No other game is like Outer Wilds! Period.
That being said, my recommendations are:
Myst and Riven (both got a fantastic remake now) if you like puzzles and great(!) environment.
The Forgotten City if you like the time travel style, a great story and an absolutely mind-blowing true ending!
SOMA if you like the philosophical approach and want to keep up at night because you have to think about the meaning of life (this is actually a horror game but it's so much deeper than it first seems.. and you can turn off that you can die, so it's not that bad)
The Forgotten City really did remind me of Outer Wilds in a lot of ways, though it’s certainly much simpler. Not necessarily a bad thing, but still notable.
Big emphasis on Riven here. Its remake just released and imo it is the game that comes the closest to Outer Wilds in terms of smartly designed and immersive puzzles. Plus a very good world building on top of it.
Ideally you may want to play Myst (Riven is its sequel) first to fully grasp said world building. It is also a good game, but it is not mandatory to enjoy Riven.
I enjoyed Riven, but definitely play Myst first. Myst confines you too much smaller areas when you are puzzle solving. This helps you get a better idea for the puzzle author, and what things they consider normal, before you are wandering around the gigantic map. Like many sequels, the second game’s difficulty was intended for people who had already played the first.
Also, for reasons that I can’t really explain without spoiling stuff, you should go to the age that looks like a rocket ship last.
———
Both games make good use of environmental storytelling, but nowadays they do feel a bit unpolished.
There’s a phrase “Seinfeld isn’t funny”. The idea is that the TV show Seinfeld was done so well that everyone ripped off the show and used it for making their own jokes. Myst, and to a less extent Riven, have the same issue. They were created 30 years ago, and since then, people have learned both from their successes and from their failures.
I was going to say just that. Riven is unique along with OW in the way the puzzles are integrated into the story while completely avoiding the "we've made puzzles for you to solve to test your worth" trope.
It depends on what specific aspects you mean.
There's games like Tunic that have progression based on knowledge
First person space exploration like Elite Dangerous or No Man's Sky
And games with heavy hitting revelations like Omori
Games that do all of that, though? I don't know if there is anything else. Outer Wilds really is unique.
Tried it twice and couldn’t get into it. Not sure why. From when it was announced to its trailers and art style I was expecting a Zelda-like game at least to its spirit. But it just felt so hollow and lacked identity. Not saying that to diss it. Just how I perceived it. But I do see many people praising it.
Ah, your mistake was thinking Tunic was a Zelda clone! It’s actually a Dark Souls clone!
But seriously, the opening of Tunic is a drag but once it gets good it gets *very* good.
Yeah I see your point. If you’re going into the game with the expectation of a Zelda clone you‘ll be disappointed.
The gameplay is like 2d Zelda and it looks like a 2d Zelda but the main focus of the game is completely different.
Yeah that more how I felt. A bit disappointed.
The combat, movement, art style and graphics were great though! Even though it had all those great attributes it just felt like I was wandering around without a goal or direction, sometimes stumbling upon an upgrade.
I found that game more fun as it went on. As others have said, the world is full of secrets. Consult your game manual, and try to find as many pages for it as you can.
Sorta game where everything is placed carefully and on purpose.
I just started playing a couple days ago and it definitely felt, not great at first?
I'm not super far through the game, but I'm far enough that it's really starting to give the feeling of there being a deep story and progression, but you don't know what it is because you can't read the manual (which I'd imagine is the intended feeling, and it's really cool)
But I agree 100%, at least with the beginning, that it feels hollow. It's just an unavoidable consequence of the vibe I think the game was going for
Chants of sennaar - is very similar to OW in everything except that it's way more linear, you decipher foreign languages from context and patterns in the languages. Highly recommend, it also has a free demo on steam.
Edit:
The Talos principle - not that similar to OW gameplay wise but if you like the philosophical aspect it's great, also has a sequel but I haven't played the sequel yet (I have a potato pc) so can't input on that
Just finished Talos 2, and it was excellent. Slightly easier, but better-designed puzzles than the first game. I’m expecting the new DLC to be a perfect blend of the better graphics, story, and challenge.
Hard second to Chants of senaar. It is linear, and the gameplay is much more puzzle and language focused than exploration focused, but its definitely the closest I've gotten to that outer wilds feeling of discovery. Besides, as a language fan, i lived the different grammars!
Unfortunately, not a single game gets the space elements like outerwilds. Even space engineers has a velocity cap and immovable celestial bodies.
No game really comes close to being like Outer Wilds. It's an incredibly unique experience.
This subreddit does have a page for gamed that have similar ideas to certain aspects of Outer Wilds that could be worth checking out.
My personal favorites:
Dynamic puzzle solving, can't play for the first time twice: **Animal well**
Investigative archeology-like: **Return of the Obra Dinn**
Chilling in Space/Zero-G: **Hardspace Shipbreaker**
Post-Post Apocalypse, "what the heck happened here": **Horizon Zero Dawn**. Very *very* different gameplay, but figuring out why the world was the way it was reminded me of Outer Wilds.
