What is the meaning of life? Are we alone in the universe? How do you know if the refrigerator light will turn off after you close the door? It is questions like these that have encouraged humanity to explore the planet, the cosmos and ourselves. And the kitchen. This overwhelming drive of curiosity and addictive thrill of discovery is what Outer Wilds captures so well, allowing this indie game to put big name space exploration titles to shame.
Mobius Digital’s enchanting space adventure Outer Wilds first arrived on PC and Xbox in 2019 to serious critical acclaim. Having received accolades across the internet and a BAFTA Award for Best Game, it’s no surprise that it topped our Game of the Year list. Switch gamers hoping for a port have been waiting a long time, but it’s mostly good news: the indie masterpiece has retained its magic in the jump to Nintendo’s portable – albeit with a few technical hiccups. The Echoes of the Eye DLC also found its way as part Edition of the archaeologistalthough we did receive the base game for review.
Taking place in a miniature solar system trapped in a time loop, the game aims to deliver a captivating story alongside its awe-inspiring celestial vistas. Starting on a small forested planet with a quaint village community, you play as a new astronaut embarking on his first space flight – all over again. Armed with a spaceship and a jetpack, dive into the secrets of the universe, uncovering a deep story that will challenge your emotions as much as your intellect.
As a story-driven first-person game, there are elements of a walking simulation about Outer Wilds. However, there are many moments of serious danger and different ways to die, triggering the time loop again and again. On top of that, ‘walking’ greatly understates the fun of your character’s movement. Both the ship and the jetpack are controlled with the left stick, turning with the right and using the ‘ZL’ and ‘ZR’ keys for vertical movement. Throw in L to change your rotation and you’ve got a handful, but it adds a fluidity to the hovering motion that makes docking with a mysterious spacecraft and racing across rugged landscapes exhilarating.
This movement is the foundation of some exquisitely distilled exploration and mystery play. Starting with that planet full of trees, the game doesn’t give anything away: first you have to find out what you need to find out. By exploring your surroundings in the night sky, you can seamlessly go from earth to the stars and back to another world. Despite the sometimes overwhelming sense of grandeur – delivered with economical art direction, rich soundscapes and an overall carefree feel – all the planets can be spun around in a minute or two, like a pocket-sized set of No Man’s Sky games. The space physics are fun and believable, letting you fly around with enough control to know what you’re doing and enough chaos to make the ride crazy. And it’s got to be the best realization of different gravity forces we’ve experienced in a game, with large planets pulling your ship down to you from space and limiting your jumps once you’re there.
If you like to discover secrets in games, you will be glad to know that Outer Wilds is basically 100% secret. Compared to other time loop stories, this one deals with gaining knowledge. You use the loop to hone your skills like Tom Cruise Edge of tomorrow (Live Die Repeat), but they are not represented in the game’s skill tree: you just get better as a player. Also study new skills, like Bill Murray’s ice shaping Groundhog day
This complete dependence on learning means that the game can be quite inscrutable. Sure, getting started can be stressful, and a little more hand-holding could go a long way. But once you’re in, you’re in, and the purity of the discovery-for-yourself approach is what makes the game the wonder it is. Meanwhile, a side effect of the wide open world design is that you can pick up story clues at any time. This means that we encountered some things that seemed like utter gibberish until we learned the context for them – at which point we forgot what they said or where we read them. A ship’s log that survives the time loop does help in that regard, and it’s another small price to pay for the core approach real openness.
And so we come to the burning question for the Switch edition: performance. The most important thing to say is that we loved playing the game. However, if you’re looking for a smooth gaming experience, you won’t find it on the Switch, unfortunately. The game regularly renders below 30 frames per second, with plenty of inconsistencies and dropped frames. We also experienced audio stuttering and one crash.
Fortunately, the unwieldy nature of the physics and controls – and the not-too-serious consequences of hitting rocks – somehow allowed the game to get away with its lackluster responsiveness for the most part. Similarly, while there are some jagged lines and smudged textures – particularly handheld gameplay – the art direction is fairly lenient towards graphical enhancements.
If you’re accessing the game on a different platform, or if inconsistent frames per second is a personal gripe, you’ll want to lower the score below. The bottom line is that, despite some thrilling action moments, the driving force behind Outer Wilds is the gradual unfolding of its story – something stuttering and muddy textures can’t spoil.
Conclusion
If you can overlook the technical challenges – and we could – Outer Wilds remains a wondrous experience on Switch. With almost no passages and a free hand to explore a rich corner of the universe, it captures the quest for learning in the most direct way possible: the only reward for progress is knowledge. Starting with no information at all, you’ll understand the intricacies of this tiny solar system better than its inhabitants. Soaring through such an epic, introspective and existentially curious adventure, we probably understood ourselves a little better.