The game's impressionistic art design is striking thanks to bright colors, soft geometrical designs, and towering structures, but screenshots alone don't do justice to the variety of locations and visual sensations packed into this world. These puzzle clusters get their own dedicated locations on the island, from a tomb-like catacomb to a castle's garden-loaded courtyard to a towering tree city whose bridges don't unfold until you solve their puzzles. It just so happens that in Jonathan Blow's world, the "inventory" is accumulated knowledge, and many of its zones serve as both clever puzzle clusters and tutorials for later, more difficult challenges. Though there are no items, keys, or special abilities to collect, The Witness' intricate system of gating certain areas does feel a bit like a classic adventure or "Metroidvania" game, where such collectibles are required to move on. Some areas, however, are gated with puzzle screens covered in various symbols-often symbols that you haven't yet encountered. Once you leave the game's very brief starting zone, you're let loose upon the full island, and a good amount of its content is accessible from the outset by simply walking around. These puzzles force you to find an outside solution through careful observation. A puzzle might have a single starting point and 17 endings or a line maze in which you're expected to draw the "right" path along a five-by-five grid. Other puzzles don't have any such obvious answers or symbols to guide you. You might be required to draw a path that covers certain dots on the line path or draw a line that clearly segregates one kind of dot from another. Immediately, the game suggests a set of rules and conditions that affect how you solve these puzzles, usually in the form of a complex symbology on the puzzles themselves. This island's puzzles are never that simple again. In the game, you walk and look around in a first-person perspective until you encounter one of these screens-sometimes a computer monitor, sometimes a wooden sign, sometimes another form entirely-covered in some sort of line puzzle. Unlike Myst, The Witness's puzzles all revolve around what I've termed a "puzzle screen" mechanic. There's no shame in comparing this game to Myst. Just like that early CD-ROM era game, The Witness strands players on a seemingly abandoned island full of puzzles. If you stay inside of The Witness's fully formed puzzle island bubble, however-one that always, always offers a fair, organic, and logical solution-you'll be rewarded with the kind of rumination on the world that only an interactive medium can deliver. The process of solving this game, and of absorbing its philosophical questions and erudite proclamations, reeks of pretension and haughtiness if you skip through as a "follow these steps" outsider. When playing The Witness, you'll likely be tempted to cheat on at least a few of the game's hundreds of puzzles by seeking out a solution on an FAQ site or a YouTube playthrough. What will persist after that moment-after the final circle has been connected along the final line to the final neat-tipped conclusion on the panel-is a sensation that this video game is not meant to be "completed." I've made my peace with that belief after months of play, which has included many long walks along its beautiful environs, many reflections upon its toughest puzzles, and many questions about its mysterious decorations. That won't last too much longer, I imagine, because I will eventually muster the brainpower and discover some hidden in-game clues to beat them-or because I'll cave in and seek help from thousands of fervent fans devouring this long-awaited follow-up to indie classic Braid. I still have not "completed" the game as far as I can tell.Īt the moment, I remained stumped about a few of its most intense puzzles, the ones still staring me in the face. I've made several returns to the game, including a recent speed run where I retraced my steps on this virtual island and re-solved most of its puzzles. I reached an ending sequence, but I knew damn well that the Myst-like game had more puzzles for me to solve. After 30 hours of intense play, I had not beaten The Witness, the latest video game from acclaimed designer Jonathan Blow.
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