The Witness

What to Know

Critics Recommend

Average Score

Total Reviews: 70

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The Witness is an original, frustrating, rewarding puzzle adventure with layered puzzles populating a beautiful landscape.

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Critics Recommend

Critic Reviews: 70

Critics Consensus

# Reviews: 70

The Witness is an original, frustrating, rewarding puzzle adventure with layered puzzles populating a beautiful landscape.

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Critic Reviews for The Witness

Reviews

High Score - 100/100

Low Score - 40/100

Gold TIER

30% of scored reviews fell within the range of 86 to 92 / 100

Oli Welsh (Eurogamer)

Recommended

“Big, beautiful and rewarding, Jon Blow’s enigmatic puzzle epic is virtuoso game design – and only a fraction too clever for its own good.”

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Edwin Evans-Thirlwell (PC Gamer)

89/100

“Blow does it again. Exquisitely layered puzzles populate a world that will keep you guessing.”

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Justin McElroy (Polygon)

8/10

“The Witness is uplifting and frustrating.”

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Read the Reviews (70 total)

Outlet	Author	Score	Date	Quote	Read
Ars Technica	Sam Machkovech	Recommended	01-25-2016	The Witness juggles the seemingly contrary concepts of precision and ambiguity in ways I’ve never seen a game, nor a book or play or film, ever do. More than the beauty or the puzzles or the clever twists, that makes it one of the most impressive video games I’ve ever played.	Read review
Attack of the Fanboy	William Schwartz	5 / 5 stars	09-12-2016	The Witness is a masterpiece of video game design. It presents a mysterious and fascinating world to explore, full of puzzles that will confound the player, but also delight them as they figure out the solution. The island setting is both fun to explore and endlessly enjoyable to look at. The game’s true achievement though is in how it teaches the player its intricacies, with minimal intrusion and subtle hints, allowing for a great feeling of accomplishment when everything clicks into place.	Read review
BaziCenter	Fardin Bagherian	9 / 10	03-05-2016	The Witness is a difficult yet rewarding puzzle game that will keep your mind occupied for a very long time. If you like puzzles, you’ll love The Witness. But if don’t like puzzles, then don’t play it as it’ll make you feel stupid!	Read review
CGMagazine	Jed Whitaker	5 / 10	02-17-2016	You’ll either love or hate The Witness as it will either make you feel smart or stupid. If you don’t love puzzles and deep philosophical thoughts, perhaps avoid this one.	Read review
Chalgyr’s Game Room	Nick Herber	8.5 / 10	09-26-2016	I found The Witness to be a fascinating idea that shows an incredible sense of scope. Solving the game’s myriad puzzles almost always delivers an incredible sense of satisfaction	Read review
COGconnected	Steven Ritz	95 / 100	02-01-2016	The developers have managed to impart the rules of the game without a single bit of text other than the controls for interacting with the mazes and how to sprint.	Read review
Critical Hit	Mark Brown	8 / 10	02-04-2016	The Witness offers challenging, if somewhat repetitive puzzles in a world soaked with unique artistic style. If you like maze puzzles, have the patience of a Shaolin monk and are interested in an experience that can only be described as challenging, repetitive and yet meditative	Read review
Daily Dot	Dennis Scimeca	4 / 5 stars	01-25-2016	I also can’t be upset about how hostile The Witness often felt, because the game taught me a lesson that was worth the pain—about how intimate puzzle games are. I think they represent a more direct relationship between creator and participant than most genres, and that’s an aspect of puzzle games that I’ve never really appreciated before.	Read review
Daily Star	Tom Hutchison	4 / 5 stars	01-30-2016	The Witness might be one of the best games ever made, but there’s no denying it’s also infuriating in equal measure.	Read review
Destructoid	Brett Makedonski	10 / 10	01-25-2016	Truthfully, I wish I didn’t have to score The Witness. I don’t want to set people up for that expectation; I don’t want a voice in the back of their head that says “Okay, when does this become a ten?” In a way, that’s unfair and detrimental to how the game should be experienced, which is as open-minded and unassuming as possible. Don’t go to The Witness. Let The Witness come to you.	Read review
