The Witness Reviews
The only question gamers will have to answer is if they're okay with playing the game for its own sake, not necessarily to have their questions answered. Thinking back on those overbearing in-game quotes, perhaps that is the point.
The Witness has taken hold of my brain, both waking and sleeping. If I'm awake, I'm playing. If I'm not playing (for whatever reason) I'm inking possible solutions into a pad of graph paper. Writing this review I've solved two more puzzles and I think have a lead on a third. It's compulsive. When I'm done and this is all filed away, I'll go right back to playing.
Supremely well crafted and challenging
I may never figure out what's going on inside the head of Jonathan Blow – or what the deal really was with that "piss jug" picture he posted on Twitter – but there's no denying his savvy when it comes to game development.
A truly unique experience that challenges everything you know about games. This is a game that respects the player and pushes them to do their best, with no handholding whatsoever. Frustration is likely, but when you do solve a particularly challenging puzzle, the sense of achievement is unmatched.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
I never thought I'd like a puzzle game this much, and I can't believe a game that isn't a JRPG is a game of the year contender to me. Jon Blow and Thekla have really created something special here, and while it has been a very long wait (I hope that the next one doesn't take eight years to complete...), the long development time has been used to good effect. The Witness is so much more than puzzles in an open world. It is itself an enigma and puzzle, and something far greater than the sum of its individual parts.
The Witness is a difficult yet rewarding puzzle game that will keep your mind occupied for a very long time. If you like puzzles, you'll love The Witness. But if don't like puzzles, then don't play it as it'll make you feel stupid!
Review in Persian | Read full review
t’s a pure puzzle game and is happy to be a puzzle game, though with simplistic controls, excellent environment, and well developed puzzles. It’s worth checking out even if you aren’t a major puzzle fan.
The Witness, then, is an exploratory puzzle game with very limited mechanics and has the tendency to make you pull your hair out in frustration as you begin to reach the limits of your own comprehension. In spite of this, it is an excellently crafted world, with a huge amount of brain teasers to attempt. Some people may not like the lack of immediate feedback when making your way through some of the areas, but the varied nature in solving the puzzles that ultimately combine with each other in such a way make figuring out The Witness an experience without parallel.
The Witness is at its best when it is teaching you its mechanics simply by exploring the world and playing the game.
A remarkable open world puzzler that never loses faith in the intelligence of the player.
Blow does it again. Exquisitely layered puzzles populate a world that will keep you guessing.
The beauty of The Witness is that the puzzles transcend language itself. They pull you through a broad range of emotions – anguish, despair, desperation – but, once you finally solve that seemingly impossible puzzle, you can raise your fists in the air, victorious, and maybe taunt the game a little bit.
The Witness is the rare game that boils down to a question of faith. No video, screenshot, or review can really explain why it's such a worthwhile use of your time without spoiling the experience, so you'll have to trust me when I tell you it's worth every second—provided you have a bit of patience and are up for an intellectual challenge.
The Witness is, above all else, a designed space. And while all videogames are designed spaces in their own right, The Witness does away with the façade that it's anything but a designed space.
The Witness is an excellent and unique puzzle experience that will put you to the test. Not only will it challenge you with beautifully designed puzzles but it will also task you with marshalling yourself; patience, sticktoitieveness, and a continually churning mind will be rewarded. Eventually.
I found The Witness to be a fascinating idea that shows an incredible sense of scope. Solving the game's myriad puzzles almost always delivers an incredible sense of satisfaction - an impressive feat when you consider just how many there are to tackle. The island is a truly interesting place to explore and the vast majority of the puzzles work incredibly well with one another and the environment to create a unique if methodical experience that I can easily recommend to fans of puzzle and exploration video games.
This is an intricate, beautiful, masterfully crafted game that surprises and delights on several fronts. Unfortunately, it also becomes incredibly and relentlessly punishing in a way that could put many off.
The Witness is one of the most elegant puzzlers around. It'll make you think, it'll make you laugh, and it'll make you yell. Above all else, though, it'll take you on one memorable journey that will stay with you for a long time.
The Witness is a challenging and eye-opening puzzle experience that has been designed with such precision that it can alter your thought process for a long time.