Remember the TV show LOST? The Witness is for gaming what LOST was for TV. Some people loved LOST. The mystery, the additional complexity every single episode, the unanswered questions that continued to pile up, the beauty of the island, the recognition that we were only privy to a small subplot within something much grander in scale, and of course the finale - it honored the viewer's ability to imagine and create their own answers and resolutions and gave us an honorable goodbye to the people we fell in love with. Some people hated LOST. Wait was that a flash forward or backward? What about GPS? Polar bears, seriously? Could you answer a question without creating 17 more? WTF IS THAT SMOKE MONSTER??? And the finale - what kind of DooDooFest doesn't answer any questions at the end? You're supposed to tell me the truth! I am in the camp that loved LOST, but more importantly to this review, I loved The Witness. I love not having all my questions answered, I love the bread crumbs left behind by a plot that's gone missing, I love the puzzles that make my brain feel more challenged than it has in a long time, I love finding myself saying, "This puzzle's impossible. It breaks the rules." and then 5 minutes later forcing myself to say, "Ok, it may seem impossible, but I know it's not. How can I change my thinking to find the solution that doesn't break the rules?" I am totally engaged and filled with energy when I play - I receive from this game, it takes nothing. If ever I find myself frustrated I remind myself that I am too limited in how I'm thinking - the puzzles aren't the issue, my brain is. That shift allows me to see the solution because I stop pigeonholing the puzzles into what I think they should be. It's a masterpiece.
