Named Game of the Year 2019 by Giant Bomb, Polygon, Eurogamer, and The Guardian, Outer Wilds is a critically-acclaimed and award-winning open world mystery about a solar system trapped in an endless time loop.
I saw a research thing from the creators once that said the thing that is most likely to keep players from finishing the game is failing to find one of the major secret locations in the first like 5-ish hours. They explore and find a bunch of information and places but don’t manage to have a break through quickly enough to have that moment that gets you really hooked. In fact so many players quit with being so close to that moment. And the players that have that moment are then very likely to end up finishing the entire game.
Unfortunately, sounds like you fell into that camp. Only thing I can recommend, if you are interested, is come back at it with fresh eyes, read through the ship log again (everything listed there is significant in some way, none of it is a waste), poke at what makes you curious, maybe ask for a specific hint if you end up needing it, and get that first big “Aha!” moment. See if you’re not hooked then.
And one of the favorite past times of fans of the game, since we can’t have that same discovery experience again, is watching other people play and have those “Aha!” moments too. There are a lot of people that have played this game to completion and I have never once heard any of them be any less than in love with the game by the end. I promise the hype is deserved.
I have this problem with every video game though, I played back through doom 2016 last, dunno why, but finding secrets and getting everything in the game is SO hard for me to do, even when the way to secrets are in front of my fucking face, I just miss stuff super often in every game genre. sucks to suck I guess.
So you’ve reminded me of another player. I’ve been watching a playthrough of the game recently on Chert’s Research Notes’s YouTube channel. He knows the game forward and backward, but he’s been having his girlfriend play the game completely blind. It’s been a good watch. She’s completed the main game and is a good way into the dlc now. But even after all this time, she still struggles with the simple things sometimes. Not just figuring out the puzzles, which are obviously challenging, but little stuff too. Navigating around places she’s been a dozen times, remembering she has certain tools, reading the button prompts right in the middle of the screen, noticing literally anything on the periphery of he screen… she has stared down secrets directly in front of her and didn’t notice on a few occasions. She has her boyfriend as moral support and backup, but even then she gets quite frustrated sometimes. But when she getting frustrated, they do a good job of stopping, setting the controller down, talking out the stress, and then either taking a break or going back to playing. It’s all target wholesome, I must say.
It can be taxing feeling like you’re beating your head against a problem, or struggling with the controls or navigation. Don’t let yourself get to the point of exhaustion or anger. If you’re starting to feel anxious or frustrated, just stop, collect your thoughts, talk it out with a friend, step away if necessary, then come back at it fresh. Reread the ship logs any time you’re confused, and go explore a space that it says you haven’t fully explored. The beauty of this game is that it takes notes for you and only collects information that you actually need. Everything in the logs is important. Maybe try to crack a different puzzle if you have one you just can’t figure out. You’d be
Surprised how coming back to it later can really help. And of it’s really just not clicking, you can always ask for hints.
If it’s just not your thing, that’s fine too. Hope you are able up enjoy something else instead.
I’ve played again today after about ten months. This is my map:
Spoiler
I’ll have to see if I’m able to progress. Today I’ve tried to
Spoiler
Access the solar station around the sun. It’s a bit frustrating that you have to wait a few minutes every run until the sand gets sucked up so that you can enter the buildings.
It’s not really a spoiler to tell you this but in case you don’t want to know, I will hide it. But there is a way to skip much of the wait when you need to do a thing in a specific time window. You may already know it and have forgotten.
Click if you want to know.
Approach any campfire and you are given the option to sleep. You can sleep for as long, in world, as you like. When you wake up at the start of the loop, you can just sleep for, say, 5 minutes, and then fly to the ash twin. If you overshoot your window, just kill yourself or meditate until the supernova and try again without sleeping as long.
Thanks for you through answer! I need to get back to the game because I want to finish it. I also had 1-2 hiccups in the past were I couldn’t progress too.
I’ve played 17.5 hours. I need to make a screenshot of the map so I can show my progression.
