Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye (2021)

I loved the base game, and while the DLC hits many of the same highs for me, and does something pretty unique with its second half, I was a little bothered by how Little the Ship plays into the DLC, and how most cycles have the exact same starting 3-5 minute loop once you find out the main gimmick for the DLC. In addition, Save for one major puzzle that is admittedly quite cool involving the flooding, the time loop is more of a hinderance than a puzzle to learn to time your exploration carefully. Its just a continuous countdown on my attempts until I have to replay the same intro sequence again. This works opposite to the base game which has many directions and many moving components that operate off the timer mechanic, a reset cycle means trying something new.

It was still a really fun experience and gave me lots of great puzzles, but I don't think it used every aspect and mechanic of the game as well as its base game did, creating a disconnect between the loop and play expectations of the base game vs the DLC. I'll write a full review of it... one day.

One big thing missing from this game are close captions. While most audio effects are purely aesthetic, in Echos of the Eye I noticed two puzzles (one minor and one mayor) that require being able to hear.

First, when you remove the lanterns from the secret doors, you hear the moving of the door to indicate that something happened. This is minor, as you can notice the difference without hearing, but hearing the sound makes it much easier and clear.

Second, the whole alarm bells puzzle relies heavily on hearing. Without sound it's hard to realise that what's waking you up is the sound of the bells. And then, when you kill yourself to enter the dream, the only indication that the alarm bells will not wake you up is the lack of sound which, again, you might not get if you don't hear.

I looked through the menus and didn't see any option to enable close captioning. It should be added in an update to make the game more accessible.

Something I've come to appreciate about Outer Wilds is that this game has basically no secrets. It has mysteries, of course, but no secret. There are no hidden items sequestered in some dark corner of the map. (It's got a couple of Easter-eggs, but they are few and they don't add anything to the game, they are just winks, jokes and a list of kickstarter backers.)

Some games have the mildly annoying habit of rewarding the player when they stray from the more direct and obvious path. It's super common for 2D platforms to have secret items if you go left instead of the obvious right. While this can work to make the player explore and hunt for secrets, it also puts the player in the mindset of not trusting the developers. Signposting that would usually shout at the player "THIS WAY" are instead indications of where NOT to go.

But Outer Wilds is smart to train the player to trust the devs. They want you to see the good stuff. Areas with mysteries are big and shiny and areas of empty space are also clearly labelled as such and by not hiding secret stuff there, the player learns not to waste their time looking for clues where there are none.

I really think this game is an absolute masterpiece. One of the best games of the decade.

Ah, yes. I was wondering what was all that "reduces frights" thing. I'm now on the "spooky" part of the game and I have to say that it does not work at all. It's kind of anathema to the spirit of the game, but also it breaks down horribly with the rougelike aspect.

Scary monsters can be fun, but when you have to play the same section many times and you already know where the spooks are going to be, it stops being frightning and starts being annoyoing.