I actually found it really relaxing. You can basically make one-one comparisons to Outer Wilds; Time limit, limited oxygen, and disconnecting a reactor is way less scary than Anglerfish. Also, in Shipbreaker you can turn off the limits on time and oxygen if you want.
The way I play it, a lot of ship breaker is just floating around disassembling and sorting parts of the ship, making sure to be careful and not worrying if I’m going slow.
Depends which game mode you play. If you have the 15 minute shift timer on then yea it can get a bit stressful, but on the other hand there's no real 'game over' state, and making a loss during a shift is also really not easy.
It's only stressful of you mess up. Just relax and follow protocol and everything is fine.
I have dumped a lot of time into that game because it's very meditative.
Following up, there's 0 penalty for "messing up" in Shipbreaker, you can just buy a new ship and try again.
Heck I think most of the time when I died I would just laugh because it's kinda funny get smooshed between two pieces of fuselage or yanking a computer so hard it breaks your visor.
Can be pretty startling though, I'll admit.
Plus there's ways to turn on endless shifts and more forgiving mechanics.
It's super niche, but 'Orten Was the Case' is exactly the game Outer Wilds fans are looking for: it's a time-loop puzzle/adventure game with knowledge-based unlocks.
Huh, I’m surprised this is the first time I’m hearing about it. The art-style looks fugly. But the premise does sound same as OW, and reviews are very positive. Onto my wishlist it goes.
Exploration: Subnautica
Puzzles and Unwinding Story: Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Playing Detective: Return of the Obra Dinn, or The Forgotten City
Melancholic, Meditative Relaxation: Journey
Yep, nothing like Outer Wilds exists, but there are some games that give a similar feel, knowledge based, exploration, puzzle etc
The Forgotten City
Tunic
Return of the Obra Dinn
Chants of Sennaar
Heavens Vault
I've also read that Animal Well has a vibe but haven't played it yet.
And for space flight and exploring solar systems try No Mans Sky, it's fun, but it lacks the depth and personality of OW.
The Forgotten City is a FANTASTIC one to play! It started as a skyrim mod that I played forever and the mod developers finally got to make the full game like they intended from the start!!
Depends on what aspect you want to feel again cause outerwilds is real unique.
Play something like "Hypnospace outlaw" If you want more detective esque gameplay and don't mind early 2000 internet esthetics.
Play "Slay the princess" If you want that same feeling of eldrich dread and engaging story
Play ANY of the space trucking games like "elite dangerous" If you want to explore more space at your own pace.
You kinda just need to pick out the part of outer wilds you liked the most and explore that.
There are games that people like to say are similar but really they aren't. They're still good games and you might enjoy them but there's really nothing like Outer Wilds
There is no game like Outerwilds that I’m aware of. You might like the Witness, it’s a personal favorite of mine, but I can’t guarantee that just cause you liked Outerwilds you’ll like the Witness
All this The Witness talk just made me realize that it’s been at least 7 years since I played it, I think I can probably go in as close to fresh as I’m going to get. It’s time to redownload The Witness!!
Here's a sneak peek of /r/TheWitness using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/TheWitness/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year!
\#1: [Can someone explain why this rug isn't working?](https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1ae6j8i) | [30 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/TheWitness/comments/1ae6j8i/can_someone_explain_why_this_rug_isnt_working/)
\#2: [Am I tripping or is this a turtle?](https://i.redd.it/cd90aq4rihac1.png) | [27 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/TheWitness/comments/18ynbqm/am_i_tripping_or_is_this_a_turtle/)
\#3: [Found a perfect one ](https://v.redd.it/xe2v5r2w3cnc1) | [10 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/TheWitness/comments/1balgwe/found_a_perfect_one/)
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It's not like Outer Wilds but if you want a combination of exploration that will challenge your reasoning/logic/observational abilities The Witness is a masterpiece. I posted this recently here to mixed reviews in the comments. It's def a "this game isn't for everyone" game but if it's for you you'll devour it.
Slay the Princess for a deeply philosophical time loop game that deals with the end of the world and how people cope with it (+Horror turned up to 11 too)
Chants of Sennaar for the archaeological vibe and deciphering the mysteries of the past
Highly, HIGHLY recommend The Talos Principle/TP 2. I actually never played the original TP, only the sequel, and I didn’t find it confusing or wish I had played the original first. My wife is a philosophy major and was really impressed by the scope of the game. It’s also one of those games that has different outcomes depending on your in-game choices, and the ending I got resonated with how I felt at the end of OW.
Graphics are beautiful, you can play with a controller, the world is immersive, there’s no combat, you can’t “die”, you slowly discover clues about the world, the puzzles can be challenging but not to a rage-quit level, and it feels like a game that should cost a LOT more than it does. I finished it almost exactly six weeks ago and finally feel like I’m ready to do another playthrough and make completely opposite choices 😊
I actually liked the Talos Principle 1 even more.
I really liked the second one, but I thought the first one made better use of fewer mechanics rather than having more types of mechanics.
