Released by Thekla, Inc. in 2016, “The Witness” is a first-person single player video game with admittedly very little context for its content. It’s currently available for PC download on Steam for about $40.
You begin your journey through the game playing a nameless and faceless character. You encounter a series of panels, each containing a puzzle that requires you to follow the correct path through a grid. As you solve each one, a new one appears.
The game takes place on an island, which in and of itself is a puzzle. Completing puzzles grants the opportunity to finish puzzles on doors to unlock them. Once inside the doors, you guessed it, you find more puzzles.
Here’s the problem: there are no instructions for any of the puzzles, which means you have to figure them out for yourself through trial and error. The game then presents you with another puzzle and another. They all follow the same rules within each section of the island, slowly increasing in difficulty.
For example, in the swamp, each panel includes shapes in the middle of some of the grids’ squares that look like “Tetris” pieces. After working through the first few, you’ll realize you need to form the line into these shapes in order to complete each puzzle. As you progress through the area, you may have to combine or rotate the shapes in specific ways.
However, nothing stops you from leaving puzzles uncompleted. Each distinct area of the island contains its own series of puzzles. Each series uses its own set of rules for you to figure out. If you can’t figure it out, you can simply walk to a different area and return at any point.
In fact, it’s only natural to move between puzzles. The game features several puzzles that combine the rules of multiple areas. Sometimes, the nature of these puzzles only becomes clear after a few failed attempts, when you finally realize you’re unfamiliar with a rule or two.
Unlike most traditional games, “The Witness” does not have a particularly evident storyline. You simply exist in the world, wandering and solving puzzles.
The theme of the game is knowledge. More specifically, the pursuit of knowledge and the constant seeking of new information. Thus the incessant stream of puzzles and needing to discover the rules for yourself.
You don’t actively participate in the world. The puzzles would still exist, regardless of the player.
This may seem like a bleak thought, but you’re meant to take comfort in it. You’ll find yourself getting much less frustrated with a particularly difficult set of puzzles if you don’t think of them as being made for you to complete. The puzzles are simply a part of the world, you’re in that world, and you can solve them whenever you feel ready to pursue the knowledge.
Besides, a whole island calls for exploration, so explore it. The environments within the game appear breathtaking at times, especially when looking out at the water or in the heart of the jungle area with only the sounds of nature around you. Take some time to appreciate it. Plus, you need to solve some puzzles by taking the environment into account.
Most of the puzzles don’t need solving to finish the game anyway. Some of them only lead to codes to watch videos in the theater room, which discuss philosophy and discovery. You can leave whole areas unfinished if you want.
No real reward presents itself for finishing puzzles, just what you take away from each set. Enjoy the process of learning and adapting your thinking.
