2017: The Witness
The Witness
Release Date Developer Publisher 26 Jan 2016 Thekla, Inc. Thekla, Inc.
The Witness is one of my favorite puzzle games because it encapsulates the feeling of discovery using its language-less explanation of puzzles and concepts. The simple, “draw a line” puzzle mechanic is remixed in dozens of unique ways with each mechanic able to give players that “Aha!” moment.
Early in the game, the puzzles are tight and straightforward, giving players the ability to experiment and figure out how new symbols influence the answer to each of the solvable panels throughout the island. As the puzzles increase in difficulty, those ideas may be challenged, forcing players to reconsider if the symbol actually means what they previously assumed.
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The puzzles in The Witness start simple and are well-bounded so players can experiment and come to a solution. Later puzzles have an expanded amount of possible state, ensuring players prove they understand a concept.
By the end of The Witness, symbols are combined into new puzzles with further expanded state. To complete some of the game’s final puzzles, players must prove they understand the intricacies of each mechanic — and it would be almost impossible to give the correct answer without having that understanding due to their size.
From a technological perspective, the game is also quite impressive. It runs on a custom engine which enables the game to be played on iOS (though I wouldn’t recommend it). There was also substantial work done to combine levels into a single zone that could also be independently edited within version control.
Like Fez, there’s lots of stages of completion to the game. The player only needs to activate eight of the eleven lasers to reach the end, though even after completing the three additional levels, there are still hundreds of puzzles left to find, hidden all over the island. Years later, there’s still more I haven’t found in The Witness.