While Starfield is nearly here, you might not be partaking (for whatever reason!). From the thoroughly entertaining The Outer Worlds to the unrestricted freedom of No Man's Sky, let's look at the six best games thematically similar to Starfield that will satisfy your sci-fi-loving ?brain right now.

[caption id="attachment_367652" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via Deep Silver[/caption]

Chorus

One of the most underrated games in 2021, Chorus should be on your list if you crave sci-fi action. While you can't get out of your spaceship and wander about, there is an open area to explore as you f?ly at high speed through asteroids and spa?ce gates. The combat impresses with its fast-paced action and powerful weapons. There's also an intriguing storyline to follow, complete with side quests to complement it.

[caption id="attachment_367674" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via Frontier Developments[/caption]

Elite Dangerous

Want to explore the stars but you're stuck at home with a 9-5 job? Elite Dangerous might be able to transport you beyond the skies above. You'll be upgrading your ship as you fight enemy forces, explore the beautiful cosmos, and soar amongst the stars alongside your friends. There's also a major sense of scale as the developer claims on its Steam page that "the entirety of the Milky Way [is] re-created at its full galactic proportions". It has been free on the Epic Games Store in the past, ??so check your library if you haven't alr?eady.

[caption id="attachment_367676" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via EA[/caption]

Mass Effect Legendary Edition

One of Bethesda's greatest aspects is its storytelling. The majority of its games have immense lore and an intriguing storyline full of interesting characters. The Mass Effect series offers a similarly strong narrative that has you invested in its roster of heroes and villains. In addition, the worldbuilding is outstanding, as you get more intrigued by the factions and environments of this sci-fi universe the deeper you delve into it. Hopefully, Starfield will offer a story that has just as much drama as the? legendary BioWare? series.

[caption id="attachment_367643" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via Hello Games[/caption]

No Man's Sky

With one of the rockiest launches in modern gaming history, No Man's Sky was a shell of the promises original made by the developer Hello Games. Fortunately, over the years, the game has received wide acclaim for its bevy of features, stunning landscapes, and introduction of co-op. The randomized nature of the game has given us strange new creatures and gorgeous scenery that fans often share their pictures of No Man's Sky. Starfield also features many, many worlds; No Man's Sky has likely inspired Bethesda with? its daring concept, for better or for worse. Hopefully, the former.

[caption id="attachment_367661" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via Annapurna Interactive[/caption]

Outer Wilds

If No Man's Sky doesn't tickle your fancy, Outer Wilds might instead. You're exploring a solar system that is trapped in a time loop, and it is up to you to solve the mystery behind it. The planets in this game each offer their own little secrets to discover as you find out details about the Dark Bramble and the alien ruins across the system. While there are no RPG mechanics to speak of, Outer Wilds will likely give you the same exploratory rush in Starfield. Nevertheless, Josh Talentino called the game "Superb" in his review for Destructoid.

[caption id="attachment_367670" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via Private Division[/caption]

The Outer Worlds

The closest game you'll get to Starfield is probably The Outer Worlds. Not to be confused with the similarly titled last entry, this Obsidian FPS/RPG has an exciting and engaging campaign. You'll find well-written characters, an entertaining loot-and-shoot game loop, and a captivating story. The Outer Worlds does not feature interspace combat or a huge universe to explore. However, the densely populated environments have engrossing side missions and inspired art design. In fact, The Outer Worlds was Destructoid's 2019 Game of the Year.

[caption id="attachment_395803" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via 505 Games[/caption]

Death Stranding

While there aren't "traditional" RPG mechanics in Death Stranding, that sense of exploration from Starfield is present in the game. You’re delivering packages throughout the world and helping connect the once-separated areas of post-apocalyptic America back together. Directed by Metal Gear Solid veteran Hideo Kojima, its sci-fi concepts are thought-pro??voking and stunning to behold.

The interactability between players is also unique as you help each other form a better world. Death Stranding’s available on Xb??ox Game Pass for PC if you ??want to check it out.

[caption id="attachment_395804" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via KeokeN Interactive[/caption]

Deliver Us The Moon

If you want to explore a sci-fi world without chaotic shooting gameplay, Deliver Us The Moon might be your ticket. You’re exploring a space station that is unre??sponsive and within it, you?’ll discover exactly what has happened. The story is told in a quiet, yet impactful way. The puzzles are also well-implemented.

