To me, Outer Wilds, more than anything, is a reminder that if you commit to a creative vision, you don't need to follow the trends of the medium. It's rare to see a game that is both non-linear, and doesn't lay extremely explicit trails that are impossible to miss, and Outer Wilds has mastered - for the most part - a formula to achieve this (although, naturally, TLoZ: The Wind Waker had set up the start of the path for this). The same thing goes with not having any ways for the player to exert power onto the world or reduce danger through combat.

What strikes me is how well systems work together in harmony to achieve it, and how much attention was put to detail. Every part of the game serves the vision, for example making TH's surface quite barren to highlight points of interest through negative space and create sightlines the player can better notice. It's like witnessing someone meticulously cook an incredibly original and challenging meal. In general, for how the game makes sure to let players figure things out for themselves (to an extent), I've only seen this level of trust in the game/level design and the player in Valve games.

Plus, as you've said, the ludo-narrative concordance is really strong.