The Witness
Thekla Inc. announced The Witness on the heels of their first major hit Braid all the way back in 2009, but the game wouldn’t be released until January of this year. That’s right – Thekla Inc. spent nearly seven years developing The Witness into a game as close to perfection as they possibly could, and it shows. A hauntingly beautiful puzzle title, The Witness puts players in the heart of an abandoned island that’s absolutely saturated with mystery, tasking them to uncover the many secrets hidden in its strange world.
At times it may feel like a spiritual successor to the classic point and click adventure Myst, but at their core, the puzzles in The Witness are much less varied but no less complex. Scattered across each of the island’s 11 sections are a series of increasingly difficult line and maze puzzles. Often, these mazes have multiple entrances and exits, requiring players to explore and examine their surroundings for different context clues that might shed some light on the task at hand.
It’s during these moments that the care and effort of Thekla Inc. is on full display. They’ve mastered nonverbal communication, and with it are able to guide and educate the player without so much as a single line of dialogue. Few things are as rewarding as coming back to a puzzle you neglected hours ago, armed with a sudden epiphany that will open a path previously locked off from you.
With its astounding environment, captivating puzzles, and whopping 80 hours of gameplay, The Witness provides a world that you will feel comfortable getting hopelessly lost in.