The detailed environments also present the story well, hopefully like Starfield. It’s a ??sci-fi g?ame that’s a breath of fresh air (well, at least as fresh as it can be in space).

[caption id="attachment_395805" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via EA[/caption]

Star Wars Squadrons

Lastly, there’s Star Wars Squadrons. The force is strong with this one! If you want to prepare yourself for ship battles in Starfield, you can control various Star Wars ships in Squadrons, and it's a rush to shoot an Imperial ship in an X-Wing in this game. The cockpit view is also one-?to-one to what Rebels like Wedge and Luke saw back in the day with all the visual do-hickeys and buttons intact.

As our review notes: “It finds a great balance between making the player feel like a responsible pilot and a complete badass.�/p>

The post The 9 best games similar to S?tarfield that you can pla??y now (Updated) appeared first on Destructoid.

Explore the universe in 4K

The magic and wonder of Outer Wilds gets a nice upgrade for newer console owners today. Outer Wilds and its DLC Echoes of the Eye are out now o??n PS5 and Xbox Ser??ies X|S, with a free upgrade for owners on previous-gen consoles.

The space exploration adventure will run at na??tive 60 FPS on the new hardware, with 4K support. That's a whole lot of beautiful space pix?els to blast into your eyes.

If you own the game on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One already, you can upgrade within your respective console family at no cost. Just use your respective digital storefront, either PlayStation or Xbox, to bump it up.

Otherwise, Outer Wilds is currently available for $24.99, with the Echoes of the Eye DLC running $14.99, or $39.99 for a bundled package. It's also on Game Pass, as of this writ?ing.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMcTusNAc5w

A universe full of wonders

If you haven't played Outer Wilds yet, then good heavens, what are you waiting for? This time-looping space exploration game, developed by Mobius Digital a??nd published by Annapurna Interactive, is ?an incomparable experience.

When I was recently thinking about the kinds of stories you can only tell in games, Outer Wilds was one of the first to come to mind. It is warm an??d sentimental, cold and haunting, and expertly craf??ts its mysteries and story in the span of one galaxy.

Its DLC expansion, Echoes of the Eye, is even more of the same. I think the base game hit me harder, as I knew what I was getting into once I booted up Echoes??. But the ??trees, lights, and hidden puzzles of that place stick with me.

With the PS5 and Xbox Series upgrade out and free for anyone who's already picked the game up, this seems like a great excuse to dive back into Outer Wilds.

The post Outer Wilds and its ?DLC is out now on PS5 and Xbox? Series X/S, with a free upgrade appeared first on Destructoid.

Sometimes it just doesn't click

My love of gaming came a little bit later in life than most, so there are a ton of well-loved games that I need to catch up on, whether they're old classics or recently-released bangers. What's nice is that there's an endless stream of hits for me to pull from, which means I've been binging titles like Pokémon, Ratchet & Clank, and Mass Effect over the p???ast few months, just to name a few. For the most part, it's been really great to have so many games to play that knock it out of the park �playing the all-time greats all in a row has me reeling over how awesome this medium is.

While I've loved a vast majority of the games I've played recently, there have been one or two that just didn't connect with me, which is a shame considering they're such well-loved titles. The prime example of this is Annapurna's smash hit from 2019, Outer Wilds. In the game, you play as an alien caught in a twenty-two-minute time loop as you explore nearby planets and try to unlock the mysteries of th??e?? universe.

When I've asked people what are some must-plays that I missed out on over the past few years, Outer Wilds always seems to make the list, so I gave it a shot a little while ago. People describe it as a "once in a gen??eration gaming experience" or "one of the best adventure games ever made," and I can't miss out on something ??like that, right?

I can't put my finger on the exact reason why, but there's just something?? about that game that didn't work for me. Maybe it's the fact that space unlocks an existential horror spiral in me, or that I'm even worse at flying mechanics than I am at platforming, or that I was going through a bad depressive episode when I was playing it �I'll never know for sure.

I watched a video essay about the game from some??one who loves it, and it all made so much sense. I could understand why it was a masterp??iece and all that, but that still didn't make me want to pick it up again.

These days, it feels like we've gotten pretty combative about liking or disliking media. Something is the best, or it's the worst, and a lot of times we fall on either side of that binary. I kind of had to have this moment with Outer Wilds where I let myself be okay with not loving the game, even if I thought it was really cool on paper. Sometimes we don't like things �that doesn't make them bad, it means they'r?e just ?not for us.

