The Outer Wilds is the award-winning adventure and exploration game from developer Mobius Digital and publisher Annapurna Interactive. Like many other titles coming from Annapurna Interactive, the Outer Wilds is a complex and thought-provoking indie title that nearly immediately took both critics and players by surprise, ending on on several Game of the Year lists following its initial release in 2019. In 2022, The Outer Wilds would come to both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S alongside the release of the one and only DLC expansion for the title.
The game can actually trace its genesis back to director Alex Beachum’s work while at USC, with development beginning as part of Beachum’s master’s thesis for the Interactive Media & Games Division. Following the initial work on the project in 2012 as part of his thesis, Beachum further developed the title into a full commercial release after building out the full development team and starting a crowdfunding campaign for the title. The initial alpha release of The Outer Wilds arrived in 2015, and Annapurna Interactive signed on to fund and release the title in 2018.
In addition to holding a favorable 85% on review aggregate site Metacritic, The Outer Wilds holds the honor of winning several different industry awards and being the recipient of near-universal critical acclaim. Prior to its retail release, the game would win the Grand Prize and Excellence in Design Awards at the 2015 Independent Games Festival. The game is the recipient of numerous nominations in several prestigious categories at both the Golden Joystick Awards and The Game Awards, and it is the winner of the Best Indie Game award from the Golden Joystick Awards.
The Outer Wilds Premise
Becahum’s original vision for The Outer Wilds is that of a game replicating the spirit of space exploration at the core of films like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Apollo 13. Additionally, the director took inspiration from The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask‘s continually ticking doomsday clock, but instead choosing to implement it as a way to grow and learn rather than as an element of punishment for not meeting certain criteria fast enogh. Other inspirations include The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, particularly the way that NPCs provide hints to the player that might entice them to explore further.
The game begins with the player controlling a solo pilot preparing for their first mission into outer space. After entering the rocket and acclimating to the controls, players exit the atmosphere of their home planet and are then free to explore the surrounding solar system. The game exists within the framework of a 22 minute time loop, in which at the end of the 22 minutes the solar system’s star will supernova. after each run of the time loop, players build upon previously gained knowledge to solve the mystery of why the star will explode as well as uncover the mysteries of a lost civilization.
Gameplay takes place in a first-person perspective, and the main mechanics of gameplay center around both exploration and puzzle solving, with some puzzles requiring use of environmental clues and notes left behind by previous inhabitants. Due to the nature of the game’s time loop, some areas and puzzles are only accessible at certain times, meaning players need to learn the best routing for solving the game’s central mystery before the supernova occurs and they need to start over.
The Outer Wilds Main Characters
In addition to the player character The Protagonist, there are dozens of NPCs to meet and interact with throughout the world of The Outer Wilds. Most of these NPCs go by somewhat generic names but nearly every character the player interacts with has some piece of valuable information to impart. That said, the only true “main” character in the game is the player. Main characters in The Outer Wilds include:
- The Protagonist: The Hearthian that the player controls is the game’s protagonist. The name of the character is never specifically mentioned, but several NPCs refer to The Protagonist as “Hatchling”, indicating that the player character is younger in age. To further emphasize this, The Protagonist is the newest cadet of the Outer Wilds Ventures organization. The Protagonist resembles other Hearthians, having blueish skin, four eyes, and pointed ears.
Games in The Outer Wilds Series
While there is currently only one mainline release in The Outer Wilds series, there is a newer DLC expansion that released in 2021. As of now, there are no plans for a sequel that either Mobius Digital or Annapurna Interactive are choosing to reveal. Games in the series include:
- The Outer Wilds (2019)
- Echoes of the Eye (2021)
The Outer Wilds Cheats
While there are no official cheats available for The Outer Wilds (and, truly, players would be doing themselves a disservice to experience the game with any of its content spoiled or altered), there are cheats available for the title through the installation and running of a cheat mod. The Cheat Mod by user PacificEngine is available on The Outer Wilds Mods site and can be activated by following the steps below:
- Download and install https://outerwildsmods.com/