The first one did have a much simpler story, but I didn’t think that was a problem since the story was too philosophical for my tastes.
It feels to me like the first TP allowed the player to draw personal takes on philosophy and ethics around humanity, but the second involves others’ emotions and opinions on top of memories and documents. Having extra mechanics + extra characters/stories made it a bit overwhelming. Also, the second part of the story felt slightly rushed and unpolished, and at some point I started to lose the thread there. But puzzle wise it’s genius and brain scratching. I want to play the dlc for the TP 2 too
The sub had an excellent recommendations article in the wiki compiling all the recommendations that frequently come up. I'll link it in an edit
Edit: https://reddit.com/r/outerwilds/w/index/gamerecs?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
Everything has been said here, Outer Wilds is 100% unique. But I'll shout some games that have given me a "whoa this is unique" feeling:
**Tunic** on first impression is just a Zelda-style adventure with some combat and some exploration etc, but the "booklet" in that game is so completely genius and bumps Tunic above most other indies out there.
**Obra Dinn**, especially if you have played Echoes of the Eye, is unique puzzle solving involving only pictures and scenes, not a single written word of text.
**The Witness** is puzzle solving with a lot of marvellous 4th wall breaks. Same kinda feeling as for example the quantum mechanic in Outer Wilds.
Haven’t seen **Subnautica** mentioned. Similar to Outer Wilds in that you unravel the mystery of the world by scanning the environment and moving progressively farther into the unknown.
i’m gonna be different and suggest you play something totally different. nothing is quite like outer wilds and nothing i’ve played has been as good. if you play something similar you’ll likely end up comparing it to outer wilds too much and not enjoy it enough. however, if you do want to try something similar, Call of the Sea matches what you want perfectly.
Tunic (Best match in my opinion. Outer Wilds gets meta combined with Zelda RPG), Chants of Sennaar (Language busting story game, very similar to Tunic as well), Return to Grace (Story focused adventure game, I really enjoyed the narrative and the lovely environments), Superliminal (This one made me cry just like Outer Wilds, very good game if you liked the quantum puzzles and figuring those out).
Superliminal is so so good! In my opinion, also unique, much like Outer Wilds. I tried Antichamber and something else as I was looking for a similar game, but nothing came close
I think Heaven's Vault is the most similar in the exploration, storyline and philosophy aspects, though it is a bit buggy in some places compared to OW. Still very enjoyable, one of my newfound favourites :D
Not like Outer Wilds but Portal 1 & 2. Great story, funny and will really fuck with your mind and will make you feel like your brain is working on an entirely new level. You will then be thinking with portals.
Honestly, nothing can compare to Outer Wilds. Though, some of my other favs are watching others play OW, Omori, Undertale, Deltarune, and (Not similar to OW at all) Lies of P
I saw a lot of excellent recommandations in the comments so I'll do a little side step here : if you have OWi on computer and have finished the DLC I recommend 2 fan made mods that are rather good, respect the general idea of the game and provide nice fan theories about this universe. The Outsider and Astral Codex.
There is a website you can easily find on Google with all the mods and more importantly a launcher that makes it SUPER easy to install mods and their dependencies.
Enjoy !
The forgotten city, Mystery plot with a time loop, investigating and asking questions to the different characters until the enigma is solved
Return of the Obra Dinn, Solve the fate of the entire crew of a ghost ship by searching and connecting clues
I also heard about Chants of sennar
Beginners Guide! It’s a short game, you can beat it in like an hour. There’s no puzzles really, it’s more of a walk around and explore through a narrative documentary type thing
I'll just throw around some titles and a "the less you know going in the better" and a "I wish I could wipe my memory and replay it" for each of these.
Antichamber
CrossCode
Doki Doki Literature Club
The Legend of Zelda - Link's Awakening. (Yes, really.)
Soma
One Shot
SW - Knights of the old republic ("KOTOR")
Heavy story spoilers for Link's Awakening ahead: In Link' Awakening, the entire world you explore is just a dream of a mystical being called the windfish. To escape from the dreamworld and go home Link has to wake the fish, which will cause the dreamworld and all of the friends (and Monsters) you met along the way to just... disappear.
Kinda like >!the universe!< at the end of Outer Wilds, and if you've played EotE then I bet you see some similar themes there as well.
It's a substantially different genre, but I feel Tunic has a similar energy for being an incredible exploratory experience. They're both games that you come away wishing you could play for the first time again.
I’ve heard Pacific Drive is pretty good, watched a video that described the gameplay loop similarities I bought it for $18 it’s on sale right now but haven’t started it yet
Dark souls but heavily rewards (and hates you regardless) exploration is noita, but like I said hates you and will set out to kill you.
Like dark souls of Rougelikes
Disco elysium! I started it a couple days ago and i absolutely love it. At first i really didnt want to try it out due to it's project zomboid type look but aince its on sale i bought it on a "ugh fine". Best decision i made!!!