Maybe one of these days I'll rope in my friend who sings Outer Wilds' praises all the time and have him sit d??own with me and walk me through why he loves it, because I find that to be helpful when a piece of media doesn't connect with me. For now, though, I'll just have to be okay with the fact that there are some games that I won't r?eally get.

So, are there any well-l??oved games out there that you bounce off of, or can't get yourself to finish? What's the last game you abandoned, and why?

Let's discuss in the comments below!

The post What’s a well-loved game you bounced off? appeared first on Destructoid.

Don't be afraid of the dark

Outer Wilds was a brilliant game that felt very self-contained and whole. Its solar system, filled with unique and fascinating planets, all work together in harmony, so the idea of adding more to it just raises more questions. How can Echoes of the Eye, the new DLC out today for Outer Wilds, fit into that system?

As it turns out, it fits in pretty well. I'm about eight to nine hours into playing Echoes of the Eye and still working on solving its larger, grander puzzles. But it feels like a solid, significant addition to what made Outer Wilds great, and it work?s w??ithin the universe surprisingly well.

It's at this point that I should be clear that discussing a game like Outer Wilds at any level beyond the most surface-level description will entail some amount of spoilers. I'll be avoiding detailing anything like major puzzle solutions or explaining how certain mechanics or "laws" of the DLC function, but if you're worried about knowing too much, here's the short version: I really enjoy Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye. It's a good addition to Outer Wilds, with some really clever new ideas and some genuinely breathtaking moments, with only one small aspect of it detracting from the ??whole experience.

If you enjoyed the base Outer Wilds, you're more than likely going to enjoy solving the puzzles of Echoes of the Eye. But if?? you'd l?ike to know a little more, read on.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt9M6WumjtE

In true Outer Wilds fashion, even after installing Echoes of the Eye, you'll still need to find it. Or rather, start pulling on the conspicuous thread that develo??per Mobius Digital leaves hanging for you to tug on.

A new exhibit in the Timber Hearth museum will kick that off, leading to a fun puzzle that felt like a warm-up for what's to come. After putting it all together, you'll embark to a new area, that's both within the solar system of Outer Wilds and its own separate, discrete area.

All of what I've seen so far of Echoes of the Eye takes place here, in this singular area. While still subject to the same loop as the rest of Outer Wilds, meaning you will still be looping back to waking up on Timbe??r Hearth whether you die or run out of time, it's fairly easy to get right back to where you were—helped out by some systems in the ship.

This new area to explore in Echoes of the Eye is also its own system, that has mysteries to uncover and time-activated events that can shift perspective and create new, interesting problems to deal with. At first, it can seem almost overwhelming; it's definitely stuffed more to the brim than other Outer Wilds?? locations, and because all of it is centered on its one area, it can feel a bit more dense to piece out and solve than a planet like Brittle Hollow or? the Hourglass Twins.

Echoes of the Eye's new area is also gorgeous however, with the first time I landed and stepped out onto it creating moment after moment of sheer surprise and wonder at what I was seeing. That luster takes a while to fade too, and new ways in which you start to understand the space and ways you can alter it just add more on top. This is a surprisingly packed ??area, with a lot of puzzles to solve and ancient lore to decipher, separate from any current mystery you might have solved.

Echoes of the Eye also makes clever use of perspective and light, in ways that really surprised me. Ship flying skills and tools like the scout launcher are only required in a fe?w situations that I've experienced, as most of my problem solving has come down to thinking about what I can see, what I have already seen, and how to think along the right lines to understand what I need to know to move forward. Every puzzle solution has felt natur??al, spurred on by in-game hints and storytelling, and even after spending a loop just bashing my head against one problem, I still felt like I was progressing at a smooth and regular pace, gradually picking apart the workings of the DLC.

My one wrinkle so far has been that, for all the ways Echoes of the Eye fits right into Outer Wilds and carries forward some of its best thinking in terms of puzzle design and clever solutions, it also includes "stealth" as part of it. Those who have braved the Dark Bramble in the base Outer Wilds have an idea of what's in store, and after putting a fair few hours into Echoes of the Eye, it's been my one continued point of frustration. Even though it's effective, and even at times quite scary,?? it might become a headache that may wrinkle the experience for those who aren't into it.

