Most Innovative Games of 2019
First Runner-Up: Outer Wilds
Guides Editor Chris Jecks: Outer Wilds doesn’t have stunning graphics. It doesn’t have a 100-hour story, insane combat systems, decision-based systems or any of that malarkey.
Instead, Outer Wilds prides itself on simply being an intelligent, complex world for you to uncover and unlock as you see fit. In Outer Wilds, you’re an astronaut, about to leave your lowly home planet of Timber Hearth, and explore the solar system that awaits.
Each planet within this system is unique, with its own defining trait. The ‘Twin’ planets, for example, see the sand drain from the surface of one over time to fill in the deep fissures in the surface of the other. Another is a winding maze of brambles you need to carefully navigate, and another is a frozen asteroid with its own secrets lingering beneath the surface.
Each planet is a delight to explore, drip-feeding you more and more story tidbits as you uncover the Nomad scrawlings on the wall that help lead you on to your next objective and so on. There’s no combat here, just a thirst for learning as much as you can about the mysterious Nomad species that has since seemingly disappeared.
Outer Wilds makes everything all the more succinct with a time-loop system. Every 20 minutes, the solar system explodes and you’ll awaken back on your planet. Any clues you’d uncovered are stored on your ship’s computer, but it’ll be down to you to get to that point once again.
It’s this, combined with the planet’s ever-changing forms as time passes that makes it one of the most innovative games of 2019. You’ve not experienced a game-changing moment as when you’re traveling across space at blistering speed, all so you can quickly nip into a tower in the 30-second time window you’ve got (within that larger 20-minute loop), just so you can reach another location and unravel more of the story.
Outer Wilds might not get the attention and credit it deserves this GOTY season, but it’s absolutely worth checking out. Even if it’s just for a couple of hours, just so you can appreciate its complex, ever-changing solar system, and the secrets that it keeps.
