The Witness - superb game, but is it an adventure?

Hello adventurers,

i am interested what you think (for those who played it) -
do you think The Witness can be classified as an adventure?
Which criteria does it fulfill? Which not?

For, me, personally, its pretty clear that it is an adventure but
i a m interested what you think.


For those who played it and who don't hate logical thinking:
I strongly recommended it. And even if you cant get into it
that deeply, i would still recommend playing it. Reason:

In my opinion the story is constructed brilliantly.
Yes, the story is sparse and kind of vague, but how
the story is revealed is a masterpiece in terms of game design.
To understand what i mean, you need to reach







To my surprise, i also liked The Challenge. I agree with
those who criticize it because it is the opposite
of what the game is about in 95% part of the game,
but inserting a part that can only be solved by
players who really solved the game rather than constantly looking up
solutions in a walkthrough was a really, really rewarding experience.

Because if you did not absorb
the concepts of the puzzles so deep that they are ingrained in your logical
thinking you have no chance of solving The Challenge :-)

Never ever in my life again will i be able to listen to the music of Edvard Crieg's
'In the hall of the mountain king' without thinking about The Witness.
Brilliant!

Well, it sure sounds like you enjoyed this game!

I have not played it so cannot comment about it.

It is an Adventure in my books. I think players get distracted by the talk of the way the puzzles work, and the learning process. The story is no sparser than many 1st person games. For me , the story was in the environments, in the statues, and in the audio and video clips you find. The interpretation was tied into how you work your way through the puzzles and the enviroment. It was a very unique experience. This is a game to play and observe. Take your time and muse. Avoid a WT if possible.

I haven't played, but might have to now!

I’d be very interested to hear your thoughts if you do.

I would really like to encourage you to try the game out, flotsam.

Whether it is ones cup of tea or not, there is no denying
it is a really special game, in my opinion.

Something strange happened to me while playing it, though.
Usually, if i really like a game, i can play it for hours.
With Witness i usually loved playing for 2-3 hours or so,
then i got bored by the repetitive nature of solving one panel
after another. But the next day i was really very motivated to play it again.

I have very mixed feelings about The Witness. It should be my cup of tea, given that I love the Myst and RHEM type of game. But this game gets me really frustrated. On my second try I'm almost 20 hours into it and I'm wondering where all these "environmental clues" and tutorial boards that are mentioned in reviews are hidden in my copy of the game. After having solved what must be over a hundred of those line puzzles I still only encounter doors looked from the other side and a myriad of line puzzles which I have no clue how to approach. Nothing has happened and I don't feel closer to reach any objective (if there is one) than when I started it. Still layer upon layer of line puzzles between me and any of those yellow cubes that seem to be important in some way. And the game gives exactly zero feedback as to what I should be doing next or what rules apply to the puzzles I encounter (at least the game did that in the beginning).

Of course, using a walkthrough would make playing this type of game pointless and I'd rather give it up for good. Will give it a couple of more hours. But the game really tries hard to make me hate it and its creator.:)

If I can give you any suggestions, it would be to leave the panels alone for a bit and just explore the island. Look around. Sight see. Hope that helps you fell less frustrated, and gets you rejuvenated in the game.

Thanks! I played a couple of more hours and things bagan to move. One area completed at least...

Frazap, of course solving panels is an essential component of the game and if
you aren't having fun with this, its hard to like the game. For me i enjoyed
solving them 1-3 hours and then i didnt enjoy it anymore. But the next day i was
very motviated to continue again. So maybe it helps taking a break now and then.

If you like solving panels at least a little bit, i really recomment to continue
playing the game. As i wrote above, the story is constructed brilliantly, something
you will most likely realize not before near the end.

Besides this game is one of the most meticuloulsy created games i have ever seen in
my life and i played a lot of games. As an example for what i mean by that,
take a look at this youtube video called
'Perspective easter eggs in The Witness': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2OT3QdrHLU


The clip does not spoil anything in terms of puzzles, so you don't have to be
concerned about that. I solved the Witness and did not find any of these
things.

Watching the clip blew my mind and is one of two reasons i rate this
game an A- , for the panel stuff i would only rate it B or B+.

Cool video mike_bn. I hope I'll remember to look for stuff like that when I get around to trying the game.

Wow! I found a few of those images, but missed a whole bunch. I have still have the game installed, so I'm going to have a look around again.

Thanks. I'm loving the game now, just as much as I thought I would when I installed it.

I've got to hand it to the designers of this game. The game is comprised of nothing but drawing lines on grid panels. Yet the gameplay is fairly compelling because they came up with hundreds of different ways to do it. The trippiest design is the one where you draw lines based on random objects nearby, such as the shape of a shadow, the shape of a tree branch, etc. There are some video clips, voice-overs, and some semblance of a storyline, but they are all just "window-dressing" to me. I see this as just a puzzle game with not much of a story.