Outer Wilds
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Rating Summary
Based on 43 critic reviews
OpenCritic Rating
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Score Distribution
Unscored Reviews
Top Critic
There's a twofold joy to Outer Wilds - the thrill of discovery itself, as you slowly decipher the variables that swirl around each not-so-distant world, and of seeing that thrill reflected in a phrase scribbled centuries ago by some castaway alien boffin.
Top Critic
I encounter other space explorers of my own kind. They are bizarre, likable clue-givers who provide moments of comic relief. I perpetrate no violence in this game. I am never required to fire a laser gun or grapple with enemies. (How few are the games, set in space, that absent themselves from combat.) Yet, the worlds I visit can be hostile, releasing their secrets with the greatest reluctance.
Top Critic
Outer Wilds is not a power fantasy. It is a game about discovering how little power you have, and how maybe that isn’t as scary as you might initially have thought. The galaxy is huge, but you can still make your mark on a small part of it.
Top Critic
Ultimately, it’s the planets that make this game what it is. Worlds full of mysteries and anomalies. To me they are proof that there is still no substitute for handcrafting your virtual realms.
Scored Reviews
Top Critic
Outer Wilds is easily my game of the year thus far, and continues to move up the list of my personal favorite games of all time. It's an experience I genuinely cannot stop thinking about, managing to encompass everything I love about the adventure gaming genre and the smart sci-fi musings of my all-time favorite authors. The few negatives brought on by the time loop at the game's core are universally outweighed by the pioneering spirit cultivated throughout. I urge you to seek out Outer Wilds if you can, if only to try out what is surely one of the greatest adventure games ever created.
Top Critic
This is a rare adventure game in which the journey is actually more of a reward than the destination.
Top Critic
If I ever find myself in my own closed time-loop, I’d wish for me to play the Outer Wilds, but with the added bonus of forgetting about it, just so I can experience it all over again. It’s that good, and the first true title that I could say is a 'must-play' for 2019.
Top Critic
Outer Wilds' compact clockwork universe does more with twenty-two minutes than its spacefaring peers can imagine in a lifetime. It treats curiosity as a Möbius strip and trusts its network of divine secrets will drive the player toward a reasoned conclusion. By turning away from the zeitgeist, Outer Wilds' sublime presence can only be defined as otherworldly.
Top Critic
Outer Wilds is one of the greatest surprises we have received. A game that mixes exploration with a Groundhog Day-like scheme and a charismatic narrative to give, as a result, something truly unique. A hidden gem that everyone should try.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Top Critic
There’s so much to talk about that most of it is truly best left unsaid, as your path to these discoveries will be very much your own. I hope bigger games take some of Outer Wilds’ design lessons to heart. There’s nothing quite like it right now and there should be.
Top Critic
Outer Wilds proves there's still a sense of genuine adventure to be gained from games that commit to a set, fixed structure and design, rather than the kind of sprawling, endless expanses many contemporary titles set out to become. Playing it brought to mind my favorite bits of Dr. Seuss' Oh, The Places You'll Go...except with more of the sun exploding.
Top Critic
As someone who loves adventure and puzzle games, Outer Wilds was a match made in heaven.
Top Critic
At its core, Outer Wilds is a game about exploration, knowledge and experimentation. It's the sum of all those parts and more, perfectly blending them together to create one of the most fascinating games of this generation. Outer Wilds proves a micro - as opposed to a macro - take on space exploration works just as well, if not better.
Top Critic
Outer Wilds is a furiously imaginative work that elevates storytelling and player discovery to a whole new level. Though less than inspired puzzles and some technical issues threaten to take the sheen off the experience, Outer Wilds nonetheless sits in a class all its own on PS4.
Top Critic
Outer Wilds is simply a wonderful and brilliant space exploration adventure. Inside an hand-crafted solar system, the game is an ode to adventure and curiosity where you journey through space, trying to understand the stakes of a quantic situation.
Review in French | Read full review
Top Critic
Outer Wilds is a poignant space explorer with an emotionally engrossing tale set across a condensed but wildly surprising solar system.
Top Critic
Outer Wilds is a triumphant first-person exploration adventure with innovative (quantum) physics puzzles. More than that, it's a microcosm in itself that pleads to be explored and untangled in its minutiae.
Top Critic
Outer Wilds is a time-bending thrill ride that never ceases to amaze.
Top Critic
Outer Wilds is a monumental success in video game design and storytelling and should be experienced by anyone who sees the value in immersive, interactive storytelling despite its graphical hitches on PS4
Top Critic
Beneath its charming and inventive worlds, Outer Wilds hides a cleverly unfolding mystery.