I have the same problem. There’s just a time when I don’t have any idea how to progress. Also its a bit over-hyped for my taste.
I saw a research thing from the creators once that said the thing that is most likely to keep players from finishing the game is failing to find one of the major secret locations in the first like 5-ish hours. They explore and find a bunch of information and places but don’t manage to have a break through quickly enough to have that moment that gets you really hooked. In fact so many players quit with being so close to that moment. And the players that have that moment are then very likely to end up finishing the entire game.
Unfortunately, sounds like you fell into that camp. Only thing I can recommend, if you are interested, is come back at it with fresh eyes, read through the ship log again (everything listed there is significant in some way, none of it is a waste), poke at what makes you curious, maybe ask for a specific hint if you end up needing it, and get that first big “Aha!” moment. See if you’re not hooked then.
And one of the favorite past times of fans of the game, since we can’t have that same discovery experience again, is watching other people play and have those “Aha!” moments too. There are a lot of people that have played this game to completion and I have never once heard any of them be any less than in love with the game by the end. I promise the hype is deserved.
I have this problem with every video game though, I played back through doom 2016 last, dunno why, but finding secrets and getting everything in the game is SO hard for me to do, even when the way to secrets are in front of my fucking face, I just miss stuff super often in every game genre. sucks to suck I guess.
So you’ve reminded me of another player. I’ve been watching a playthrough of the game recently on Chert’s Research Notes’s YouTube channel. He knows the game forward and backward, but he’s been having his girlfriend play the game completely blind. It’s been a good watch. She’s completed the main game and is a good way into the dlc now. But even after all this time, she still struggles with the simple things sometimes. Not just figuring out the puzzles, which are obviously challenging, but little stuff too. Navigating around places she’s been a dozen times, remembering she has certain tools, reading the button prompts right in the middle of the screen, noticing literally anything on the periphery of he screen… she has stared down secrets directly in front of her and didn’t notice on a few occasions. She has her boyfriend as moral support and backup, but even then she gets quite frustrated sometimes. But when she getting frustrated, they do a good job of stopping, setting the controller down, talking out the stress, and then either taking a break or going back to playing. It’s all target wholesome, I must say.
It can be taxing feeling like you’re beating your head against a problem, or struggling with the controls or navigation. Don’t let yourself get to the point of exhaustion or anger. If you’re starting to feel anxious or frustrated, just stop, collect your thoughts, talk it out with a friend, step away if necessary, then come back at it fresh. Reread the ship logs any time you’re confused, and go explore a space that it says you haven’t fully explored. The beauty of this game is that it takes notes for you and only collects information that you actually need. Everything in the logs is important. Maybe try to crack a different puzzle if you have one you just can’t figure out. You’d be Surprised how coming back to it later can really help. And of it’s really just not clicking, you can always ask for hints.
If it’s just not your thing, that’s fine too. Hope you are able up enjoy something else instead.
I’ve played again today after about ten months. This is my map:
Spoiler
I’ll have to see if I’m able to progress. Today I’ve tried to
Spoiler
Access the solar station around the sun. It’s a bit frustrating that you have to wait a few minutes every run until the sand gets sucked up so that you can enter the buildings.
It’s not really a spoiler to tell you this but in case you don’t want to know, I will hide it. But there is a way to skip much of the wait when you need to do a thing in a specific time window. You may already know it and have forgotten.
Click if you want to know.
Approach any campfire and you are given the option to sleep. You can sleep for as long, in world, as you like. When you wake up at the start of the loop, you can just sleep for, say, 5 minutes, and then fly to the ash twin. If you overshoot your window, just kill yourself or meditate until the supernova and try again without sleeping as long.
Oh, thanks! I I indeed totally forgot about that, this will help a bunch!
Thanks for you through answer! I need to get back to the game because I want to finish it. I also had 1-2 hiccups in the past were I couldn’t progress too. I’ve played 17.5 hours. I need to make a screenshot of the map so I can show my progression.