My journey into the Outer Wilds began when I randomly came across one of the game's most - if not THE most - memorable song. When I mentioned to a friend that it made me feel a way that was hard to describe, and was considering playing the game to get a better understanding of it, he couldn't recommend me to play it any more feverishly if he could try. Thusly, I snagged the game when it was on sale and gave it a go.
And after finishing the game and its DLC... It's hard to put into words what this game has come to mean to me, but I'll do my best.
When other games tout about being 'open-world exploration' that gives the player freedom, it's usually the freedom to customize how you look, where to go, who to talk to, or how to approach a scenario, all at your own pace. But Outer Wilds does something different with giving the player freedom and elevates it.
There's no 'main' story that the game leads you through, no end goal or beginning goal, and no explanation on what you have to do. Other than a single event that's necessary to start the game's core gameplay element, you're thrown into outer space with no linear direction at all. You start your adventure however you want to start it and just... explore.
And with that exploration, you begin to discover the world you're in through the places you find and the people you talk to, sparking your curiosity and eventually start to set your own goals. Your curiosity and need to find out more is the driving force of the game; your need to answer that burning question of "Why" pushing you to go from one place to the next in any order that you see fit, all in an open world that's big enough to make you feel small, but small enough to make it memorable.
It's the best example of how a narrative can be cyclical, novel, and everlasting, all at once, creating a special, once-in-a-lifetime experience that is near-impossible to replay once you finish it.
On a more personal note, I don’t know if it’s ever possible to really contend with one’s mortality, but this game certainly helped me to process some of that anxiety I once had as a little kid and thought had long since gotten over. And now, as a young adult who's struggling to figure out where their place is meant to be on this floating mudball we call Earth, to see it through a different lens, it's helped me ultimately come to appreciate the time I have, rather than wondering how it'll end. And I think for anyone else who has or once had these same fears as I did, this game can help guide you through those feelings.
The only bad thing about Outer Wilds is that it ends. But the best part, is that when it ends, you understand it had to.
I don't think there's any other game I've experienced pull off something like what Outer Wilds manages to do, and I don't think there was, is, or will be a game that ever will. It's left me with the appreciation to stop for a minute or (twenty) two and smell the pine trees. For that, I am forever grateful.
"Because the universe is, and we are."
