I just had a go with Outer Wilds for about three hours. I can see what they were going for and see why some people rate it so highly, the way its all about exploring the solar system without much direction and just letting what you've previously discovered guide you to what to do next.Outer Wilds is one of the greatest games of all time in my opinion, but I agree that it's not perfect.
The way the game tracks what you've done and indicates that there's more to find at a location, or on a thread of discovery, really cool. And the way the planets and solar system change throughout the 22 minute loop meaning you've got to plan out what you want to do and certain things only get revealed/ get hidden after an amount of time, very very cool. But also this is annoying in that it doesn't let you play at your own pace, its a game about exploration and discovery but you've got to do it the way the game wants you to rather than in whatever way you might want. The way your progress resets and you have to get back to where you were is consistently annoying, and having to get somewhere in a certain time window is very annoying too, just running out of time to find/ read something and knowing you'll have to go back there again just to get that thing, very annoying.
Also one thing I dislike in games is walls of text, the amount of reading you have to do here is just annoying. The game would be way better if they had voice acting kind of like the new subnautica.
In general I don't like the design, the controls are bad and the graphics are horrible on a big TV. The first person perspective combined with the controls and zero-g stuff has made me feel a bit dizzy, often frustrated as well. Early on slipping up and dying or falling somewhere and losing access to what I wanted to look at, that happened a few times and felt awful.
So yeah I get what they were going for here but I do not like it at all.
The time loop can be frustrating. As you play more it gets especially bad with things taking multiple steps. It would be awesome if there was a way to just explore at your own pace. At the same time though, it's an incredibly effective tool and I probably enjoyed the game more because of it. Every time I entered a super special location there was a significant amount of stress. Am I going to see everything I want before running out of time? It added weight to the revelations and kept me on my toes. I'd compare it to weapon durability in BOTW, in the sense that it causes issues but is probably beneficial overall.
I didn't really care for the way the game tracked progress. I specifically avoided looking at it and instead used pen and paper to track things myself. That at least to me felt more immersive and kept me paying attention to everything I read. Computer was great though near the end when I started running out of things to discover. It's great for cleaning up loose ends.
I'd disagree about voice acting. Walls of text in most games are definitely annoying but audio logs only help because they can play in the background. If you're forced to listen to an audio log in a menu, it tends to be just as bad. In Outer Wilds you need to learn what the text is saying before moving on so text works best imo. Almost every line is interesting and worth paying attention too. Plus the world pauses while reading so you can either take your time or skim it depending on your mood.
Didn't have any issues with controls or graphics but I can definitely understand getting dizzy in zero g.
