The Witness

VideogamerTom Orry

10/10

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.

Gaming NexusMatt Mirkovich

9.5/10

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.

Worth PlayingChris "Atom" DeAngelus

9.5/10

The Witness is a puzzle-exploration game that is philosophical, quiet, and places a heavy emphasis on the way things look, and will be refreshing for those who value nuance.

WCCFtechFrancesco De Meo

9.2/10

Imagine opening your eyes after a long slumber, not remembering who you are. Imagine walking through a corridor and operate some weird machinery to open a few doors. Imagine walking through these doors, climbing a set of stairs and reaching a beautiful courtyard filled with vegetation, with the wind gently stirring your hair. Imagine feeling completely lost. This is The Witness. Feeling lost and trying to understand the world around you is an important part of the experience, if not the most important.

Digital TrendsDanny Cowan

“The Witness is one of the best exploration puzzle games since Myst.”

Push SquareStephen Tailby

9/10

Republished on Wednesday 27th February 2019: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of March's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows.

DualShockersDualShockers Staff

9/10

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?”

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.

The OuterHavenJason Kwasnicki

As I sat in front of my television, having just finished The Witness, a funny thing occurred to me. I looked down to my left, and on my coffee table was a small moleskin notebook, in which I had drawn out many of the game's tougher puzzles that needed more time to…

GameSpewJack Bampfield

8/10

I’d love to write more about my time playing The Witness, but so much of it needs to be experienced first hand to truly appreciate what it has to offer. It isn’t a perfect game by any means, but it’s an unforgettable experience. It nails the puzzles for the most part, but there’s a feeling someone needed to just pull Jonathan Blow back a bit and say, “hmm, perhaps no with that”. The air of pretention is off-putting, and the conclusion doesn’t do the experience justice, but if you can look past that, The Witness is a masterpiece when it’s at its best – and it’s there a lot. In a year’s time, ma...

TechRaptorRobert Grosso

8/10

Thought provoking and challenging, The Witness is a game that really depends on the player's perspective to reach full enjoyment.

MonsterVineAustin Paul Adamson

The Witness is not just a game with puzzles, but it also one giant puzzle in itself. The environment offers great mystery. Various structures partially damaged as stone statues decorate the land and profound thought provoking ideas are scattered about. Multiple times throughout the game I was blown away with what The Witness was doing and the more I discovered, the smarter it made me feel.