The Witness

Overview

The Witness is a 2016 puzzle video game developed and published by Thekla, Inc. Inspired by Myst, the game involves the exploration of an open world island filled with natural and human-made structures. The player progresses by solving puzzles, which are based on interactions with grids presented on panels around the island or paths hidden within the environment.

Announced in 2009, The Witness had a lengthy development period. Jonathan Blow, the game's lead designer, started work on the title in 2008, shortly after releasing Braid. The financial success of Braid allowed him to hire a larger production team without ceding creative control over the final product. To create the game's visual language, the team developed their own game engine and retained artists, architects, and landscape architects to design the structures on the island. Blow desired to create a game around non-verbal communication, given no direct instructions for solving puzzles are provided, wanting players to learn from observation and to come to epiphanies in finding solutions and leading to a greater sense of involvement and comprehension with each success. The game includes around 650 puzzles, though the player is not required to solve them all to finish the game.

Original plans for release in 2013 on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 were abandoned as the game engine became more demanding, and the team ultimately opted for an initial release on Windows and PlayStation 4 in January 2016, with later versions released for the Xbox One, Nvidia Shield, macOS, and iOS. The Witness received generally favorable reviews from critics, who praised the art, setting, and difficult but surmountable puzzles. Over 100,000 copies were sold within a week of release, which was about as many copies as Braid had done within a year of its release, recouping nearly all development costs.

Official trailer

Trailer. Watch on YouTube

Gameplay

[5] The Witness - Greenhouse of Pain - Let's Play! Gameplay Walkthrough (PS4), Dude Longcouch. Watch on YouTube

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

Puzzle, Adventure, Indie

Developer

Thekla, Inc

Publisher

Thekla, Inc

Engine

Custom Engine

Platforms

PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One

Age rating

ESRB E

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

No

Online multiplayer

No

Co op

No

Age ratings

GRAC

ALL

PEGI

3

USK

0

CERO

A

ACB

G

ESRB

E

CLASS IND

10

Release dates

Editions

Check out the store

Subscription history

Trophies

Trophies14

Platinum possibleYes

Platinum

1

Gold

11

Silver

2

Bronze

0

Total

14

Points

1350

Platinum time

15 to 25 hours

100% time

15 to 25 hours

Difficulty

6 out of 10

Playthroughs for platinum

1

Playthroughs for 100%

1

New Game Plus

No. The island stays open after the ending

Platinum without online

Yes

Online trophies

0

Boosting needed

No

DLC has trophies

No

Platinum includes DLC

No

100% includes DLC

No

DLC comes in

Does not exist

Missable trophies

0

Chapter select fixes a miss

Yes

Separate trophy lists by region

No

Only in a language other than English

No

Languages

English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic, Japanese, Korean, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional)

Region note

One trophy list for every region.

Online-only version

No

Digital-only

Yes

Disc-only

No

Trophy list shared with other versions

No

Other versions

Only the PS4 version has a PlayStation trophy list

Players with the platinum

9.76%

Missable trophies

• Nothing is missable. The whole island stays open.

Grind

• Activate all eleven lasers
• The timed Challenge, with randomised puzzles that no online solution covers

Glitches and fixes

• No glitched trophies

• Platinum Get every trophy. Platinum 13.98% of players
• Shady Trees Activate the Shady Trees laser. Gold 25.41% of players
• Symmetry Activate the Symmetry laser. Silver 28.66% of players
• Desert Ruin Activate the Desert Ruin laser. Gold 26.38% of players
• Treehouses Activate the Treehouse laser. Gold 24.31% of players
• Keep Activate the Keep laser. Silver 25.39% of players
• Quarry Activate the Quarry laser. Gold 24.62% of players
• Marsh Activate the Marsh laser. Gold 24.64% of players
• Jungle Activate the Jungle laser. Gold 24.39% of players
• Monastery Activate the Monastery laser. Gold 25.11% of players
• Bunker Activate the Bunker laser. Gold 24.64% of players
• Town Activate the Town laser. Gold 24.17% of players
• Endgame Reach the end. Gold 22.49% of players
• Challenge Complete a certain challenge. Gold 13.98% of players

Space and patches

Space neededAbout 3.5 GB

Update patch01.05

The updates on record for this game.

DLC

The Witness had no downloadable content.

Playable today

Playable offline todayYes

Single-player only, with no online features.

Online

Online servers runningNo online features

Plays offlineYes

The Witness is single-player only and has no online play.

Services

Service	Status
Online play	Does not exist

Staff and cast

Staff

Role	Name
Director	Jonathan Blow
Producer	Jonathan Blow
Designer	Jonathan Blow
Programmer	Jonathan Blow
Programmer	Ignacio Castaño
Programmer	Salvador Bel Murciano
Programmer	Andrew Smith
Artist	Luis Antonio
Artist	Orsolya Spanyol
Artist	Eric A. Anderson
Writer	Goeun Lee
Writer	Jonathan Blow

Credits

Publisher

Thekla, Inc

Developer

Thekla, Inc

Director

Jonathan Blow

Released

2016-01-26

Age rating

ESRB E

Disc ID

CUSA00498

Region

US

Time to beat

about 19.7 hours