The Witness (2016)

Still cracking away. Very satisfying to finally solve a puzzle that you’ve beaten your head against for hours/days.

I’m now inside the mountain which seems like the climax of the game, and it continues to be so difficult and obscure. I appreciate the complexity of the puzzles but I find it hard to enjoy the gameplay for what it is—I’d rather just wrap it up at this point but I’m stuck and I refuse to google solutions, as that would undermine what sense of accomplishment this game has to offer.

Maybe I should be learning patience and peace with bafflement. So far, I am not at peace with the bafflement.

i read a little bit on steam about The Witness. i found the initial 5 mins to be a breeze, then wondered maybe how to play the game or if i was missing things. then eventually like probably all players was bound to hit a 'hard wall' and move on or stay stumped or look up the solution (for me it was the desert temple in about 20 mins into the thing, and i kept trying to 'pick up' debris and random stuff in the area) a lot isnt explained, and i was a bit unsure exactly what the game was expected of me initially, as well as it what its trying to communicate to the player, but it explains itself better eventually once you get going (its the get going part that can be a bit wonky) and i found i could learn to listen to it a bit.

There is a good little 'logic guide' on steam that isnt too spoilery. But even after reading it, many puzzles in this game simply do not click and some do. the more advanced logic puzzles imo are just lame, But most of them area clever and well done. this game is really able to deliver the satisfaction of completing a puzzle in the same way it does in old adventure games i had played (many where the puzzles really werent that good either, mind you)

This is a great game to dive in and play blind just know it is a modern day puzzle game, and its built around puzzle-solving, with that said i feel its an excptional game in that it manages to breathe new life into something in the way it does... and i can appreciate it. I dont however, know how much i really do like this game (yet) hitting walls and giving up is really unpleasant, and looking up answers is probably the most self defeating instance of cheating i've experienced in a game... In general i'm not a big fan of this kind of game, but this is well done anyway.

I waded into this expecting a walking sim type FPS 'adventure' game, dont be like me, because that isnt what this is really going for. It is however pretty chill and not depressing which is what i was looking for

Hooray! I beat the final challenge. It was probably my 10th attempt or so, after a couple hours of trying.

What a rush. I've added The Witness to my 25-greatest-games-of-all-time list. Up pretty high too. After exploring a bit deeper, playing the final challenge and pondering a bit, I can definitely say it's my GotY for 2016. Salt & Sanctuary comes in at second place. 2016 is a good year for games, the Dark Souls 3 DLCs are coming soon, plus Ni-Oh and Obduction are on the way.

As much as I love Cyan, I somehow doubt that Obduction will be anywhere near as good as The Witness.

Why The Witness is a masterpiece:

Travelling back inside the world of The Witness my appreciation of the beauty and brilliance of this game continues to grow. I've just been exploring the world quietly, contemplatively, and I keep discovering things that I missed. Nothing in the game is placed by accident, everything has a purpose or a pattern, it's incredible and ingenious. I'm going to show two examples, but the world is full of thousands of things like this. You just have to look.

Firstly, I noticed this strangely-shaped tree. Why is it shaped like this? Is it a puzzle? Or did they just randomly make it like this?

I explored around a little further and eventually I found an answer. If you stand in an exact location and look down at the ocean, the tree perfectly mimics the topology of the land via the reflection:

This isn't a puzzle that needs to be solved, it's not really part of the game. Instead it's just a playful illusion of perspective. It's just a clever little thing that the player might see if he's observant.

Here's another example. I noticed this strange piece of fabric caught up in a tree. Why is it there, is it meaningless?

But if you look carefully, you'll suddenly notice that this piece of fabric, along with the broken wall and the branches casts a shadow on the ground depicting the silhouette of a woman:

The world of The Witness is densely populated with clever little illusions and tricks like this. The clouds, the ocean, weeds, shadows, reflections. Even ignoring the gameplay entirely you can spend countless hours wandering this world and discovering these subtle features in the environment. I wonder how many players rushed through the game without seeing these things?

My wife and I finished the main portion of this game last night. I really enjoyed most of the puzzles, especially having another person looking over my shoulder telling me what to do when I went dumb.

There's a ton of extra secret stuff in this game that I think I'm going to have to go back and play through eventually. If you like puzzles, don't hesitate to play this.