Figuring out how to save in Outer Wilds isn’t a clear cut process. Knowing when autosaves are triggered and whether or not there are manual save slots is essential when you’re facing the end of the world every 20 minutes or so. Fortunately, under examination, the Outer Wilds save system is pretty simple once you know exactly what triggers an autosave.
How to save in Outer Wilds | Is there autosave?
It’s not really clear at first what triggers a save in Outer Wilds. It’s also unclear just exactly what the game saves. Since everything explodes every 22 minutes, you’ll want to know what progress carries over into the next time loop.
Outer Wilds autosaves every time you start a new time loop. When you die, you’ll see the face of the Nomai statue from the Timber Hearth observatory, and you’ll get a little slideshow of your previous loop. Once you wake up again by the launch tower staring up at Giant’s Deep, you’ll know your game is saved.
As for what is saved, the answer to that is not much. The only thing that carries over into a new time loop is your ships log and your memories of whatever you accomplished so far. Luckily, that should be enough to clue you in on what to do next if you’re not sure.
Are there manual saves in Outer Wilds?
Unfortunately, there are no manual saves in Outer Wilds, nor are there multiple save slots. In between the autosaves that occur when you die and start another time loop, you don’t have the option to record your progress. Even though that means there’s only a maximum of 22 minutes between saves, you might still find yourself in the position where you need to save and quit mid-loop.
Well, Outer Wilds may not present you the option to manually save in the menu, but that doesn’t have to stop you. If you’re mid-loop and want to trigger a quicksave, just kill yourself.
It might seem a bit harsh, but suicide is the easiest way to trigger a save in Outer Wilds. Your best bet is to just plunge into the sun if you’re able to. However, if you’re on a planet and your ship isn’t nearby, you’re going to have to get a bit more inventive. Usually, the easiest way to kill yourself when you’re on foot is to use your jetpack to pick up speed then dash yourself against a hard surface.
If you can’t reach the sun and you have no rocks to smash against you’ll have to do things the hard way. You can use all your jetpack fuel until it switches over to using oxygen as thrust. Then just keep thrusting, and you’ll expire from lack of oxygen.
Whatever the case, as soon as you breathe your last, you’ll wake up on Timber Hearth again, and the game will autosave. This allows you to quit playing, knowing that all your progress has been saved.
