OUTER WILDS

Developer Mobius Digital Publisher Annapurna Interactive Format PC, PS4, Xbox One

Since time immemorial, humankind has been in awe of space. We’ve gazed up at it, charted it, painted it, written about it, launched astronauts into it and made countless games about it. It is the ultimate unknown, and yet Mobius Digital’s version is surely one of the truest representations of space – and what it inspires in us – ever made.

Quite the feat, given that Outer Wilds’ solar system is entirely fictional. Each planet has its own unique physics to puzzle out: the mantle around one is falling into a black hole at its centre; a pillar of sand falls between two others, each sphere’s architecture uncovered as sand drains to the next; another is composed of strange portals, fog and giant anglerfish. It’s cosmic horror dialled up to mythic proportions, and is terrifying to navigate. Oh, and the sun keeps exploding every 22 minutes in realtime.

Discovering why takes you on an unforgettable interstellar treasure hunt, as the knowledge you accumulate – both of your kit, and the worlds around you – becomes your greatest asset. You come to know the Nomai, a lost species obsessed with understanding the machinations of this broken solar system, whose charming writings offer clues to secret passageways or enemies’ weaknesses. Alongside careful observation of the brilliantly designed forces of nature that govern the planets (special mention must go to the quantum moon), and the help of friends past and present, you eventually understand how you can fix things.

And, more importantly, why. Outer Wilds resonates because it makes the unknowable knowable. It frames space in a way that feels intimate; it’s a story of life, loss, and our place in the universe. It’s a game that reconnects us with the miracle we all exist within, and that exists within us – a sublime reminder that we are in awe of the very stardust from which we all come.