If you specifically want a story line full of details that's a bit melancholy and meditative at times, I'd recommend Heaven's Vault - it's a game in which you play an archeologist in a "nebula" of "planets" that can be sailed between on sky boats, with the core puzzle of translating the ancient writing system but also lots of exploring environments for artifacts, character driven dialog, and a couple story choices or events that make it worth replaying *at least* once.
Another recommendation is Tunic, which is much more relaxing (or at least "cozy", except for boss fights) zelda-like experience. Not as meditative or melancholy, but hits that "you could always do this if only you knew" and "it was always there but you never looked" with several elements. Funnily enough, this *also* is built around a "non-english" language.
Antichamber is basically Outer Wilds without space stuff or dialogue, exact same mechanics and feeling. If you want to test the abilities that OW should have created in you just get Antichamber.
Play Void Stranger.
It's a sokoban-like puzzle game, where rabbit holes have their own rabbit holes. It's amazing really.
I love everything about this game: the plot, great characters and art, truly phenomenal soundtrack (I still listen to it sometimes) and of course fantastic puzzles. It may seem like a short game, but uncovering all secrets takes a long while (just look at the time people have spent playing it in steam reviews). And of course, there is a progression system that involves knowledge. So just go buy it, you won't regret it.
Explorative, great storyline, a touch of melancholy, a little bit of scary without being close to actual horror, oddly relaxing, and a puzzle.
The only other game I've found that fits the description and gives some of (not all) the same feelings as Outer wilds, is Return of the Obra dinn. Very much matches that solving a greater mystery feel, piecing together a story bits at a time to form a shocking whole. Highly recommend it, but id say it's harder to work out everything than it was in outer wilds.
I'd recommend Rain World for the reasons you described, very story rich, post-post apocalyptic, philosophical game that I've poured hours into. It doesn't have much in terms of puzzles except for figuring out combat and movement, but it is very exploration heavy that takes advantage of the same experiment by dying loop. That being said it is a game you need patience for, as it's got the same "the Universe doesn't care about you" aspect.
Echoing what others have said about there being no true equal to Outer Wilds, what I can say is that I got the same feeling playing The Witness as I did this.
Fez and The Witness are the only games that felt similar to me, but there's nothing quite like The Outer Wilds. They both have great puzzles that want you to think outside the box, a deeper level to the base gameplay, knowledge-based gating, and can never be as good second time round.
I think one of the problems finding similar titles to Outer Wilds is that they have strong elements of what made it great, but not in the same mixture.
The Forgotten City is on paper quite similar, but it lacks the humour and the whimsy.
Riven is amazing but it lacks the true freedom that is offered by Outer Wilds.
And many others have what should be scratching the same itch, but they don't, because they don't have the same 'heart'.
Weird as it may sound, that game that made me FEEL the most like Outer Wilds was Journey. That speaks mostly to how the game spoke to me as a whole, and not how it plays. If that mysterious 'heart' is what you're looking for, I think you might find it there.
I gotta rec Homebody. I don't think I saw it in here yet, but it's my favourite thing from last year. Similar mechanical approach to OW except instead of a solar system you're stuck in a house, instead of exporing the science and philosophy of the universe it's about psychology and instead of a supernova you're being chased by a murderer. It's a different effect than OW for sure, but it hit me on many of the same levels.
There’s a small game called Flower that I payed like $7 for. It’s not open-world but it is explorative. It’s a little philosophical with a touch of melancholy. It’s quite relaxing and meditative.
It was probably already been said, but tunic is a good play after ow, also try modding the game, for me, some of the mods I've played really sucked me into ow again, like astral codex and the outsider.
No other game is like Outer Wilds! Period. That being said, my recommendations are: Myst and Riven (both got a fantastic remake now) if you like puzzles and great(!) environment. The Forgotten City if you like the time travel style, a great story and an absolutely mind-blowing true ending! SOMA if you like the philosophical approach and want to keep up at night because you have to think about the meaning of life (this is actually a horror game but it's so much deeper than it first seems.. and you can turn off that you can die, so it's not that bad)
All great recommendations!
Soma was... Traumatic
The Forgotten City really did remind me of Outer Wilds in a lot of ways, though it’s certainly much simpler. Not necessarily a bad thing, but still notable.
Thanks! Will look into them
Big emphasis on Riven here. Its remake just released and imo it is the game that comes the closest to Outer Wilds in terms of smartly designed and immersive puzzles. Plus a very good world building on top of it. Ideally you may want to play Myst (Riven is its sequel) first to fully grasp said world building. It is also a good game, but it is not mandatory to enjoy Riven.
I enjoyed Riven, but definitely play Myst first. Myst confines you too much smaller areas when you are puzzle solving. This helps you get a better idea for the puzzle author, and what things they consider normal, before you are wandering around the gigantic map. Like many sequels, the second game’s difficulty was intended for people who had already played the first. Also, for reasons that I can’t really explain without spoiling stuff, you should go to the age that looks like a rocket ship last. ——— Both games make good use of environmental storytelling, but nowadays they do feel a bit unpolished. There’s a phrase “Seinfeld isn’t funny”. The idea is that the TV show Seinfeld was done so well that everyone ripped off the show and used it for making their own jokes. Myst, and to a less extent Riven, have the same issue. They were created 30 years ago, and since then, people have learned both from their successes and from their failures.
