Outer Wilds

What to Know

Critics Recommend

Average Score

Total Reviews: 39

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Outer Wilds is a monumental success in game design – a poignant space explorer with an intriguing mystery to solve.

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Critics Recommend

Critic Reviews: 39

Critics Consensus

# Reviews: 39

Outer Wilds is a monumental success in game design - a poignant space explorer with an intriguing mystery to solve.

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Awards & Recognition

Critic Reviews for Outer Wilds

Reviews

High Score - 100/100

Low Score - 60/100

Silver TIER

37% of scored reviews fell within the range of 86 to 92 / 100

Mike Epstein (IGN)

8.4/10

“Exploring the uncharted worlds of Outer Wilds feels like a true adventure in ways most games never achieve.”

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Phil Savage (PC Gamer)

89/100

“Beneath its charming and inventive worlds, Outer Wilds hides a cleverly unfolding mystery.”

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Edwin Evans-Thirlwell (Eurogamer)

Recommended

“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.”

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Read the Reviews (39 total)

Outlet	Author	Score	Date	Quote	Read
Areajugones	Víctor Rodríguez	9.2 / 10	06-17-2019	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.	Read review
Bloody Disgusting	Andrew King	4 / 5 stars	07-08-2019	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.	Read review
COGconnected	Isaac Monterose	91 / 100	10-29-2019	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.	Read review
Critical Hit	Brad Lang	9 / 10	10-24-2019	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	Read review
Destructoid	Josh Tolentino	9 / 10	05-29-2019	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.	Read review
Digital Chumps	Eric Layman	9.5 / 10	12-28-2018	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.	Read review
DualShockers	Ricky Frech	8.5 / 10	05-29-2019	Outer Wilds takes you on a wonderful mystery through a hand-crafted solar system that is well worth a visit.	Read review
Eurogamer	Edwin Evans-Thirlwell	Recommended	05-30-2019	There’s a twofold joy to Outer Wilds	Read review
Game Informer	Javy Gwaltney	7.8 / 10	06-03-2019	Outer Wilds offers an incredible world filled with memorable moments, but the experience is hamstrung by poorly implemented puzzles and wonky systems	Read review
Game Revolution	Jason Faulkner	4.5 / 5 stars	05-29-2019	As someone who loves adventure and puzzle games, Outer Wilds was a match made in heaven.	Read review
Gameblog	Thomas Pillon	9 / 10	07-09-2019	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.	Read review
GameMAG	Unknown	8 / 10	08-22-2019	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.	Read review
GameSpew	Kim Snaith	8 / 10	06-04-2019	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.	Read review
GameSpot	Alessandro Barbosa	9 / 10	06-09-2019	Outer Wilds is a poignant space explorer with an emotionally engrossing tale set across a condensed but wildly surprising solar system.	Read review
GamingTrend	Lawrence Le	85 / 100	05-29-2019	A tale straight from our childhood tree forts—Outer Wilds will reawaken the passion for exploration that you thought you lost.	Read review
Geeks Under Grace	Joe Morgan	6.5 / 10	07-11-2019	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.	Read review
God is a Geek	Mick Fraser	8 / 10	06-27-2019	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	Read review
IGN	Mike Epstein	8.4 / 10	05-30-2019	Exploring the uncharted worlds of Outer Wilds feels like a true adventure in ways most games never achieve.	Read review
IGN Italy	Davide Mancini	8.7 / 10	06-02-2019	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.	Read review
Jump Dash Roll	Jon Peltz	8 / 10	11-21-2019	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.	Read review
Kotaku	Maddy Myers	Recommended	10-15-2019	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.	Read review
Merlin’in Kazanı	Furkan Güler	88 / 100	07-01-2019	Outer Wilds is ver unique adventure game. Also fundemental mechanics are very fun.	Read review
Metro GameCentral	Unknown	8 / 10	10-18-2019	A fantastically imaginative, time-bending puzzle adventure that makes full use of one of the most enjoyably interactive game worlds in a long time.	Read review
PC Gamer	Phil Savage	89 / 100	05-29-2019	Beneath its charming and inventive worlds, Outer Wilds hides a cleverly unfolding mystery.	Read review
Player.One	Kenneth Araullo	10 / 10	06-06-2019	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.	Read review
PlayStation Universe	John-Paul Jones	9 / 10	10-21-2019	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.	Read review
Polygon	Colin Campbell	Recommended	07-11-2019	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.	Read review
Push Square	Stephen Tailby	7 / 10	11-02-2019	This is a game that presents itself in a unique way, and trusts you to put together its compelling mystery without assistance	Read review
Rock, Paper, Shotgun	Unknown	Recommended	05-29-2019	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.	Read review
Screen Rant	Corey Hoffmeyer	4.5 / 5 stars	07-03-2019	Outer Wilds is a time-bending thrill ride that never ceases to amaze.	Read review
Slant Magazine	Aaron Riccio	5 / 5 stars	06-12-2019	This is a rare adventure game in which the journey is actually more of a reward than the destination.	Read review
SpazioGames	Unknown	8.5 / 10	06-05-2019	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	Read review
TechRaptor	Richard Costa	9 / 10	06-25-2019	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.	Read review
TheSixthAxis	Thomas Hughes	9 / 10	07-16-2019	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	Read review
Twinfinite	Chris Jecks	4 / 5 stars	05-31-2019	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.	Read review
USgamer	Jake Green	5 / 5 stars	06-28-2019	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.	Read review
Video Chums	A.J. Maciejewski	6 / 10	06-03-2019	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.	Read review
Wccftech	Nathan Birch	7 / 10	06-07-2019	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.	Read review

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Game Info

Game Description / Storyline:

Welcome to the Space Program! You’re the newest recruit of Outer Wilds Ventures, a fledgling space program searching for answers in a strange, constantly evolving solar system. Mysteries of the Solar System… What lurks in the heart of the ominous Dark Bramble? Who built the alien ruins on the Moon? Can the endless time loop be stopped? Answers await you in the most dangerous reaches of space.

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