Outer Wilds

For every thing, there is something bigger. Something so much bigger than you could ever comprehend, getting farther and farther away from you every second. And for every thing that is bigger, there is something bigger than that, so much bigger than that thing could ever comprehend. All getting farther and farther away. At some point, it will be gone. That thing that you are, that thing that is bigger, the things that are smaller, they all go away eventually. Will we ever know why it all goes away? Can we stop it from leaving, even just a little bit? I'm not so sure that we can. We can certainly try, though. Effort into this multi-dimensional quest for meaning is something that has been a part of human psychology since humans knew they were humans. It has taken us this long to get this far, and we are still so very very far away, and it keeps getting farther away. And even if we find something, a lead, it's just a bigger thing with other bigger things yet to find, also getting farther and farther away.

Maybe it's better to appreciate what's here now. The friends we make, the history we learn, the past we remember, that's what has survived. It's why we try at all. Because at the end of the day trying and failing is something we will all do, but it's failing together that makes the landing just a bit softer. The meaning isn't anything more than beginning and end. What's in between is up to you, and it helps when you know that out there somewhere in the unobservable, someone is playing the same song with you.

Ugly game with NPC's that don't tell you anything. Doesn't show you the world, but if you want to explore you die to literally everything, for example i died in a water fountain in the base tutorial zone (??????). And as I managed to explore I found a wormhole that doesn't work and a member of my own specie instead of something new and a dead body on a planet. That's all. That's all the game gave me to explore after 2 hours and killed me for nothing. Also the controls are awful. Only good thing is the music, but that's also a generic good, nothing exceptional.

Both an almost quintessential expression of the design concepts of immersive and emergent story-telling, and a rare synthesis of heart and head - blending the intellectual depth of concepts from real-world theoretical physics, understanding of which is present everywhere throughout the game's concept and execution, and an evocation of the thrill of scientific discovery, with the emotional and creative depth of empathetic writing, genuinely inspired lore, and touchingly-evoked exploration of the lives, concerns and experiences of ancient sentient species.

Themes that particularly intrigued me included:

The relationship between science and religion, and the potential for scientific concepts and inquiries to gain almost religion-like status, as they come to define the structuring of our societies, play a vital role in giving our lives a sense of meaning and purpose, and bond communities together through shared structure, goals and purpose.

Consciousness and its relationship to the physical universe of space, time and matter - more specifically, the role of consciousness in quantum mechanics (quantum superposition in particular) and the possibility that consciousness may be an essential and fundamental aspect of reality.

There's also a lot here that evokes the human experiences of loss, grief, belonging, mortality, and our need for some kind of higher purpose, particularly as societies.

The groundedness of the game's simulation of gravity and momentum does arguably make movement and platforming a tad frustrating at times, and the time loop mechanic sometimes adds a degree of time-pressure and repetition that isn't ideal (though this is mainly an issue in the DLC rather than the main game), but, if you can get past those niggles, this is, in my view, an almost uniformly great game across every area of consideration.

While conception seems great, execution (as always in those cases) is not as good. Controls are too tough, level-design is pretty annoying at times, some locations/challenges are just bad, there are a lot of situations where games does not give you enough clues for where to go or what to do. One of my biggest complains is what you only have access to clues from your ship, don't know why they couldn't let you watch it anytime, it just forces you to return to the ship or start a new loop for a puzzle.

Visuals, music, sounds effect are okay, not bad, but nothing spectacular. World-building is believable, and the way you follow this story piece by piece is greatest part of the game. Story itself is good, but again, not THAT good.

I think i can say this about this game overall: it's good, but not great. I can't really say where all those praises coming from. It was quite a unique expirience and i had some good time playing it, but i can't see this game piece of art it supposed to be and could have easily lived my life without it

This game is just a masterpiece. I would give so much just to be able to play this game again, not knowing anything about it. Music is beautiful, story is breathaking and overall it's one of a lifetime expirience. Don't look up it anywhere, just play it.

made me cry . 10/10 perfect tbe