The Witness Review

It’s been almost three years since Sony first unveiled the PlayStation 4 and with it the first peek at Jonathan Blow’s newest incarnation The Witness. Not much had been revealed about the game ahead of its release on PlayStation 4 this year. So here is our full spoiler free review of why you should or should not buy The Witness on PlayStation 4.

So it’s just puzzles right why should I even consider this game? Well firstly The Witness is about more than just puzzles. It is about how you learn and adapt in order to complete them, that is the secret that drives your gameplay through the Witness.

“It’s the way in which The Witness makes you feel both like a genius and an idiot in equal measure that had me coming back to it.”

The Witness is an open world puzzle game in the form of a walking simulator, a genre of games that has seen a revival in current gen consoles. The purpose of your arrival and why you are even on this vast island are unclear but in order to explore the island and begin attempting to answer any of those questions you must first solve some simple puzzles. Getting out of the first area will be a breeze but this game is only getting you familiar with the mechanics at play.

Simply the mechanic is press X and draw a line using the analogue sticks on the controller. You move from a circular point to an end point via a path. It’s all very vague that explanation I know but really that is what you do and what you will be doing throughout this game which will cost you the best part of 50 hours of your life. The puzzles do evolve throughout the game and they will have you more often than not banging your head against the wall and wondering just what you are doing wrong. That is until you realise the most simplest of solutions, whether it’s the sun glaring on the panel or the alignment of trees there is that comical moment that you realise you aren’t so thick after all. Well that is until the next set of puzzles.

“There is simply no explanation as to the reason you are doing any of these daft puzzles.”

It’s the way in which The Witness makes you feel both like a genius and an idiot in equal measure that had me coming back to it. An open mind and a fresh take were often what I needed in order to overcome that puzzle that had thwarted my progression. Often if I didn’t take a step back I could just go somewhere else.

With The Witness not being linear in nature and offering an open world to explore there is around 14 separate areas you can venture to at any moment to try a different set of puzzles. What is well done about The Witness is that the game is educating you along the way and completing the game will have you use all the skills to date you have learned. Understanding shapes, colours and all the different relationships between them will be the key to success as the puzzles get further levels of complexity added on.

So what’s the aim of the game? Well simply put in each of the different areas upon completing the puzzle sequences you unlock a laser that fires a beam into the mountain towering over the island. Once you’ve done each of these you then should make your way up to the top of the island. As far as story goes there is no narration and no guidance. There is simply no explanation as to the reason you are doing any of these daft puzzles. However see the game through and there is some reward for your brain bending puzzle solving escapades but for me I don’t think the payoff is worth it. The real kick here is the puzzles which are wonderfully crafted and I simply can’t believe someone even was capable of dreaming half of these up.

Exploring the island is well worth it during your play through as scattered across the visually stunning island are tape recordings which offering some form of storytelling. Voiced by Ashley Johnson ( from the Last of Us) you get some lore but in all honesty it didn’t add anything to my play through. The audio recordings felt more self-indulgent and pretentious than anything else. Other audio notables are purely environmental and can be experienced as you explore the island.

You are alone in The Witness and you really get a sense of that isolation. To make traversing the world a bit better there is some lovely visuals to stare at, in fact The Witness is probably the best looking game on the PlayStation 4 to date. Mechanically the discovery of a boat acts almost as a fast travel ( although it isn’t a fast boat) option to get around to hard to reach or far away parts of the island.

So should you go pick up The Witness on PS4? In short if you love puzzle games absolutely, these are the toughest you will find and give you a great feeling of satisfaction when you solve them. If you are not into puzzle games then this game is not for you and attempting to play it following a walk through will spoil the whole experience. An experience is exactly what The Witness is and it’s unique in its nature something rarely found in today’s games. It comes with a hefty price however but for upwards of 50 hours play time I think you can argue the value in that for sure.