Top Critic
Outer Wilds is one of the biggest surprises of the year, without any doubt. An easy adventure to recommend for its ingenious proposal and pleasant ambience, but it may be that few get to devote the necessary effort to understand the operation of its narrative and gameplay.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Top Critic
Outer Wilds is ver unique adventure game. Also fundemental mechanics are very fun.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
Outer Wilds is a great piece of work, one absolutely deserving of titles and high praise.
Top Critic
Outer Wild is a brilliant Sundance Sci-Fi experience, with a perfect balance between space exploration, mystery solving and storytelling. The solar system designed by Mobius Digital is an outstanding playground, full of odd surprises and unique events. Above all, is a place worth to explore and it's perfectly integrated into the time loop structure of the game. If you love to feel a genuine sense of discovery and adventure, it's definitely your game.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Top Critic
A tale straight from our childhood tree forts—Outer Wilds will reawaken the passion for exploration that you thought you lost.
Top Critic
Outer Wilds viscerally fascinates mysteries and sci-fi fans, owning a huge potential expressed thanks to a heavy dose of creativity applied to gaming and top quality writing
Review in Italian | Read full review
Top Critic
Outer Wilds is a genuinely delightful experience with a lot of bright points. It somehow manages to take the idea of a game about repeatedly dying in terrible ways and makes it enjoyable, relaxing and enthusiastic. It won't be a game for everyone due to its self-guided nature and its focus on puzzling things out for yourself, but it's exactly the game it needs to be. If you long for the space travel that No Man's Sky couldn't provide, give Outer Wilds a shot. It might not have a billion worlds, but each one is worth a visit.
Top Critic
Outer Wilds takes you on a wonderful mystery through a hand-crafted solar system that is well worth a visit.
Top Critic
Exploring the uncharted worlds of Outer Wilds feels like a true adventure in ways most games never achieve.
Top Critic
A fantastically imaginative, time-bending puzzle adventure that makes full use of one of the most enjoyably interactive game worlds in a long time.
Top Critic
Outer Wilds is good-looking and quite unique in its subgenre, and there's a compelling, intriguing mystery to solve that will keep you guessing as you progress across the galaxy
Top Critic
Outer Wilds is a very pleasant and unexpected surprise created especially for fans of the adventure genre. Interesting exploration, good puzzles and nice presentation can drag you in a couple of dozen hours.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Top Critic
If you’re looking for a breath of fresh air and fancy venturing out into space for a laid back exploration and a damned good time, Outer Wilds should be your first port of call.
Top Critic
Outer Wilds is a meditative, slow, but ultimately rewarding sci-fi extravaganza that everyone looking for an adventure should play — but be prepared for some frustration and repetition.
Top Critic
Each new discovery or observation brings with it a real sense of joy and wonder and the pleasing notion that you’re the first person to behold each particular oddity.
Complaining about Outer Wilds inscrutability is a little like criticizing Rome because you don’t know which sights to see. Do a measly Google search. Mobius Digital has, at times, erred on the side of giving players too little information. But, as a result, they have created a world that casts you as Isaac Newton. They are eagerly waiting for you to discover its gravity.
Though occasionally frustrating, Outer Wilds presents a unique experience to explore a world with few limitations.
Top Critic
Outer Wilds offers an incredible world filled with memorable moments, but the experience is hamstrung by poorly implemented puzzles and wonky systems
Top Critic
In the end, Outer Wilds is all about exploring a mysterious solar system and finding out its secrets. I had a fun time flying around in space and it’s good for the gaming industry as a whole to have an adventure game like this that’s about exploring a world without having to shoot or fight enemies. However, Outer Wilds doesn’t do a great job at guiding players. Instead, you are left aimlessly exploring until you figure out what to do next.
Top Critic
Outer Wilds gets most of the "big picture" stuff right. It boasts a solid structure, wonderfully imaginative planets, and an involving slow-burn mystery. Unfortunately, clunky controls, a few irritating design choices, and a multitude of other little issues bring the game back down to earth. If you value originality over execution, Outer Wilds is worth the ride, but expect some turbulence.
Top Critic
This is a game that presents itself in a unique way, and trusts you to put together its compelling mystery without assistance
Outer Wilds is a big, beautiful game spanning an entire solar system that celebrates discovery while, at the same time, slaps you in the mouth for getting too curious.
Top Critic
Enjoying Outer Wilds depends on your willingness to read guides and discuss the game online. Otherwise, you'll probably feel like you're regularly hitting your head on a brick wall as you try to make just an inch of progress.
