The Witness

The Witness is one of the most stunningly beautiful games I’ve ever played, and not just visually. The island itself is a work of art: the colours are vibrant, the island layout is carefully thought out, and it's filled with so many clever little details. If you look closely enough, you'll find clues all around you as to what this island truly is. I'm not telling you more, because the mystery is part of the fun of the game. Part of the beauty is in how the game presents its puzzles and invites you to engage with them. It's not linear. You can explore the entire island at once. This means that you might come across puzzles that you don't know how to solve yet. What you learn from completing another area's puzzles may be the key to solving those ones later. Clues are everywhere, hidden in plain sight. Some clues help you solve the puzzles in the area, others are hints at what this world is all about. You'll find audio recordings hidden here and there, some of which give you more clue...

An experience that is as beautiful as it is subjective. Leaving the player to figure everything out for themself works well in some places but more often than not it was infinitely frustrating getting stuck in places (maybe I just suck). However, I truly believe that anyone who plays the game will have a play-through unique to themself. This means that you could absolutely see the game for everything it does well: engaging with most of the environmental puzzles, enjoying the tidbits of philosophy, appreciating the scope of the island and understanding enough about the rules to like the challenge of some the puzzles. On the other hand, this also implies the opposite is true, and unfortunately this is where my experience leans more towards. I grew to hate this game and it's repetitive-ness over the course of playing it. There is beauty in this game but with a little misguided exploring and some wrong (but valid) interpretations of what the game presents you with it can easily be lost. So...

This game is stupid. A lot of inconvenient puzzles with invisible barriers, UI is bad, barely any customization settings. Just go play The Talos Principle.

pretty boring puzzles ngl, too overhyped

True mastered 100% this time (Yes even that one). Excellent puzzle learning feeling and beautiful to boot! 9 / 10

This is one of the most difficult puzzle games I have ever played, but it is also the best one I've ever played. I don't even think I'm a quarter of the way through yet and it has taken me hours to find out certain puzzles and I love it. Only get this game if you are patient enough to try to find out puzzles for hours on end and are okay with finding out the mechanics of said puzzles yourself. But if you do get impatient or angry at a puzzle, I can say you should never use any guides or videos as it ruins the experience. The feeling you get when you finally find out a puzzle or mechanic you have been trying at for hours is amazing and I have never felt this same feeling with any other game. Although, This game isn't for everybody and I think that you should get this game if it is on sale for 10 dollars instead of the usual 40 dollar price point just so if you get too angry at it, you didn't spend too much money on it.

The game is asinine and a disrespectful waste of time. I think, as an artistic piece, its meant to be difficult; however, I found myself more disappointed and lost with the games complexity than I was entertained. There is some beautiful artwork in the game, especially related to perspective, so I want to be fair. But regardless of that, I kindly recommend to people to not waste their time or their money on this unless its on sale, and you enjoy grinding your mental gears. I watched an excellent review called "The Witness - A Great Game That You Shouldn't Play" by Joseph Anderson on youtube, and I so happy I did because it spoils exactly how bad this game is in a respectful way.

A little pretentious but a lot good and challenging.

Great puzzle game. In the very very beginning I almost quit because I thought it was too easy and too pretentious, but by the time I was finished I loved it. Played it outside of steam as well.

Had to watch a guy carry a candle back and forth for 10 minutes and then die just to complete one of the meta-puzzles. 10/10 game, would recommend.