The Witness

Just finished this game and my honest opinion is that it's a very beautiful game, and figuring out the laws or mechanics of the world felt rewarding. Be warned though, The Witness has no plot, no characters, no good explanation ever provided. You're dropped into the world to spend countless hours learning the rules, and you're rewarded with a few eureka moments as you start applying those rules in new ways. You will find an air of mystery about the whole world you're exploring: out of context audio recordings, statues seemingly frozen in time, and other oddities that will pique your interest. But you as the player will get no answers, no reason for any of it. I've watched analyses and commentaries after completing The Witness, and the game seems to have meaning in the same way a painting has meaning: it might make you feel something, or look at your world a little differently afterward, but those are meanings that you as the observer are deriving. Those meanings may not have even been intended by the artist. Bottom line: If you're looking for a game with story that you uncover slowly (like Myst), you won't find it in The Witness. This game gave me the same satisfaction at the end as finishing a book of Sudoku puzzles: the puzzles were fun, but there's no great revelation awaiting you at completion.

I liked it and given what I know now, I would repurchase at sale price. I agree with (almost) every review I read, either praise or pan. At its core, it’s a puzzle game, and in some cases, can be difficult and frustrating. Some describe this game (somewhat accurately) as one you might find on a tablet ap store. However, I think it is successful taking a “tablet-style” puzzle game and integrating and expanding it into something much more substantial and interesting. Positives: Visually stunning. Simple interface. Difficulty for me was about spot-on (your mileage may vary), and transitioned well from easy to hard. Many optional puzzles that are not required to complete the “core game”. Many different variations of the puzzles, separated in unique map areas, so not being affluent at 1 or 2 types won’t hinder you too much as walkthroughs can get you past difficult puzzles here and there. Things I didn’t like: -Lack of story. There is a limited “game ending”, but with no story it doesn’t end anything. Some say certain aspects of the game (won’t describe to remain spoiler free) did give them some type of enlightenment, but not for me -Soundtrack is non-existent. No mood portrayed throughout the game and all areas felt the same -Open world is fine, but I like slight pushes toward the area to visit next with puzzles I was ready for -Exploration wasn’t very rewarding. -AHA! moments too short-lived. Solving a puzzle just activates an adjacent puzzle or opens a door with a puzzle just inside -Some puzzle areas had too many of the same type of puzzle. Spoiler free hints: -Have pens/paper handy -Play in windowed mode and have a doc that you can paste screenshots into. A 2nd monitor helps. Screenshots of failed puzzles are just as valuable as correct solutions. Also, having a screenshot of the environment makes some puzzles much easier to solve. -For a recommended order of what areas to visit, use the IGN Wiki. The map there is useful and basically spoiler-free.

it´s a very demanding puzzle game for someone like me, that doesn´t play games like this on a regular basis. sometimes, pen and paper come in handy; without it, some puzzles are impossible to me. some are even with pen and paper...

Give it a try, it's super different from anything else I've played, but if you love puzzles and puzzle games specifically, you'll love it.

This might be the puzzle game equivalent of myhouse.wad. You start out doing simple puzzles, but odd details and weird choices start sticking out, and as you investigate things evolve into seeing shapes in the clouds and frantically scribbling bizarre codes on notes in real life. It's a project made by an artist who wanted to explore ideas like the nature of reality or the differences between the way 1930s physicists see the world and the way Zen Buddhism interprets the world. It's obviously been called pretentious, but I'd argue it's more just pie-in-the-sky and overly poetic. The point of the game isn't to do a couple hundred maze puzzles, it's to absorb this constructed world and start seeing it differently as you take more of it in. The game is about perspective and exploration. So with that in mind, the game will be pretty grating if you're looking for a more straightforward or normal game. Should you play Pathologic 2 or Spec Ops: The Line or The Stanley Parable before this? Yeah absolutely, they're way more fun, and the questions they make you ask yourself don't generally include "am I going crazy?" or "should I just look up the solution?" But is this game worth playing? Yeah! If it clicks with you, it'll leave you feeling like your brain has changed. But uhhhh if you aren't confident that the game will click with you, don't burn $40 on a pretty world map to do maze puzzles in.