Outer Wilds

This game has vibes. Massive, cosmic, “I’m definitely smarter than you” sci-fi vibes. It spawns you in, hands you a spaceship held together with duct tape and optimism, and says “good luck, little astronaut, the solar system is that way.” No quest markers. No objectives. No HUD arrow begging you to follow it like a golden retriever. Just you, the void, and the crushing realization that modern games have been holding your hand this entire time like you’re crossing a busy street. Is it for everyone? Absolutely not. Did I get a headache trying to figure out what the hell was going on for the first few hours? Yes, several. Did I briefly consider that maybe I’m not as clever as I thought? I refuse to answer that. But here’s the thing - once it clicks, you actually feel like you discovered something, which is a rare and disturbing sensation in 2026 gaming. You should at least try it. Odds are terrifyingly high you’ll find something here worth the migraine.

10/10. Near zero replayability, and that is exactly what makes it a masterpiece. The game lives and dies by your own discovery, so go in completely blind and let your curiosity lead the way. You won’t be disappointed.

Outer Wilds is the first game to make me afraid of a rock. No, it's not sentient, it doesn't have a face, it's not massive in size; it's literally just a rock. I love it. My favorite kind of horror is not the kind that's announced right in your face; it's subtlety, it's mystery, it's fearing the unknown. You probably wouldn't expect horror in this game at first glance, but this is why it's great because this is a game that explores and makes you feel every human emotion. Peacefulness from aimlessly drifting in space wondering which planet to explore or sitting back and listening to the Timber Hearth OST on your home planet. Curiousness from wondering why the hell you keep seeing a moon that normally isn't supposed to be in your solar system, only for it to mysteriously disappear once you turn your head away. Excitement from making a breakthrough in knowledge after not realizing you were even going the right direction. Surprise after finding the most 'hyped up' NPC in a seemingly impossible location. Yes, there is plenty of negative emotions to go around here too. Anger from.. well it's puzzle game set in the vastness of space you're bound to drop the game at least once before returning to it XD. Boredom from being stuck, doing the same things again expecting a different result. These 'negative' things make the experience better in my opinion, because it's just like real life - if you feel good all the time it starts to get numb. Your baseline increases and you need one high after another that tops the previous one until you can't get higher. If I wasn't scared ever, I wouldn't be able to feel relief. If I wasn't occasionally bored, I wouldn't have downtime to collect my thoughts and further my imagination on how the characters I've read about on tablets looked and acted while laying out this puzzle for me to finish. All these 'bad' feelings are just a slingshot to accentuate the positive ones you eventually earn by (will/brain) power. If I had kids, I would make them play this game because I feel as if this is one of the ones that almost fully encapsulates the human experience and if they make it out this one, they'd be mighty fine warriors. I'm gonna be honest, like half the people who start this game just drop it almost instantly. The most common achievement on Steam only has a 35% of players earned -_-. However, that makes me feel really good. There is absolutely no handholding in this game, you are literally thrust out into space and free to do whatever the ♥♥♥♥ all, starting from zero. I don't blame them, but them getting filtered out makes it more satisfying for the ones who finished because it feels like I earned my experience. It's like climbing a mountain - you wouldn't feel as proud of yourself if you knew everyone could do it, right? I love the fact there's no difficulty. We all have to experience the same exact world. Imagine yourself back in primary school, and imagine how much harder and less comfortable the experience of making the friends you had would be if y'all didn't bond having to do the same exact assignments, eating the same plasticky cafeteria lunch, feeling the same disappointment when outdoor recess got rained out, and having to bear together the 30 minute scolding of a teacher being absolutely horrified of your classes behavior when there was a substitute the previous day. It's this sense of comradery that makes us feel better outside of the game, knowing that 'we're all in this together'. Everyone thought Saturn was the coolest planet when they were kids. Of course, I was included, but as I grew, my interest faded into the background, and like I mentioned earlier, I had to find new 'highs' to cling onto in our universe to match the way I used to feel about Saturn. Obscure, recently discovered dwarf planets, 'impossible' exoplanets, supermassive black holes that gave me existential crises, the beginning of The Big Bang, I was basically dead set on becoming an astronomer when I was gonna grow up. But of course, that love for astronomy waned as new things were introduced in my life. I didn't think too much about space at all the past couple of years before this game reignited my curiosity for the mystery behind celestial bodies. The bodies and artificial satellites are unique and clever, while not being totally physical 'impossible'. They somehow manage to fit right in between lackluster and over the top with just the right amount of spice. Nothing feels like ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, and as you uncover more and more lore about the solar system's history and why it's components are the way they are, it all falls into place smoothly like there was only one way these could've came to be. In math and science, there is usually a 'correct answer' for everything, with the 'opinionated' answers coming from questions we are unsure of. And this is what I mean - I think the solar system and lore behind it is so well designed that this final product was the only way it could've been. Idk if this makes sense but whatever XD I just wanted to talk about Dark Bramble. Entering the suffocating interior of this fiendish planet was my favorite moment of the game. It was one of the first planets I decided to visit.. but also one of the last ones I wanted to take a second visit to. Of course I'd travel to it first because 'Dark Bramble' sounds cool as hell, and it's dark as hell, which probably means it's cool as hell, and I love exploring creepy stuff. I saw a gigantic hole in the center which seemed to be coated in a thick layer of fog and of course I didn't tread lightly, that ♥♥♥♥'s boring -_-. I blitzed right through the fog at about 500? m/s having no expectations since I'd already turned my brain off once I started beelining towards Dark Bramble, and I was immediately engulfed in overwhelming dread. Usually on any other planet, the size of it while you're standing on it looks exactly to scale as how you see it from a few hundred meters away. This was different. I couldn't see a damn thing, yet I could instantly tell, even through all this thick ass fog, that the inside was much bigger and scarier than how it was portrayed from the outside. The smart thing to do would be to instantly reverse back out, but I just froze. Maybe because I was too overwhelmed with other emotions or I just thought it was too late to turn back; either way I was scared out of my mind. The feeling was akin to literally being dropped into the middle of the Pacific Ocean at night. It didn't help that the Dark Bramble ambience emulated EXACTLY how it would sound if you were to enter an 'abyss', but it was the first OST I looked up because I love scary ambience and this probably might be my favorite one ever. If I was reincarnated as a fish, natural selection would happily pack my dumbass up immediately, cause I fell for the oldest trick right in Dark Bramble. After I'd gotten out of my trance, I decided to act on what I noticed instantly which were a couple of white dots of light in the background. With my brain still off, I decided not to approach steadily, but blast my way to the light at full speed to the point I couldn't hear the low growls emanating through my headphones. It was perfect. This buildup - the feeling of overwhelming dread as I was submerged in thick fog and eerie ambience to my curiosity being piqued, momentarily subsiding the initial dread I had, to an ENORMOUS ANGLERFISH FLYING AT ME with it's mouth open so wide it took up my WHOLE SCREEN. Truly done perfect. I really never vocally react when I get scared alone, my heart just drops to my ass normally and that's about it, but this was the first time I screamed like sissy boy after getting jumpscared. I had to cut out two paragraphs because this word vomit review was too long LOL I'm glad I got to visit space virtually. Eventually I'll fulfill one of the biggest dreams of mine to visit space in real life and I'll remember this game for giving me a taste for how exciting things can be up there :)