There are games that hold us by the hand, there are games that do not, and then there is The Witness – so cryptic that it will not tell you a word after 10 hours of gameplay.
New mystery adventure from the makers of the acclaimed Braida – Jonathan Blow, after eight years of development and several delays, high expectations were inevitable, and so the same number of people are thrilled and disappointed. The Witness is often compared to The Talos Principle, how they both deal with deep themes hidden among the riddles while you in the first person view wander on mysterious locations. This is sure to make some nice first impressions, but after a lot of playing, I now somehow see it as diagonal with something else – Dark Souls.
Yes, you read it right, The Witness is a Dark Souls puzzle. Clearly, mechanics and theme are not at all alike, but both are based on a similar approach, which has already been proven to be a little too much. An average player who is asked to solve problems carefully and persistently with learning and understanding, and to familiarize with the story without being told anything. Because of the immense complexity and lack of instructions it will often come to frustration, but mastering these seemingly impossible coded enigmas will have larger, more satisfying “Aha!” Moment.
KNOT
This is one very unconventional approach to designing games as it makes The Witness completely unique, and somewhat ingenious. By solving the puzzles you do not get any specific awards, keys, better statistics, possibilities of climbing, jumping further and so on, that would help in overcoming the challenges that lie ahead. Instead, it only offers the knowledge and practice of solving puzzles, and process of improvement takes place only in your head and so for you as a player with new findings you become “stronger”. However, the aim is not only to solve the puzzle, but also to understand how and why. The Witness will make sure that this lesson is fully mastered and embraced, but the genius of this is not only the fact on the job done, but also where it all leads.
I do not know what really else to say without spoiling anything but if you find that something like this looks interesting, I recommend to definitely play it before you read the rest of this review.
UNKNOWN AND CONSTANT
There are a couple of key points that I would like to point out, because the Witness is certainly not for everyone, but perhaps not even for all fans of puzzle genre. The Witness is in fact an abstract experience and if you are looking for specific answers or reward after hard work done, it is very likely that you will be disappointed here. The action of the game is very cumbersome, and arguably even non-existent. The only thing I can tell you is that you play as someone, somewhere, doing something, because the very premise of the game is that you are trying to figure out the mysteries, and for this you need up to about 30 hours of game play, if not more. Okay, that “somewhere” is an island, and that “something” is solving logic puzzles by dragging the directions on the screen, but between all this, lies something else, something intangible.
Since this is a complete freedom of research, thus the whole thing actually becomes a mutual blade – the process of finding the answers comes down to constantly walking the islands full length and width, and if you do not explicitly get a strong desire to deciphering the mystery you will probably be dying of boredom. You never know what lies with the solution of the puzzle in the district nearby, on the other side of the island or perhaps anywhere, because the solution is obvious a path that Jonathan Blow yesterday popped down after lunch. These are just some of the thoughts that will go through your head after tripping on every step, and later you’ll feel stupid when you release that the solution was the whole time just under your nose. Many answers are ingeniously hidden in the environment and a third eye could be handy here with good old pen and piece of paper.
The Witness island is very colorful and simply beautiful – mesh design full of hidden passages will be a reason to return again and again and do a little research. You never know where you end up and what will you do next, except of course withdraw the route through the table of tic tac toe, a kind of mazes, which are the basis of all of the 500 offered puzzles. From archaeological sites in the desert to the green forest and wetland marshes, all these colorful locations are closely connected and incredibly detailed complex. Hard not to admire, especially when you realize the ways in which answers are hidden.
But I’ll be honest, graphics and level design were not enough to keep me, at least not for the first 5-10 hours in which I played thus far. Not only because of the lack of “stories” that drops down the throat every five hours, but also because it has no music. And to me personally, feeling was not good. I think that some kind of ambient-atmospheric music would more help than harm the atmosphere. So we are left to wander the beautiful island in the dead silence and to me personally it was not motivating. Obviously, it is crucial that absolute silence is delivered to players for puzzles to crush their head, but in such a beautiful environment somehow it turns out to be a sin.
