The Witness

It is one of the best puzzle games out there. There are quite a lot of "ooooh! i get it!"-moments but no frustrating moments because of bad puzzle design. Sometimes the difficulty can get quite high but overall the difficulty is pretty much spot on. The content is immense, especially for the quality of the puzzles.
The environments are also very beautiful and carefully designed. One of the best things is that there are no direct explanations and you dont have to read or listen to anything.
Definitely a must-play for people that like to play puzzle-games and escape rooms.

Can't believe John Witness managed to avert the apocalypse and save the world and his family via puzzle ASMR. However, the cycles of guilt will continue until morale improves.
10/10

I might give it another try some time, but so far it was a bit disappointing. The puzzles are very abstract, not really connected to the environment you're walking in.

This is a very awe-full game. Almost everything in the game is line puzzles, with different variations and requirements of course. I thought I'd lose interest and uninstall the game as soon as the puzzles got too hard, but quite the opposite happened. I never felt the anxiety in other games, where puzzle solving was only leading to a different goal, like unlocking an equipment, beating a boss, etc. Here, everything is puzzle, and I knew I'd face more puzzles after solving the one at hand. I took time to ponder upon really hard puzzles, and when I did solve them, a thrill of personal achievement ran through my body. Maybe Jonathon Blow did have a point: the satisfaction of playing can be obtained through solving the puzzle itself, instead of any external rewards.
Now, more about the game itself. All the game experiences were telling me that I was the witness. Rising from a capsule, exploring the island of extraordinary puzzles, scenery, statues, and of course, the Easter eggs. I spent an entire afternoon watching Easter egg videos, the famous candle holding end scene from the movie Nostalgia, an hour long lecture from a game developer conference talking about eclipse, Shakespeare, the Bible, Bach, and awesomeness. This reminded me of What Remains of Edith Finch, of Disco Elyssium, the deep philosophical discussions that unveil themselves as video games. Scientific discovery, the world and the interpretations about the world, the universe as a glass of wine. Solving the puzzles, hearing the stories, I was not making any changes to this already created world, just witnessing it all. And at the end, travelling through all the areas, reversing all solutions, and back to the capsule from where I was raised.
"Drink it, and forget it all!"

Despite what the description implies, there's no worthwhile story in this game. It's also not in the style of Myst and related games where there's a world to really explore and learn about. The game world here is solely a vessel for the puzzles to exist in. It's a game about puzzles with nothing else of real value in it - your only good reward is the satisfaction of solving the puzzles.

But the puzzles are worth it. Take a look at the video at the top of the store page. ALL of the puzzles have the same core format as you see in that video, so you'd better like it if you're going to play this game. But there's a lot of different variations and twists on it, making for a mentally engaging challenge that will last you a good while. This game is packed full of puzzles like few others that I have played.

There's multiple layers of puzzles as well. I focused on the puzzles needed to officially complete the game and barely even touched the deeper layer. But that deeper layer is there, a hefty extra challenge for those who want it. (I should point out, though, that the game will not explicitly tell you whether you have found/solved all of these. You are left to your own judgment and community wisdom on that one.)

While $40 is a steep price in my eyes, on sale I think this game is absolutely worth getting for the sake of all the puzzles. If you are looking for something other than puzzles, though, look elsewhere.

Waited eight years to buy this for under $10 and still felt overcharged. Jonathan Blow approached this game like Elon Musk approaches car design. It has a veneer of novelty and big brain intelligence that covers up arrogance and a contempt for the work that came before.

Say what you will about the Myst series: yes, some of those puzzles were obtuse, but I cared about the world and was drawn in enough to keep going. There's no real world here, the attempt to get at something deeper through puzzles is actually pretty shallow, and by positioning this as a Game For the Smarts it feels like an insult to the legacy of environmental puzzle games that came before it. If you actually sit and watch the whole secret video the joke is ultimately on you.

Great ambiance and a wonderful variety of logic puzzles mixed with hidden environmental ones. Love that there are no explicit instructions at all.

To the creator(s): Who hurt you?

(yes, I solved all the main puzzles - not the environmental ones - and finished the game) solid 3/10. Some good spots and great and had fun head-scratchers that took me a good long time to solve. Beautiful visual design. Mostly though, too many spots that were downright boring, red herrings, or just frustratingly arbitrary feeling. SEVERAL spots where it wasn't clear where to go next or what door you just unlocked (swamp and quarry have some tricky spots here). Overall, left wanting my time back.

"The Witness" is a beautifully crafted and intellectually engaging puzzle game that challenges players to think deeply while exploring its stunning open world. The game excels in providing a sense of discovery and wonder, but it also comes with its share of frustrations.

