3/28/2023 0 Comments Outer wilds ending explained![]() ![]() You eventually put on a space suit, where jet-packing around is even clunkier – and, somehow, Outer Wilds develops a control system that uses damn near every button on a typical Xbox controller just to navigate around properly. There’s no way to crouch, although the character ducks a little every time you prepare to jump. They jump low to the ground, and the run speed is slow. The playable character (a Hearthian) doesn’t move around very well. It’s something that is pretty easy to notice right away. Outer Wilds does a poor job introducing you to its vast systems. All of this, I’d argue, is still true despite knowing what I do now. Very little of what I explored made any sense, the physics system was cumbersome and awkward, and it felt like there were too many rules. In fact, the first time I picked up Outer Wilds, I quit. One of the first things I’ll note about Outer Wilds is that it’s really difficult to get into. There is a lot of nuance in between, but the only valuable way to talk about this game is from a post-play perspective – so that’s how I plan to do it. Within this solar system there are a handful of planets (each with a distinguishable terrain), a living species (called ‘Hearthians’) that explores these planets via the ‘Outer Wilds Ventures’ space program, an extinct species (called the Nomai), and a 22-minute time loop that closes with a devastating supernova that wipes the universe clean. At its core, Outer Wilds is about exploring a scaled-down solar system. While I’d wholeheartedly recommend that anyone reading this who hasn’t played Outer Wilds go and play it instead of continuing, I’ll provide a short framework for what Outer Wilds actually is, just in case. Something I’ll use as an excuse to wonder about the Outer Wilds universe a little longer. And so, instead of attempting to match its extraordinary design, I’ll relish the opportunity to write about what is undoubtedly one of the best video games of all time. It owns a vision that I could not have conceivably imagined, yet still feels distinctly human and artistic. I don’t say that to put it on a pedestal – it’s not beyond critique, and I’ll offer plenty of my own – but it’s bold in a way that’s hard not to appreciate. But the truth is, I’m unlikely to conjure up anything half as smart as Outer Wilds. ![]() It provided me with something untraditional, and it seems only fair that I’d return the favor when talking about it. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever played – and chances are, it’s unlike anything anyone has ever played. It’s through a distinct set of rules, through structures that are foreign to the things we as people think we know, that Outer Wilds crafts a sense of new and established that same wonder – the wonder of a hypothetical alien on Earth – in me.Īfter I finished Outer Wilds I couldn’t stop thinking about how I wanted to write about it. ![]() In Outer Wilds, I have no such assurances. For instance, on earth, I know that if I stare at a large boulder it will still be there if I were to do a quick spin. Its universe doesn’t follow the same set of rules that exist on Earth. Outer Wilds takes the things that we think we know, throws them in a blender, and spits them back out as something new. We don’t know what the alien will wonder about, exactly, but we do know that they will wonder. They might wonder why people sleep when the moon shines but not when the sun is up. They might wonder why we stop when the light turns red, or even what the concept of color might be in the first place. Playing Outer Wilds, I imagine, is much what it would feel like for an intelligent alien to step foot on Earth for the first time. The following content involves spoilers and a post-play perspective. Ben suggests listening to Andrew Prahlow’s Outer Wilds’ original score while reading and watching. ![]()
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