Outer Wilds review

So it goes, human minds are all about storytelling. Whether it be stories we make up for ourselves, how we judge others - our perception, our memories, are all remembered and expressed through stories. Since the dawn of homo sapiens, we have shared our stories with others, in the form of oral tradition, cave paintings, and most revolutionary of the artforms - literature.

However, through the millennia, fiction literature has been rather stagnant. Someone (the authors) have imagined some human beings do something rather stupid, which creates the drama. Or, in some cases, something rather stupid ends up rather more funny than tragic, ending up a comedy. When motion pictures were invented, the first few films promised something new, something different. But alas, movies fell into the same trap. Actors pretending to be other human beings, going through the same motions. Plop a camera in front of it, and voila!

And then came something out of our dreams, an interactive medium, where you not only get to see temporal audiovisuals, but you get to be part of the world. And what happened? Oh, yeah, the same old shit - some human beings, do something stupid, and some other human beings have to clean up there mess.

Needless to say, this is by and large not all popular entertainment, but traditional fiction is the dominant popular form that has captivated the global audience.

I know what you're thinking - wasn't this supposed to be a review of some game? Why all this pointless rambling? Because Outer Wilds is one of those rare pieces of art that reorients and reminds us that audiovisual can be more - far more - than just another bit of story.

It's not the first game to attempt this form of narrative, which is much more storydiscovery than storytelling. Last year's brilliant Subnautica and Return of the Obra Dinn also created worlds which told their own stories, which the player must discover through exploration.

I'm not going to bother telling you what Outer Wilds is about, because plenty of reviews have captured that. I will, however, tell you how I felt playing the game.

Outer Wilds' first goal is to immerse you in the world. There's no combat, no violence - you are stuck in a beautifully whimsical fictional mini solar system. Every celestial body has its own tricks, its own charms. All the game does is to prod you in the right direction - the rest is completely up to you. This freedom can be refreshing, but at the same time, tense and anxiety-inducing.

Through exploration, you discover what happened in the solar system, and what will happen. You aren't told what the story is, you discover it as you would in real life. There are countless moments of epiphany when you discover something new and unexpected. Of course, the discovery wouldn't be quite as rewarding was the story itself lacklustre, but this is a wondrously captivating bit of narrative.

Outer Wilds has fairly minimalistic gameplay mechanics, and you have access to all of them from the very beginning. But once again, it's not about throwing new mechanics at you, but discovering new ways to use the same gameplay mechanics that are simply more rewarding than the traditional approach. Turns out knowledge is the greatest gameplay mechanic!

But above and beyond, Outer Wilds is a special experience because of the sense of awe and wonder it invokes in you. It leverages the characteristics of the interactive medium to evoke feelings and thoughts that are simply not possible in non-interactive media such as literature on motion pictures.

Outer Wilds is one for the ages, one of the finest games of the generation, and one of the finest pieces of science-fiction since 2001: A Space Odyssey. Essential for anyone that enjoys exploration-oriented games.

PS: Now that I'm no longer an active witness or stakeholder, I'm trying to contribute to Steem with the occasional content creation. Unfortunately, it's rather difficult given how morally and ethically repugnant I consider stake-weighted voting, but I hope to make a blog post every couple of months or so. I'm rooting for Steem, and hope one day it'll be freed of its fascist shackles and become a social network. Btw, since I'm a minnow again, how does one get curated? :)