There are a several ways finish Outer Wilds. Some of them are can only be accomplished by exploring and learning as much as possible about the history of the Solar System, and others are cleverly hidden and must be discovered.
Endings
Eye of the Universe Ending
The Eye of the Universe ending is the intended ending of the game and is achieved by removing the Advanced Warp Core from the Ash Twin Project and transporting it to the Vessel. After inserting the Advanced Warp Core in the housing unit, a console will rise from the floor where the player must input the coordinates retrieved from the Probe Tracking Module. After successfully entering the coordinates and sliding the light orb up, the Vessel will warp to the Eye of the Universe.
Once on the Eye of the Universe, the player will walk from the South to North pole, passing through a major quantum storm and encountering numerous quantum objects. The player will eventually come to a large crater with a large amount of quantum mass flowing upwards. Jumping into it, the player will fall for a long time and see several quantum anomalies before suddenly being transported to a quantum version of the Observatory. All the notes on the various exhibits have been changed to reflect discoveries the player has made and events that have passed. Once the player reaches the upper level and interacts with the display, they are transported to a forest known as the Ancient Grove.
The player will then have to make a campfire and find Feldspar, Gabbro, Riebeck, Esker, Chert, and Solanum (if she was found on the Quantum Moon) with their signalscope. After finding all of the travelers, talking with each will cause them to start playing their respective instruments. When all are playing a blue ball will begin expanding above the campfire. After they play for a short time the music will stop, the campfire will extinguish, and the ball will stop growing.
Entering the ball will transport the player to an empty region of space. Immediately afterwards, a new Universe will explode into existence in an event reminiscent of the Big Bang. The explosion will race towards the player before engulfing them in a blinding light. The game then ends with credits with a post-credits cutscene afterward.
Post-Credits Cutscene
The post credit cutscene occurs 14.3 Billion years after the events of the ending. The new universe fades in while the camera pans down to a newly forming solar system before showing a surface view of one of the newly formed unidentified planets.
The post-credit cutscene varies slightly depending on what was accomplished during the play through.
- If the player found Solanum, when the camera pans down to the planet, a campfire can be seen igniting with insectoid aliens roasting marshmallows in a forest. If Solanum was never found, the forest remains black.
- If the player lost their probe at any point while on the Eye of the Universe, the probe will fly past the unidentified planet.
"You Died" Ending
The "You Died" ending is achieved by dying while the player is not connected with a Nomai Statue or the Ash Twin Project.
The most common way to receive this ending is from dying at the start of the game, before the player is able to link with the Nomai statue upon leaving the Observatory. Common ways this can occur are: jumping in the campfire, fall/collision damage, walking into the ghost matter field, or jumping into a geyser and drowning. If the player dies before linking with the Nomai statue, the game effectively restarts.
Another way this ending is achieved is by dying after removing the Advanced Warp Core from the Ash Twin Project. The Ash Twin Project is explained to be the reason for the time loop mechanic and disabling the project will prevent the player's memories from being sent back in time 22-minutes upon death. This will cause a "You Died" message to display if the player is killed while the Ash Twin Project is disabled and the player is returned to the main menu. While this death is intended to be permanent, the player can resume their save and continue from their previous loop.
Isolation Ending
The Isolation ending is caused by removing the Advanced Warp Core from the Ash Twin Project and flying far enough away from the Sun as to not be affected by the supernova. A short time after the Supernova ends, the screen will fade to black, stating the player and their ship will drift through space until the ship’s supplies are depleted.
Quantum Moon Ending
The Quantum Moon ending is caused by removing the Advanced Warp Core from the Ash Twin Project and landing on the Quantum Moon and traveling to its sixth location. After the supernova occurs, the screen will fade to black stating the player has lost track of time and their journey has reached its end, with the player sharing the same fate as Solanum.
Breaking Spacetime Ending
The Breaking Spacetime ending is achieved by breaking the fabric of reality in a variety of ways.
The most common way this can occur is in the High Energy Lab on Ember Twin. If the player inserts a while hole and black hole into the device and fires a probe into the black hole, the probe will exit the white hole shortly before entering the black hole. If the black hole is removed from the console before the probe enters the black hole but after it has exited the white hole, two probes will exist simultaneously and begin giving an "Error: Duplicate Signal" message. Shortly after, the screen will begin tearing before being engulfed in darkness, starting the player has broken the fabric of Spacetime.
Another way this ending can be achieved is by waiting on the Quantum Moon until the end of the cycle when the supernova is already in progressing, and causing it to teleport to an area that is already engulfed by the Supernova.
A third way this ending can occur is if two probe signals exist within Dark Bramble when the Supernova occurs. When the supernova reaches Dark Bramble, the player will receive the breaking spacetime ending.
In every variation of this ending, the traditional credit scroll is played extremely quickly with humorous edits and accompanied by a kazoo-cover of the main theme.
Self Ending
The Self Ending is a unique ending added in Patch 1.0.4 and is a variation of the Breaking Spacetime ending that destroys the fabric of spacetime. Mechanically, the Ash Twin Project operates by creating a black hole at the moment of the supernova to send your memories back through time. This black hole forms in the chassis that holds the Advanced Warp Core. It is possible to jump into this black hole and begin a paradox. The loop will end and player will wake up at their campfire as usual. During this loop. there will be two "You Are Here" markers on the Solar System map, with one of them still being within the core of Ash Twin. By returning there, the player can find a copy of themselves- their own character from the previous cycle near the script wall, having been carried back through time alongside their memories.
After getting over the initial shock of the situation, the player's past self wonders what will happen if their present self does not jump through the black hole to resolve the paradox that has been created. If you jump through the black hole, the player can come back in the next loop for dialogue, or you can not, and watch them be the epicenter of another catastrophic breakdown of the spacetime continuum. If that black hole opens and the player is not in it, the game will end with a breaking spacetime ending, and technically becomes unwinnable. The only way to undo it is to reload a save file (post-destruction) and not seed the paradox again.
Notes & Trivia
- Upon release, a mistake from the developers caused the text from the Quantum Moon ending to read as just “813”. Until this was fixed in Patch 1.0.2, this ending was commonly referred to as the "813 Ending".