The 3 Rule Types of Outer Wilds

Outer Wilds is a sandbox puzzle game where the player controls an astronaut who finds themselves stuck in a time-loop which always ends with the sun going supernova and destroying the solar system.

Whenever the player character reaches the end of a loop – or dies before the sun explodes – they restart back on their homeworld, next to their spaceship. The spaceship acts as the astronaut’s main form of travel between planets.

The main goal of Outer Wilds is to unravel the mystery of time-loop and the sun’s supernova by exploring the solar system for clues left behind by a long-dead civilisation.

 

Structural Rules

Each time-loop lasts 22 minutes. There is no conventual countdown timer to let the player know, but a player may deduce this time limit by simply measuring it in real life.

For narrative reasons, the time-loop and sun’s supernova cycle do not begin until the player encounters a strange alien artefact. After this point, it is up to the player on how they use the 22-minute loops.

 

Operational Rules

The player character has basic on-foot movement and the ability to jump. The player can equip a spacesuit that allows them to breathe in space or underwater for as long as their oxygen is maintained. The spacesuit also has a jetpack that lets players scale high barriers, though it requires fuel to do so and if the fuel tank is emptied, the jetpack will switch to using the spacesuit’s oxygen supply. The effectiveness of the jetpack is dependent on the gravity of the planet the player is currently on.

They player’s equipment consists of a scout launcher, signalscope, and translation tool. The scout launcher can shoot a single probe which acts as a camera, light source, and location marker. This probe can be recalled from any distance. The signalscope can be used to locate the source of certain audio frequencies. The translation tool deciphers written text of an alien language.

The player’s spaceship can be damaged, but also this damage can be repaired. If the ship can also be destroyed if it sustains a lot of damage, leaving the player without the spaceship until the time-loop restarts.

Certain items can be interacted with by the player, including being picked up and carried. However, any physical items picked-up by the player will not be in their procession when the time-loop restarts.

The player character’s spaceship maintains a log of information the player has discovered. This is log carries over across each time-loop.

 

The player's spaceship

Implicit Rules

Player is expected to investigate the planets for clue on how to solve the mystery and not to look at external sources, such as the internet, for information on how to progress the story.

If a player knows the information necessary to complete, they can potentially finish the game in under a hour.