Outer Wilds is life changing in the most literal way. This is a must play experience unlike any other. Outer Wilds is not a game with quest markers, objectives, etc., you're driven entirely due to your own curiosity and what compels you forward is your desire to learn more about the world. Everything in Outer Wilds is knowledge-gated rather than being an item unlock or ability - There is no point where your character learns to double-jump or you get a grappling hook and the world suddenly opens up to you - The game is open to you fully from the very start, you just haven't learned what to do to progress yet. Progression is open ended, there's not a "Point A to Point B" plot development; you pursue whatever story threads you deem most interesting at the time, with all clues building on each other and slowly unlocking the next layer of the puzzle. Due to the knowledge-gated aspect of the game, anything you learn beyond what I've said above will spoil a part of the game and quite literally permanently remove a part of the game you are able to experience on your own.
There is no game quite like Outer Wilds, and once you finish it, a common sentiment is the sadness that you will never be able to play it again.

So I got this game as a gift recently. Even as a free gift from a friend, this game is not worth playing.
Giving your friend a gift of this game is akin to giving him a boxed present that is filled to the brim with droppings from a variety of different animals combined.
Where can one begin on a game of so many failed things?
The controls are stiff and uncomfortable, to start off. Think "Rainbow Six", except not good. Movement is a chore and no matter how slow you move, the AI seems to detect you through eight layers of concrete and steel without problem, even though you are making no noise on your end - The disconnect between what you hear and what the enemies can hear is severely disruptive. You can move faster, but it does not help, nor is it advised. You will always run straight into one of the AI juggernauts I will cover shortly. The gunplay is abhorrent; barely tolerable. Every weapon feels, handles, and operates the same way (no differentiation between firearms) and are thoroughly unenjoyable to use or fire. The sounds are bland, stock, generic. . . etc. Any word you can imagine to describe forgettable sounds applies here. I can't think of a single sound that made me feel immersed, excited, thrilled, or anything you would WANT to feel about sound. The sound design in this game is on par with Rainbow Six. That game came out in 1998.
And so we get to the most offensive part of this game: the AI. The enemy AI, if you would even stoop so low to call it that, is beyond unbelievable. Not in the positive way, either. It's so bad it needs its own paragraph to discuss it. My average experience in this game upon loading a match up is seeing the first enemy in the level, maybe 15 seconds in, go from looking away from me, to instantly rotating 90 degrees towards me in a single frame, and then proceeding to headshot me from 50 feet away, ending my game instantly. They will either stand still and eat bullets for you, or annihilate you mercilessly and without a single modicum of realism in their actions. There is no middle ground. These are hellish terminators bent on the destruction of humankind, loaded up with aimbot and wallhack software, yet with nearly absent pathfinding and tactical skills. They are idiot savants who are expert marksmen yet walk into walls and freeze up upon trying to navigate the infinitely difficult obstacles of a simple wooden doorway.

This is not a fun game. This is barely even a game. I have difficulty in believing that people intentionally made something this horrid. I went into this wanting to like it, I truly did. It had the heritage of Rainbow Six and tactical squad gameplay behind it, devs who wanted to do the old series justice, and the potential that new technology and a fresh perspective could have brought to the genre. Instead, I was assaulted by an unplayable monstrosity that should have been put down by the evil scientists who created it before it broke loose from their lab.
After playing a while with my friend who gifted me the game, the only redeeming values I found about the entire game were these:
"Well, the models look pretty good."
"Aw dude, I can see your flashlight when you shine it. That's awesome."

When the only things I can commend about your work are the above, you know you have problems.
I do not recommend purchasing this game. Indeed, if you're reading this, go somewhere else for your tactical action needs. They will not be satisfied here.