Sci-fi exploration game Outer Wilds is getting a surprise expansion in September

Released in 2019 by Mobius Digital and Annapurna Interactive, Outer Wilds is a game about exploring a solar system a few minutes before its sun goes supernova and wipes out everything—only to wake up and do it over and over again, thanks to a time loop that only you seem to be aware of. It's excellent—we gave it an 89% score in our review—and in September it will come back yet again with a surprise expansion called Echoes of the Eye.

Echoes of the Eye will add an all-new mystery to Outer Wilds: An anomaly that doesn't correlate with any known location in the solar system. There is something ominous about it, though.

"A strange satellite photo that can't be explained. A new museum exhibit that marks the trailhead for one last journey into the wilds," Annapurna teased. "Should you pull at the thread and unravel the solar system's deepest secret, or is some knowledge better left in the dark?"

And appropriately for Outer Wilds, a game that kicks you into a small, strange solar system without so much as a hint of what you're supposed to do there (and then blows you up 15 minutes later), that's the extent of it: The nature of the mystery and the secrets it hides are yours to discover, entirely on your own.

Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye is set to release on Steam and the Epic Games Store on September 28, and will sell for $15. Find out more at annapurnainteractive.com.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.