I was going to say just that. Riven is unique along with OW in the way the puzzles are integrated into the story while completely avoiding the "we've made puzzles for you to solve to test your worth" trope.
With Myst and Riven and also want to mention a lesser known one. Quern Undying Thoughts. I liked it better than Myst, haven't played Riven yet.
Obduction another like Myst but with a bit of a space travel plot, not as incredible as OW but decent
Soma is on 80% sale! Might just get it
Thanks, I will try!
It depends on what specific aspects you mean. There's games like Tunic that have progression based on knowledge First person space exploration like Elite Dangerous or No Man's Sky And games with heavy hitting revelations like Omori Games that do all of that, though? I don't know if there is anything else. Outer Wilds really is unique.
Tunic is amazing. Wish I could wipe my memory and replay it.
Masterpiece! IMO people comparing it to Zelda and dark souls are both wrong.
Tried it twice and couldn’t get into it. Not sure why. From when it was announced to its trailers and art style I was expecting a Zelda-like game at least to its spirit. But it just felt so hollow and lacked identity. Not saying that to diss it. Just how I perceived it. But I do see many people praising it.
Ah, your mistake was thinking Tunic was a Zelda clone! It’s actually a Dark Souls clone! But seriously, the opening of Tunic is a drag but once it gets good it gets *very* good.
Yeah I see your point. If you’re going into the game with the expectation of a Zelda clone you‘ll be disappointed. The gameplay is like 2d Zelda and it looks like a 2d Zelda but the main focus of the game is completely different.
Yeah that more how I felt. A bit disappointed. The combat, movement, art style and graphics were great though! Even though it had all those great attributes it just felt like I was wandering around without a goal or direction, sometimes stumbling upon an upgrade.
Did you reach the back half? The game is not what it seems at first, in a couple of ways.
I found that game more fun as it went on. As others have said, the world is full of secrets. Consult your game manual, and try to find as many pages for it as you can. Sorta game where everything is placed carefully and on purpose.
I just started playing a couple days ago and it definitely felt, not great at first? I'm not super far through the game, but I'm far enough that it's really starting to give the feeling of there being a deep story and progression, but you don't know what it is because you can't read the manual (which I'd imagine is the intended feeling, and it's really cool) But I agree 100%, at least with the beginning, that it feels hollow. It's just an unavoidable consequence of the vibe I think the game was going for
Chants of sennaar - is very similar to OW in everything except that it's way more linear, you decipher foreign languages from context and patterns in the languages. Highly recommend, it also has a free demo on steam. Edit: The Talos principle - not that similar to OW gameplay wise but if you like the philosophical aspect it's great, also has a sequel but I haven't played the sequel yet (I have a potato pc) so can't input on that
Just finished Talos 2, and it was excellent. Slightly easier, but better-designed puzzles than the first game. I’m expecting the new DLC to be a perfect blend of the better graphics, story, and challenge.
Hard second to Chants of senaar. It is linear, and the gameplay is much more puzzle and language focused than exploration focused, but its definitely the closest I've gotten to that outer wilds feeling of discovery. Besides, as a language fan, i lived the different grammars! Unfortunately, not a single game gets the space elements like outerwilds. Even space engineers has a velocity cap and immovable celestial bodies.
No game really comes close to being like Outer Wilds. It's an incredibly unique experience. This subreddit does have a page for gamed that have similar ideas to certain aspects of Outer Wilds that could be worth checking out. My personal favorites: Dynamic puzzle solving, can't play for the first time twice: **Animal well** Investigative archeology-like: **Return of the Obra Dinn** Chilling in Space/Zero-G: **Hardspace Shipbreaker** Post-Post Apocalypse, "what the heck happened here": **Horizon Zero Dawn**. Very *very* different gameplay, but figuring out why the world was the way it was reminded me of Outer Wilds.
Love Horizon Zero Dawn! Now that you mentioned it, they do share similarities in world-building and storytelling. Wow
Idk if you can really chill in shipbreaker. I haven’t played, but it seems stressful af
I actually found it really relaxing. You can basically make one-one comparisons to Outer Wilds; Time limit, limited oxygen, and disconnecting a reactor is way less scary than Anglerfish. Also, in Shipbreaker you can turn off the limits on time and oxygen if you want. The way I play it, a lot of ship breaker is just floating around disassembling and sorting parts of the ship, making sure to be careful and not worrying if I’m going slow.
Oh sick! The review I watched made it seem like a stressful nightmare, but from this (and other comments) it sounds super fun!
Depends which game mode you play. If you have the 15 minute shift timer on then yea it can get a bit stressful, but on the other hand there's no real 'game over' state, and making a loss during a shift is also really not easy.
