The Witness Game Guide

An idea that began toward the tail end of Braid's development, The Witness is Blow's upcoming first-person exploration puzzle game that is similar to Myst in a way, at least, according to Blow, in terms of mood and feeling. There's no sign of life, but you'll find fascinating messages left on voice recorders by the person who designed the intricate network of puzzles on the island. We recently met up with Blow at his studio to play the game for a couple of hours, and even though the game had mostly placeholder graphics, sound, and acting, the simple gameplay and inventive puzzles were enough to keep us completely absorbed.

All the puzzles in the game are presented by these blue panels, where you need to draw a white line from point A to point B to form the correct pattern. By pressing A and tracing the unlit black line and pressing A again to activate it, the line turns green and the door opens. The panel set up interesting because even though you're using the same mechanic of moving a line from point A to point B, there are multiple ways to approach each puzzle set. In The Witness, there are what Blow calls "boss puzzles," and it would help to have solved the other puzzles in the area before you can make sense of the more complicated one before you. Unlike in traditional adventure games where you must find a key to open a door, Blow says that there is no inventory in The Witness, but there are key door puzzles to help you get through. According to Blow, The Witness is the opposite. Even in the game's early stages with minimal music, sound, and placeholder art, touching up those features would only enhance the already engaging experience. The writing, the design, and the puzzles are the core experience of The Witness.