More Echoes of the Eye spoilers. Please don't read unless you've beaten the game, I'm begging you to not read them
The second half of Echoes of the Eye, venturing into the 'dark world' and avoiding the spooky elk, is understandably a really divisive part of the game, and I get it. I wasn't sure how I felt about it at first. For starters, it's REALLY SCARY with reduced frights off. I struggled with it at times; it's crazy anxiety-inducing and heartrate-increasing in a way nothing else in this game is, even the anglerfish. I still committed to leaving reduced frights off, though, because I WANTED the full-bore experience - I actually think turning reduced frights on is okay, it's still spooky enough, though I think it also renders the game a bit too easy. I liked actually having to solve the stealth sections in this portion; I think they were fun.
The other problem is that I ended up getting lost a lot of the time; it's so dark that it's really hard to actually get a feel for what the areas are like, and how you can avoid the elk. I ended up wandering lost for quite a while in a lot of the areas and this ended up getting frustrating when I couldn't figure out how to get around some of the guys. This isn't helped by the fact that some of the stealth sections are just really hard, and while one of the major ones can actually be bypassed with a really clever trick, the other one can't, so you just have to keep trying it, but I kept falling in the water on accident because I couldn't see the floor, oops. I did actually start to get a little frustrated with the game at some point, which wasn't the best of feelings. I don't want to be frustrated at Outer Wilds.
But man, the payoff was so worth it. First of all, the environments in the 'dark world' in particular are just dumbfoundingly beautiful and haunting at the same time; you can see why the elk are content to just hang out there forever, it's so cozy! And wandering about these areas is just so damn spooky. I'm not really a fan of atmospheric horror games all that much, mainly because I'm just not a huge fan of the vibe of like, grotesque monsters and horrible murder and generally bleak environments and situations, but Outer Wilds isn't doing ANY of that, it's JUST sticking to a eerie-but-awe-inspiring vibe which is awesome, which made this a horror experience I could really get behind.
And figuring out the 'puzzles' for what you have to do is so damn satisfying; learning the way all of the rules of the world work is mindblowing. I actually figured out the trick of leaving the lantern behind and walking away on accident, just through experimentation. I guess it wasn't really accidental, because I did try it on purpose to see what would happen if I walked away from it, but I was surprised that it did something; I figured I'd just get lost. And putting it all together and being able to meet the Prisoner at the end was absolutely breathtaking; arguably a better and more satisfying ending to the game. It's not the only time I cried in Outer Wilds, but it's probably the time I cried the most.
I think most of what I could say about the expansion is self-evident to everyone who's played it. The scary bits definitely turn some people off more than others, but I really felt the payoff was so worth it. It's just brilliant. I can't think of anything more to say.
Long story short, Outer Wilds might be my favorite game of all time, and Echoes of the Eye firmly solidifies that; if not for a few nostalgic favorites from the late 80's/early 90's that are so unimpeachably special to me, this would rank #1 all-time. It's my favorite game ever made since 1994, and that's kind of insane for me to think about.
But I did feel like it would be KINDA lame to have Echoes of the Eye at #1 - it feels a little too obvious, being that it's an expansion DLC to my favorite game of the 10's, and it's not a full game.
Fortunately, I did play one game this past year that spoke directly to my heart even more profoundly than Outer Wilds did, somehow, so that game took the #1 spot instead.
Next up: My 2021 GOTY, and one of my favorite games of all time.
It's like, the only game of interest to me that I've not mentioned or implied in this entire thread, so its absence should make it guessable!