That said, Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye has been a delight to pick apart and solve thus far. As I said before, I'm about eight to nine hours in and still trying to solve the greater mysteries of this DLC—think of it less like a new planet, and more like a new mini-mystery all its own. It has its own style, its own lore and history to discover, and it takes Outer Wilds to places t??hat are simply delightful to uncover all on your own.

I've also yet to see how it ends up fitting into the broader system of Outer Wilds that is still chugging along outside the designated area. But It's sparked a lot of the same joy of discovery, sense of adventure, and towering highs of "a-ha" moments that pulled me into Outer Wilds in the first place.

If you similarly loved the base game, there's really no reason to skip out on Echoes of the Eye.

The post Outer Wilds:? Echoes of the Eye is more of what made the base game click appeared first on Destructoid.

There's more to explore here

The Outer Wilds are expanding this September. Today, Mobius Digital and Annapurna Interactive confirmed that Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye arrives on Sept. 28, 2021.

Shown during today's Annapurna Interactive Showcase, Echoes of the Eye will weave directly into the world and narrative of Outer Wilds. As creative director Alex Beachum confirmed, it will also be Outer Wilds first, and only, expansion.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt9M6WumjtE

The cryptic trailer shown today started with the wonderful Outer Wilds theme plucking away, before an eclipse slowly descended over the sun and lots of mysterious machinery and imagery appears. What could this mean? What mysteries lie in store for the Echoes of the Eye? The trailer simply says, "There's? more to explore here."

Outer Wilds first launched in 2019 and quickly became an indie hit. The time-looping mystery of what was happening? to the g?alaxy, and why, was really compelling to pick apart and piece back together. And yeah, mastering how to land the ship was an art all its own.

I'm really interested to see how this could tie back into the world of Outer Wilds and all the mysteries it contains, but suffice to say, even some of the ar?tifacts and monuments we see in the trailer have possibilities bouncing around in my brain.

Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye will be coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via both the Epic Games Store and Steam. As for the long-awaited Nintendo Switch version, Beachum says the team looks forward to having it "in yo??ur hands this holi?day season."

The post Outer Wilds’ first and only expansion, Echoes of the Eye, lands on September 28 appeared first on Destructoid.

You only got 22 mintues.

In 2019, two games set in space set the gaming world on fire. One was The Outer Worlds, which won a heap of awards at the end of the year, including Destructoid's Game of the Year. The other was Outer Wilds, and I've s?een many people argue that of the two games, it's the superior experience.

If you missed out on it on PS4, PC, or Xbox One, you'll have to chance to see what it's all about on Switch when Outer Wilds releases for the console this summer.

The post ?Outer Wilds will destroy the universe on Switch this summer appeared first on Destructoid.

The Epic Game Store deal has a few more months

Outer Wilds won't be an Epic Games Store exclusive on PC for too much longer. Annapurna Interactive and Mobius Digital ??are bringing the space-faring mystery adventure game to Steam on June 18, 2020.

Outer Wilds was a game-of-the-year? contender and winner in many circles, and it's not easily forgotten. It's an experience for people who want to genuinely explore – to figure out how th??ings work, and why, and what that means. Sometimes, that can be frustrating. Other times, it can be brain-massaging bliss.

Our own Josh Tolentino likened the game to a "Deus Ex-style immersive sim, except wrought over the scale of a planetary system" in his review. "Outer Wilds' game world is woun?d like a tightly packed cuckoo clock, all ??interlocking components whirring endlessly on a 20-minute window of inevitability."

The Steam audience is going to latch onto it ??in a big way. I can already picture the ??cheeky user reviews.

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Oh, the places you'll go

Game of the year candidate Outer Wilds lands on a new platform next week. After successfully touching down on PC a???nd Xbox One in June, it sets out to explore PS4 on October 15. It'll cost $25.

It's tough to nail down exactly what Outer Wilds is. It melds galactic spacecraft travel of Interstellar with a timeloop adventure akin to Majora's Mask. Every 20 minutes, you're pulled back to your home planet, free to head back out to far away space rocks in hopes of unraveling this giant?? mystery just a little bit further.

It's a game that trades in revelation and discovery, the sort of experience where seeing it for yourself is its own kind of reward. If you're not convinced, I'd urge you to read Josh's 9/10 Outer Wilds review where he says it "brought to mind my? favori??te bits of Dr. Seuss' Oh, The Places You'll Go...except with more of the sun exploding."

