REVIEW – Jonathan Blow has done it again: a new, successful game that splits the community. Splitting us makes us talk more about The Witness. While the game is technically good, it’s only going to open up for those that are persistent and willing to dedicate tens of hours.

I start the game. Oh, a tunnel. Door. Drawing a line. Door opens. Another door with a similar puzzle. And another puzzle. And another. After 112 puzzles, solving all of them, I asked myself… is this all there is to this game?

Snake

The Witness mixes both three-, and two-dimensional gameplay. While we are wandering around on the lonely, silent island in 3D from a first-person perspective (running into invisible walls quite a few times, because no, you cannot drop three feet, you have to walk off that ledge as the game forces you to do so), the puzzles are all in 2D. The task looks easy, but in fact, it isn’t, as there are rules.

You have to draw lines while abiding several rules. You have to consider the sounds you hear, the colors and nature you see around yourself or simply the Tetrominos you see on the board. Most of the time, solving a puzzle opens up another but if you complete one „line”, you’ll end up launching a laser beam towards the mountain.

Alone

The game puts nothing into your hands. You appear on an island, and you have no limitations practically. You go where you want. You start a line of puzzles if you can and suddenly end up playing the game for more time than you planned. The gameplay is addictive. It makes you learn to think and not just solve the puzzles in the ordinary ways.

Sadly, this is also the problem with this game. While The Witness has audio, finding them, secret audio logs are not that easy, and they are quite hidden. While I have not found it, apparently there is a ONE-HOUR log. Looks like Braid (Blow’s/Thekla’s previous game) all over again. If you don’t find them, don’t expect more than the background noises. No story either, you’re pretty much out of luck for both if you can’t find the logs.

Colorful

The Witness was announced about 7 years ago and it shows that this game isn’t your ordinary annual AAA title. It uses its own engine that doesn’t seem to be heavy on hardware. While the graphics aren’t revolutionary, I think they look alright. Unfortunately, it’s not enough to make this game memorable on its own. The Witness tries to be its own Zen, and I’m too stupid to understand it. I find my inner peace and still, I end up with a ton of unanswered questions nevertheless.

80 hours

Blow said that The Witness would take around 80 hours for an average player to complete all puzzles. However, I don’t think he expected speedrunners to be on the case so quick, as I have already seen a 25-minute speedrun (although this isn’t a 100% run, mind you). There are two endings, and you know what, I’m going to talk about both because they are not enough on their own to be spoilers.

One of the endings involves you stepping into an elevator and then flying around the island, only to be flying back to the starting location. The other ending is a real-life cutscene of you getting used to real life locations after all those puzzle solving – this can be reached in (and I kid you not) two minutes.

Only for puzzle fans

If you want an action-packed, well-detailed cooperative game, The Witness is not for you. It’s only recommended for those who can turn themselves off to be dedicated to playing the game and solve puzzles and then some more. However, for them, my 7 rating should be considered as a 9 out of 10. If you are impatient and expect success (like me, I admit it: I got to solve 229 puzzles in 11 hours) and new elements in the gameplay, you’d be disappointed. Locations and the way you do the puzzles will change, but that’s it.

Jonathan Blow accomplished his mission: we talk about his game. For me, this game is too much.

-V-

Publisher: Thekla

Developer: Thekla

Genre: Puzzle

Release date: January 26, 2016 (PS4, PC)