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.
Schmoo@slrpnk.net 8 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.