When The Witness first came out in 2016, I remember players being very torn as to whether this was an engaging puzzle game, or a pretentious display of pseudo-intellect.

Before I had even owned the game, I knew of its developer from a 2012 documentary, “Indie Game: The Movie”. In this movie, Jonathan Blow talks about his experience with developing his indie title, “Braid”. He talks about how he deeply believes games can help people connect, and it seemed that he wanted to connect with people through this title. The game released, and was extremely popular at that time. It was a difficult puzzle game that involved time-manipulation. The mechanic was seen as novel and quirky, but people didn’t connect to the game and it’s message the way Jonathan had hoped they would. The movie shows a clip of rapper “Soulja Boy” showing his friends the time mechanic and laughing at the novelty of it, before cutting back to the interview with Jon, who expresses that he felt that they’re not seeing the important part of the game. He maybe felt like something he put a bit of his soul into was overlooked, and discarded as just a funny little puzzle game. I found this part actually a little saddening, as it felt like you could see someone desperately trying to make human connections that don’t quite materialise.

When The Witness was announced and I heard it was Jonathan’s new game, I had an immediate hope in my heart that this time he would feel that people understood the game in the way he hoped that they would.
The game released, and it was a mixed bag. Some people loved it, and I heard others saying this was not a fun puzzle game, but rather just pretentious nonsense. I worried that it had happened again.

The thing is, I think Jonathon is just a very smart man. You can just see when he talks, that he is just a deeply intellectual person. He is existing on a level far above the average person. You know the type of person that can draw entire city skylines from memory or answer any math problem you throw at them 2 seconds after you say it? That kind of level. So of course he would find it hard to connect to average people. When he spoke of his puzzles in braid, he spoke of them like they were quick easy little puzzles he threw together to just take you along the story. I have played a lot of puzzle games, and dare say, i’m not entirely dumb, but I have never finished Braid. The mental gymnastics you had to do to think ahead with the time mechanics were just too hard for me. The story progressed as you got through the chapters so I just got stuck, unable to move forward and connect to his story despite wanting to.

On the other side of things, I heard a lot of people say that those who called this game pretentious are just too stupid for the game. This is a pretty harsh thing to say. After playing it for myself I don’t think it’s just a skill issue, it can be, but I think the divide is also about what interests and drives you as an individual.

To enjoy The Witness I think you need two key things. First, you need to really enjoy puzzles. To the point where solving a puzzle and immediately getting another puzzle is not exhausting to you. Then secondly, I think you need to innately be a deeply curious person.
I myself enjoy puzzles, but not that much, so I get fatigued, but am usually happy to come back to them. This was ideal for me giving the world is open. Sure, I can’t figure out that puzzle now but you bet i’m keeping a note and coming back. That part, I guess I half-qualify. I am a very curious person though, so if you dangle a secret door in front of me that I need to understand and complete a puzzle in order to get into that door, I will keep coming back and keep trying. That will drive me.

The things you find in this game, usually in the form of audio logs or secret videos, are again things that are intriguing to the innately curious. If you enjoy philosophy and the curious nature of philosophy, the questioning of everything, you’ll get a lot out of this game.
If you don’t, I can 100% see why you might see this game as pretentious nonsense.

The island in this game is littered with curiosities, and that is mainly what kept me going. There are secret doors that unlock codes for you to use somewhere… it was exciting to find and to figure out where that code was relevant… then it was fun to explore the things it unlocked. I wanted to unlock them all and find any and all secrets. You can find puzzles in the environment itself, explore every inch of the island and for me, complete as much as possible. This game was challenging, but usually I was impressed by the variety of puzzle types that derived from the same puzzle concept. Some you use shadow, others sound, or light. One area in particular really impressed me. You need to use the concept of mixing coloured light to help solve the puzzles, which is incredibly unique.
The game kept me engaged until I finished as much as I felt I could and decided to finish the game.
and that’s the thing as well, there are X amount of areas you can complete, but you don’t need to complete all of them to be able to finish the game. There is a very reachable minimum and after that, it’s down to you how much you want to complete before you head to endgame.

In general, the world is beautiful and this game has a very slow pace. You are invited to interpret things however you wish, and it feels as if this is almost a meditative experience, where you are taught to be aware of your surroundings, explore, think outside of the box and contemplate.

I played this game many years ago, and got fixated on completing as much as possible. At the end, I discovered the secret challenge room which can grant you the only other achievement in the game other than for completing the game. I made a fair few attempts at the challenge, although admittedly not whole-heartedly. It really is a challenge, and you have to use everything you learn throughout the game to conquer it. I still haven’t done it today but will definitely be going back to try again at some point in future.

Achievements: Included
Just 2, complete the game and complete the secret challenge.

For more reviews of this genre, check out my curator page The Best: First-Person Puzzle Games

For more reviews of games with psychological, philosophical or thought-provoking themes, check out my curator page Psychology, Philosophy & Thought, where we review games that explore the mind, get you thinking or make you question.