Digital Spy	Ian Dransfield	5 / 5 stars	01-30-2016	With the involvement of Jonathan Blow, there’s been a lot of chin-stroking and borderline pretentious articles going up about The Witness	Read review
Digital Trends	Danny Cowan	4.5 / 5 stars	01-25-2016	The Witness is one of the best exploration puzzle games since Myst.	Read review
Digitally Downloaded	Matt Sainsbury	4.5 / 5 stars	02-05-2016	I never thought I’d like a puzzle game this much, and I can’t believe a game that isn’t a JRPG is a game of the year contender to me. Jon Blow and Thekla have really created something special here, and while it has been a very long wait (I hope that the next one doesn’t take eight years to complete…), the long development time has been used to good effect. The Witness is so much more than puzzles in an open world. It is itself an enigma and puzzle, and something far greater than the sum of its individual parts.	Read review
DualShockers	Brennan Dyal	9 / 10	09-19-2016	Brennan Dyal lives in Baltimore, and actually likes it. When he’s not playing games, he’s disappointing his teammates on the basketball court, or going to Popeye’s in disguise so they don’t ask “Weren’t you just here yesterday?”	Read review
EGM	Josh Harmon	8.5 / 10	01-25-2016	The Witness is the rare game that boils down to a question of faith. No video, screenshot, or review can really explain why it’s such a worthwhile use of your time without spoiling the experience, so you’ll have to trust me when I tell you it’s worth every second—provided you have a bit of patience and are up for an intellectual challenge.	Read review
Eurogamer	Oli Welsh	Recommended	01-25-2016	Big, beautiful and rewarding, Jon Blow’s enigmatic puzzle epic is virtuoso game design	Read review
Game Informer	Joe Juba	9.3 / 10	01-25-2016	Fun and inventive challenges wait around every corner. If you want something more than a barrage of thoughtful puzzles (like a story), you should look elsewhere	Read review
Game Rant	Brad Jones	5 / 5 stars	02-03-2016	Following on from the massive success of Braid, The Witness is an engrossing and hugely satisfying experience that should solidify Jonathan Blow as one of the very best active game designers.	Read review
Game Revolution	Gil Almogi	5 / 5 stars	01-25-2016	Thus, I highly recommend The Witness. Although I really liked Blow’s previous game, I just loved this. I became so absorbed in it, and its beauty complements the way it challenges my mind. I like how simply it begins and how complicated it is at the end but that there’s a logical line from those two points. There’s just a lot contained within, and I’m still finding more. I want that for others, too.	Read review
GameCrate	David Sanchez	8.3 / 10	02-03-2016	The Witness is one of the most elegant puzzlers around. It’ll make you think, it’ll make you laugh, and it’ll make you yell. Above all else, though, it’ll take you on one memorable journey that will stay with you for a long time.	Read review
Gameplanet	Baz Macdonald	9 / 10	02-04-2016	The Witness is an expansive and wickedly smart follow-up to Braid, with puzzles to test even the brightest minds. Its mental gymnastics are well worth the occasional frustration, and you’ll come out feeling like a genius.	Read review
Gamerheadquarters	Jason Stettner	8.2 / 10	09-25-2016	The Witness is a haven for those that love puzzles being a special world for them to explore.	Read review
GamesBeat	Mike Minotti	70 / 100	01-25-2016	I admire a lot about The Witness. It is a beautiful game. It is a clever game. It is a big game. But all of its elements, mazes, exploration, and philosophy didn’t really come together to express some greater theme. Unless I was meant to question why I hurt my brain to solve a series of difficult mazes for no real award.	Read review
GameSpot	Mike Mahardy	9 / 10	01-25-2016	In both structure and detail, The Witness is an original, difficult, and ultimately rewarding puzzle game.	Read review
GamesRadar+	Leon Hurley	3 / 5 stars	01-25-2016	As brilliant as it is infuriating, The Witness’ ingenious puzzles all too easily have their shine worn away by length and a constantly extending complexity.	Read review
GameZone	Matt Liebl	Recommended	01-25-2016	Jonathan Blow’s The Witness is an interesting experience, eliciting emotions that push me away yet draw me in at the same time. The Witness exists as a fully 3D open-world, offering mystery and intrigue that is answered only by exploration and solving two-dimensional puzzles. It is both compelling, and incredibly frustrating at the same time.	Read review
