So I Tried… Outer Wilds

Each edition of So I Tried… I will try a game that I have never tried before. Will I find something new to love? Will I find something new to despise? I'll take a full half hour, no matter how bad it gets or how badly I do, to see if this is the game for me. This time I went for the Xbox One version of Outer Wilds.

What I thought it was

I’m not really sure what to expect with Outer Wilds because I’m not really sure what kind of game it is. From the trailers, it looks like a more story-driven No Man’s Sky with a fully realized solar system instead of a procedurally generated one, which could be awesome because I think the lack of a great story was a huge reason No Man’s Sky didn’t work for me. I am equally fascinated and terrified of space, but I love playing videogames about it so if the story is great and the gameplay can back it up, Outer Wilds could be something I think I’ll truly enjoy.

What it actually is

Outer Wilds is essentially what I thought it was, a more story-driven No Man’s Sky, but it seems much more interesting. You start the game off by finding the launch codes for your spaceship from one of the many residents you can talk to on your home planet. They set up this feeling that you’re about to embark on a great journey and once you find the launch codes and take off into space you immediately feel that as well. Flying around space is difficult for the first time, but I feel the more I fiddle around with it the better I’ll get. The amount of world building from the very beginning is awesome and makes you want to know more about this wor -- solar system. Viewing the map for the first time and seeing all the different planets orbit around the sun in real-time was very cool as well.

Will I keep playing

I will definitely keep playing Outer Wilds because I love space and the mystery of it and this game seems to offer both in its own unique way. Similar to No Man’s Sky, it feels like an open-galaxy game with an entire solar system to explore, which is crazy to think about, but Outer Wilds has stories and mysteries that I want to go out and discover, something that was missing from No Man’s Sky. I hope I enjoy this game as much as almost everyone I’ve seen talk about it, but if it offers up some awesome story moments and keeps me engaged throughout, I think I’m going to love this game.