The post PlayStation 4 pla?yers get ?to explore the Outer Wilds next week appeared first on Destructoid.

No Man's Retry

I didn't even last ten minutes into my first session with Outer Wilds, the intriguing open-world adventure game from Annapurna Interactive and Mobius Digital. A freshly minted astronaut from the tiny world of Timber Hearth, I took a bit too long admiring my spiffy new spaceship on the platform, before ac?cidentally stepping off the edge and falling to my demise.

I made it all the way into space the next time, even ?landing on the moon to visit a local named Esker, but I got too caught up launching space probes at my campsite back home - while listening to Esker's whistling - that I didn't notice the sun exploding until the shockwave engulfed the planet.

Needless to say, I haven't been the most successful space explorer in Outer Wilds' history, but the beauty? of it is that I'll g?et there eventually, 20 minutes at a time. 

Outer Wilds (PC [Reviewed], PS4, Xbox One)
Developer: Mobius Digital
Publisher: Annapurna Interactive
Released: May 30, 2019 (PC via Epic Games Store), May 30, 2019 (Xbox One), October 15, 2019 (PS4)
MSRP: $24.99

Of course, It's not all about dying horribly, though one's repeated, often ignominious demise is a major means to an end in Outer Wilds. After all, how else does one deal with the sort of Groundhog Day-style time loop that entraps the game's setting?

As the only member of the Outer Wilds Ventures exploration cr?ew that remembers what happens across each loop, players must spend 20-odd minutes - the time between waking up to roast marshmallows before your first flight... and the sun exploding -  exploring the solar system as much as they can in search of answers and adventure.

And what a solar system it is. Unlike the algorithm-inflected environs of vast games like No Man's Sky and Elite Dangerous, Outer Wilds' solar system is bespoke and intimate in scale, its aesthetic sense informed by a cartoonish, almost childlike understanding of astronomy. Here, rounded edges, clunky charm, and evocative, archaeological mystery take precedence over sleek technology and photorealism. Heck, your trusty spaceship is made of wood. Its launch tower is flammable. 

In Outer Wilds, individual planets are tiny, not much bigger than the likes read in The Little Prince. Each location is unique and varies wildly, from the placid f??orests of your starting location at Timber Hearth, to the collapsing caverns of Brittle Hollow, to the storm-wracked, waterlogged Giant's Deep, to the Hourglass Twins, a pair of planetoids that constant?ly shift huge tracts of sand across their shared orbit. 

All these bodies (and more besides), move according to schedule, with various events and developments seeming inevitable on the course to the sun exploding. This schedule, and gaining a sense of it, is key to solving the game's many mysteries. By this time most of Brittle Hollow will have been imploded into the black hole at its center, meaning you have to explore and visit key areas before everything's swallowed up. On the other hand, the sand flow from one Hourglass Twin to the other won't expose these important ruins until this much time has passed, meaning you've got to wait for a bit before you can hunt down that last clue. I'm just scratching the surface of the events that occur in Outer Wilds' solar system. I'm wary of revealing much more, considering how much of the game's joy is in?? finding things out for yourself.

If this sounds a bit like a Deus Ex-style immersive sim, except wrought over the scale of a planetary system, you'd be pretty close. Outer Wilds' game world is wound like a tightly packed cuckoo clock, all interlocking components whirring endlessly on a 20-minute window of inevitability. The only loose elements, so to speak, are you, your trusty spaceship, and a few exploration tools. Tools ??such as a signal antenna, a portable spaceprobe launcher, and a translator gizmo to interpret the scrawls of the ancient aliens, whose ruins are scattered all over the system.

That said, Outer Wilds isn't a "role-playing game" by the commonly understood definition. There's no progression system, no perks to unlock, no side miss?ions to grind, no quest-giving NPCs. The only "XP" you earn is the "experience" of seeing through each loop, starting over with new hints as to how to proceed next time. A helpful ship's log does provide some support in the form of a spiderweb-like networ?k of related hints, as well as a telltale icon indicating when you haven't quite collected every possible clue in a given location. 