Gaming Nexus	Matt Mirkovich	9.5 / 10	09-23-2016	They really don’t make ’em like this any more. The Witness is an amazing game that you’ll love to hate for its challenge, cursing it, wondering why you made the purchase, and then something will click for you, and it’ll become one of the best games you’ve ever played.	Read review
GamingBolt	Pramath	10 / 10	02-01-2016	The Witness is perhaps the best example of a puzzle game I have seen yet, and it is also one of the most effective instances of interactive storytelling that I can recall. For this game, I have nothing but the utmost respect.	Read review
GamingTrend	Eric Van Allen	90 / 100	02-09-2016	The Witness is a profound experience, unlike any other and certainly intimidating in its refusal to give away its secrets for free. However, those with the inclination to buy-in and delve deep will find a trove of excellence, in the way it utilizes simple mechanics to convey greater themes. One of the most cohesive and intricate releases you can find, but not for the faint of heart.	Read review
Giant Bomb	Brad Shoemaker	5 / 5 stars	01-25-2016	The intricate puzzles and tantalizing secrets of this starkly gorgeous, mystical island are enough to lose yourself in for dozens of hours.	Read review
God is a Geek	Nicola Ardron	9.5 / 10	02-01-2016	The Witness is an outstanding game, one that slowly reveals its brilliance and assumes the players intelligence rather than guides it. It is an absolute must play for puzzle fans.	Read review
Guardian	Jordan Erica Webber	5 / 5 stars	01-26-2016	Some fans of Blow’s earlier work seem to have been hoping that the mazes they saw in the trailers are just a veneer for a deeper, mind-blowing experience, but really the world and whatever narrative you can find in it are dressing for an incredibly impressive collection of puzzles. Whether or not you find a deeper meaning at the end, the journey will have been worth it.	Read review
Hardcore Gamer	Matt Whittaker	4 / 5 stars	01-25-2016	Asking The Witness to be a traditional video game is essentially asking the impossible.	Read review
IGN	Chloi Rad	10 / 10	01-25-2016	The Witness has a power and pull that carried me throughout the more than 40 hours it took to complete it for the first time, and that, even now, beckons me back to confront the mysteries I left unsolved. Its graceful combination of tangible goals, obscurity, and freedom creates ample opportunity for small victories and grand revelations alike. For the most part, its themes weave themselves beautifully throughout the gorgeous world and wide variety of puzzles, but even when it breaks subtlety in favor of a more heavy-handed approach to exposition, it never detracts from the truly fulfilling moments The Witness offers in terms of solving its physical puzzles and unlocking its deepest mysteries.	Read review
IGN Italy	Fabio Bortolotti	9.5 / 10	01-25-2016	A masterpiece. The Witness is an amazing and clever experience, rich in details and love. The game design is simply elegant and the atmosphere is out of this world.	Read review
Kill Screen	Dan Solberg	85 / 100	02-12-2016	The Witness is, above all else, a designed space. And while all videogames are designed spaces in their own right, The Witness does away with the façade that it’s anything but a designed space.	Read review
Kinglink Reviews	Unknown	4.5 / 5 stars	09-30-2018	t’s a pure puzzle game and is happy to be a puzzle game, though with simplistic controls, excellent environment, and well developed puzzles. It’s worth checking out even if you aren’t a major puzzle fan.	Read review
Kotaku	Stephen Totilo	Recommended	01-25-2016	A meditative masterpiece of virtual architecture and puzzle design.	Read review
Marooners’ Rock	Robert Workman	9 / 10	02-17-2016	I may never figure out what’s going on inside the head of Jonathan Blow – or what the deal really was with that “piss jug” picture he posted on Twitter – but there’s no denying his savvy when it comes to game development.	Read review
Metro GameCentral	Unknown	7 / 10	01-25-2016	A colossal achievement in puzzle gaming, with a very cleverly conceived setting and story, but the lack of variety and reward becomes stifling.	Read review
MonsterVine	Austin Adamson	4.5 / 5 stars	02-07-2016	The Witness is at its best when it is teaching you its mechanics simply by exploring the world and playing the game.	Read review
New Game Network	Ben Thomas	83 / 100	02-04-2016	The Witness is a challenging and eye-opening puzzle experience that has been designed with such precision that it can alter your thought process for a long time.	Read review
