![]() ![]() The communiques are incredibly charming: they are uniquely designed in that a Nomai will begin writing a statement or a question in a sweeping arc across a wall. The previous inhabitants of the solar system - the Nomai - mysteriously vanished millions, possibly billions of years ago, but their secrets remain in the form of ruins and communiques. The way that story is told is original too. It never constrains the player - as the game progresses and you discover more about the solar system, there surface some very tangible and clear things which need to be done and places you need to go to puzzle everything out, but how you get there is essentially up to you. But how many of those games aren't sandbox builders? How many have a cohesive narrative and an engaging story to tell? Very few, I'd wager, which is what makes Outer Wilds special. Of course, plenty of games start you off with little to no introduction and just let you start messing around. Or if you want a really gentle introduction, there are some ruins on the moon of our own planet which need to be translated - why not start with that? One of the other travellers went to a planet called Giant's Deep, you could go chat to him. A comet has just appeared in the solar system - you could go there. Speaking to people in the village, you'll be given all sorts of well wishes and anecdotal advice about your first trip into space, but if you ask them where you should go they won't give you a clear answer. They don't really have a goal or a guiding light, so neither do you. Yes, the inhabitants of the rickety-looking wooden huts who build observation platforms into trees seem to collectively love the idea of assembling spaceships and sending people out in them to explore what lies beyond the atmosphere. You are a member of an alien race, living in a primitive alien village, which seems to revolve around one thing: their space programme. Setting you off into the world for the first time is just one way the game shows this off. Perhaps it's much easier for me to frame this discussion around the award's previous name: Originality, which Outer Wilds has in spades. That's all well and good, but I'll be talking about Best Game later. Perhaps the best way to express my love for each facet of this gem of a game is to address each of its nominations and pick apart why it deserves to win.Īlthough the BAFTAs public facing pages lack a clear definition for the award, Original Property seems to be reserved for outstanding new IP: the best game that's completely fresh on the scene (I asked the chair of the Scottish BAFTA Video Game committee to confirm this and he said, "Yeah, I believe so!"). ![]() It makes you feel like a real explorer like, as Ian Higton so aptly put it, you are the first person ever to discover the things you're discovering.īefore gushing further into an unstructured mush, listing off all the things I love about Outer Wilds and what it represents, I'd like to rein it in. In a game where you are encouraged to just go out into the solar system and see what you can find, it is so incredibly important that the world feels real. Every inch of the world and the way the game plays feels hand-crafted with love and included for a reason. The same accusation could never be fairly leveled at Outer Wilds. Despite the prestige behind this project, it felt curiously sterile and blank. Clearly a lot of thought had gone into the lore and the story behind each settlement, but rarely could it be felt in the atmosphere. There were some nicely developed characters and the gameplay was fun, but (conjecture ahead) it lacked a lot. ![]() By all accounts the game should have been a masterpiece. The Outer Worlds was a highly anticipated release, being put together by people behind some incredibly well-regarded games, like Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords and Fallout: New Vegas. I'm going to talk about Outer Wilds soon, I promise, but I feel the need to get some thoughts about The Outer Worlds off my chest. Frankly, The Outer Worlds - which only received one nomination, for narrative - can't hold a candle to Outer Wilds. Despite appearances, these games are incredibly different. Outer Wilds is a space exploration first-person action adventure puzzle game developed by Mobius Digital in 2019. ![]() The Outer Worlds is a space exploration first-person shooter role-playing game developed by Obsidian Entertainment in 2019. Let's dispel the association with The Outer Worlds very quickly. Outer Wilds has five BAFTA Video Game nominations this year - original property, game design, narrative, music and best game - which are all incredibly well deserved. ![]()
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