The Witness

When The Witness first came out in 2016, I remember players being very torn as to whether this was an engaging puzzle game, or a pretentious display of pseudo-intellect.
Before I had even owned the game, I knew of its developer from a 2012 documentary, “Indie Game: The Movie”. In this movie, Jonathan Blow talks about his experience with developing his indie title, “Braid”. He talks about how he deeply believes games can help people connect, and it seemed that he wanted to connect with people through this title. The game released, and was extremely popular at that time. It was a difficult puzzle game that involved time-manipulation. The mechanic was seen as novel and quirky, but people didn’t connect to the game and it’s message the way Jonathan had hoped they would. The movie shows a clip of rapper “Soulja Boy” showing his friends the time mechanic and laughing at the novelty of it, before cutting back to the interview with Jon, who expresses that he felt that they’re not seeing the important part of the game. He maybe felt like something he put a bit of his soul into was overlooked, and discarded as just a funny little puzzle game. I found this part actually a little saddening, as it felt like you could see someone desperately trying to make human connections that don’t quite materialise.
When The Witness was announced and I heard it was Jonathan’s new game, I had an immediate hope in my heart that this time he would feel that people understood the game in the way he hoped that they would.
The game released, and it was a mixed bag. Some people loved it, and I heard others saying this was not a fun puzzle game, but rather just pretentious nonsense. I worried that it had happened again.
The thing is, I think Jonathon is just a very smart man. You can just see when he talks, that he is just a deeply intellectual person. He is existing on a level far above the average person. You know the type of person that can draw entire city skylines from memory or answer any math problem you throw at them 2 seconds after you say it? That kind of level. So of course he would find it hard to connect to average people. When he spoke of his puzzles in braid, he spoke of them like they were quick easy little puzzles he threw together to just take you along the story. I have played a lot of puzzle games, and dare say, i’m not entirely dumb, but I have never finished Braid. The mental gymnastics you had to do to think ahead with the time mechanics were just too hard for me. The story progressed as you got through the chapters so I just got stuck, unable to move forward and connect to his story despite wanting to.
On the other side of things, I heard a lot of people say that those who called this game pretentious are just too stupid for the game. This is a pretty harsh thing to say. After playing it for myself I don’t think it’s just a skill issue, it can be, but I think the divide is also about what interests and drives you as an individual.
To enjoy The Witness I think you need two key things. First, you need to really enjoy puzzles. To the point where solving a puzzle and immediately getting another puzzle is not exhausting to you. Then secondly, I think you need to innately be a deeply curious person.
I myself enjoy puzzles, but not that much, so I get fatigued, but am usually happy to come back to them. This was ideal for me giving the world is open. Sure, I can’t figure out that puzzle now but you bet i’m keeping a note and coming back. That part, I guess I half-qualify. I am a very curious person though, so if you dangle a secret door in front of me that I need to understand and complete a puzzle in order to get into that door, I will keep coming back and keep trying. That will drive me.
The things you find in this game, usually in the form of audio logs or secret videos, are again things that are intriguing to the innately curious. If you enjoy philosophy and the curious nature of philosophy, the questioning of everything, you’ll get a lot out of this game.
If you don’t, I can 100% see why you might see this game as pretentious nonsense.
The island in this game is littered with curiosities, and that is mainly what kept me going. There are secret doors that unlock codes for you to use somewhere… it was exciting to find and to figure out where that code was relevant… then it was fun to explore the things it unlocked. I wanted to unlock them all and find any and all secrets. You can find puzzles in the environment itself, explore every inch of the island and for me, complete as much as possible. This game was challenging, but usually I was impressed by the variety of puzzle types that derived from the same puzzle concept. Some you use shadow, others sound, or light. One area in particular really impressed me. You need to use the concept of mixing coloured light to help solve the puzzles, which is incredibly unique.
The game kept me engaged until I finished as much as I felt I could and decided to finish the game.
and that’s the thing as well, there are X amount of areas you can complete, but you don’t need to complete all of them to be able to finish the game. There is a very reachable minimum and after that, it’s down to you how much you want to complete before you head to endgame.
In general, the world is beautiful and this game has a very slow pace. You are invited to interpret things however you wish, and it feels as if this is almost a meditative experience, where you are taught to be aware of your surroundings, explore, think outside of the box and contemplate.
I played this game many years ago, and got fixated on completing as much as possible. At the end, I discovered the secret challenge room which can grant you the only other achievement in the game other than for completing the game. I made a fair few attempts at the challenge, although admittedly not whole-heartedly. It really is a challenge, and you have to use everything you learn throughout the game to conquer it. I still haven’t done it today but will definitely be going back to try again at some point in future.
Achievements: Included
Just 2, complete the game and complete the secret challenge.
For more reviews of this genre, check out my curator page The Best: First-Person Puzzle Games
For more reviews of games with psychological, philosophical or thought-provoking themes, check out my curator page Psychology, Philosophy & Thought, where we review games that explore the mind, get you thinking or make you question.

On the surface it's just a collection of line puzzles but very quickly into the game expands into so much more than that. Gorgeous visuals & art style, sound design, everything feels methodically crafted and placed and begs to be explored and uncovered. Some might feel it's pretentious but the game doesn't force anything unto the player, it's up to you to piece everything together and take out whatever makes sense for you from the whole experience.

