The Witness

I wish I could delete all memory of this game and play it again. Discovering all the little details and experience the depth slowly unfolding was truly amazing!
Many (more) years will go by before a game like this one will appear again.

I am recommending this with a warning.
If you are looking for an easy puzzle game for a lazy Saturday afternoon like I was, step away.
This game sent me on a rollercoaster of liking it to hating it and back again.
Do I think it's worth the $50-60 price tag ? No.
Do I think this game might be in my top-100 games of all time? Yes.
Should this game have been published 20 years ago? Also Yes.
Talos Principle+Myst, but it's the same line puzzle 500 times over. It probably wasn't intended to be finished in 1 or 2 sittings, and it will hurt your brain. I'm writing this at 5am after the second sitting (13 hrs), having watched all multiple endings and bonuses. I have work in 3 hrs. I can't sleep.

I want amnesia so i can play this game again

Please for the love of anything do not whatever you do, look up the solutions to this game unless you have already found every puzzle and every secret. DO NOT SPOIL THIS GAME, you will regret it. savor every puzzle and if you are stumped, come back and think about it in a different way. This game is way to good to spoil by looking up the answers to these puzzle. They are beautiful, well made, and much thought and creativity went into each and every puzzle and each and every secret. For those of you who want this, Happy Hunting.

I wish I could experience this game for the first time again. It was so satisfying exploring the (really really lovely) island, working out new puzzle rules and discovering secrets.

If you have watched Joseph Andersons review of this game before coming here or a similar review I am gonna address some of the points brought up against the game.
People often complain about the sludginess of traversal. Be it bridges that slowly rotate or elevators crawling down. And yes on face value that is bad. But it doesn't waste your time on purpose. Here is the reason: There are hidden enviromental puzzles in the game. Some are broken appart and can only be connected by riding a vehicle and getting the right perspective. So that is why some of the things move delibertly slow, so you can solve the puzzles. It's not "bad on purpose" just for the sake of it, like Joseph proposed while being extra salty.
Jonathan Blow also really likes zen. This is why the witness doesn't have any high octane action but is deliberatly calming.
The puzzle variety is often brought up but I can't really see that as an issue. Yes all the 500 puzzles are line drawing and generally 10+ puzzles per mechanic are just tutorial. But all the others all have unique solutions and as long as every one is challenging one can't really call it repetitive.
The only issues that actually are valid would be the accessability problems. If you are color blind or deaf or just tone deaf, you can't beat a large portion of the game. A lot of the puzzles need color to solve, some even need to change the colors so you know how to solve them so you are extra left out if you are color blind. I really wished Steam had actually useful user tags like "no color blind support" that are useful information that people really need instead of stuff like "action adventure" that doesn't tell you anything.

I already beat The Witness at release and no game has grabbed me as much since. After replaying it I love it even more. Pretty sure I'd put this in my all-time top 5 now, it's a masterclass in game design. The game uses the unique language of the medium to teach you the rules to every puzzle. These are still the smartest 'tutorials' I've encountered and it's a disservice to label them as such. I love the variety in the riddles too, since every section on the Island you explore has its own theme and taps into a different skillset.
The tool you use to solve the puzzles is the same all the way through (drawing lines), but the mechanics and skillsets required to get there change all the time. Every area has twists and curveballs to their unique concept as well, there's no area that gets predictable. The puzzles are so good that I never wanted to resort to using a guide, it's the one way you can ruin this game. It's a mind metroidvania, as some gates or areas are locked behind 'mental upgrades' as it were, as you understand what different symbols and concepts mean.
Lighting all the lasers and finding secrets on the island doesn't get old, I had just as much fun as my original run. The sense of discovery, the satisfaction you get after finally solving a devious puzzle... I still haven't experienced that in another game since.
As a bonus this game is also a confidence booster, because one of the essential messages of the game is that you already have every skill required to beat the puzzles, everything is already inside of you. But if you do get stuck, take some distance and go somewhere else on the island.