The journey may be a blast most of the time, but it's not without its bumps, of course. The log might be helpful, but as you close in on the last clues you need to solve a puzzle, or break into the toughest or most tightly-timed areas, frustration can set in. There are points where I really would've appreciated a more explicit (but optional) hint system, a button to press when I'm really ready to admit defeat, but not quite ready to ask someone to spoil it for me. Outer Wilds' use of semi-realistic physics in the spaceflight model could be challenging for some players with motion sickness, or even just those trying to get by with a keyboard and mouse rath??er than a gamepad. Quibbles like that don't damage the joy of exploring the universe they've created, though.

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.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: Outer Wilds appeared first on Destructoid.

Coming to PC and Xbox

Oh, the places you'll go and the secrets you'll discover. Mobius Digital's Outer Wilds seems heavy on both, and it'll all come?? to life sooner than we thou?ght.

Publisher Annapurna Interactive has revealed that Outer Wilds is launching sooner than anyone thought. It'll be available on May 30 for $25. It's a console exclusive on Xbox One, and it's a timed exclusive on PC to the Epic Games Store. Epic is running a decent pre-order discount for $15. Also, Outer Wilds wi??ll be a day one addition to Xbox Game Pass for anyone who wants to check it out there.

Outer Wilds is a tricky one to pin down without having played it. First and foremost, it's a space exploration ??game through a designed galaxy (no procedural generation here). But, it also has a time manipulation component, as the solar system is caught in an unending time loop. All of this together promises incredible discovery on alien planets. 

What secrets does Outer Wilds hold? Space is fake! Time is a construct! Or, stuff that's ?more creative than your average lunatic uncle's Facebook posts.

The post Surprise! Outer Wilds blasts off at the end of M?ay appeared first on Destructoid.

Explore, explode, explore again

My very last stop of another great year at PAX East was to check out Outer Wilds over at Annapurna's booth. I hadn't heard much about Outer Wilds since back in 2018, but a space exploration game scaled down from the massive undertakings of games like No Man's Sky is enough to get me interested. 

Unlike those massive procedurally generated space exploration titles, Outer Wilds takes place in a single solar system. There are a set number of planets each with their own secrets and unique look. The caveat, you're stuck in a bit of a time loop. The sun in your solar system explodes every twenty minutes, and while your more significant progress carries over with each reset, you'll need to hop back in your ship ??and set out from the start each time. 

The demo I played started with me heading off to grab some launch codes to get started? on my first big day as an astronaut. The people of your planet have some pretty modest backwoods dwellings for space?? explorers, even your ship is made out of wood, but it seems to hold up in deep space just fine. 

A brief interaction with a mysterious alien statue seems to be the reason for the time loop you find yourself stuck in, playing back your memories after each explosion and having you wake up back at the start, seemingly the only one who seems to remember your undoing. Uncovering the reason for and presumably breaking the ??time loop seems like it will serve as the driving force behind the game. There's plenty to explore though so one might hope finding a way to break the loop would result in a free exploration mode of some sort. 

The dialogue options provide some fu??n humor to lighten the somber exploration game. Casually asking your friends if they recall dying just a few minutes ago tends to get a confused reaction. I managed to explore a total of three different planets during my demo. One was mostly water and rocky outcroppings with large twisters ripping through the atmosphere. I nearly crashed my ship trying to land there. Another a series of mist filled caves and the third a rocky lava covered planet. I only spent a few minutes on each before inevitably getting myself killed, but they all felt unique and worth investigating further. 

Open world exploration games can often feel insurmountable, but Outer Wilds smaller scale and unique time loop gimmick make it one worth checking out when it launches? on PC and Xbox One later this year. 

The post Outer Wilds is No Man’s Sky meets Groundhog Day appeared first on Destructoid.

Several worlds, technically

When procedural generation became a big thing, there were a lot of high hopes about what it could mean for infinitely explorable spaces. Some games do it better than others, but a lot of the time a strange paradox occurs: with everything different in minute ways, everything starts to look the same. Sometimes the only difference is in the aest?hetics; this planet has a blue cave and that planet has a red cave. The procedural stuff ends up not mattering; you're just going to go spelunking in that? cave regardless.

So it seems like there has been a bit of a return to hand-crafted spaces in exploration games. Outer Wilds does space exploration on a much smaller scale than, say, No Man's Sky. But each of the ten or so worlds is unique, and each ??has its own stories to t?ell.

In contrast to some of the larger space exploration games, Outer Wilds takes place in a single solar system. It's got the star in the middle and several planets/planetoids/moons/whatever orbiting it. There are several p??otential goals at the outset, from researching an ancient species to just going somewhere nobody else has gone before.

