The Witness

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.

tried to get into it a few times and at certain points it feels needlessly frustrating (play Talos Principle or The Room series instead)

An absolute masterpiece of a puzzle game! 9/10. I have such respect for this game's designers! They took a simple concept (drawing a line from a circle to the end of a grid) and teased a staggering amount of complexity and different concepts out of it. The puzzles in this game are truly mind-bending. Sometimes they seem impossible, but the game encourages you to wander off and find different things to try when you get stuck. Oftentimes that allowed my mind to rest and come back better. The environment is breathtaking to look at, and the sounds provide a relaxing immersive backdrop to your time at the island. I will probably spend more time in this game just wandering the island to find more of its mysteries. This game evokes a sense of wonder like no other game, as you discover that this island is packed full of easter eggs, and they're hidden around you everywhere you go. You just have to look! Changing your perspective to find the solution is a main theme of the game, and it's done so well! The Witness rewards careful observation at a slow pace. This game respects your intelligence! Whenever it seems like something is off, there is usually something hidden for you to find. Look deeper! The file size is tiny, the game runs without a hitch. When you leave and come back, it boots up almost instantly and puts you right where you left off. My only gripe with this game is the narrative. I think it's weak. I came into this game trying to determine what cataclysm happened to the inhabitants of this island to turn them to stone, who the characters were, and why I was the only person left alive. From the tapes scattered about and the statues, I thought maybe it was an island full of geniuses who had tried to reach some ultimate understanding of truth, but got cursed for their hubris. But no. There's no cataclysm behind the narrative, the stone people aren't real people from what I can tell. The answer to why you are the only person here is not an interesting one. And hubris doesn't factor in to the story. When I finished the game with the first ending, I felt pissed off and gut-punched, like the game was telling me, "this is all an art project. Enjoy the journey, not the destination." That first ending took all the wind out of my sails. it destroyed most of the driving force for exploring the island in the first place: to piece together what happened. I thought the true ending would wrap things up better, but it didn't. It was vague and underwhelming, and what it was actually implying was not conveyed well. I felt confused and annoyed. I had to do research to learn what the actual narrative behind the game was, and it was... fine. It was better than my initial interpretation, but still nowhere near as exciting as what I thought was happening. My advice for new players is, enjoy the atmosphere of the game, the wonder of finding secrets, and the masterful puzzle design. Relax, take in the sights, and enjoy your time wandering the island. Just don't put too much stock in the narrative and don't expect for a tidy and fulfilling ending.

♥♥♥♥ this game, it's too long and annoying and only buy it on sale, and I only got halfway through and I am not spending another 30 hours playing the same puzzles again and there is not much quite like it and I am not happy with that.

ネットで調べた限りだと全パズルのクリアを完了したみたいなのでレビューを書きに来ました。 不思議と日本語でのレビュー数は少ないですが傑作です。 自然な翻訳の日本語字幕がついているため問題なくプレイできます。 そもそも日本語字幕がついている部分は基本的にはおまけで、パズルゲームとして遊ぶ部分に言葉は使われていないのですが……。 先述のとおりパズルゲームのくせに言葉での説明は少ないどころか皆無ですが、 基礎問題を解いてルールを把握する -> 応用問題を解く という流れが基本的にとられており、導線は丁寧でした。 かなり複雑に見えるパズルでも視点を変えればさっくり解けるということもあり、休憩の大事さも教えてもらえました。 まぁ実際のところ、自分は意地になって非効率なプレイを長時間し続けていましたが。 また、やりこみ要素も豊富です。 パズルゲームでこんなにも大きな衝撃や絶望を感じることは今後ないと確信させられました。 マイナス点は、一部のエリアで目と三半規管にダメージを与えてくるタイプのパズルがあったことぐらいです。 身体にダメージを与えることで休憩を促していると擁護することもできなくもないかな……？ とはいえ、全体的には本当におもしろくて高評価です。 世界の見え方が変わるという大層なレビューを昔どこかで見かけましたがそのとおりだと思います。