The Witness's deeper message is to make you witness how dumb you actually are
the premise of the game's puzzles is simple. draw line from start to finish. simple enough.
then, the game adds a few small mechanics that transforms the difficulty from dollar store coloring book to interviewing for a coding job at Google. The Witness is the Dark Souls of maze puzzles.
The Witness is the first game i have ever played where i have sat in my desk, staring at the same exact puzzle for 2 1/2 hours in the middle of the night with no solution, asking myself "what do the symbols mean mason?" over and over again.
i covered my hands and felt tears rolling down my eyes as i question my existence, not because of the impossible task laid before me, but because of all the philosophical quotes questioning society and reality scattered throughout the island
as i wipe the tears away, i realize the puzzle has permanently burned into my frontal lobe and the only clear solution i can come up with is to get a lobotomy which triggers the third ending that even the walkthroughs online haven't found yet.
once you play the game and finish it, the world will never look as it were again. you will see the puzzles. you must solve

The game is a fine puzzler with mostly functional progression, but held back by how much a tortured artist Jonathan Blow thinks he is.

an absolute masterpiece. This game is the epitome of what an "open world" non-linear puzzle game should be. The sense of exploration is out of this world and the puzzles are hands down the best I've ever done in my life.
The game is structured in such a way that you even though you find lots of puzzles early on the solutions will only become apparent once you have gone through the different sections on the map. The game does an outstanding job at teaching how to solve each different puzzle type and I personally never found 1 puzzle too hard.
The end of the game does an amazing job at putting everything you've learnt to the test.
10/10 buy on sale it's worth it

The Witness is a great self-contained puzzle experience. You are dropped into a world with no explanation, no tutorial, no pop-ups to tell you what to do or where to go. You are left with only your curiosity and your drive to explore. But it's what this game does with that drive that I think makes it so enjoyable.
As you explore the world you begin solving puzzles and unraveling the clues that different symbols in the world hold. The more you learn the more you begin to notice things that you previously overlooked. As time passes you can find so many hidden secrets that give you a strong sense of accomplishment and intrigue. If you are interested in calm, interesting puzzle games with a large exploration component, the Witness is a great option.
I played this game originally back in 2018 and enjoyed its puzzles. I did the standard ending. I came back 7 years later to experience the game again in its entirety with a 100% play through and appreciated the game even more the second time. A must play for puzzle game enthusiasts.

The Witness is one of the most stunningly beautiful games I’ve ever played, and not just visually. The island itself is a work of art: the colours are vibrant, the island layout is carefully thought out, and it's filled with so many clever little details. If you look closely enough, you'll find clues all around you as to what this island truly is.
I'm not telling you more, because the mystery is part of the fun of the game. Part of the beauty is in how the game presents its puzzles and invites you to engage with them. It's not linear. You can explore the entire island at once. This means that you might come across puzzles that you don't know how to solve yet. What you learn from completing another area's puzzles may be the key to solving those ones later. Clues are everywhere, hidden in plain sight. Some clues help you solve the puzzles in the area, others are hints at what this world is all about. You'll find audio recordings hidden here and there, some of which give you more clues about the island and what's happening.
This isn’t a game that you can run through in a weekend. It's not an easy 100%. (I have 1 of 2 achievements at the time of writing). If you’re playing it the way it’s meant to be played, that is, exploring, paying attention to detail, and learning the puzzles without outside help, you’re likely in for 20-30 hours just to reach the mountain and complete the main path. (I have offline hours, so much more than 22.5, at time of review) And that’s not including the secrets, the environmental puzzles, or the small hidden areas that are rewards for deeper exploration.
Using a guide might be tempting, especially when you hit a wall, but doing this will rob you of the game's best moments. You know? That sudden "aha" moment that's almost magical, when you finally get what you're supposed to do. I have checked online when I was super stuck, but have only done this maybe five times. A couple of things are not obvious and you might need a prompt on where to look, or how you're supposed to go about a set of puzzles. But I don't recommend using a guide to complete the puzzles themselves, unless you come across one where you really need to. It would kinda defeat the purpose of ever playing imho.
I haven’t finished the timed challenge yet. This is a bonus area that requires some extra steps to reach. From what I’ve seen from my first few failed attempts, it’s a test of everything you’ve learned, except this time it's under pressure, and the puzzles are random. I know it’s going to take me many, many tries because I am terrible with timed stuff. But that’s okay. It'll give me something to do when I feel like picking this game back up again.
What makes The Witness so unique is that it teaches entirely through it's design and it does it extremely well. There’s no dialogue, no tutorial prompts, no hints. You either learn by paying attention to detail, or you don’t learn at all. And that design choice is part of what makes it feel so rewarding when things finally click. It takes time. So if you follow guides completely, you won't learn the rules, and you will not be able to complete the bonus area. That's the reason I am saying to at least try figuring it all out yourself first. You'll be glad you did, if you're aiming to 100% the game.
I will say that this isn’t a game for everyone. I loved it. It felt a little nostalgic, like when we were taken to a forest park as a kid and there were all of these ruins and different places to explore. But some players may hate the lack of direction or find certain puzzles way too frustrating. I'll admit that I had those moments too, so I quit, played something else and came back. But if you enjoy games that reward patience, careful observation, and genuine problem-solving, then The Witness is absolutely worth your time. This is a game that I feel respects the player's intelligence. (Except for maybe that one spinning puzzle, spinning for fake difficulty, that made me feel nauseous, but whatever. lol)
Is it worth it's price? I think so. Although, I did pick this game up several years ago in a sale. =)