Perhaps my favorite game of all time; I admit The Witness is not perfect (the audio/video logs in particular) but I love so much about it that I don't really care. The gist of the game is that you wander around solving line puzzles on grids scattered across a mysterious island, simply navigating a path from a starting point to an ending point over and over again. But there's so much more at play here- without any words, guides, or any other form of gameplay, The Witness teaches you the rules for different styles of puzzles, further and further refining them as you go- asking you to think critically about the world around you, combining the rules in interesting ways, and respecting you enough to not hold your hand outside of a very brief introductory tutorial. The Witness is challenging but (almost) always fair. You have free reign to wander around the entire island, solving puzzles and unlocking even more puzzles, so whenever you're stuck on one you're welcome to walk away to some different part of the island and try something else until inspiration strikes. Out of the 600+ puzzles here only a few of them absolutely must be beaten to finish the game, but once I beat The Witness I immediately wanted to go back and solve some more. A friend of mine has criticized the lack of plot in the game- there's so many little hints at a story that are never assembled into a real narrative, but this didn't bother me at all. The Witness is a testament to the joy of discovery and incredible game design, and a tacked on storyline would have gotten in the way of you and your thoughts (hence my dislike of the few hidden audio logs you can listen to).

For anyone debating playing The Witness, I beg you don't get frustrated enough to consult a walkthrough. It will never feel worth it and even the hardest puzzles can all be figured out with enough patience. I also suggest playing with a friend, and try bouncing some ideas off of each other. Even long after I beat The Witness, I had a blast watching my friends play the game and giving them the gentlest nudge in the right direction when they struggled. Watching other people have the "A-ha!" moments I had was nearly as fun as experiencing it for the first time.