izigame.me

I am torn. I have been in front of my screen for twenty minutes, unsure of what to choose, but still feeling the need to write a review for this game.
If you only care about gameplay, then go for it. Buy The Witness, spend tens of hours on it. It is a lovingly crafted gem with elegant, clever and tough-as-nails puzzles set in an engaging and beautiful world.
But.
I have finished the game and feel immensely frustrated by it. I won’t spoil anything about it, but while its thesis is solid, its narration was, in my opinion, horrendous. The team wanted me to be immersed and revel in deep thoughts. Instead, I felt as if I was taken hostage by the game tooting its own horn.
As The Witness introduces its mysteries before its thesis, it does, in my opinion, a poor job telling the player what kind of game he’ll be experiencing. In my case, I felt let down. Ultimately, I couldn’t help but feel ‘scammed’ by the narration, which kept increasing my frustration towards the game.
And while figuring out the puzzles was rewarding, finishing the game… wasn’t. I know that this can be justified in a number of ways, but ultimately, it didn’t matter for me. The experience felt like an empty mechanical contraption of reason – empty, passionless and meaningless, alas. While the game wanted to convey hope, awe and beauty, I felt the exact opposite, crushed by its extreme pragmatism. I couldn’t wait to get it over with, to get back to the real world. What a shame.
I do hope that people get to enjoy this game, that they get to play it and love it. As a puzzle game, it’s certainly a masterpiece. But my overall experience of The Witness makes it impossible for me to recommend it, unfortunately.
Edit: I forgot to write down something very important: if you're hard of hearing, epileptic, colourblind or subject to motion-sickness, please be advised that you either won't be able to complete the game or that the experience will be miserable for you.