So I spent days trying to figure out the monolith puzzle on my own, only hearing rumors that it was very hard. So I was a bit surprised to find that, when I finally gave up, that the solution was external, and no one has worked out how you obtain the code in-game. I was a little miffed, but then it occurred to me:

The game is about the gift of extraterritorial knowledge. The monolith is a direct nod to one of the most famous examples of this concept in fiction. So then, isn't it perfect that the solution to that puzzle internally is brute force (with millions of practical combinations to try), and the only quick way to progress is interference from an external source?

I suppose nothing can be "too meta" for this game.

The fact that there's a website of brute force codes that asks you to tell it which works for you tells me that, yes, this is truly a puzzle of experimentation.

Here's some additional reasons I think my theory checks out:

• Assuming the logic to find this code exists, with so many eyes trained on the problem, it is hard to believe no one found that logic, even now.
• The only clue is that the map is burned, missing the other part of the solution. This is the absolute truth: the solution has been lost to that world.
• The symbol under the monolith is an infinite Polytron logo, implying that this is an everlasting mystery.
• If I spent five years on a game, and created a near impossible but logical challenge, I would be heartbroken if the solution was leaked. I would want to know if someone could solve it. The solution was given without fuse to an insider, and in my opinion this is a red flag.

@Lokno: Makes sense.

I still think it would have been better to have to solve.the second part of the map with a mirrored image. That makes more sense to me.

@Phoenix778m said:

I still think it would have been better to have to solve.the second part of the map with a mirrored image. That makes more sense to me.

Yeah, that's a cool idea. I agree that a solution in game would have been more rewarding, especially from someone that tried to complete everything in a vacuum. I'm really intrigued that a community grew around this game and its mysteries; people took something that could have just have been frustrating and made it into a collaborative game. Nevertheless, I can't shake the feeling that Fez is a little incomplete. Phil got bored of the platformer, built up this meta game around it, and than later became bored of that too. The platforming is never taxing and reward for solving the challenging encoded puzzles trails off. I'll be really interested to see if Phil does a postmortem of the project at GDC.