What I love most about the game is the community’s refusal to spoil it for others. Spoilers exist, but you really have to look for them.
Honestly, it’s a testament to how good the game is that we all collectively, agreed to say nothing about it beyond “It’s incredible, I wish I could play it for the first time again. Go play it”. I wasn’t told to not spoil it, I just won’t.
Anyways, Outer Wilds is mine. There’s lots of games in this list that I love: MGS, KOTOR, FO:NV, I would rate all of them above Outer Wilds in a “my favourite game” list.
But, Outer Wilds really gains something from the first experience above and beyond what those others do, and it’s worth preserving.
HalifaxJones@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I’ve tried to play this game twice. I get confused and have no idea what to do or where to go or what to do when I get there. Spent about 12 hours playing and just feel lost. And everytime I bring it up. People reccomend I just keep playing. And yet I’m still lost haha
Schmoo@slrpnk.net 18 hours ago
I think the biggest predictor of whether people will vibe with Outer Wilds is how much natural curiosity they have and how self-motivated they are. Outer Wilds doesn’t push players towards any particular objective, it instead tries to give players questions so they go looking for answers. Of course a game that relies so heavily on intrinsic motivation isn’t going to be for everyone, but the thing that makes the game so difficult for some people to get into is the same thing that makes those who do get into it love it so much.
Some non-spoilery advice if you decide to give it another shot:
Use the ship log every loop and read what’s new. Look at the biggest cards in rumor mode and try to find them. There are several “secret” locations in the game that many of the hints point towards which contain information that puts the game’s mystery into perspective and gives players a sense of direction and purpose. In the playthroughs I’ve seen where they didn’t finish it was almost always because they played for a long time without finding any of the “big” secret locations.
kossa@feddit.org 4 hours ago
I really loved it, up to the point where I just couldn’t contain the level design in my brain anymore. Guess I ran out of brain memory or something, but when a 3D space with changing orientation and gravity comes into play, I just did not know anymore where I already explored ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Add time pressure into that mix and the game lost me.
Stromatose@lemmy.world 1 day ago
That’s surprising that you feel so lost. Did you perhaps miss the journal / discovery board in the back of your ship? Basically just need to look at that and try to flesh out any of the plot threads you see on there. Whenever one isn’t progressing, take a break and try a totally different direction or just wander wherever you can for a cycle or two and you’ll have stumbled on to some new leads probably.
Its pretty intentional that most players hit a stall around the middle because you have to start challenging things you THINK you know but haven’t actually proven to be certain yet.
Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 27 minutes ago
One of the very few genuine flaws in Outer Wilds is that it does a really, really bad job of ensuring players find the rumor map / discovery board. It’s such an essential feature, one that so often makes or breaks people’s experience of the game, and I’ve seen so many players express this exact same sentiment of “I had no idea what it was doing” only for someone to point out that they’d missed the rumor map.
peoplebeproblems@midwest.social 1 day ago
Discovery board?
Well. That makes things make a little more sense I had no idea about it. I just thought it was various ways to experience a death loop over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over
Stromatose@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I just looked it up and it’s actually called the Rumor Map apparently. It’s pretty important to organize all the things you find in a loop and check yourself to see if there is more to uncover on some plot point.
If you get in your ship it’s opposite the pilot seat. I’m sure it was pretty maddening to not have that tool and hear people say such high praise about the game lol.
If you haven’t been spoiled on it, you might find the game a lot more enjoyable giving it another shot some day!
Gt5@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
I felt the same way. I had a hard time with it because you don’t really know what you’re supposed to be doing. I ended up getting frustrated with it and looked up how to finish it.
After I finished it, I regretted looking it up. It really is a masterpiece but it takes a certain type of person to be able to get through it. I couldn’t get through it myself, but my partner and I have fun playing these types of games together.
We’re currently enjoying working through the dlc now.
I guess I’ll say I get it if you want to quit or just look up the solution, but I promise it’s worth it if you make it through
Balinares@pawb.social 1 day ago
Hey, it’s okay, friend, not every game has to be for everyone and that’s fine.
What worked for me, I guess, was to not approach it in terms of a game where I’m trying to make progress, so much as a vast place with a lot of mysteries that all actually make sense once you work it out; and that happens naturally if you let your curiosity drive you. You will, in fact, be making progress; you just won’t realize it until the pieces fall into plane and, all at once, you know.