2019’s best game for new experiences: Outer Wilds

Outer Wilds delivered one of the freshest gaming experiences of 2019. It’s about a solar system-spanning mystery, and you don’t unravel it through combat or increasing your character’s abilities. Instead, you work through the challenge by learning for yourself how its universe works.

The pitch for Outer Wilds is that it’s like Groundhog’s Day in space. Its clockwork solar system runs on a 22-minute loop. And when you reach the end of that, the star goes supernova, and you reawaken back at the start of the loop.You can then jump back in your rickety-yet-reliable spacecraft and blast off to try again. Only, what is it exactly that you are supposed to do in Outer Wilds? The game doesn’t give the player any explicit goals. It focuses instead on giving you a series of intriguing threads to pull on. And that leads to a series of astonishing and unforgettable moments.