Outer Wilds
A space exploration game about curiosity, archaeology, and the end of the universe happening every 22 minutes.
This is the game that convinced me that “knowledge as progress” is the most elegant game design idea I’ve ever seen.
You’re a tiny astronaut in a handcrafted solar system that ends in 22 minutes, then loops back, and the only thing that persists between loops is what you’ve learned—no stats, no items, just understanding.
The moment I realized the sun going supernova wasn’t a fail state but part of the structure, and that I could use the time loop to experiment with dangerous astronomy, felt like the game clicking into place in a way few games do.
It feeds directly into my obsession with emergent learning systems and how you can design for genuine discovery rather than guided tours disguised as exploration.
Playing it felt like being a kid again, wandering around without a quest marker, just following threads of “wait, what’s that?” until suddenly everything connects.
Since finishing it, I’ve been more interested in games that respect player curiosity over games that respect player time, and I’ve become evangelical about not spoiling it for anyone.