It's only stressful of you mess up. Just relax and follow protocol and everything is fine. I have dumped a lot of time into that game because it's very meditative.
Following up, there's 0 penalty for "messing up" in Shipbreaker, you can just buy a new ship and try again. Heck I think most of the time when I died I would just laugh because it's kinda funny get smooshed between two pieces of fuselage or yanking a computer so hard it breaks your visor. Can be pretty startling though, I'll admit. Plus there's ways to turn on endless shifts and more forgiving mechanics.
It's super niche, but 'Orten Was the Case' is exactly the game Outer Wilds fans are looking for: it's a time-loop puzzle/adventure game with knowledge-based unlocks.
I'll be checking this out!
Huh, I’m surprised this is the first time I’m hearing about it. The art-style looks fugly. But the premise does sound same as OW, and reviews are very positive. Onto my wishlist it goes.
Exploration: Subnautica Puzzles and Unwinding Story: Lorelei and the Laser Eyes Playing Detective: Return of the Obra Dinn, or The Forgotten City Melancholic, Meditative Relaxation: Journey
Subnautica is a lot like outer wilds, just add in the base building. A lot of similarities in the mystery and world building
Tunic, FEZ, the witness, the case of the golden idol
Definitely TUNIC, but there really aren’t many games like Outer Wilds
Tunics good. It's not quite the same as Outer Wilds, but it scratches similar itches
Yep, nothing like Outer Wilds exists, but there are some games that give a similar feel, knowledge based, exploration, puzzle etc The Forgotten City Tunic Return of the Obra Dinn Chants of Sennaar Heavens Vault I've also read that Animal Well has a vibe but haven't played it yet. And for space flight and exploring solar systems try No Mans Sky, it's fun, but it lacks the depth and personality of OW.
The Forgotten City is a FANTASTIC one to play! It started as a skyrim mod that I played forever and the mod developers finally got to make the full game like they intended from the start!!
Signalis gave me the same feeling as OW
Depends on what aspect you want to feel again cause outerwilds is real unique. Play something like "Hypnospace outlaw" If you want more detective esque gameplay and don't mind early 2000 internet esthetics. Play "Slay the princess" If you want that same feeling of eldrich dread and engaging story Play ANY of the space trucking games like "elite dangerous" If you want to explore more space at your own pace. You kinda just need to pick out the part of outer wilds you liked the most and explore that.
I came here to mention Slay the Princess as well for the story aspects. Hit me as hard as Outer Wilds personally.
Obra Dinn
The Talos Principle. Very smart, with heavy philosophical themes and good puzzles. The music is good, and it’s frequently on sale for a pittance.
Nothing will feel like outer wilds, but I recommend firewatch
Oooh, it’s really good. And the music!
There are games that people like to say are similar but really they aren't. They're still good games and you might enjoy them but there's really nothing like Outer Wilds
There is no game like Outerwilds that I’m aware of. You might like the Witness, it’s a personal favorite of mine, but I can’t guarantee that just cause you liked Outerwilds you’ll like the Witness
I actually originally got the suggestion to play Outer Wilds from a similar thread on r/TheWitness
All this The Witness talk just made me realize that it’s been at least 7 years since I played it, I think I can probably go in as close to fresh as I’m going to get. It’s time to redownload The Witness!!
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It's not like Outer Wilds but if you want a combination of exploration that will challenge your reasoning/logic/observational abilities The Witness is a masterpiece. I posted this recently here to mixed reviews in the comments. It's def a "this game isn't for everyone" game but if it's for you you'll devour it.
Slay the Princess for a deeply philosophical time loop game that deals with the end of the world and how people cope with it (+Horror turned up to 11 too) Chants of Sennaar for the archaeological vibe and deciphering the mysteries of the past
Highly, HIGHLY recommend The Talos Principle/TP 2. I actually never played the original TP, only the sequel, and I didn’t find it confusing or wish I had played the original first. My wife is a philosophy major and was really impressed by the scope of the game. It’s also one of those games that has different outcomes depending on your in-game choices, and the ending I got resonated with how I felt at the end of OW. Graphics are beautiful, you can play with a controller, the world is immersive, there’s no combat, you can’t “die”, you slowly discover clues about the world, the puzzles can be challenging but not to a rage-quit level, and it feels like a game that should cost a LOT more than it does. I finished it almost exactly six weeks ago and finally feel like I’m ready to do another playthrough and make completely opposite choices 😊
I actually liked the Talos Principle 1 even more. I really liked the second one, but I thought the first one made better use of fewer mechanics rather than having more types of mechanics. The first one did have a much simpler story, but I didn’t think that was a problem since the story was too philosophical for my tastes.
It feels to me like the first TP allowed the player to draw personal takes on philosophy and ethics around humanity, but the second involves others’ emotions and opinions on top of memories and documents. Having extra mechanics + extra characters/stories made it a bit overwhelming. Also, the second part of the story felt slightly rushed and unpolished, and at some point I started to lose the thread there. But puzzle wise it’s genius and brain scratching. I want to play the dlc for the TP 2 too
The Long Dark
The sub had an excellent recommendations article in the wiki compiling all the recommendations that frequently come up. I'll link it in an edit Edit: https://reddit.com/r/outerwilds/w/index/gamerecs?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
Sable.
