Outer Wilds

This game is the Dark Souls of loading screens. The good parts are REALLY good. There are a few puzzles that are solved pretty simply. They just take a LONG time to find, get to, and then get back to and then get back to and then get back to. Sometimes, I'll spend like an hour trying to get to some place to figure out how to swim, and.......the hint just straight up says, "The solution is: X." Sometimes you have to watch a literal hourglass drain away for 5 or 10 minutes LITERALLY. I am just sitting, doing other things out of the game (folding laundry, doing my homework, dancing to music), while absolutely nothing happens in the game except for an hourglass draining, and then there's an EXTREMELY SMALL WINDOW where I can get to the place to solve the puzzle, and if I miss it by even a few seconds, I have to do all that over again. And again. And again. If I die after doing all that, I have to do it all again. And again. And again. If I'm exploring, and I fall through a hole in the floor, I have to do it all again and again and again and again. I have played the entire Souls series, and I've done more backtracking to zones resolving the exact same puzzles the exact same way and waiting for time to pass than I ever have in all the Souls games I've played combined. This is the Dark Souls of loading screens. The BIG problem is that this game says, "You win this game through trial and error." Ok. But if I try and err, I have to sit around and do absolutely nothing for minutes and backtrack through the exact same convoluted environments, and if I stub my toe, trip, and fall into a black hole, I HAVE TO GO BACK AND DO IT ALL AGAIN. No. This is bad. It isn't just, "Well the game isn't for everyone." No. This game fails its mission. It does not encourage trial and error, because it punishes error with one of the worst things a game can deal: boredom. No game has ever been this boring to me, because you (quite literally) have to sit and do absolutely nothing for huge swathes of time waiting for the PRECISE MOMENT you can get to an area, and if you miss it by a few seconds, you have to go through it all again. Even this specific issue could be solved with even just a WATCH. Something to track time reliably and plant flags along the timeline when certain things happen and then fast forward (OR EVEN REWIND) to certain critical points. That simple, simple addition to the game would have solved so very, very, very much of its (quite frankly) bad design. Truthfully, there aren't really that many puzzles in the game, and the ones that are there are very, very, very simple, and often times you just read VOLUMES OF TEXT until someone says, "By the way, Jeebjeeb (you quirky little scamp). The passcode to the machine vessel at Vortex 8 is %$das@#klld. Happy flying!" AND THAT'S IT. I DIDN'T SOLVE A PUZZLE. I READ A SOLUTION AND THAT'S IT. If I want to play a game about patience, I'll buy a wall or something and stare at it watching the natural course of entropy destroy its soul or something. PATIENCE VIA SITTING AROUND AND DOING NOTHING IS NOT A GAMEPLAY MECHANIC. THAT'S THE ABSENCE OF ANY GAME, PLAY, OR MECHANIC AT ALL. The multiplayer in Assassin's Creed where you can sit on a bench and wait for the perfect moment to escape is tense and rewarding. The multiplayer in Aliens vs Predator where you stalk everyone while hanging upside down from a ceiling, wait for 1 impatient little goober to venture alone, and then pick him off when he's vulnerable is tense and rewarding. This game is just so boring and while the good parts are great, they happen so seldom that I just CANNOT give it a recommendation. And just a FEW simple additions to the game would fix a lot of these problems. Like more shortcuts so you don't have to go through the convoluted labyrinth a bazillion times, a better way to track and arrive at very specific points in time, or maybe fewer walls of text written by faceless characters named Qudkl;akasjl;dklaj;flkjvkncsjnfgeuiowapngcjdsanl;gjewalh who are determined to destroy their entire people and culture because (despite inventing warp flight and holograms and the ability to detonate the sun) THEY ARE THE DUMBEST GROUP OF PEOPLE IN THE UNIVERSE.

I wish I could forget everything I know about this game, just so I could experience it again for the first time

10

从小就喜欢看科幻小说，星际拓荒带给我的体验不亚于三体，我心目中的历史最佳游戏

This game made me less scared of what the future holds.

22 minutes was never enough. Indeed the greatest game you're not allowed to talk about...

心中神作，剧情满分，音乐满分，玩法和操控满分。已经踏入社会电子阳痿的我，已经很久没有如此长时间的待在电脑桌上一玩就是一晚上，甚至连做梦都酷似在游戏中推进宇航服冒险。唯一的缺陷可能在于我对这片大星际的未知感到一点恐慌，但这是我的问题，游戏一步步的让我战胜恐惧，探求秘密，拥抱死亡，不可谓也是一种魅力所在。推荐喜欢冒险、解密、剧情、星际题材的人！

I am at a loss for words at the beauty of this experience. A game hasn't been able to move me like this and probably hardly ever will again in a long time.