The Witness

I bought this expecting an immersive, atmospheric puzzle adventure game with a bit of story and lore, like The Room 1 - 5, Obduction or the Myst series. But what i got is a world full of very repetitive and abstract puzzles that feel completely disconnected from that world. No interesting mechanical contraptions to work out, switches and levers, no keys to find, not even a combination lock where I have to work out the answer myself. Just endless variations of very similar looking tile puzzles on a flat 2d grid with no explainations at all. The ingame world does look nice visually, but the repetitive puzzle design is way too abstract for my taste. I expected more from this.

Игра доказала что я амёба. А так в целом игра пойдёт.

"Less is more". The Witness doesn't really care about the way you solve it, or if you want to solve it at all. Even calling The Witness "solvable" feels like a stretch. There are in total more than 600 puzzles for you to solve, some are hidden by a resolving order, others hidden on panels far away from the meat and bones of each sector. Some, even, are purposely hidden in plain sight, blending with the structures surrounding you. There are few things to "unlock", you can go pretty much everywhere as long as you open the first gate, that acts as a tutorial. Each zone has tutorials, in fact, for new or recurring mechanics scattered through the whole map. There is a lot of back and forth, and a lot of frustration for some. You are completely alone, with only your understanding (and maybe some forums) to help you accomplish what you want to achieve in this game. A lot of nooks and crannies are polished to a masterful degree, perspective and creativity shines in every detail, and the almost nonexistent lore, as far as it goes, is okay. The Witness is here to make you think. The game is not about puzzles, it's about how far you are able to create theories, explaining concepts without concrete answers, finding a road, a goal, something satisfying enough for you to keep playing. You won't get a "congratulations" screen at the end, that's the point. This doesn't make sense in a game with such levels of freedom. Except for some details, everything is already here when you start the game, you're just not aware of it. It's brilliant, every puzzle maker dreams of achieving this, but in The Witness, it's the only thing that you can see. It can quickly become overwhelming. The pillars, the lasers, the puzzles, it's all about the worth that you give them. It's all about the things that make you keep solving them. It's beautiful, yes, but it's like a mirror : it will make you question yourself if you do not find the will to continue. I wanted to keep playing to finish the game, but I didn't find any joy in "solving" the game. I quit trying at some point in both of my runs, many times. I stayed because I was hoping something would happen, but nothing I would label as "rewarding" came. It made me think about myself, mainly about my experience with this game. It's these thoughs about what ideas the game conveyed, and more importantly its execution, that made me stay. I solved every puzzle except three unknown ones. I'm fine with that, I'm done. The self-reflection was pleasant, and I appreciated the idea of not keeping the player busy to let him think about what the game has to offer. It's also damn expensive and is only worth buying on sales.

The Witness игра которая не объясняет почти ничего и заставляет тебя самому разбираться во всём ты просто оказываешься на острове с головоломками и постепенно начинаешь понимать что тут всё связано гораздо глубже чем кажется Иногда решения приходят случайно иногда после долгого тупика но именно это и делает прогресс таким удовлетворяющим

The art style is great, it's the kind that will be timeless. The world is thoughtfully created and laid out. I do like how the game doesn't really tell you anything. Each new area introduces you slowly into a new concept, and it's up to you to figure out the rules. Now I love puzzle games, but this game is tough. Sometimes creeping into the frustrating rather then fun. Often times I got stuck, had to take a picture of a puzzle on my phone, and try solve it in my own time and come back to it later. The achievements don't lie. With something like only 20% of players finishing the game, and how many of those looked up answers to puzzles? It's a game statistically the majority are going to give up in. However, each area does a pretty good job of being different. I felt some areas did a great job of slowly increasing difficulty as you progress, whilst others simply increased the annoyance per puzzle. Especially areas like the sound area, and the final mountain area. When puzzles start spinning around and moving, they're not harder to do, they're just an absolute headache to look at. A quick note, if you are colourblind or have hearing difficulties, this game is not for you. You literally will not be able to complete some areas; the game offers no work arounds. I found the ending rather anti-climactic and disappointing. Considering the whole game doesn't really give you any sort of reward for solving puzzles other than more and harder ones, I thought there would be a pig pay off at the end that would offer something into this world we've been dropped into. I loved the additional challenge room. By the time I finished the main game, I still felt slow at the puzzles, often times taking huge amounts of time to solve them methodically and slowly. But this is a series of random puzzles against a time limit. It may have taken me probably 50 attempts over the course of a few days. But each day I could see I was getting faster, getting better at intuitively solving the puzzles with speed. Completing that area and seeing the achievement pop felt fantastic. It made me feel like I really grasped the games puzzles, and considering around only 5% of players have done it, I'm super happy I completed it. Overall, it's a good puzzle game, and a big test of patience and perseverance. I didn't enjoy everything, but for the majority of the time it was good. This definitely isn't a game for everyone, buy I'd recommend to the more hardcore puzzle enjoyers.

The Witness est un chef-d'œuvre... à condition d'accepter qu'il ne vous tienne jamais par la main. Au début, on pense jouer à un simple jeu de puzzles. Puis on réalise que chaque énigme nous apprend quelque chose. Le jeu ne vous explique rien, il vous laisse observer, expérimenter, vous tromper... et comprendre par vous-même. La sensation lorsque tout s'assemble dans votre tête est incroyable. Peu de jeux procurent un sentiment d'accomplissement aussi fort. L'île est magnifique, paisible, remplie de secrets et pensée dans les moindres détails. Même l'environnement devient parfois une énigme. Ce n'est pas un jeu pour tout le monde. Il demande de la patience, de la réflexion et parfois de savoir faire une pause avant de revenir avec un regard neuf. Mais si vous accrochez, c'est une expérience que vous n'oublierez jamais. The Witness ne cherche pas à vous divertir à coups d'explosions ou de cinématiques. Il cherche à vous faire réfléchir... et il y parvient brillamment. Un des meilleurs jeux de réflexion jamais créés.

разработчик пидорас

초반이 약간 장벽이 될 수 있을 듯 하나, 세계가 작동하는 방식을 약간만 익히고 나면 그 이후부터는 괜찮아짐. 풀고, 탐색하고, 알아내는 과정 자체가 너무 즐거웠던 최고의 퍼즐 게임... 정말정말 추천...

Получил секретную концовку на 20 минуте игры)

The game is well done, but it is INSANELY BORING. I honestly don't know whose idea it was to completely omit anything except puzzles (NO, these recorders with oh-so-clever thoughts are NOT A STORY), but please keep him out of game industry. I have played a good amount of puzzle games, and this is the only game which I remember dropping just on 99% before standard ending. One must feel a people behind the game. There are no such feeling. There are no story and no dialogue with the creators. Puzzles are easy -> puzzles are good -> puzzles are burdened with completely stupid and unnecessary difficulties to fight with... If you like to eat sand - feel free to try, I'm out.