Outer Wilds is my favorite game of all time, and it hasn't even been released yet.
Back a few years ago, a small group of college students put together a tiny demo of a game for a school project. It was an ambitious, but incredible project that resonated with the hearts of people everywhere. This year, the leader (or only member?) of that team joined a real software development company, and his first project as part of that team is to turn this little project into a fully featured game.
If I were to say what makes this game so great, it is that it is the first game I have ever seen that takes the dream, fantasy, and wonder of space flight, as seen through the lens of science fiction, and distills it into an immensely fun and playable experience.
The game is essentially a game of exploration and discovery. A wide and wonderful solar system lay before you, and you can explore it at your whim. After a brief introduction to the world you're joining, and to how to maneuver and navigate in this environment, you are thrown to the winds of space in your very own space ship. You travel to and from distant planets throughout your solar system, discovering what is happening and unveiling a deep and fundamental mystery as you go.
This isn't a game of getting achievements, or racking up points. There's no laser guns or beam weapons. What danger there is is found predominantly in the environment itself. Don't land too hard or you'll damage your ship or break your leg. Don't turn on autopilot so that it takes you through the sun. There's no inventory. No complex events. Nothing you'd normally see in a game. Just you and an environment to explore, and what an environment it is.
Flying in this game is magical. It is effortless and free, unbound by the realities of space. A fantastic rendition of travel through the stars that manages to hold to just enough reality to fulfill your imagination of what space might be like without making things hard, like you might find in Kerbal Space Program. This is the Neverending Story of space flight, riding your luck dragon through the cosmos, feeling the wind in your hair in an entirely unrealistic, and yet delightful experience. One of my favorite things to do is to get out of my ship and just coast along, watching the planets go by.
The version that has been resleased so far is unfinished. Seeking answers to some of the mysteries present in the game simply wind up at a dead end. A void where *something* should be. A space that feels like it should be more meaningful than it winds up being. They are looking for funding to help finish the game and release it for all to enjoy, with all of these gaps and dead ends filled in. The world we have explored so far will be completed, and the story will go on without leaving us hungry and wanting for more as it has in the past.
I strongly recommend you check out the alpha, freely available online, and if you like it, go to the link above and give them $20 or so. The world will be a better place for it. :)
Oh, and here's their AWESOME pitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL5bEI5siwE
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