- Install PacificEngine’s Common Resources by PacificEngine
- Install Cheats Mod by PacificEngine
With the Cheats Mod installed, players will be able to use the following commands to activate these cheats:
Player Cheats
| Command | Effect |
|---|---|
| C + J | Fill Fuel and Health |
| C + H | Toggle Helmet |
| C + G | Toggle Spacesuit |
| C + 1 | Toggle Training Suit |
| C + I | Toggle Invinciblity |
| C + T | Toggle Unlimited Boost |
| C + Y | Toggle Unlimited Fuel |
| C + O | Toggle Unlimited Oxygen |
| C + U | Toggle Unlimited Health |
| C + T | Toggle Unlimited |
| C + N | Toggle Player Gravity |
| C + N | Toggle Ship Gravity |
| C + N | Toggle Player Collision |
| C + N | Toggle Ship Collision |
| C + N | Toggle Player Fluid Collision |
| C + N | Toggle Ship Fluid Collision |
| P + – | Decrease Jet Pack Acceleration |
| P + + | Increase Jet Pack Acceleration |
| O + – | Decrease Ship Acceleration |
| O + + | Increase Ship Acceleration |
Game Cheats
| Key | Description |
|---|---|
| V + I | Toggle Anglerfish AI |
| V + O | Toggle Inhabitants AI |
| V + H | Toggle Inhabitants Hostility |
| V + 0 | Toggle Supernova Timer |
| V + – | Decrease Supernova Timer |
| V + + | Increase Supernova Timer |
| F + O + G | Toggle Fog |
| Q + 0 | Change Quantum Moon Position |
Teleportation Cheats
| Key | Description |
|---|---|
| T + 1 | Teleport to 5000m above the sun |
| T + 2 | Teleport to Sun Station |
| T + 3 | Teleport to Ember Twin’s North Pole |
| T + 4 | Teleport to Ash Twin’s North Pole |
| T + Numpad 8 | Teleport to Ash Twin Project |
| T + 5 | Teleport to Timber Hearth Near |
| T + Numpad 1 | Teleport to Timber Hearth Probe |
| T + 6 | Teleport to Attlerock’s Observation Platform |
| T + 7 | Teleport to Brittle Hollow’s Blackhole Forge |
| T + 8 | Teleport to Holow Lantern’s Project Platform |
| T + 9 | Teleport to Giant’s Deep Quantum Tower |
| T + Numpad 2 | Teleport to Giant’s Deep Probe Cannon |
T + Numpad . | Teleport to Giant’s Deep Probe Cannon’s Command Module |
T + Numpad - | Teleport to Nomai Probe |
| T + 0 | Teleport to Dark Bramble’s Most Northern Point |
T + Numpad + | Teleport to Vessel |
| T + Numpad 0 | Teleport to Interloper |
| T + Numpad 3 | Teleport to White Hole |
| T + Numpad 4 | Teleport to White Hole Station |
| T + Numpad 5 | Teleport to Stranger’s Front Dock Area |
| T + Numpad 6 | Teleport to the Dreamworld |
| T + Numpad 7 | Teleport to the Quantum Moon |
| T + Numpad 9 | Teleport to Ship |
T + Numpad / | Teleport Ship To Player |
T + Numpad * | Teleport Ship To Probe |
| T + M | Teleport To Mapping Satellite |
| T + B | Teleport To Backer Satellite |
Item Cheats
| Key | Description |
|---|---|
| G + W | Give Player Warp Core (Vessel) |
| G + T + 1 | Give Player Warp Core (Vessel) |
| G + T + 2 | Give Player Warp Core (Broken) |
| G + T + 3 | Give Player Warp Core (Simple Black) |
| G + T + 4 | Give Player Warp Core (Simple White) |
| G + T + 5 | Give Player Warp Core (Simple Broken) |
| G + L + 1 | Give Player Simple Lantern (Lit) |
| G + L + 2 | Give Player Broken Lantern (Unlit) |
| G + L + 3 | Give Player Generation 1 Lantern (Unlit) |
| G + L + 4 | Give Player Generation 2 Lantern (Lit) |
| G + L + 5 | Give Player Generation 3 Lantern (Lit) |
| G + R + S + 1 | Give Story 1 Slide Reel |
| G + R + S + 2 | Give Story 2 Slide Reel |
| G + R + S + 3 | Give Story 3 Slide Reel |
| G + R + S + 4 | Give Story 4 Slide Reel |
| G + R + S + 5 | Give Story 5 (Complete) Slide Reel |
| G + R + S + 6 | Give Burning Slide Reel |
| G + R + S + 7 | Give Experiement Slide Reel |
| G + R + S + 8 | Give Damage Report Slide Reel |
| G + R + S + Numpad 0 | Give Prisoner Vision Slide Reel |
| G + R + S + Numpad 1 | Give Prisoner Farewell Vision Slide Reel |
| G + R + S + Numpad 2 | Give Tower Vision Slide Reel |
| G + R + S + Numpad 3 | Give Signal Jammer Slide Reel |
| G + R + S + Numpad 4 | Give Homeworld Slide Reel |
| G + R + S + Numpad 5 | Give Stranger Escape Slide Reel (5 Combined into 1) |
| G + R + P + 1 | Give Library Path 1 Slide Reel |
| G + R + P + 2 | Give Library Path 2 Slide Reel |
| G + R + P + 3 | Give Library Path 3 Slide Reel |
| G + R + P + 4 | Give Seal 1 Slide Reel |
| G + R + P + 5 | Give Seal 2 Slide Reel |
| G + R + P + 6 | Give Seal 3 Slide Reel |
| G + R + P + 7 | Give Dream Rule 1 Slide Reel |
| G + R + P + 8 | Give Dream Rule 2 v1 Slide Reel |
| G + R + P + 9 | Give Dream Rule 2 v2 Slide Reel |
| G + R + P + 0 | Give Dream Rule 3 Slide Reel |
Debugging Cheats
| Key | Description |
|---|---|
| D + P | Toggle Display of Player/Ship/Probe Coordinates |
| D + Z | Toggle Display of Planet Coordinates |
| D + B | Toggle Display of Bramble Portal Mapping |
| D + I | Toggle Display of Warp Pad Mapping |
Logging Cheats
| Key | Description |
|---|---|
| L + 1 | Log When New Facts Are Revealed |
| L + 2 | Log When Conditions Changes on the Save File |
| L + 3 | Log When Conditions Changes due to Dialogue |
The Outer Wilds Cheat FAQs
Does The Outer Wilds have cheats?
There are no official cheats for The Outer Wilds, but the game does feature mods that allow players to input commands that activate cheats.
The image featured at the top of this post is ©Key art and title card for The Outer Wilds.