Outer Wilds

Outer Wilds is an action-adventure game set in a small planetary system in which the player character, an unnamed space explorer referred to as "hatchling", explores and investigates its mysteries in a self-directed manner. Whenever the Hatchling dies, the game resets to the beginning; this happens regardless after 22 minutes of gameplay due to the star going supernova. The player uses these repeated time loops to discover the secrets of the Nomai, an alien species that has left ruins scattered throughout the planetary system, including why the star is exploding. A downloadable content expansion, Echoes of the Eye, adds additional locations and mysteries to the game.

The Hatchling moves around the game space by walking and jumping; if they are wearing their spacesuit they may also use its jetpack to propel themselves upwards. The spacesuit has a limited supply of fuel, which can be refilled at specific locations, and a limited supply of oxygen, which is refilled when the Hatchling is near trees. If the Hatchling runs out of fuel, they can use oxygen as a propellant. Running out of oxygen, hitting an object or surface too hard, or being crushed will injure the Hatchling or damage their suit, killing them if too much injury is sustained.

Outer Wilds is set in a planetary system consisting of a star orbited by a number of celestial bodies: the Hourglass Twins, a pair of planets orbiting each other with sand flowing from one to the other; Timber Hearth, a forested Earth-like planet that is the homeworld of the four-eyed Hearthian species; the Attlerock, a small rocky moon orbiting Timber Hearth; Brittle Hollow, a hollow planet that is collapsing into a black hole at its center and is orbited by Hollow's Lantern, a volcanic moon; Giant's Deep, a cloud-covered water planet containing several floating islands; and Dark Bramble, a shattered planet largely composed of a space-warping vine plant, inhabited by giant, aggressive anglerfish. Each planet has a distinct visual identity, such as Timber Hearth resembling a campsite in the woods with browns and greens, while Giant's Deep has blue-green rocky beaches. Each planet has a distinct auditory identity as well, with a member of the Outer Wilds space exploration program playing the same song on a unique instrument, which can be listened to from anywhere in the solar system with the signalscope. Additionally, there is the Quantum Moon, which moves to orbit different planets when not observed; the Interloper, an icy comet; and space stations orbiting the sun and Giant's Deep left by the Nomai, a race that went extinct in the planetary system long before the game begins. Hearthians are a four-eyed species that resemble aquatic animals with legs, while the Nomai are a three-eyed, fur-covered, antlered species that wear robes and large masks.

The player takes the role of an unnamed Hearthian space explorer, referred to as "hatchling" by other Hearthians, preparing for their first space flight as part of Outer Wilds Ventures. They are to be the first explorer to travel with a Nomai text translator tool. Prior to departure, a Nomai statue in a museum activates and turns towards them. The player discovers that whenever the Hatchling dies, a vision of a Nomai mask appears, and they are sent back in time to the start of the game in a time loop. Additionally, the loop resets after 22 minutes regardless, as the sun abruptly goes supernova, destroying the solar system.

The development of Outer Wilds began in late 2012 as Alex Beachum's thesis for his master's degree at USC Interactive Media & Games Division. Beachum was the creative director for the project, which he developed along with 30 other developers, including students from USC and student artists from Laguna College of Art and Design and Atlantic University College. Beachum reused elements from previous projects at the school, including a planetary system changing over time, a planet falling apart, and trees that moved when they were not observed. His goal was a game where the player would engage in space exploration in an open system that changed over time, with the primary goal being the exploration itself rather than traditional gameplay elements like resources or conquering.

The game universe was designed to not be centered on the player, in that it continued to change whether or not the player was present or performing actions and the player was not the "chosen one" of the narrative. He was inspired by the "spirit of space exploration" in an uncontrollable environment in the films Apollo 13 (1995) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), and took cues from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker's (2002) non-player characters that would tell tales of distant lands to entice the player to explore those areas for themselves, and the sense of impending doom of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.

Outer Wilds received "generally favorable reviews", according to the review aggregator website Metacritic. Its aggregated scores ranked it as one of the top 30 games of 2019 for Windows, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. It was estimated as having sold over 2 million copies by August 2021, just before the expansion was released. The game was featured in several game of the year lists for 2019, including overall game of the year by Eurogamer and Polygon, and Edge, Polygon, PC World, and Paste also featured it on their "best games of the decade", "best games of the console generation", and "best games of the past 30 years" lists, Slant, GQ, and USA Today featured it on their "best games of all times" lists, and Eurogamer in 2024 said it was the 3rd best game that was available for current systems.

Critics highly praised the gameplay, though some aspects had a mixed reception. com said that the game creates a constant desire to solve the next mystery without them being too overwhelming or obtuse. The changes to the planetary system over the time loop were often compared to clockwork, with Josh Tolentino of Destructoid calling it a "tightly packed cuckoo clock" and Javy Gwaltney of Game Informer and Edwin Evans-Thirlwell of Eurogamer comparing it to a pocket watch. Phil Savage of PC Gamer also praised the unique, evolving nature of the different planets.