this piece of ♥♥♥♥ is beneath my contempt

I don't think this game is very compatible with the Steam recommendation system. From an objective standpoint, the puzzles are extremely well designed. The way it teaches you the language of the puzzle mechanics without any written dialogue is unique and rewarding. The satisfaction from looking at a seemingly impossibly task for up to hours sometimes, only for it to suddenly click into place, is very satisfying. Even the visual design of the world with its pleasnt but minimalistic architechture is well thought out to allow the player to see when the environment is giving them hints. If you love puzzles, want to be challenged and don't mind the context in which this occurs, I would say this game is worth trying. However, basically all the other design choices made in this game frustrated me to no end. I wouldn't say they are flaws, because they implies a certain level of incompetence, but for whatever reason the developer has just chosen the game to be this way and I felt it was it was shame given how unique and satisfying the actual puzzles were. To compare it to another of the modern pantheon of metroidbranias, Blue Price, when you enter a room in that game and there is a locked door or some barrier, you naturally want to see whats beyond. There is a sense of mystery and story that engages and motivates the player and the puzzle, however satisfying in and of itself, is the key to overcoming that. In The Witness, you walk into a room, you see a puzzle, you agonise over it for sometimes up to an hour or more, finally you figure it out, and your reward... is another puzzle. The game goes on like this, unchanging, and then just sort of ends. There's no pacing, or stakes, or context for why you are solving the puzzles. It's just puzzles. I know there is a very esoteric backstory of sorts scattered throughout the world, but the way it is presented has no link to the players actions and therefore doesn't have any of the function of motivating them It's just fluff for people who already like the game and want to go deeper. There's probably a lesson in there about the inherent desire of humans to progress or the futility of life, but this is a video game, if it's not fun, then why am I playing it? If you took out a handful of puzzles which rely on environmental context, theres an argument that could have been a book, or a very stripped down minimalist puzzle game that takes place on one screen, and it would have largely the same highlights, and I think that's a shame given that the advantage of this medium is in interactivity. The open world, apart from letting the player choose the order in which they do the puzzles (which I do think is good), doesnt really add anything else to the game. It's almost like a really slow, frustrating, almost soundless, menu screen between the actual gameplay. So yeah, I just wanted to get that off my chest and I don't anyone to enagage or learn from it. If you think of this as just a puzzle game, its probably one of the best designed puzzle games of all time. But as a whole package, I was disappointed and would categorise it as thumbs down but you should try it for yourself.

Я любитель всяких головоломок, но эта игра мне просто взорвала мозг своими загадками не потому что они сложные, а просто когда их проходишь ты даже не понимаешь их логику решения, а о некоторых загадках я даже не знал пока случайно не наткнулся в них в гайде, мне было бы определённо проще если бы я понимал что означает каждый символ что игра мне даёт, вот например как я должен был узнать об загадках со светом? мне надо было переспать с отцом разработчика чтоб на ясное утро мне мне глаза бил яркий свет который сжигает сетчатку глаз и пишет мне на китайском что существуют загадки с солнцем?

buy this game only when its on sale this ♥♥♥♥ is not worth 55 buckaroonies

Got it for like 1€. Got all achievements. The Bad The price tag is what made me give it a negative review. I liked the game, but 37 bucks???? Do you know how many Hollow Knights you could buy with that? Two and a half! All puzzles in this game involve panels. They do get creative with it and there is a lot of variety, but at the end of the day you always do the same thing. Simply drawing a line from one end to another. So dont expect a Professor Layton or detective game or whatever there is. Impossible without a guide. Some puzzles you got no idea what to do, some are audio puzzles which suck to listen to, while others require some color knowledge. The game itself provides no hints or help if you are stuck. Also no options if you deaf or colorblind. Some puzzles are teached to you later (in another area), which halts your progress and I hate that. Some elevator or bridge puzzles you complete, but nothing happens, because they want you to complete it in a special way, even though your solution is marked as correct which sucks. Bridges and elevators and other things are often super slow which sucks. You cant jump which sucks. Some puzzles and panels literally do nothing which sucks. Some puzzles turn off if you do them wrong and you gotta do the previous one again which sucks. There are some secret recordings here and there. Also a video room. But most of them are boring nonsense. Some seem to provide interesting lore, but ya they sadly didnt go for that. Overall you get like no real lore or a story. 25h in game and did basically all puzzles. Mind you I really tried all puzzles and only used a guide when I was really stuck. At the beginning ran around a lot, because I got stuck often. Also was afk for some time and did all extra content that isnt even needed for the achievements. So you dont even get a 30 hour playtime for your 37 bucks. In summary only buy it cheap and only if you really think it would be worth your time. I had my fun, but 2 of my friends got bored like immediately. The Good The island and art style and everything looks so crazily beautiful and amazing. Like really really pretty. The different biomes, the statues and secret pathways make the island feel so alive and kind of mysterious. Like you wanna uncover who built all this and why. The sound design is also awesome. Every dialog is spoken in a nice soothing voice, which I enjoyed. Had fun with the puzzles. It does get difficult. Really creative, but some really suck period. Only really fun for a special kind of autistic person! (I had fun btw) The 100% Bro only 2 achievements, while playstation players get 14 :/ #Uncool One of them is simply beating the game. This requires to do like 70% of the puzzles? The other one is beating random puzzles in a specific time. You basically gotta do all puzzles to even unlock this. It might sound hard and boring, but I really enjoyed doing this one and got it in like 1 hour! This was also the most fun part of the game for me!