve Outer Wilds’ central mystery. I imagine that accomplishing this task would involve racing against the clock to solve several small problems occurring simultaneously on different planets which cascade to cause the big catastrophe. I am disappointed to discover the actual solution to the mystery is frustratingly straightforward, even mundane.

Solving the mystery is a two step process that requires the player character to retrieve an object from one location and deliver it to another. The process begins with the player character standing around doing nothing for one-third of the loop until the macguffin becomes available. It concludes with them rushing across the solar system as fast as possible to deliver the item before the loop resets. The only challenging part of this is navigating the most treacherous section of the solar system, Dark Bramble, an ominous location that requires equal parts precision, patience, and speed. Following the breadcrumbs from clue to clue makes me feel like a master detective and archaeologist. Actually solving it makes me feel like a delivery boy whose efforts are rewarded with a lousy tip.

Twice over the course of this review I have advised you to stop reading and go play Outer Wilds. If you are reading these words, you have ignored both advisories and now have a more comprehensive understanding of what Outer Wilds is and how it works. 

I believe Outer Wilds is most remarkable for the design of its solar system. Every videogame is a work of art. Outer Wilds’ solar system is a masterwork that should be displayed in a museum alongside the Mona Lisa and 1-1 from Super Mario Bros. Exploring the individual planets of this solar system is the most a videogame has ever made me feel like I am exploring alien worlds. I am less thrilled by the mystery that occurs within this wonderful solar system. It begins as a tantalizing conundrum. Its conclusion is not exciting. It barely utilizes the time loop mechanic. It is, frankly, tedious and annoying to finish. It ends Outer Wilds on a sour note where it begins on such a strong one. That strong note is difficult to quell and Outer Wilds should be played for no other reason than to feel it vibrating through a player’s core.