...fail for 2 hours trying to figure out where to draw a line.

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The Witness is the second major release from indie game developer Johnathon Blow, a man seemingly determined not to live up to his namesake, since he has yet to create a game that blows. His 2008 game Braid remains one of my favourite games of all time, and has been critically praised practically across the board by critics and players alike. While Blow himself (teehee, blow himself) does come across as a little pretentious at times - and the internet has not been particularly forgiving towards his insistence to force metaphors and philosophical musings into his work and online discourse - Blow certainly knows how to create a mechanically satisfying puzzle.

The comparisons to Myst become almost immediately apparent, the player finding themselves stranded on a serene island, entirely alone. The Witness is much quicker than Myst to establish any kind of overarching mechanic, immediately serving you up the main entrée: drawing lines.

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Just like an all-you-can eat pizza buffet, The Witness continually serves you slight variations on the same pizza, and Mr. Blow hovers over the table requesting that you cut the pizza in increasingly convoluted ways. Except he never tells you how to cut the pizza, he just kinda pinpoints some key areas and keeps telling you you're wrong until you're right. This game is hinges largely upon the player figuring out what the puzzle wants you to do without explicitly explaining the methodology. This process of determination is captivating, and even though it sometimes feels like you're bashing rocks together, once the rules of the puzzle click, solving a puzzle is tremendously satisfying.

Also like a pizza buffet, you always pronounce without irony beforehand "I'll never get tired of pizza", and then find yourself staring in dread at the last two slices sitting mockingly on your plate that you took before your body surreptitiously decided that pizza was no longer its thing. The Witness took a good few pies to reach that point, but at around the 13 hour mark, every bite had started to taste the same, and it felt like I was overdue getting the cheque. That being said, I've never lasted 13 hours at a pizza buffet before, and The Witness was just as enjoyable the first hour as it was the twelfth.

The game also looks as good as a freshly delivered pepperoni pizza on a cold winter evening, nuff said.

I think I want to order pizza.

8/10