2026-01-02 4h 2m First Time
Does a great job capturing the exploration aspects of Outer Wilds. It explains very little and sets you loose to understand the rules of the world. It expertly uses color theory as a base for most of its puzzles, slowly expanding what you can do an how you approach the world as you encounter new mechanics. Its stark, low-poly environment was a fun playground to explore and its concentric boxes are a wonderfully unique and alien setting.
It's tough to know if/when you're making progress at first. But there are little glowing dudes that give you pointers as you find them, which adds a light structure to the game. Navigating can be a little annoying, since you can lock yourself out of certain paths. The game encourages you to reset the world early and often, so you're never too suck, but it lead to a little more repetition than I wanted once I knew how to solve a puzzle. I ended up using a hint guide pretty aggressively, since I wanted to see the whole game but got a little impatient with some of the later puzzles.
Great time overall though, and a great soundtrack!