How to save the game?

[Vinny the Fox]

I played for like an hour and was enjoying it but wanted to take a break and couldn't find a save option. now I have to start over. What gives?

[fluffy]

It autosaves each time you wake up, so finish the current loop before quitting to save your progres.

[thurd]

From what I found best way is to either die (which will save) or wait for an "event". Probably stayed in the base for that period, try to explore other planets.

[ultramage]

The game world 'starts' after you complete the task in the observatory. At that point the game 'saves', allowing you to retry if you run out of time or you die accidentally. However, the savefile is only written after the first time that happens. So either keep playing for 20-ish minutes after taking off, or just kill yourself by one of the many ways possible.

This has the odd consequence that if you do the first-try run for the "beginner's luck" achievement, none of that progress will get saved. I sent them an e-mail about that just now.

[Nert]

Correction to the above, it autosaves the second you learn anything new. "Ship Log Updated" will appear on your screen. You will always start back at the beginning but your progress is saved.

Although as Ultramage points out none of that starts until you're done with the observatory

[Zolace]

That's a pain in the butt! I really want to be able to walk away from the game at any time and pick back up where I left off at any point. Real life happens, and you have to take care of it, you know?

They should add a save/load game feature to the menu. Every time I fire up the game I have to start fresh instead of continuing with my current game. It would be nice if there was at least a "Continue Game" menu item, instead of just start new game. Am I the only one who's not getting a "continue game" option in the menu?

[Nert]

Nert님이 먼저 게시:

Correction to the above, it autosaves the second you learn anything new. "Ship Log Updated" will appear on your screen. You will always start back at the beginning but your progress is saved.

Although as Ultramage points out none of that starts until you're done with the observatory

Zolace님이 먼저 게시:

That's a pain in the butt! I really want to be able to walk away from the game at any time and pick back up where I left off at any point. Real life happens, and you have to take care of it, you know?

They should add a save/load game feature to the menu. Every time I fire up the game I have to start fresh instead of continuing with my current game. It would be nice if there was at least a "Continue Game" menu item, instead of just start new game. Am I the only one who's not getting a "continue game" option in the menu?

As above, once you’ve actually passed the prologue, it autosaves and you cannot lose progress, you will have a continue option

[tyr0mancer]

I hate games that will not let me save when I want/ have to. If you have all the time in the world this might not be an issue. If you have kids or want to play just casually this is a terrible design. Asked for a refund and had to give a negative review because of that ♥♥♥♥.

[Bandy]

tyr0mancer님이 먼저 게시:

Asked for a refund and had to give a negative review because of that ♥♥♥♥.

Refund is your perogative, negative review? Well, that can be interpreted as just spiteful...

[Nert]

tyr0mancer님이 먼저 게시:

I hate games that will not let me save when I want/ have to. If you have all the time in the world this might not be an issue. If you have kids or want to play just casually this is a terrible design. Asked for a refund and had to give a negative review because of that ♥♥♥♥.

It autosaves constantly, you never lose progress.

[ReverendTed]

tyr0mancer님이 먼저 게시:

I hate games that will not let me save when I want/ have to. If you have all the time in the world this might not be an issue. If you have kids or want to play just casually this is a terrible design. Asked for a refund and had to give a negative review because of that ♥♥♥♥.

You can't be in one place more than 22 minutes, and it generally takes no more than a couple of minutes to get anywhere. Once you're "in the loop", any discoveries are automatically logged to your save file. You're never losing more than a couple of minutes of "progress" if you just immediately quit out.

Without knowing more, it seems like you're upset about this because you haven't played the game enough to understand how it plays, and why "save anywhere" isn't as meaningful in Outer Wilds as it is in other types of games.

[GMC]

ReverendTed님이 먼저 게시:

You're never losing more than a couple of minutes of "progress" if you just immediately quit out.

This is only true for one particular definition of "progress". For another definition, you can lose up to 22 minutes, in the sense that it could take that long to get back to the point that a more general save system would have put you.

E.g. if you want to read what's written inside the tower of knowledge, you have to wait until it falls through the black hole, which occurs relatively late in the loop. If you had just gotten to that point and you had to quit the game, having to re-do it on the next loop would be annoying.

Ultimately, 22 minutes is short enough that the developer can get away with not implementing full saves, in the sense that a save system probably wouldn't be most people's first choice if the developer requested comments on what should be improved. A lot of games do this if "progress" saves can be implemented at a fraction of the effort of full saves.

[Goblin]

GMC님이 먼저 게시:

ReverendTed님이 먼저 게시:

You're never losing more than a couple of minutes of "progress" if you just immediately quit out.

This is only true for one particular definition of "progress". For another definition, you can lose up to 22 minutes, in the sense that it could take that long to get back to the point that a more general save system would have put you.

E.g. if you want to read what's written inside the tower of knowledge, you have to wait until it falls through the black hole, which occurs relatively late in the loop. If you had just gotten to that point and you had to quit the game, having to re-do it on the next loop would be annoying.

Nope, if you need an event that happens 18 minutes into the loop you can just spend a minute or two at the campfire and fly there straight away. Just about every single location has some form of shortcut to it you can learn once you get there once, or can be gone straight to at the right time, and you can get to any right time in no time at all.

[ReverendTed]

While it's true that you can "lose 20 minutes of progress" if you arrive at the Tower of Knowledge and then can't wait two more minutes to quit (because not everyone knows about the campfires, and not everyone has discovered the shortcuts), I think it's the exception that proves the rule. You have to seek out these very specific circumstances under which a Save Game feature would be meaningful, like the High Energy Lab or the Sun Station.
In the vast majority of cases, it's just not that much of a setback to get back where you were from a new start, especially when starting from scratch is a core element of the gameplay loop.

[Tommyk]

I dont like games that do not let me save on my terms
When I have to leave, I wish to be able to save my progress.
I am not "ma, please, I need to play until the next savepoint" type

[ReverendTed]

Tommyk님이 먼저 게시:

I am not "ma, please, I need to play until the next savepoint" type

Fortunately, Outer Wilds isn't that kind of game! After the initial "setup", your progress is saved immediately any time you learn something. (I think, anyway. If not, then you can for sure "save" immediately by dying.)