The Witness

I Genuinely enjoyed this game even though I didn't get to complete it. I am saying I do not recommend it because there is no Epilepsy warning in the beginning of the game even though you can literally get to the end of the game and not be able to finish it because of the flashing. I do not appreciate that this was hidden in the FAQ instead of stated somewhere plainly for those like me to see. Likely for the sake of immersion which is terrible.

The Witness is one of the most engaging tests of patience that I have ever endured in my gaming career. The experience is far from perfect--an epilepsy warning at the start would be appreciated for some sections, and the ending is incredibly unsatisfying--but to me, the journey is ultimately the game's greatest strength. I find it very fulfilling to figure out the rules to each of the game's many puzzles, and it generally does a good job at providing runway to accurately assess the nuances of the rulesets. If you're wanting to push your mind to the limit to figure out rules on your own, then I think this game is phenomenal. However, it is not perfect, and I suggest that you come into the experience with an expectation of stopping and trying something else at certain points.

Not a game for everyone, but a game that I will always recommend to anyone. First played this game as a teen, maybe 14 or 15. I was, honestly, pretty bad at it, and, in my naivety, spoiled some solutions off youtube playthroughs. I obviously felt ashamed at myself and deleted the game, promising to never touch it again until the time was right. Now, over 6 years later, I have forgotten almost everything, bought the game when I saw it on sale and played through the whole thing, no hints, no guides, no help. Just me against maze puzzles. What surprised me most weren't the puzzles (although the epiphany moments always had me giddy), but the narrative style the game presented. Took me almost 10 hours of gameplay to stumble upon my first voice recording and I think that was intentional too. That's one of the few *awesome* qualities of this game: everything feels intentional despite how natural everything looks. The environment is carefully designed to guide you as a player such that you are still able to make the choices you want. And oh how pretty the environment is. I would genuinely recommend to sit through and pay attention not only to the puzzles and mind games, but the rest of …

The Witness is an invasive game to the mind. A puzzle game with no instructions and simple mechanics. Yet it ever so prevails in the headspace of the player. It's ability to so clearly indicate the rule behind each puzzle without any command can not be understated. When people talk about difficult games, somewhat ironically, they talk about mainly action rpgs or metroidvanias where the player explicitly grows stronger as the game progresses. Nothing changes in The Witness you are the same now leaving as you were entering, in terms of the pc. Only the player grows. Your angle at which you see the world or put simply your percecption is the thing that changes. In that aspect it's a very forward thinking game as what it teaches the player is more valuable than what most games could get out of a hundred playthroughs. Not just the idea that you can succeed given enough time and enough effort but an entirely different approach, often a literal new line of sight is required to solve these puzzles. Very rarely some don't even guide the player into the expected solution but you are able to solve it regardless by taking in everything. All the puzzles that you solved before it and everything…

Really unique way to present puzzle mechanics and to build complexity. Beautiful, vivid colors that you can enjoy throughout your playthrough, particularly during the inexplicably long animations. Very challenging; recommend playing in a group. You won't be disappointed! But you will be stumped ;)

One of the all time greats!