Beauty in the Unknown (Outer Wilds) - Philip Klote

 Over Spring break, my brother and I sat through and experienced the video game Outer Wilds together. The game is about exploring a small solar system and learning about your alien species as well as a alien precursor civilization, the Nomai. It is challenging to talk about the Wilds because it is a game of discovery. Any knowledge going into the game can spoil or dampen your experience. The less you know, the greater the adventure will be. Additionally, the game relies upon a great mystery factor that revolves around what the player can do and what they know. The game can be beaten within 30 minutes if the player knows how to beat it, but the adventure lies in solving the steps to reach that conclusion. Together we have sunk about 18 hours of play to solve the mystery of the small solar system, and we thought that the experience was absolutely beautiful. The game has heavy themes of accepting the past and striving for a brighter future, even when that future is alien or unknown to us. I cannot spoil the game and its experience, but it taught me to find and seek beauty in the strangest places. 

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