I don't say this lightly - this is the best game I've ever played. I want to elaborate more but, if you have not played the game and you're reading this, please stop reading and play this game. The game is so much more enjoyable if you play it knowing nothing about it whatsoever and that is the way the developers intended as there is no intro or backstory to the game. Instead, you start the game, have a minor introduction to the controls scheme, and then you're on your own. The less you know going in, the better the experience. This is how I experienced this game and now, months after finishing it, I still think about it wishing I could go back and repeat the experience.

You wake up on a planet, nothing is explained, you don't know who you are, you don't know where you are, and you don't know what you're doing. All that is explained is your new city and a group of space explorers who inhabit it. Of which you're a part of. From there - you explore. The world is calm, peaceful, quiet, and despite being now-uninhabited, strangely feels full of life. The writing and pacing of the game is incredible. Not to mention how well the physics system works in the game. The game does not hold your hand but it also doesn't punish you for tiny mistakes. That's not the point; the point is to just get out there, experiment, discover, learn. You're almost a historian of sorts, albeit an intergalactic one in a galaxy full of shifting elements and perils. But, despite these perils, not once did the worlds seem horrifying but instead they felt very calming to explore. The audio also was ingenious at enhancing the environments. But it's more than that. This game, without a linear path, without giving the player any boundaries whatsoever, and without a clear-cut "go do x then y" system, gives you a solar system, a space suit, and a rocket ship. Without telling you what to do, this universe is yours to do with as you will. And yet, with all of this, there is a line of investigation, perhaps even a story, that you can follow if you wish. I found myself unable to stop investigating and, before I had time to realize, I reached the end of that investigation. Completing this game evoked so much emotion that I didn't realize how much I loved the story telling style and environment until it was time to part ways. With that, I will finish this with a grand statement yet one I believe to be true: Outer Wilds is a beautiful masterpiece that is at the pinnacle of what gaming is and should be.

This is a truly unique gaming experience; I envy you if you are starting it blind for the first time because it's that defining an experience. Godspeed, astronaut.