Reviews:
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Your enjoyment of this outer space adventure will mostly correspond to your comfort with a general lack of direction
Outer Wilds has been an indie on my radar for quite some time, in part for what looked like some terrific visuals, and also due to seeing quite a bit of buzz about it when it was released on other platforms. Now that it’s on the Switch I was eager to dig into this alien world and begin exploring. I did like the integration of training into your initial walking around, feeling a bit more organic than you normally see, so that gives it a bit of a plus in my mind. Once you take off from your planet though, the game is pretty much all about letting you do whatever it is that strikes your fancy… and that’s where my feelings on it split a bit. I do absolutely appreciate this world’s mysteries to be discovered and worked out, it’s probably the game’s greatest strength. That said, I think it’s also a quality that won’t hit everyone the same way. Providing my own perspective, I’m someone who places a premium on my time as I have a lot of commitments. That’s where the degree of open-endedness in Outer Wilds chilled me a bit to it, as I think its needle is too far to the side of vagary, and for me that feels like it doesn’t completely respect my time. The thing is, I also absolutely understand there are people who feel very differently about this sort of design, relishing the thrill of discovery of every new clue to chase down and work out, leaving you to take the credit for what is uncovered. In the end, that potential stumbling block for any given player out there simply makes it tougher to recommend without caveats.
Justin Nation, Score:Good [7.8]