Future content or DLC after Echoes of the Eye??

[G_A_M_E]

Just wanted to know if there are any plans for future content for Outer Wilds after Echoes of the Eye?

Although the ending seems definitive and story self contained, so I'm not expecting a sequel. Just wondering if there were any plans to add future content to the base game expanding the system/universe?

[Quillithe]

I don't think so, there are actually even extra goodbye tracks in the soundtrack that aren't in the game. I'm suspecting this is it.

[matthornb]

Doubt it, but it has happened once already and seemed hard to believe it would work the first time, so you never know.

Outer Wilds was a pretty self-contained game before Echoes and then when Mobius Digital added this DLC, it fit in more nicely than most of us really anticipated that it would or could. Maybe a new DLC would actually extend out into another nearby star system. I mean, we have already pretty much scoured the Hearthians' solar system and it can't be changed or expanded on too much more at this point so jumping off to somewhere else and figuring out ways to travel there and back makes sense. Maybe start with a hidden Nomai teleporter platform that needs to be located, somewhere in the Hearthian system. Then go from there to somewhere entirely unexpected and new.
The main issue with doing so is keeping the focus of the story from wandering off too much. It'd be nice to keep some existing story threads and themes attached.
I wonder if the ghostbirds / owldeer or whatever they are supposed to actually be called, from 'Echoes of the Eye'... maybe we could find a way to go to their star system of origin. The planet they left behind and a couple of adjacent planets in that star system. Tell some sort of story with that? But again, unlikely there'd be a second DLC at all and at this point I'm kind of just coming up with hypothetical concepts for... if I were doing another DLC, how might I start to go about it?

Personally, I can actually also imagine a sequel of sorts someday. Like, the end of Outer Wilds saw the creation of a completely new reality and that is where a sequel ought to pick up, in a completely new universe with an entirely new array of imaginative and fantastical places to explore and discover, with new secrets scattered all over and new rules and concepts to learn and apply. It should not be expected though - and it need not even be called a sequel. Calling it 'Outer Wilds 2' would just be a name-recognition thing. If this were to be done, ideally they might be able to push it a bit bigger in scope, somewhat larger planets, given a slightly weaker gravity, more of them, and more visual detailing on everything. As for what the new setting would actually be, that's up to the developers and at this point I pretty much trust them to come up with something interesting. Wouldn't necessarily even have to be a time loop involved but it would be great if they nailed the spirit of the first game insofar as some awe-inspiringly creative secrets, that is, being thrust into this new space and situation that seemingly makes zero sense, and exploring, putting the pieces of it together.

A good analogue for what to avoid long term would be the Myst series. There is basically virtually no common ground location-wise from one game to the next. They all have their own batch of worlds to figure out and that is kind of the appeal. Just the sense of curiosity driving players to explore and solve puzzles and find more and more new and imaginative places with beautiful art direction and music/sound design. But where the Myst series failed - aside from wildly uneven difficulty curves at times - is that after a while, it was less a 'what is going on here?' and more... 'okay, what happens next?'
The thematic ground was pored over in a few ways and tackled from a mix of angles but that whole sense of fascinating mystery the first title aimed for faded gradually over time. It was ideas we'd already covered, characters we knew, cultures we basically understood, and even if the settings and puzzle mechanics changed the story and settings became, to some partial degree, predictable. And note, I LIKE the Myst games. I felt they had so much creativity in some areas and they offered such a freeing opportunity insofar as the premise allowed the developers there to make any world they wanted to pretty much, but with Outer Wilds, there's something so stunningly fresh and unique about what Mobius did here and I can't help but hope there's a well of imagination in them that can be kept fresh for a litany of games by starting over with a blank slate each time and asking, what cool new things and ideas can we explore now? And not try to tie each entry too much to the ones before it. I'd like them to surprise us every time with what they have us discovering.

It seems to me that Mobius Digital did an amazing thing here and whatever they do next, I'm probably going to be super excited about.

[Quillithe]

I think some hints at the DLC content were datamined in the original files - references to things that didn't end up in the game. Not sure if that happened again, but they were actually planning the DLC earlier on it seems.

I don't think they'll go down the Myst path - with how distinct the DLC was from the base game I feel like they'll do something very different next, hopefully with the core of exploration and discovery somehow though.

I'll miss my shippy though. I already missed faithful shippy in the DLC.

[G_A_M_E]

Honestly I think its totally fine to end the story with this DLC. I was satisfied with the melancholic conclusion to the game. What I will miss is the hand crafted space exploration elements. There aren't many games that are able to pull off the cosmic wonder that this game has...

[Glardian]

I thought the reveal of more solar systems nearby meant MORE EXPANSION PASSES BABY which Im stoked for but if this is the end thats okay too

[josechjoda]

There's no narrative need for more, but there's space for more, just like there was for EotE. Seems a shame to waste the virtual immortality and warp technology.

I'm just saying, my wallet is ready whenever.

[G_A_M_E]

I actually thought the reveal of other star systems on the slide reels on the Stranger might mean that future DLC about exploring those systems would be possible. Also a DLC about what happened to the other Nomai clans might be interesting.

[lieutenantkirtar]

I would rather they work on a new game instead of more dlc. I don't mind the 22 minute timer but I would rather see something set in the new universe with new rules or something completely new from these developers.

[oploidd]

The only question I have left is why did the Sun Station not work?
The game just says "It didn't work, it could never work.", but WHY?
Insufficient power?
Poor cannon design?
Did it somehow miss?
I don't believe it was ever explained.

[ReverendTed]

Originally posted by Lockdown:

The only question I have left is why did the Sun Station not work?
I don't believe it was ever explained.

It says there were barely-perceptible surface changes, so it seems most likely that it was an insufficient power issue.