READING BETWEEN THE LINES
How obstacles quickly became more complicated so your frustration slowly grows . I felt like a stray sheep in the museum for the blind and deaf-mute. I hate to admit it, but I more than liked it, but the main reason why I nevertheless persistently pushed on was mostly just for writing these reviews, but probably this will not be the same with your case … My colleagues will confirm that I was initially only complaining how disastrous the whole thing is, because I could not work out what was the point at all. However, this was all before I realized what was going on. Luckily further digging around the island was worth it, and it is still so!
Luckily for further digging around the island was worth it, and it still so!
Roads through endless abstract puzzles, which apparently had nothing to do with each other, pulling strips around the coded symbols, trying to figure out why on earth The Witness so amazing to everyone. That “something” I found was completely resonated with me. Suddenly I could not stop to solve this nonsense puzzles because I released the thing The Witness was all the time trying to show me, and I had steadfastly refused to see. I fully remained shocked that the whole thing at once managed to grow from zero to something ingenious I’ve ever played. It’s like a new pair of shoes that will take you some time to adjust, but when you do…
If you thought that The Witness sucks, you completely understand me because I was of the same opinion. Although this is just a part of one of the genius that The Witness has, this showed me that what I want is not really what I need, it is a pity that in the beginning it does not offer something a bit more specific as to retain any type of player in the long run. This is because of the fundamental The Witness, it is not a traditional attempt of simple entertainment, but an attempt to open your eyes, you learn not only by watching, but also to see the world around you.
The Witness, it is not a traditional attempt of simple entertainment, but an attempt to open your eyes, you learn not only by watching, but also to see the world around you.
Yes of course, there are some “stories”. How is it now a big deal, of course, part of that is presented in the form of hidden audio logs. You will listen to a variety of quotations from foreign philosophers and scientists such as Albert Einstein talking about an age-old question – whether the glass is half full or empty? While to the players it all can seem like gibberish, the most persistent players will only at the very end have a chance to find out what is the game really about, although fully satisfactory knowledge can be reached much earlier.
The point is PERSPECTIVE
Even with all of the shortcomings and defects of The Witness, it has ultimate opinion that it is just an amazing piece of work. I began to realize that everything is actually left there on purpose so it all has reasons and answers, and that my frustration was a necessary part of the lessons I learned deciphering it. The Witness went a step further to help me prepare for the knowledge of which we never think about, and with a couple of really unexpected surprises, figuratively speaking, shot me down from the chair.
Like the situation when you watch the ants with magnifying glass – in their world its not important that they were naked, ugly, and that some idiot is just watching. The Witness does not care when you save the princess, win an evil villain or escape from virtual simulation- you are advancing when you fully understand that you are not wasting time. After analyzing the whole picture, I see that it is not important that there is no music or clear motivation, but only a chance for the player to get the freedom and the space and time to find himself. With that in mind, I appreciate it is achieved without leading the players by the nose, inviting some unnecessary achievements or psychological “Skinner Box” tricks with which we mark level of entertainment provided by one game for years now.
TO THE MOON AND BACK
Although it seems that The Witness at first sight is completely lifeless and that these puzzles could be devised only by soulless robots (hmm that Jonathan Blow has always been a suspicious character, and it may have the secret that is hidden there? ), you will be surprised how much emotion the Witness is able to push from you. You will moan from attempts, turn over the tables with frustration, and howl with joy in moments of triumph. It will discourage you and encourage you, crush your confidence before it rebuilds it even bigger and stronger – The Witness is a pure art and it’s hard to not ultimately be grateful that I had the opportunity to play it.
At the very least, I praise Jonathan Blow, he found 500 different ways to draw a straight line through the table, because so far I was convinced that it can only be done by Stephen Hawking. This will be solid logical intrigue workout that will help the brain, many times tying the brain in the knot. But in the best case, The Witness does not only celebrates human potential, but also the power of gaming as a medium that is daily within reach. Delivered to us players as a love letter, it shows that in our traditional activities of spending time with a controller in our hands, a dream can come true and inspiring journey to the moon – The Witness is a proof that we all have the power to change the world around us.