The gameplay is undoubtedly fun and rewarding, offering puzzles that test logic, observation, and pattern recognition. However, some of the puzzles, particularly those in the city area, feel overly complex or unnecessarily obtuse. The lack of clear guidance often leaves you wandering aimlessly after solving one puzzle, unsure of where to go next. This design choice encourages exploration and rewards curiosity, but it can also lead to moments of frustration. Even the audio recordings scattered throughout the world, while intriguing, don't offer much help in guiding your progress.

The minimalist approach to storytelling and the absence of explicit instructions are bold design decisions that some players will love for the sense of freedom they provide. But for others, this can make the experience feel disjointed or confusing. The lack of any kind of map or guiding system makes it easy to get lost, both physically and mentally, as you try to piece together solutions.

Despite these challenges, "The Witness" is undeniably a unique and thought-provoking experience. Its gorgeous visuals and serene environment make wandering around its island a joy, even when you're stumped by a puzzle. If you enjoy games that test your intellect and patience in equal measure, "The Witness" might be the perfect adventure for you.

Overall, I recommend this game for those who love a challenge and don't mind the occasional frustration of figuring things out on their own. Just be prepared to invest time and effort—it’s not a casual stroll in the park.

Rating: 7.5/10
Pros: Beautiful visuals, engaging puzzles, promotes exploration.
Cons: Some puzzles feel overly convoluted, lack of guidance can be frustrating.

If one day there will be a fairy-pop up in my browser and the gaming fairy will offer me to forget all I know about one video game to be able to learn it anew, "The Witness" would be my instant answer (even though I might miss the chance of getting rid of my Dota-addiction...). The game teaches you so much about yourself and how you see the world, it is amazing.

a medley of unrelated philosophical ramblings amidst puzzles that have zero guidelines or excessive memory required to complete. the puzzles aren't hard, but merely tedious and require a lot of backtracking and trial and error rather than difficulty or actual brainpower.

This one may be the best puzzle game I've ever had the pleasure to play.

While solving each puzzle, you steadily explore the island, sometimes to stumble on a vista-wide one.

The game always gives enough puzzles to ensure the player has understood the rules.
Then it gives you more rules, and mix puzzles together.

This is absolutely a must for anyone loving brain teasers.

I play *a lot* of puzzle games. I have so many point and clicks in my library, tons of escape games and RPGs and the like. And yet, I couldn't get into this one. The puzzles are often tedious, they are mildly interesting but get boring quick, and there doesn't seem to be a real story. From what I've read, there's two endings but neither are very satisfying? Unless you like just solving mazes, I wouldn't really recommend this.

My favourite puzzle game. Beautiful visuals, and great puzzles that force you to think. Also comes with a slightly unsettling atmosphere in the best way possible. I definitely recommend this game. :)

This game ruined puzzle games for me.
Almost no other game even gets close to how good this experience was.

this game is a masterclass in design. I have played many games (100+), many of them puzzle games - and this is the game I recommend time and time again. the puzzles are great, the ambiance and environment are amazing. the engnine is super cool and unique -. I love this game <3.

I find The Witness to be a very fun and carefully crafted puzzle game. Instead of laying out the rules and asking you to solve the puzzles, it invites you to explore and learn the rules through experience, usually by starting you off with very simple/easy iterations of the mechanic. There are also many secrets to uncover if that interests you, as well as a plethora of aesthetically pleasing details in the environment.

I did find some puzzles frustrating, not in a "this is hard to solve" way, but in an "I know what to do, but actually doing it is tedious" way. However, these were a minority and the frustration didn't last too long.

You'll find a variety of quotes about art, science, religion, philosophy etc., but rather than driving home a particular overarching point, they serve as a muse, much like details in the environment, creating a meditative atmosphere that encourages thought, curiosity, and wonder without giving you any explicit direction.

As a side note, this game seems to have found a sweet spot for triggering motion sickness or migraines, judging from my own experience and the presence of discussions about it in the Steam forum for the game. There are options like FOV and a toggle-able crosshair that solved the issue in my case, but I encourage you to be conscientious if you tend to experience that kind of thing.

To fully complete this game you have to be a nerd and love exploring, there are lots of puzzles which is very hard to figure out, sometimes you dont even understand what you have to do, because developers decided that guide is for kids, we are playing serious. In the very first locations you have puzzle with triangles and O-M-F-G if you dont have 200 IQ you wont figure out how freaking triangles work, it doesnt make any sense, there is no explanation, nothing, mb its something cultural and in other countries everybody associate amount of triangles with amount of sides that square in which triangle is should have same amount of colored sides, but for me its not really something obvious (but I have to say these specific puzzles arent mandatory to complete the game). Also there are audio logs and enviromental puzzles (they are hidden everywhere for example as clouds or road that you are going), on my first completion I found 0 env. puzzles and 1-2 audio logs at the very end which is nuts (There are approximately 150 in total env puzzles and audio logs). You can complete a game I think in 12-20 hours (depends a lot on how smart you are and how lucky sometimes to see very hard solutions) without using hints from Internet, but you really HAVE TO BE SMART enough, if you bad with math and logic, or just hate wasting 30 min to solve one puzzle this game not for you, mb its better not to start. I dont want to offend anyone, Im stupid myself I sitted in Photoshop, drawing lines that are mandatory, calculating probabilities which way is better, waste 30 minutes, fully broken watched completion. One more very annoying thing is wires, all puzzles connected with wires, and sometimes wires just goes underground and you can search for next puzzle like 5 minutes. Now about good sides: grachics is great, level design same (its very easy to orientate even though map is huge), controls feel nice. So think for yourself

