An Echo Within the Universe Outer Wilds DLC Review

If this is the first you’re hearing of Outer Wilds from me, maybe you want to stop by my Substack first. Or maybe you’d like to start here and then see what else you can find.

However, if you’re coming from the other posts I’ve made about Outer Wilds, then let’s get to it.

Accessing the downloadable content for the video game Outer Wilds is so simple that I had to look it up. (this is what we call sarcasm). 

While other games give you a second menu or something normal, this game goes full meta and invites you deeper into its universe. As for bang for your buck and whether it’s worth the price of admission, I’ll go on record saying I’ve never played any DLC that is half as memorable as this, because Echoes of the Eye is brimming with character, mysteries, puzzles, and enough new things to soothe that pain you have once you finish the main game.

Unlike the main game, Echoes of the Eye’s tone is much darker, with genuinely creepy moments that offer plenty of jump scares, while expanding and deepening an already rich lore. Whereas the main game is hopeful quite often, this chapter often feels and plays downright Lovecraftian and the stakes are just as drastic as in the main game, except you have new hazards to worry about.

While Outer Wilds explores several planets within a solar system, Echoes explores a cloaked spaceship somewhere hidden in orbit of said solar system. The first time you get past the veil and see the spaceship, it is a huge moment. Gravitationally, navigating around the vessel can be extremely tricky until you decipher how to approach it effectively. Once you get inside, the space feels so vast and constricted at the same time. It’s a marvel and you can see that they fleshed out a story before they designed the rest of the game, which seems to be the opposite of how they developed the main game. What results is a narrative heavy epilogue that becomes more so a sequel. You discover another race of beings that explored this solar system. Very polished, very organized, and quite often, very much out to get you.

In the main game, you’re surviving against the elements around you. In the DLC, on more than one occasion, you are running like crazy in the dark trying to get away from creatures who have realized you are where you shouldn’t be. These moments of tension might not be to the liking of many people, though I found them extremely exciting.

As for the tone, it reminds me of the Room mobile phone games. Dark, ethereal, heavy. Quite often you find yourself discovering a new room or a new piece of the narrative that is unsettling. Quite often you see a sequence that kind of rattles you and suddenly, there’s a flash flood or a super nova goes tabula rasa on you so that you can get your bearings and dive back in to explore that ship.

The ship has several zones and rather than have its own distinct flavor like each of the planets, everything here feels connected just enough to lead you into a shadow world. If this sounds a bit out there, it is. If it also sounds a bit complicated, you’re also right. 

Mechanics, narrative, gameplay, and puzzles are heavier and harder than the main game. Whereas with Outer Wilds I was able to decipher roughly 80% of the game, with this DLC, I needed help almost half the time. The clues are there, but they’re subtle. And in some areas, you have to turn so many ways in the dark while avoiding sentries, that a walkthrough is recommended, because although it won’t be easy, it’ll be doable. In this game, making a sound draws attention and sentries are agile and will outwit you and force you to restart on several occasions.

But like I said above, the narrative is heavier, and with that heaviness comes a rich story that shakes you as deeply as the main game, but in a different way. What the main game has better is that you have quite a few solutions to a couple of things while the DLC is very specific in when, how, and if you have to do something to get a solution or not. Although it was frustrating that I needed to ask or look for help, it never took away from the game. And once the end credits roll for this second part, you still feel that desire for more, though have to applaud the team for going to the lengths they did to present something so different while still maintaining the core of its DNA.

From all I’ve posted, I think it shows that playing Outer Wilds and its Downloadable chapter of Echoes in the Eye is one of the best and most profound video game experiences I've ever had the privilege to ply. This is storytelling and exploration reimagined in ways that should invite artists of any medium to challenge themselves and their audiences. These are games that reward exploration, experimentation, curiosity, and painstaking attention to detail. These are not games merely developed to reach into your wallet. It’s an experience that reaches into your soul to shake your hand, pat you on the back, and wish you well upon the journey of life.

Or maybe it’s just a video game.

To Héctor Álvarez, thank you for the game recommendation, brother. My apologies for taking so long though I wanted to write and create something worthy of the experience.

To the kind readers of this blog, my Substack, or my books, thank you as well. As a small thank you for tagging along, I mentioned there was one more breadcrumb as a thank you for joining me on this little scavenger hunt. It’s the least I can do as thanks to everyone who’s joined me. Feel free to share the link to the Substack, this blog, or just what’s below.

CLICK HERE For a thank you to my fellow dreamers. Better if you click from July 22-25 ;)