I think this game pulls off something insane for a puzzle game, that being that it maintains a sense of surprise and problem solving even after a replay. I feel like I go back to Portal 1 and 2 and everything is so simple to remember how to complete, but something about how simplistic all of the clues are and how they're represented makes them easy to forget in hindsight, giving the player a situation where they basically have their memory wiped after a couple of months away from the game. Also, anyone who's played the game can appreciate what starting from square one does in regards to a fresh perspective. Johnathon Blow did a damn good job with his team in directing this game, and besides a couple painful puzzles like the shipwreck door and the sun smeared panels, it's basically a must play for any puzzle game respecter.

log 1 -- made the inexplicable decision to finally pick The Witness back up again while browsing my library on the steam deck. blew through way more than i had ever gotten to before in one day--what felt like most of the main island's puzzle sections (up to the mountain). genuinely maybe 8 hours. i don't know why i got that locked in. maybe i'll shelve this again, because i haven't gotten a lot out of the game so far that i hadn't already by playing before, or by listening to other people talk about the game, but for the sake of scratching the gestalt itch i'll probably finish the game, even if by largely referring to a guide for time.
log 2 -- finished the main goal of the game, largely cheating with guides. didn't feel satisfied and ended up continuing for another too-many-hours to fill out many of the optional puzzles i missed. i know full well there isn't any sort of completion reward, but i wanted to do it. beating the randomly generated Challenge course was genuinely rewarding, and some of the secrets i "found" were pretty cool to see. as soon as an FMV scene began i had a flash of remembrance that i'd certainly been told about it before, so my reaction was an interesting blend of appreciation and detachment. while i update this log, i'm waiting for the eclipsed moon to finish it's hour-long path so i can get that notorious checkbox ticked. that's some fun synchronicity--that i felt somehow drawn to return to this game soon after an unusually much talked about total lunar eclipse across my part of the world.

The Witness is a devilishly simple game. Taking place on a luscious, deserted island, you're tasked with exploring and solving a seemingly never-ending series of maze-like panel puzzles where the goal is simply to draw a line from A to B, meeting certain criteria in the process. It doesn't sound like much but it's addictively fun.

Crucially, none of the puzzle parameters are ever explained. It's entirely on you to play around and make sense of the increasingly complicated mechanics, sometimes through sheer brute force trying. That is, though, what makes The Witness so fun to play; that feeling of discovery and conquest feels totally earned when you find and finish a new area of puzzles without any help from the game whatsoever.

Not every mechanic works though. Most are based on logical thinking (like drawing a line from A to B while dividing squares by colour, for example) but there's a string of sound-based puzzles where you have to interpret bird calls and map them to a route through puzzle panels. I found these sections to be a nightmare but they didn't ruin the game.

For context, I actually played The Witness as a couch co-op game. Me and my best friend threw out possible solutions to each other, scrawling out the puzzles madly with paper and pencils. I think it's probably the best way to play and experience the game because it makes those 'Eureka!' moments, where you finally crack a tricky puzzle, all the more satisfying.

nunca achei que ia ser capaz de zerar essa desgraça desse jogo, mas depois de muita dor de cabeça, frustração e vontade de desistir, eu completei!

o jogo é completamente focado em puzzle e é muuuuuito complexo pra caralho! muitas ideias boas e muito bem executado. Em nenhum momento senti que o puzzle era sem logica. Tudo tinha uma logica e uma explicação, mesmo que seja bem complexo de entender.

Eu achei que ia largar o jogo logo no começo, pensei várias vezes em desistir nas primeiras áreas porque eu tava completamente preso e sem entender nada kkkkkkk mas logo percebi que estava ficando melhor, mais rápido e mais atendo, então botei uma meta na minha cabeça de me esforçar pra zerar isso aqui. Fico feliz que consegui com zero uso de guias.

O problema maior do jogo pra mim é a falta de lore. Acredito que se a cada puzzle completado uma história fosse contada, ia motivar ainda mais pra finalizar, mas infelizmente o jogo tem pouquissima --- pra não dizer nenhuma --- lore.

A falta de musica ou trilha sonora também atrapalha bastante, é meio chato ficar em completo silencio enquanto tenta resolver os puzzles, uma trilha sonora da horinha só agregaria ao jogo.

Fora isso, fico feliz em ter zerado e isso me mostrou que sou capaz de jogar jogos de puzzle.

Definitivamente o jogo mais desafiador que já joguei. É um excelente jogo de puzzle, mas falha muito em outros aspectos.

It's unfortunate how well put together this game is because the longer you play it the more you realize Jonathan Blow isn't an auteur genius and is actually just a pretentious loser who thinks he's saying a lot more than he is. That being said, I do find a good amount of entertainment in going through these repeated line puzzles and finding out how they get spiced up. On top of that, the game is gorgeous but if I'm being honest I'd say you're better off doing the first seven areas you figure out and then the ending and then never touching it again.