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 art all throughout this open-exploration game world was absolutely breathtaking and intriguing at every turn and there are many surprises hidden in the landscape. The puzzles were fun at first, but after awhile they became tedious and at times there were just WAY too many to complete before you could move on. If you have the patience to sit and figure out 650 puzzles, all based on variations of the same format, then you'll love this game.

a puzzle game i absolutely love, simple premise but amazing execution.

Fascinating and beautiful puzzle game that rewards you for lateral thinking, highly recommended.

im conflicted with this game, its great, its bad, frustrating, beautiful, well thought-out, stupid, also this game is very time-wasting. have fun playing it

The game is very pretty, the sound design is amazing. As others have said, it feels like a chore, and just feels obtuse for the sake of being obtuse. I get that its a puzzle game but its kinda of just repetitive after a while. If you like this type of thing its great but man, idk id give it a mixed if it were an option.

Game is very long, puzzles are very difficult to comprehend and repetitive, and the conclusion is lackluster in that it does not explain why the world you're playing in is the way that it is. Overall a rather annoying experience, even though the visuals are captivating and completing a puzzle keeps you hooked.

yes but it is very hard its only fun if you dont cheat but do to the complexity of the puzzles i also find it to be replayable too.

really enjoyed this game, 10/10 would recommend, shame it doesn't have a colorblind mode though.

I won't pretend that I'm some sort of genius who solved this entire thing without looking some of it up.
Also, all the negative criticisms I've seen of the game are still perfectly valid.
But, ultimately, I do think it's a well-designed game even with its at-times frustrating refusal to communicate with the player. I think everyone would be able to solve the entire game with no guides, and enough patience. I didn't have the patience, admittedly but the point stands that I truly don't think anything about this game is unbeatable on its own.
It would be nice if it had more of a coherent story. And those videos are too long.

If you can figure out the rules, you can finish a puzzle. It's a highly intuitive puzzler if you're paying attention. When you come across a puzzle, the puzzle's panel, or it's surroundings have something that you need to pay attention to; some sort of reference, or obstruction that relates more exactly to the panel's puzzle than others, or a symbol on the panel that you haven't seen before. The proceeding puzzles expand upon the rules that arise, subvert them, or combine them with secondary, tertiary, and quaternary rules. Tutorial areas included. (I just wanted to use those words, because I'm silly. Hahaha, come here, my Discord kitten.)

This game is peak puzzle madness, one of my favourite puzzle game of all time.
While the puzzles are always and only "draw a line on a board", the means to understand or get the right answers are unique to each area of the map. Every mechanics are perfectly crafted and always feature one stupid board that seems almost impossible. I cannot lie that I used a guide for couple puzzles that were blocking me to reach the end, but overall, I've done 99% of the game by myself.

Every aspect of the game is perfectly thought of and are impeccable at what they want and need to achieve.
If you like puzzle games, I cannot recommend the game enough, if you see it on sale, just grab it.

best puzzle game i ever played, figuring out how puzzles work is a treat

It just doesn't stay fresh for the entire duration. If you are intrinsically motivated by puzzles, you will have some fun with this game. If you aren't, stay really far away.

This is the game that made me realize I am not into pure puzzle solving games at all.

Clever, occasional, and relatively simple puzzle solving challenges and rewarding exploration in games like "Zelda: A Link to the Past," love it. The kind of puzzles that the Witness was asking me to solve with no other interesting gameplay? I'm not exaggerating when I say I'd prefer to be slapped in the face with a dead fish.

This is one of the best puzzle games and the ultimate one stroke drawing game. Before this game, I can't even imagine there're so many elements can be added to one stroke drawing. Both the quality and quantity of puzzles in the game are amazing. The first run will take 20+ hours, which is huge for a puzzle game.

Although the game has a reasonable learning curve, it's common to enter areas with unknown mechanisms and this could be frustrating at times. In fact, there's no explanation on any game symbols or mechanisms. It will be very painful if you don't get it from the limited hints. There's a guide in the community provided basic explanation without spoiling which is indeed useful.