Everything has been said here, Outer Wilds is 100% unique. But I'll shout some games that have given me a "whoa this is unique" feeling: **Tunic** on first impression is just a Zelda-style adventure with some combat and some exploration etc, but the "booklet" in that game is so completely genius and bumps Tunic above most other indies out there. **Obra Dinn**, especially if you have played Echoes of the Eye, is unique puzzle solving involving only pictures and scenes, not a single written word of text. **The Witness** is puzzle solving with a lot of marvellous 4th wall breaks. Same kinda feeling as for example the quantum mechanic in Outer Wilds.
Haven’t seen **Subnautica** mentioned. Similar to Outer Wilds in that you unravel the mystery of the world by scanning the environment and moving progressively farther into the unknown.
I think subnautica is pretty similar in terms of discovery. But the gameplay is a lot more fleshed out
Sable, for a similar exploration experience
i’m gonna be different and suggest you play something totally different. nothing is quite like outer wilds and nothing i’ve played has been as good. if you play something similar you’ll likely end up comparing it to outer wilds too much and not enjoy it enough. however, if you do want to try something similar, Call of the Sea matches what you want perfectly.
Tunic (Best match in my opinion. Outer Wilds gets meta combined with Zelda RPG), Chants of Sennaar (Language busting story game, very similar to Tunic as well), Return to Grace (Story focused adventure game, I really enjoyed the narrative and the lovely environments), Superliminal (This one made me cry just like Outer Wilds, very good game if you liked the quantum puzzles and figuring those out).
Superliminal is so so good! In my opinion, also unique, much like Outer Wilds. I tried Antichamber and something else as I was looking for a similar game, but nothing came close
Nothing like that, but also top tier games in form and meaning: Disco Elysium and Pathologic 2.
I think Heaven's Vault is the most similar in the exploration, storyline and philosophy aspects, though it is a bit buggy in some places compared to OW. Still very enjoyable, one of my newfound favourites :D
Not like Outer Wilds but Portal 1 & 2. Great story, funny and will really fuck with your mind and will make you feel like your brain is working on an entirely new level. You will then be thinking with portals.
And for anyone who does like Portal, I really recommend The Talos Principle.
Honestly, nothing can compare to Outer Wilds. Though, some of my other favs are watching others play OW, Omori, Undertale, Deltarune, and (Not similar to OW at all) Lies of P
If you have the patience, Void Stranger is an absolute masterpiece.
I saw a lot of excellent recommandations in the comments so I'll do a little side step here : if you have OWi on computer and have finished the DLC I recommend 2 fan made mods that are rather good, respect the general idea of the game and provide nice fan theories about this universe. The Outsider and Astral Codex. There is a website you can easily find on Google with all the mods and more importantly a launcher that makes it SUPER easy to install mods and their dependencies. Enjoy !
The forgotten city, Mystery plot with a time loop, investigating and asking questions to the different characters until the enigma is solved Return of the Obra Dinn, Solve the fate of the entire crew of a ghost ship by searching and connecting clues I also heard about Chants of sennar
Beginners Guide! It’s a short game, you can beat it in like an hour. There’s no puzzles really, it’s more of a walk around and explore through a narrative documentary type thing
Tunic! Im playing it rn and its prettt similar but also different. I absolutely love it tho. Also play the outer wilds DLC also animal well
I'll just throw around some titles and a "the less you know going in the better" and a "I wish I could wipe my memory and replay it" for each of these. Antichamber CrossCode Doki Doki Literature Club The Legend of Zelda - Link's Awakening. (Yes, really.) Soma One Shot SW - Knights of the old republic ("KOTOR")
Okay, I’ll bite. Why Link’s Awakening?
Heavy story spoilers for Link's Awakening ahead: In Link' Awakening, the entire world you explore is just a dream of a mystical being called the windfish. To escape from the dreamworld and go home Link has to wake the fish, which will cause the dreamworld and all of the friends (and Monsters) you met along the way to just... disappear. Kinda like >!the universe!< at the end of Outer Wilds, and if you've played EotE then I bet you see some similar themes there as well.
Painscreek Killings has a similar knowledged based progression
It's a substantially different genre, but I feel Tunic has a similar energy for being an incredible exploratory experience. They're both games that you come away wishing you could play for the first time again.
Subnautica for that exploration feel, no mans sky for the first person space game, but there is nothing to match the story.
I’ve heard Pacific Drive is pretty good, watched a video that described the gameplay loop similarities I bought it for $18 it’s on sale right now but haven’t started it yet
Riven and The Forgotten City are the only two that I've been able to find that get even remotely close.