Next Gen Base	Ben Ward	9 / 10	02-03-2016	The Witness, then, is an exploratory puzzle game with very limited mechanics and has the tendency to make you pull your hair out in frustration as you begin to reach the limits of your own comprehension. In spite of this, it is an excellently crafted world, with a huge amount of brain teasers to attempt. Some people may not like the lack of immediate feedback when making your way through some of the areas, but the varied nature in solving the puzzles that ultimately combine with each other in such a way make figuring out The Witness an experience without parallel.	Read review
NZGamer	Keith Milburn	9.9 / 10	02-05-2016	Not so much filled with “a-ha!” moments. They’re more like epiphanies.	Read review
OnlySP	Joanna Nelius	4.45 / 5 stars	02-06-2016	The beauty of The Witness is that the puzzles transcend language itself. They pull you through a broad range of emotions – anguish, despair, desperation – but, once you finally solve that seemingly impossible puzzle, you can raise your fists in the air, victorious, and maybe taunt the game a little bit.	Read review
PC Gamer	Edwin Evans-Thirlwell	89 / 100	01-25-2016	Blow does it again. Exquisitely layered puzzles populate a world that will keep you guessing.	Read review
PCWorld	Hayden Dingman	4.5 / 5 stars	01-25-2016	The Witness has taken hold of my brain, both waking and sleeping. If I’m awake, I’m playing. If I’m not playing (for whatever reason) I’m inking possible solutions into a pad of graph paper. Writing this review I’ve solved two more puzzles and I think have a lead on a third. It’s compulsive. When I’m done and this is all filed away, I’ll go right back to playing.	Read review
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette	Max Parker	9.5 / 10	02-02-2016	This review is slightly vague, but that’s for the reader’s benefit. “The Witness” is at its best when it’s discovered within an isolation chamber. It’s not going to be a game for everyone. For those who are impatient or who are unwilling to test your mental moxie, then steer clear of “The Witness.” If you’re looking for a beautiful brain teaser that rewards as well as it punishes, this should be the next game you play. It’s unlike anything else out there.	Read review
Player.One	Bob Fekete	8 / 10	09-13-2016	If you like puzzle games and haven’t played The Witness, now’s the perfect time. If you’re curious at all about it, definitely give it a try. If you know you do not care for puzzle games or something as slow-paced as The Witness, be sure to steer clear for your own sake.	Read review
PlayStation Universe	Timothy Nunes	6.5 / 10	01-25-2016	The Witness, at the end of the day, revolves around one’s ability to interpret and solve complex puzzles. The island is gorgeous and memorable while the gameplay itself is as smooth as silk, but there’s no way around the constant need to solve the next puzzle. It is the ultimate stonewalling challenge rewarded only by rare success.	Read review
Polygon	Justin McElroy	8 / 10	01-25-2016	The Witness is uplifting and frustrating	Read review
Post Arcade (National Post)	Chad Sapieha	10 / 10	01-25-2016	First-person puzzler set on an abandoned island is about perspective and perception, logic and learning, and applying an analytical eye to the world	Read review
Push Square	Stephen Tailby	9 / 10	02-27-2019	The Witness is an intelligent, expertly crafted puzzle game with ceaselessly satisfying gameplay. It becomes bafflingly complex, yet the free-roaming nature of the island means that you’ll never be stuck for long. In addition, the way in which it communicates new elements is nothing short of masterful. All in all, Jonathan Blow’s latest is an enormous triumph.	Read review
Rock, Paper, Shotgun	Richard Moss	Recommended	02-04-2016	The Witness is one of the most fulfilling games I’ve played in yonks and it accomplishes a rare feat. It’s varied, playful, elegant, mysterious, challenging, and intensely focused all at the same time.	Read review
Saudi Gamer	عصام الشهوان	9 / 10	02-03-2016	A truly unique experience that challenges everything you know about games. This is a game that respects the player and pushes them to do their best, with no handholding whatsoever. Frustration is likely, but when you do solve a particularly challenging puzzle, the sense of achievement is unmatched.	Read review
Shacknews	Ozzie Mejia	7 / 10	01-29-2016	The Witness is an intentionally simple game to grasp, but enjoyment almost feels proportional to patience. These puzzles are absolute brain-breakers, so anyone that doesn’t have the patience for them will get no enjoyment out of The Witness. I was certainly on the verge of being one of those people, but exploring the sheer beauty of the island and learning more about its central mystery turned out to make returning worthwhile.	Read review
