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Whether you think The Witness is light or wildly pretentious, three things are undeniable: it contains a lot of puzzles, it's fun to watch, and it's the new bi-monthly gift from Epic Games Store. Developed by Jonathan Blow's Thekla studio (Braid), it is both Myst and Jumbo. In the game, your only method of interacting with its beautiful landscapes is to draw lines, mostly on strange high-tech signs, with unwritten rules that must be intuitive without a word. You can grab the game here, and see a trailer and some thoughts below.
There has been a lot of talk since the game's release. Generally positive, like Richard Moss's The Witness Review. Alex Wiltshire had some scholars to say about how the game teaches its systems without a word, by trial, error and insight. More recently, Cian Maher had deep reflections on the overall message of the game, that he respects the player's time and very messy details at the end. So you should probably play it first if you have not already done so. Personally, after a few hours, I tapped and watched more and more friends in search of riddles solve problems that bubbled my brain.
Despite everything, even though I did not manage to defeat the scribble mountain that is The Witness, I still had a good time. Although they are not reported or presented as a narrative track to follow, the riddles of each field slowly worsen, discreetly introducing rules related to colors or patterns learned through experimentation. Later, there are some great intuitive jumps to do. I will not spoil much, but reaching one of the many endings of the game requires an irreproachable reflection. This puzzle is good enough to surpass by far the self-indulgent fluff that is the audio diary and video story of the game.
The Witness is available for free on Epic Store for the next two weeks. Take it now, keep it forever.
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