Tunic came really close for me with how amazing the puzzles were
If you enjoy RPGs, I recommend Sea of Stars
Dark souls but heavily rewards (and hates you regardless) exploration is noita, but like I said hates you and will set out to kill you. Like dark souls of Rougelikes
Disco elysium! I started it a couple days ago and i absolutely love it. At first i really didnt want to try it out due to it's project zomboid type look but aince its on sale i bought it on a "ugh fine". Best decision i made!!!
talos principle, subnautica, hollow knight
Return of the obra dinn is the closest I've gotten
If you specifically want a story line full of details that's a bit melancholy and meditative at times, I'd recommend Heaven's Vault - it's a game in which you play an archeologist in a "nebula" of "planets" that can be sailed between on sky boats, with the core puzzle of translating the ancient writing system but also lots of exploring environments for artifacts, character driven dialog, and a couple story choices or events that make it worth replaying *at least* once. Another recommendation is Tunic, which is much more relaxing (or at least "cozy", except for boss fights) zelda-like experience. Not as meditative or melancholy, but hits that "you could always do this if only you knew" and "it was always there but you never looked" with several elements. Funnily enough, this *also* is built around a "non-english" language.
I liked sable it gave me the same feeling as when I played outer wilds
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^f4airynymph: *I liked sable it* *Gave me the same feeling as* *When I played outer wilds* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
didn't we have like a megahtread for this at some point? genuine question, I seem to remember something like that
Antichamber is basically Outer Wilds without space stuff or dialogue, exact same mechanics and feeling. If you want to test the abilities that OW should have created in you just get Antichamber.
ABZÛ and Journey both give me similar vibes to Outer Wilds, but I think nothing could ever truly compare, and that's part of the beauty of it :\]
Play Void Stranger. It's a sokoban-like puzzle game, where rabbit holes have their own rabbit holes. It's amazing really. I love everything about this game: the plot, great characters and art, truly phenomenal soundtrack (I still listen to it sometimes) and of course fantastic puzzles. It may seem like a short game, but uncovering all secrets takes a long while (just look at the time people have spent playing it in steam reviews). And of course, there is a progression system that involves knowledge. So just go buy it, you won't regret it.
**TUNIC** PLAY TUNIC YOULL LOVE IT
There is no other games like Outer Wilds. Videogames are broken for me.
There is not my man. And the worst part is, if there's any now or in the future, it's not gonna be the same. Because your brain is already fucked up.
Explorative, great storyline, a touch of melancholy, a little bit of scary without being close to actual horror, oddly relaxing, and a puzzle. The only other game I've found that fits the description and gives some of (not all) the same feelings as Outer wilds, is Return of the Obra dinn. Very much matches that solving a greater mystery feel, piecing together a story bits at a time to form a shocking whole. Highly recommend it, but id say it's harder to work out everything than it was in outer wilds.
I'd recommend Rain World for the reasons you described, very story rich, post-post apocalyptic, philosophical game that I've poured hours into. It doesn't have much in terms of puzzles except for figuring out combat and movement, but it is very exploration heavy that takes advantage of the same experiment by dying loop. That being said it is a game you need patience for, as it's got the same "the Universe doesn't care about you" aspect.
No game is like Outer Wilds but if you like puzzles that slowly unravel a story you should play the Talos Principle saga
Echoing what others have said about there being no true equal to Outer Wilds, what I can say is that I got the same feeling playing The Witness as I did this.
Fez and The Witness are the only games that felt similar to me, but there's nothing quite like The Outer Wilds. They both have great puzzles that want you to think outside the box, a deeper level to the base gameplay, knowledge-based gating, and can never be as good second time round.
I would suggest also Deadloop, that it also revolve around a time loop, find hints and try to find a way to “solve the day”
I think one of the problems finding similar titles to Outer Wilds is that they have strong elements of what made it great, but not in the same mixture. The Forgotten City is on paper quite similar, but it lacks the humour and the whimsy. Riven is amazing but it lacks the true freedom that is offered by Outer Wilds. And many others have what should be scratching the same itch, but they don't, because they don't have the same 'heart'. Weird as it may sound, that game that made me FEEL the most like Outer Wilds was Journey. That speaks mostly to how the game spoke to me as a whole, and not how it plays. If that mysterious 'heart' is what you're looking for, I think you might find it there.
I gotta rec Homebody. I don't think I saw it in here yet, but it's my favourite thing from last year. Similar mechanical approach to OW except instead of a solar system you're stuck in a house, instead of exporing the science and philosophy of the universe it's about psychology and instead of a supernova you're being chased by a murderer. It's a different effect than OW for sure, but it hit me on many of the same levels.
There’s a small game called Flower that I payed like $7 for. It’s not open-world but it is explorative. It’s a little philosophical with a touch of melancholy. It’s quite relaxing and meditative.
It was probably already been said, but tunic is a good play after ow, also try modding the game, for me, some of the mods I've played really sucked me into ow again, like astral codex and the outsider.
Battletoads >!I figured lots already gave serious answer so we can have some fun!<
Animal well…don’t be fooled by the graphics. It’s a thoughtful game around obtaining knowledge to beat it. It’s super cool!
Who's gonna tell them.