Slant Magazine	Aaron Riccio	4.5 / 5 stars	02-01-2016	The game allows players to learn and wonder at all the symbolism at their own pace, to draw their own conclusions.	Read review
TechRaptor	Robert Grosso	8 / 10	02-03-2016	Thought provoking and challenging, The Witness is a game that really depends on the player’s perspective to reach full enjoyment.	Read review
Telegraph	Sean Bell	5 / 5 stars	01-25-2016	The Witness is a game that will genuinely have you punching the air or laughing out loud, just from correctly drawing a line on a grid. If that isn’t the mark of a truly special game, I don’t know what is.	Read review
The Escapist	Marshall Lemon	4 / 5 stars	01-25-2016	The Witness revives the puzzle-solving portion of your brain that’s lain dormant since Braid.	Read review
The Outerhaven Productions	Jason Kwasnicki	4.5 / 5 stars	02-02-2016	The only question gamers will have to answer is if they’re okay with playing the game for its own sake, not necessarily to have their questions answered. Thinking back on those overbearing in-game quotes, perhaps that is the point.	Read review
TheSixthAxis	Jim Hargreaves	6 / 10	01-29-2016	Despite occasional pangs of belittlement, The Witness refuses to release its hold on me. Although there are aspects of the game that I clearly dislike, part of me longs to be immersed within its fascinating world. It feels strange, therefore, to try and put a score on this review, given how each individual will react differently to it. That term may be overused but if you were to spend just an hour or two with the game, you would know it to be true. Unique, divisive, and fiendishly clever, there are bound to be those who love it and those who absolutely hate it. Then there are those, like myself, who fall somewhere in between, able to appreciate Thekla’s achievements but frustrated at how The Witness continues to build a wall around itself, as if guarding a secret from its players.	Read review
Twinfinite	Ishmael Romero	5 / 5 stars	01-28-2016	The depth of organic interaction, witnessing the world melt seamlessly into itself, makes for a near perfect experience. The Witness is a constant idea just within reach and then, once you grasp it, a new perspective altogether. It won’t be quick nor easy to solve, but you can’t help but be enraptured by its beauty through every frustration and moment of clarity.	Read review
USgamer	Bob Mackey	2 / 5 stars	01-25-2016	It’s easy to fall in love with The Witness, and even easier to have your heart broken by the callous indifference of Jonathan Blow’s beautiful island. A healthy challenge is good for any game, but the puzzles on display here offer few inroads to understanding for those who can’t think exactly like their creator.	Read review
VideoGamer	Tom Orry	10 / 10	01-25-2016	I’m so caught up inside the world of The Witness that it’s hard to think about anything else. It is one of the best games I’ve ever encountered.	Read review
Washington Post	Christopher Byrd	Recommended	02-02-2016	A daunting, confounding, maddening, and beautiful game	Read review
Wccftech	Francesco De Meo	9.2 / 10	02-06-2016	The Witness is an excellent puzzle game, featuring many complex yet fair puzzles, a great atmosphere, an interesting narrative method and a lot of content. With no handholding whatsoever, The Witness certainly is not a game for everyone, but those who are up to the challenge will feel enriched once they solve most of the puzzles included in the game.	Read review
We Got This Covered	Shaan Joshi	5 / 5 stars	01-25-2016	The Witness is not only a masterpiece of game design, but one that truly inspires and amazes, without relying on traditional tutorials or restrictive hand-holding. It’s one of the few games that truly respects the intelligence of those playing, rather than guiding them through each and every step.	Read review

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Game Info

Game Description / Storyline:

You wake up, alone, on a strange island full of puzzles that will challenge and surprise you. You don’t remember who you are, and you don’t remember how you got here, but there’s one thing you can do: explore the island in hope of discovering clues, regaining your memory, and somehow finding your way home. The Witness is a single-player game in an open world with dozens of locations to explore and over 500 puzzles. This game respects you as an intelligent player and it treats your time as precious. There’s no filler; each of those puzzles brings its own new idea into the mix. So, this is a game full of ideas.

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