Outer Wilds is a game about exploring a solar system stuck in an endless 20-minute time loop
Featuring a banjo-strumming robot.
Edith Finch and Gorogoa publisher Annapurna Interactive has announced that it's bringing open-ended time-loop space exploration adventure Outer Wilds to PC later this year.
Outer Wilds is being developed by Mobius Digital, and was first unveiled back in 2015. It's nothing if not intriguing, letting wannabe spacefarers seamlessly explore a loosely simulated, hand-crafted, and "constantly evolving" solar system where all sorts of oddities occur.
"The planets of Outer Wilds are packed with hidden locations that change with the passage of time," teases Mobius on the game's Steam page, "Visit an underground city before it's swallowed by sand, or explore the surface of a planet as it crumbles beneath your feet. Every secret is guarded by hazardous environments and natural catastrophes."
That all sounds perfectly wonderful, but there's a twist. Thanks to the aforementioned time loop, you've only got 20 minutes to explore the entire solar system before it resets, sending you back to the start. Each time though, you'll have gained a little extra knowledge, allowing you to go further, dive deeper, and perhaps uncover the secrets of the dying sun. At the very least, you'll have a new story to tell each time the solar system returns to zero.
"What lurks in the heart of the ominous Dark Bramble?", asks Mobius of its solar system's secrets, "Who built the alien ruins on the Moon? Can the endless time loop be stopped? Answers await you in the most dangerous reaches of space".
Annapurna Interactive has been on a roll ever since it delivered Giant Sparrow's What Remains of Edith Finch last year - so its association with Outer Wilds is certainly promising. You can get a tantalising taste of Mobius' ambitious, enigmatic interplanetary adventuring - and its banjo-playing robot - in the new trailer above.