Outer Wilds (Original Soundtrack) is a soundtrack album to the game Outer Wilds and consists of twenty-eight tracks composed by Andrew Prahlow. The album was published by Annapurna Interactive on June 1st 2019.[1] The soundtrack is present throughout the game to give a feeling to certain places or moments, and is very popular within the Outer Wilds community.
Tracklist[]
| # | Track | Duration | Plays At | Name Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Timber Hearth | 3:25 | Plays during daytime on Timber Hearth. | The planet the track plays on. |
| 2 | Outer Wilds | 2:26 | Scrapped track, used to play in the main menu. | The name of the game. |
| 3 | The Museum | 2:48 | Plays when the player enters The Museum on Timber Hearth. | The location the theme plays in. |
| 4 | Space | 4:15 | Plays in outer space. | The location the theme plays in |
| 5 | Castaways | 2:25 | Plays inside the core of Interloper, and in the mass grave on Dark Bramble. Sections of the track also play while standing in a projection pool and when near the Vessel. | Castaway: a person who has been shipwrecked and stranded in an isolated place. In reference to the Nomai being Castaways in the Solar System. |
| 6 | The Sun Station | 2:38 | Plays when you open the emergency hatch on the Sun Station. | The location the track plays in. |
| 7 | Main Title | 1:18 | Plays in the main menu. | This theme plays on the main menu, hence the title. |
| 8 | The Search | 2:42 | Plays inside the Southern Observatory and the Control Module. | In reference to the Nomai being on a constant search for the Eye of the Universe. This theme plays in key locations crucial to The Search. |
| 9 | The Uncertainty Principle | 3:27 | Plays on the Quantum Moon, and on the Signal Scope when pointed at a quantum object. | The Uncertainty Principle is a fundamental concept in quantum physics, it states that there is a limit to the precision with which certain pairs of physical properties, such as position and momentum, can be simultaneously known. In other words, the more accurately one property is measured, the less accurately the other property can be known. Outer Wilds was designed around the concept of The Uncertainty Principle for the USC Games Program, which is most likely why this track is named as such. |
| 10 | End Times | 1:58 | Plays when the sun is entering the Supernova state. | The End Times is common in media and literature to refer to the end of the world, this name was most likely picked due to it being the end of the loop/universe. It's also possible it's in reference to eschatology, or the Eels album by the same name. |
| 11 | 22 Minutes | 0:28 | Plays when the loop you've been through is played in reverse. | Due to the Nomai's cycle lasting 22 minutes. |
| 12 | The Nomai | 3:54 | Plays in the Sunless City and the Hanging City. | The name of the species who built both the Sunless and Hanging Cities. |
| 13 | The Ash Twin Project | 3:54 | Plays inside the Ash Twin Project. | The theme plays inside the Ash Twin Project. |
| 14 | Dark Bramble | 3:36 | Plays when exploring the Dark Bramble. | The theme plays inside Dark Bramble. |
| 15 | Giant's Deep | 1:20 | Plays in the Ocean Depths of Giant's Deep. | The planet the track plays on. |
| 16 | Nomai Ruins | 6:24 | Plays in Nomai Ruins. | Named after the state of the locations the theme plays in. |
| 17 | Final Voyage | 2:38 | Plays when you take out the Warp Core out of the Ash Twin Project. | Possibly a reference to the action film from 1999 of the same name. It is most likely named as such due to (in the story) it being the final trip through space the protagonist will make. |
| 18 | The Ancient Glade | 2:18 | Plays when entering the wooded area on the Eye of the Universe. | A reference to Gabbro's Poem in the Quantum Grove on Timber Hearth. |
| 19 | Curiosity | 0:31 | Plays when speeding towards the Nomai Mask in the Nomai Shuttle in the Eye of the Universe. | Due to this theme playing nearby the Nomai Mask, it's safe to assume this theme is called curiosity due to the Nomai's values of being curious on their journeys and constantly advancing and discovering new things. This theme is also a drone ripped directly from The Sun Station's music. |
| 20 | Travelers | 3:30 | Plays at the campfire on the Eye of the Universe, after the player asked every Traveler to start playing. | The Travelers' Music. |
| 21 | Let There Be Light | 0:32 | Plays when the big bang happens. | Let There Be Light is an english translation found in Genesis 1:3 of the Torah, the first part of the Hebrew Bible. "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, and it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness." |
| 22 | 14.3 Billion Years | 5:20 | Plays during the Credits. | This track plays directly before the 14.3 Billion Year timeskip at the end of the game. |
| 23 | Morning | 0:26 | Plays during the post-credits cutscene. | A reprise of the theme that plays during the mornings on Timber Hearth. This is also most likely called this due to mornings being the end of a dark period, and symbolizing hope. |
| 24 | Campfire Song | 2:05 | Pre-Alpha Trailer | The Hearthians commonly played music around campfires. |
| 25 | Into the Wilds | 1:46 | Reveal Trailer | The title is in reference to what you do in the game. |
| 26 | Arrow of Time | 0:37 | Gameplay Trailer | The Arrow of Time is a concept positing the fact that time glides through quickly in one direction and will never turn back. |
| 27 | We Have Liftoff | 1:12 | Launch Trailer | NASA Mission Control said this on July 16, 1969 when Apollo 11, the first manned mission to land on the moon, took off from Earth. |
| 28 | A Terrible Fate | 0:57 | Plays after the "Breaking Spacetime" ending. | The Happy Mask Salesman says to Link "You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?" In Majoras Mask, a game that heavily influenced Outer Wilds and its Time Loop. |