Outer Wilds
Outer Wilds is one of the best games I have ever played. It's also incerdibly hard to talk about, for a few reasons:
- A lot of the best moments of the game come from connecting a few seemingly-unrelated pieces of information, or trying something that seems like it can't possibly work but is actually a working solution.
- The player progresses in the game by learning new information, so spoilers and hints have a de facto effect on the player's progression.
- A lot of thought was given by the developers to how, where, and when the player learns certain pieces of information, so spoilers can have an outsized impact on others' enjoyment of the game.
I highly reccommend the game to anyone interested in games about curious exploration. You can find it on Steam here.
Hints
There are a few places on the internet you can find hints or full walkthroughs of the game if you're stuck. I think a lot of them are perfectly fine, but give a bit more away than is necessary. I think the best hints are subtle, remind you of things you already know, or nudge you in a better direction. So I made my own list for friends playing the game for the first time.
If you are using this guide, do not scroll down until you have died on your own. You'll regret some of these spoilers!
So you've died.
Keep playing! Go explore! Ask questions!
If you died and the credits started rolling, you did it wrong. Go talk to Hornfels at the observatory to get the launch codes.
Scroll down once you've died again.
So you've died a second time.
Cool! Hope you're enjoying it so far. You've probably encountered most of the basic systems.
Some general advice
There are no upgrades. Any situation you encounter is solvable with the equipment you have at the start of the game. The only thing you gain over time is knowledge.
Don't look anything up! If you can't figure out how to do something, go explore elsewhere for a while. You'll probably learn something that can help in an unexpected location.
If you see something weird, go check it out. The designers made sure that it a place looks interesting, it will have something interesting to find. Open, barren areas won't have anything to find, so you can just fly over those until you see something that sticks out.
Each planet is dynamic and changes over time. If you can't get somewhere or do something, try coming back at a different time.
There are puzzles, but this isn't a puzzle game. If there's a puzzle, it's to help you learn a concept. There are places where you have to be nimble with your jetpack, but if it seems extremely difficult to get somewhere there's probably an easier way.
You won’t know exactly “what you ultimately need to do” until near the end of your time with the game. If there's something you want to do, try it!
The planets are tiny because it's cute, there is no deeper reason.
A few tips
The autopilot is does not take into account any other planets, or the sun! Watch out when you hit the autopilot and make sure you won’t fling yourself into the orbit of another planet.
You can put a waypoint marker on unlocked locations using the ship computer's log (the "Mark Location on HUD" function). A little marker that works just like your scout's or ship's tracker will point the way and display the distance.
Make sure to register new signals on the signalscope by getting close to the source. You will be able to scan for new signals on the same frequency, and it will auto identify signals you have seen and distinguish new ones that you haven't encountered.
Your handheld scout launcher has a photo mode that works like a hand camera. You don't have to launch your scout to photograph. That's very useful when you want to take lots of photos very quickly while moving.
When you wear your space suit on a celestial body, a globe appears on the screen's left side. The red marker is the north pole and the blue one is the south pole.
I'm stuck, give me something to do.
Fine, if you've really looked around and can't figure out what to do next, here's a few suggestions.
- Find all of the things your signalscope tracks! Over time you’ll find new frequencies, you can use them to find:
- The other astronauts - go ask them questions!
- Nomai distress beacons - go find out what happened to them!
- Some weird rocks - go touch them all!
- There's an explosion in the orbit of a distant planet you can see as you wake up. Go see what's up with that!
- What's up with that weird moon? There's three things you need to learn to figure this one out, and they all have to do with those weird moving rocks.
- If you have the expansion, there's a shack on Timber Hearth that receives images from a deep space satellite. Go see what's up with that!
- There's a red button on your ship’s dashboard. Push it!
I’m stuck on a particular problem, give me a hint
Did you go do something else for a while? You might find the information you need in an unlikely place. Or maybe you might just have to come back at a different time.
Sun Station
How do I get there?
While you can technically fly there, I wouldn't recommend it. The landing pad is broken and you will probably just fall into the sun. There is another way that the Nomai made to get there much easier. Go check out the towers on Ash Twin.
Hourglass Twins
There’s more to explore at Chert’s Camp?
Chert is studying the stars and recording his observations. Try coming back later in the loop.
How do I get into the Lakebed Cave?
Be quick! It’s near the core of Ember twin and fills with sand quickly.
How do I get past the cacti?
The sand on the Ember and Ash Twins moves over time, try coming back when the sand is at just the right level.
- Falling sand will always push you down harder than your jetpack can fly, do don’t try flying through.
- If there are cacti on the floor and on the ceiling, you will either have to be very precise with your jetpack or wait for the sand to be just right.
- If you’re near a quantum thing, the cacti may behave strangely. Quantum things tend to move when you’re not looking.
How do I get to the core of Ash Twin?
The core of the planet is sealed, so you can’t walk in. You can use one of the teleportation towers, but you will need to find out which one and when to step on it. The Black Hole Forge on Brittle Hollow will have more information.
Timber Hearth
How do I get past the exploding frogs?
This was a test, there are no exploding frogs. Don’t peek at spoilers!
Brittle Hollow
How do I get into the Black Hole Forge?
It's a two-step process, unfortunately you can't just jump to it. First you have to find the controls to move it, then get to the entrance. That symbol on the ceiling may help you figure out how.
How do I get into the Tower of Quantum Knowledge?
You can measure the surface integrity of the plates around Brittle Hollow with your little scout. What happens when it reaches 0%?
How do I land on Hollow’s Lantern?
Like the Ash Twin, the level of the lava falls over time. Try coming back later in the loop.
How do I operate the Nomai shuttle?
The controls are, left to right, activate the gravity cannon, warp home to the cannon, and cancel all velocity (relative to the Sun). That last one will pull you towards the astral body whose gravity the shuttle feels most strongly, which will usually be the sun if you're not close to something else.
Giant’s Deep
How do I get to the core?
I hear someone else got to the core, they might be able to give you some advice. They left a recording on one of the islands saying where they were going next.
Dark Bramble
AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Yeah, I know.
BUT THEY KEEP EATING ME
There’s an anglerfish corpse on another planet that the Nomai studied. They learned something very useful that you might want to know.
How do I find [thing]?
Anything you need to find in the bramble will have a way of locating it, you’ll never have to guess.
- There are bramble seeds on other planets, if you shoot your scout through them you can track it through the bramble to find where it popped out.
- Some things in the bramble will show up on your signalscope if you’ve discovered the right frequency.
- Once you’ve discovered something in Dark Bramble, you can mark it from the ship’s computer and follow the marker to its location.
The Interloper
How do I get inside?
Comets can melt and freeze quite quickly as they pass around the sun. Try to figure out what part of the comet would get the most direct heat and thus melt the most.
Quantum Moon
How do I land without it disappearing?
You should go check out the quantum signal on Giant’s Deep.
What do I do after I’ve landed?
You’ll need to make a pilgrimage to the north pole of the moon. Different portions of the moon are only accessible when it’s orbiting different planets, so you will need to make the moon orbit different planets to keep moving further north. Go check out the quantum signal on Ember Twin for more information.
The Stranger
How do I get there?
First, you can only see the Stranger if you have the Echoes of the Eye expansion. If you do, go check out the radio tower on Timber Hearth. The deep space satellite saw something weird at a specific point in its orbit.
General Notes
Things generalize! If something weird happens, try to figure out what caused it. Try doing that in different places or at different times. Never expect something can only happen in one place!
Light is very important. Blowing out a single candle can sometimes do huge things.
Happy exploring!