As a puzzle/adventure game enthusiast, The Witness had been on my wishlist for a good while. The only thing holding me back from purchasing was a lack of time to spend gaming, but when I finally did see a window to play.. I am so happy this is the game I bought!

Not to make writing a review easier on myself, but I've continuously found Thekla Inc.'s own description to be the most accurate basis to explain why I love this game so much: "This game respects you as an intelligent player and it treats your time as precious. There's no filler.". I will first elaborate on the last sentence, then later on I will talk about the 'intelligent player' aspect of it all.

Every puzzle mechanic, every area, every new creative use of colour, every bit of environmental storytelling.. this game indeed has no filler.. It's all made to spark a new feeling of excitement, of wonder! No one element is the same as another, be it the theme of an area, the visual puzzles' setups in that area, the main puzzles themselves, the decor, and more!

The main gameplay does not have a strictly set path along which to progress. To elaborate on that, every puzzle mechanic has its own (artistically) themed area that introduces it, where it teaches you its inner workings through progressively more difficult puzzles, but you can go to (almost) any such area straight from the tutorial environment. This freedom is something I did not expect and, though a bit confusing at times, it ultimately made the game flow very well later on! Now I know all the ways different areas are connected and can find my way around the whole island, and believe me.. there's a heck of a lot of paths you can take that bring you to dozens of uniquely crafted areas!
You might think each area being so unique means they're in a sense self-contained, but nothing could be further from the truth.. A very positive and mind-blowing realization I had while playing through the game is that every area, while distinctly different, plays its own part in overarching puzzle mechanics and story elements that all tie everything together! Everything is where it should be, and evidently with good reason. You can tell a lot of thought has been put into making and designing this game, from the main elements to the secondary elements to the secrets!

Next, I would now like to touch on the main gameplay itself, the various puzzles within each area, the part that I find the game respects you in as an intelligent player. Without spoilers, all I will say is that there are a surprising amount of different mechanics to learn, all of which are uniquely challenging and fun to learn about! And the further you dive into the game, the more you will find different mechanics mixed within the same puzzle, which creates a whole new level of challenge! And that isn't even including the way the environment comes into play to give these puzzles their final edge.. It's truly an amazing experience to have puzzles be great on their own, great together, and make use of the surroundings by incorporating them into the puzzles!

And the last thing I'd like to talk about is the number of secrets this game has! It's astonishing how much there truly is to discover if you have a knack for noticing details, finding patterns, and love exploring! All these secrets are entirely optional, they are in no way necessary to reach the conventional ending, but damn if they aren't worth finding and completing nonetheless for the completionists among us..

Final verdict: easily a 9/10 puzzle/adventure game, coming from someone that has loved these genres for years, with a surprising and delightful amount of mechanics, challenges, visual splendor, story, and secrets! Would be 10/10 for me if there were more than 2 Steam achievements ;)

As a puzzle/adventure game enthusiast, The Witness had been on my wishlist for a good while. The only thing holding me back from purchasing was a lack of time to spend gaming, but when I finally did see a window to play.. I am so happy [u]this[/u] is the game I bought! Not to make writing a review easier on myself, but I've continuously found Thekla Inc.'s own description to be the most accurate basis to explain why I love this game so much: [i]"This game respects you as an intelligent player and it treats your time as precious. There's no filler."[/i]. I will first elaborate on the last sentence, then later on I will talk about the 'intelligent player' aspect of it all. Every puzzle mechanic, every area, every new creative use of colour, every bit of environmental storytelling.. this game indeed has no filler.. It's all made to spark a new feeling of excitement, of wonder! No one element is the same as another, be it the theme of an area, the visual puzzles' setups in that area, the main puzzles themselves, the decor, and more! The main gameplay does not have a strictly set path along which to progress. To elaborate on that, every puzzle mechanic has its own (artistically) themed area that introduces it, where it teaches you its inner workings through progressively more difficult puzzles, but you can go to (almost) any such area straight from the tutorial environment. This freedom is something I did not expect and, though a bit confusing at times, it ultimately made the game flow very well later on! Now I know all the ways different areas are connected and can find my way around the whole island, and believe me.. there's a heck of a lot of paths you can take that bring you to dozens of uniquely crafted areas! You might think each area being so unique means they're in a sense self-contained, but nothing could be further from the truth.. A very positive and mind-blowing realization I had while playing through the game is that every area, while distinctly different, plays its own part in overarching puzzle mechanics and story elements that all tie everything together! Everything is where it should be, and evidently with good reason. You can tell a lot of thought has been put into making and designing this game, from the main elements to the secondary elements to the secrets! Next, I would now like to touch on the main gameplay itself, the various puzzles within each area, the part that I find the game respects you in as an intelligent player. Without spoilers, all I will say is that there are a surprising amount of different mechanics to learn, all of which are uniquely challenging and fun to learn about! And the further you dive into the game, the more you will find different mechanics mixed within the same puzzle, which creates a whole new level of challenge! And that isn't even including the way the environment comes into play to give these puzzles their final edge.. It's truly an amazing experience to have puzzles be great on their own, great together, and make use of the surroundings by incorporating them into the puzzles! And the last thing I'd like to talk about is the number of secrets this game has! It's astonishing how much there truly is to discover if you have a knack for noticing details, finding patterns, and love exploring! All these secrets are entirely optional, they are in no way necessary to reach the conventional ending, but damn if they aren't worth finding and completing nonetheless for the completionists among us.. Final verdict: easily a 9/10 puzzle/adventure game, coming from someone that has loved these genres for years, with a surprising and delightful amount of mechanics, challenges, visual splendor, story, and secrets! Would be 10/10 for me if there were more than 2 Steam achievements ;)