The Witness - (Puzzle/Adventure Game)

RedSky

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It's a quality game and it's a shame that they haven't made another. But it's a perfect game for anyone wanting to learn game design as it's so cleverly constructed.
 

Vidyoyo

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Roughly 45 hours in and I've just come out of the mountain after getting stuck on the big blue doubled line floor puzzle. I finally cracked the last two gardens (and environment permutations) yesterday, and then went back to have another look at the desert. After running around for a while trying to look at shapes in the sand with no luck, I stumbled on the solution. The whole section is the easiest once you know the solution but it's definitely the area that I spent most time failing to complete. Doing that allowed me to go back and complete the Town. So ten lasers are now on and I think that's the lot. I still need two more sketches for the bunker and some puzzles up in the trees that I can't seem to access yet, and the environment puzzles obviously. However I think I have most, if not all of the rules to hand now and It feels like I've broken its back.

One of the most rewarding games I've played. It really gets under your skin. I was going to bed thinking about solutions and solving problems at work with screen shots I'd taken. I'm pleased that I've managed to get this far on my own steam.

If you haven't played this game already, then you must.
Do you reckon you need to do the town after the desert then? The town was where I got to but was completely stumped about what to do.
 

Ainu

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It's a quality game and it's a shame that they haven't made another. But it's a perfect game for anyone wanting to learn game design as it's so cleverly constructed.
Jonathan Blow is working on other stuff, but it takes a while for him release games. Took him 8 years between Braid and The Witness. Last I read was he had been working on his own programming language and was using it to build his next game. Whatever it is, expect something completely different.
 

Vidyoyo

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Jonathan Blow is working on other stuff, but it takes a while for him release games. Took him 8 years between Braid and The Witness. Last I read was he had been working on his own programming language and was using it to build his next game. Whatever it is, expect something completely different.
On the subject of Braid, a remastered version is due soon featuring director's commentary. Should be interesting.
 

dumbo

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Do you reckon you need to do the town after the desert then? The town was where I got to but was completely stumped about what to do.
The Town is the most confusing area, though relatively straightforward in terms of puzzle difficulty. It's mostly about realising what it wants from you and referring to the experience you've gained from other areas. I did it bit by bit.

I think you probably need to have completed the other areas to set off The Town laser but I actually learnt a couple of things in The Town that helped solve other areas.

I'd recommend returning frequently but also leaving if you're getting completely stuck.

The main thing I've learned from the game is perseverance but also stepping back and reflecting on possibly bad assumptions. There are so many situations that seemed completely impassable at one point but then something would click in my brain and a whole new section would open up.

For the first time I feel like I might complete or very nearly complete the whole thing on my own.
 

Redlambs

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Forgot I bought this ages ago :lol:

Just started an hour ago and set off the first laser and on the way down realised the pipe on the shack opposite aligns with the roof...I think I'm going to love this game.
 

dumbo

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Very nice. This thread is largely spoiler free as far as I can see, although there is a bit of location reveal stuff, just incase you want a 100% blank slate run.
 

Redlambs

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Very nice. This thread is largely spoiler free as far as I can see, although there is a bit of location reveal stuff, just incase you want a 100% blank slate run.
Yeah it's definitely one I'm going to do myself and probably in bits and pieces. I'm on to the next bit and making good progress so don't want to rush.
 

amolbhatia50k

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The problem with this one is that I left it after completing 3-4 areas and now going back to its, understanding all the rules is difficult.
 

Ainu

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I haven't come across any need for notes so far, which means I'm in for a rude awakening at some point soon I imagine :lol:

Thanks for the tip!
It doesn't get overly complicated it's just that the game teaches you its rules very organically and never explicitely tells you anything. As long as it's fresh in your memory, you're good, but if you lose track there's no obvious way to get a refresher.
 

dumbo

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Made it to the endgame, pretty chuffed. 435+44 puzzles down. It seems there are another 100+100 I never encountered. I'll take a look around and then might look up the locations of whatever I can't find (not including the environment puzzles).

A great experience overall. Unique, gorgeous and rewarding. A nudge in the right direction here or there (without giving any hints or solutions away) might have been nice on occasion. There were a few sessions where I spent the whole time walking around the same rock or bit of sand that had nothing to do with any puzzle. That said it'd be tricky to do and it might be a bit of a slippery slope with how much to give away. It's not a super hard game by any means but you have to be prepared to learn and use a little lateral thinking.

I tip my hat to JB and the team.

If you didn't want to go all in on a solo run, I think it would make a great co-op game for anyone who actually has a friend.
 

dumbo

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100% done. Solved every panel on my own but chose to look up the last lot of environmental puzzles, and I was glad I did. There is no way that I was spending the additional 40+ hours I would have needed, crawling around the island to cover every possible point of perspective. Some very neat ideas that are worth seeing but you'd have to be madly obsessive to track them all down.

One of the best puzzle games I've played, up there with Tetris, Obra Dinn, Braid, Portal.

I might give The Talos Principle a go soon, see how it measures up.
 

Vidyoyo

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100% done. Solved every panel on my own but chose to look up the last lot of environmental puzzles, and I was glad I did. There is no way that I was spending the additional 40+ hours I would have needed, crawling around the island to cover every possible point of perspective. Some very neat ideas that are worth seeing but you'd have to be madly obsessive to track them all down.

One of the best puzzle games I've played, up there with Tetris, Obra Dinn, Braid, Portal.

I might give The Talos Principle a go soon, see how it measures up.
Good work!

The puzzles in The Talos Principle aren't as good - and arguably don't tie in with the game much - but it has a really satisfying and thoughtful story. It's quite philosophical.

I remember when I first heard about the game and thought 'what is this pretentious sounding nonsense'. I posted on Steam what I meant as a tongue-in-cheek comment (since edited) and the writers got back to me with a list of their inspiration.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/257510/discussions/0/540744935336803403/

The TJ guy also wrote The Swapper, if you've played that? I liked it.
 

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Damn you all! Now I'll have to check this out - some excellent advertising for the game in here!
 

dumbo

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Good work!

The puzzles in The Talos Principle aren't as good - and arguably don't tie in with the game much - but it has a really satisfying and thoughtful story. It's quite philosophical.

I remember when I first heard about the game and thought 'what is this pretentious sounding nonsense'. I posted on Steam what I meant as a tongue-in-cheek comment (since edited) and the writers got back to me with a list of their inspiration.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/257510/discussions/0/540744935336803403/

The TJ guy also wrote The Swapper, if you've played that? I liked it.
Oh very interesting, their inspirations are very much my guys.

I played The Swapper many years ago after being drawn in by the visual style. I gave up pretty quickly though. I seem to remember the puzzles becoming very complex very quickly, requiring layers of memorisation, which I tend to struggle with. I'm good at lateral thinking puzzles but deep maths is my weakness. I still have it though so I'll give it another go.
 

dumbo

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I've just started on The Looker and so far it's been fun. It's an affectionate parody of The Witness with some funny moments, a few puzzling ideas of it's own and some nice nostalgia of the original. It appears to be fairly short judging by the number of achievements, which is possibly for the best - I don't think I want to be doing hundreds of fresh puzzles.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1985690/The_Looker/

Damn the Witness was an amazing time.