There're only two achievements in the game. One for completing the game and the other one is a time limited challenge. The time limited challenge is difficult but doable after a few practices, provided you minimize the use of guides throughout the game. Or else, good luck.

In Braid, the developer's previous game, there's an annoying time limited challenge achievements as well. I hated that achievement all the while. But now after this game, I think maybe I can understand where the developer comes from better. Probably one day I will go back and finish that game.

Overall, this is a must play game for any player love strategy or puzzles.

Very mixed feelings on this Game, I would recommend it granted you like solving puzzles for their own satisfaction, if not might not be your cup of tea (Would recommend getting it on sale for peak value for money). It has Very nice and peaceful atmosphere and an interesting visual style and some pretty cool puzzles (although your mileage may vary with some of them). Not story focused although there are secrets to be found if you keep your eyes open. If your going into it however I will say that not to expect a profound master peace or perfect experience, many parts of the game are enjoyable but I think it was trying to be more profound then what it was saying could really end up being.

GOD AWFUL CONFUSING, spent too much time on dumb things but made me think out of the box, and it stupidly lets you wander and take in the fire hot dope surroundings, very calming and too many places to go and so many fucking puzzles.

Very cool. Progression feels like a metroidvania, but with puzzle mechanics.

bad game you should not waste your money on it. worst game design I have ever seen. could have been a great game but there are so many flaws that just make it a nightmare to play

I finished everything, including the Challenge. Don't play this, go play Antichambr or something. Too many repeating puzzles and too few moments of "epiphany".

I spend more time walking around searching for a puzzle than actually solving puzzles, and when I do find a puzzle, it tends to either be really easy or have a mechanic I haven't learned yet. Most of the puzzles are also just about finding some random thing in the environment that looks like the puzzle board. It's basically just a "find the hidden object" game for those "puzzles" since, once you find the clue, you basically have the answer.

This game is more tedious than difficult and the most difficult parts are about finding the right thing to look at rather than solving the actual puzzle. Especially since the right thing is usually just some arbitrary part of the environment.

If I could give this game a neutral rating I would, because you're either going to absolutely love it or absolutely hate it. As it is, though, I recommend playing it, and just refunding it if after an hour and a half you're not enjoying yourself. Go in blind if possible.

Imma be real, this ain't it.

The puzzles are very complex and become tedious, they aren't particularly fun to do. I was expecting some sort of interesting story here, there is none, just a collection of profound quotes with no collective meaning.

The game looks cool but at the end of the day I wouldn't recommend it.

Playing this game makes me feel incredibly smart, incredibly stupid, and as if I had just stumbled into an undocumented art project of an unhinged and tortured artist who devoted last 40 years of their life for it.

I think about this game a lot.

It's so well crafted, intriguing, and, as is evident, gorgeous.
No matter where you are, you will be intrigued by what's ahead.
A curious narrative strung by philosophical breadcrumbs, but that's all you need since it's not about that.
Ultimately, I find this game's most powerful feature is providing a breathtaking, zen, puzzle island.

I love this game!

In The Witness you play as the snake from Snake and must solve a multitude of mazes without breaking an ever-expanding list of abstract but logically consistent rules communicated through arcane symbols.

You also play as supporting character 3D FPS Person, who carries the snake between mazes and occasionally searches for clues in the environment on 2D Snake's behalf.

Finally there's You, who are charged with choosing your battles, building and retaining knowledge, being patient, being mindful, being curious, embracing the unknown and taking satisfaction in your own achievements.

The Witness is probably also here I don't know. They won't help you with the optional puzzles that require full colour vision and/or hearing ability, so I'm not sure what good they are.

A puzzle game about looking at things from other perspectives, both literally and figuratively. This game is one of the most carefully made and highly detailed works of art I have ever seen, while also being one of the best puzzlers I have ever played.

It doesn't even belong on steam; it belongs in a museum.

This is for me, One of the best games that I played in my life, no matters how much time I have played it keeps surprising me.

very difficult... the atmosphere is quite grand!!!!!!!!! very relaxing and I quite enjoy.. recommended!

An incredibly complex puzzle game with a distinct lack of instructions, hints or any form of advice. It's hard to believe that anyone completed it without some online help. The concept of tracing lines on various types of maze is quite innovative, but the novelty factor quickly wears thin. In fact, after a while the game becomes very frustrating and you just wish that it was over.

I bought this game on sale and played for about 40 min, and I don't think I'll be playing anymore. For reference, I'm a big fan of Myst / Riven style games. My ideal is seamless integration between environment, story, and puzzles. The first 40 mins of The Witness was constant panel puzzles---very minor riffs on the same exact thing, for 40 straight minutes, and no end in sight. Zero story development whatsoever. The world does look cool, but I was just so buried in meaningless panel puzzles that I have no motivation to play again.