While the main idea of Outer Wilds is exploration, the hook is its 20-minute time loop. A weird statue early in the game sets up the loop: any time the main character dies it goes back to the launch pad with every unlocked memory intact. After 20 minutes in a given run, the local star goes supernova and engulfs the system. Still, memories persist across runs, so you could get right back to a story thread you were investigating before the sun blew up. Just hop in the spaceship and fly back to the world?? you were on.

The different worlds are what drew me in. The first?? one I decided to explore (chosen essentially at random) appeared to be a fairly standard rocky world. I walked around a bit until I found a structure to investigate. Near the locked entrance was a note about a possible secondary entrance through tunnels near the equator. Jetpacking there revealed a huge chasm, basically hollowing out the planet. I was ready to find this other entrance and see what happened to the explorer who left that note. But then, boom. The sun exploded and engulfed me.

Upon returning to the beginning, I looked up toward the sky and noticed the big green gas giant spitting something out of it. What the heck is that? I forgot about the rocky planet and went to check out the gas giant's new satellite. My piloting skills aren't perfect, so I flew too close to the planet and fell into its opaque clouds. Underneath was a green ocean, a few islands, and a raging storm. I landed on one island and found some ancient artifacts, pointing to me other places to explore in the solar system. After poking around a bit I was sucked up into a ??tornado and flung out into space.

The last place I went to was a set of two tiny plane??ts close to the sun, connected by a rigid bridge between them. My plan was to land on one, then traverse the bridge to the other. It was a good plan. But then, boom. The sun exploded and engulfed me, and this time I was right next to it so I had even less warning.

I only saw a few of the worlds in Outer Wilds, but each one had its own trials to go through. Some wer??e more dangerous than others, but they all felt special. That's what hand-designed spaces can do.

I was offered a third run through for an hour of total play, and I was tempted to take it. (Damn the other obligations I had.) While it's a feat to create a game with millions and billions of places to explore, I put more value in this game's philosophy: there are only a dozen or so worlds, but I desperately want to explore them all.

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Releasing this year under Annapurna Interactive

It's been long enough since we last spoke about Outer Wilds that this might as well be our first time covering it. The space-simulation adventure game made waves a few years ago, earning the grand prize at the 2015 Independent Games Festival and launching the first Fig crowdfunding campaign.

Now, it's back. Outer Wilds has resurfaced under the Annapurna Interactive banner an??d it's going to release on PC later this year with "additional platforms" to follow. This new trailer looks wonderful.

Outer Wilds takes place in "a solar system trapped in an endless time loop," something you can get a hint of at the end of the video as the protagonist wakes up near a campfir??e a second time. You'll explore planets, moons, and alien structures, solving puzzles and roasting marshmallows?? along the way.

I'm really digging the portfolio Annapurna is putting together??. This seems like another special one.

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Kickstarter? I hardly even know her!

Former Double Fine COO has just launched Fig, a curated, games-only alternative to sites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo. It's only for games ?and only for games approved by the advisory board, which consists of the like of Double Fine's Tim Schafer,?? inXile's Brian Fargo, and Obsidian's Feargus Urquhart. All successful crowdfunders themselves.

While Fig lets folks back for rewards, like Kickstarter, it also allows for investment crowdfunding, allowing for investors to receive a share of the project's revenu??e (though F??ig keeps distribution rights and the original developer its IP rights).

"Look at what happened to Oculus," Bailey told Wired. "It was sold to Facebook for 2 billion dollars, and the people who were involved, the superfans who were?? getting behind Oculus to make that possible, they didn’t see any of that. It would seem like they ??should, since they had a pivotal role in that coming about."

Fans with wads of cash and risky tendencies can't make bank yet, but it will be an option in the future, according to statement released by Fig " Investment crowdfunding is currently limited to accredited investors only, but pursuant to a recent regulatory development, Fig plans to open up investment opportunities to everyone ?in the near future." It's an interesting alternative method to get games funded, but I kind of wish Bailey did a Kickstarter for?? Fig.

The first genital-covering Fig Leaf is Outer Wilds, 2015's Independent Games Festival's grand prize winner: "Equal parts astrophysics simulation, narrative adventure, and backpacking in space, Outer Wilds is Majora’s Mask meets Apollo 13."? It currentl?y has received $51,000 of its $125,000 goal, with $34,000 committed through investment.

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