The Witness review thread

Okay, reviews have started hitting:

• Giant Bomb: 5/5
• The Escapist: 4/5
• Destructoid: 10/10
• Game Informer: 9.25/10
• IGN: 10/10
• PC Gamer: 89/100
• Gamespot: 9/10
• USgamer: 2/5

Now we just need Giant Bomb's review, which I believe is going to be from Brad.

Thankfully, it looks like this game wasn't a victim of prolonged development time. These reviews have at least quelled some of my worry about the game's price (which is extra expensive here).

Edit: Um, here's a Jeff tweet...this counts as a review, right?

This game is THE reason I bought a PS4. Super excited for it. I want to hear some conversation about it, but am stymied because I don't want any spoilers at all. I can't watch the quicklook, even. I guess i Just have to wait until tomorrow.

I'm curious to see if this gonna be like Fez. Game that look simple on the surface but was hiding something super complex for players that looked more into it. Cant be just puzzles for 80 hours right?

It is (not) (just) a (game/clone/walking simulator) (like/unlike) Myst, you guys!

I'd rather pay $(1/10/100) for playing that game (on my phone)

I'm kind of stunned by how fast the QL won me over. I didn't realize how hungry I was for this kind of game.

I really want to watch the quick look, but don't want the early puzzles spoiled. If it's getting such good reviews I might just get it.

I'm watching the Quick Look. I need to know something more about this game before I buy it. I don't want to just walk up to panels and solve mazes, no matter how complex those mazes become.

@believer258: Yeah, Brad understandably goes out of his way to avoid spoilers in the QL. But I kind of want to know exactly how this game develops before I play it. Because 50-70 hours of maze puzzles sounds mind numbing.

I can't wait for tomorrow! Luckily I'm off work.

Knew it was going to suck. John Blow the one hit wonder.

Am I right in thinking this is download only in the UK? The only place I see it listed online is on Amazon, and they have a pre-order with no date attached to it priced at £89.99! Which might be fine as a place holder, but the game is due out tomorrow?

More like Jonathan BLOWS amirite

Really nice to see it turned out damn good apparently. Would like to see a few more reviews but so far that's a nice consensus. Tempted but puzzle games aren't really my thing (cause I such at them :().

Looks that way. shopto have it listed as £50 with no release date. And game don't even have it in their database.

Welp guess I'm buying a game this week.

I'm curious if I should get this on PC or PS4 - I didn't watch the full QL but didn't hear them mention any pertinent differences from what I heard.

@paulmako: You're right. It's £30 on PSN.

Holy shit, i wasn't sure I was going to buy this any time even remotely soon, but I think I might pick it up this week

Bakalar seal of approval confirmed

@humanity: he's ready to bakalar that game up

@ripelivejam: Praise him!

*plays acoustic guitar*

@ripelivejam: bakalar up for a second.. what do you mean "bakalar that game up?" Should I be offended here? Don't say something you can't take bakalar.

Yep!

Even if "stuff" happens, if the only way I interact with the world is look at panels to solve puzzles and gawk at pretty environments (and also listen to audio logs, because Brad says those are here, too), then I don't really want to play this. I still have that copy of Talos Principle that I haven't played or, hell, Legend of Grimrock 2 takes place on an island with lots of puzzles and enemies to kill and RPG mechanics to mess with.

I think they should have had a segment of the Quick Look where Brad goes "all right, if you're not sold on this game yet, we're going to do some spoiler-y stuff and show you some of the things that really happen in this game" instead of vaguely hinting that "there's more". If this game's really seventy hours long, there had better be some interesting stuff you can show me that isn't going to spoil the whole game. And people who don't want to see any of that stuff could just stop the video and go buy the game right there.

@believer258: I tweeted Brad and asked if they would perhaps do a supplemental quick look where they show some of the spoiler-y stuff. Maybe if enough people ask they will.

Screenshots in the gallery as @amyggen pointed out in the quick look comments give you an idea how crazy some of the stuff gets. Seems like a lot of tricks with perspective and some small quirks introduced that become game changers. Maybe a lot of going back and forth and puzzling out how to reach a certain section (at least i infer that based on what i've seen). I guess what you propose would have been fine (at least for me), but people would have still cried foul at ol' braid spoilermaker spoiling another game so it's kind of a no-win situation.

I'm already sold on the game, but a bit intimidated by the number of puzzles. I really enjoyed what I played of The Talos Principle but eventually stopped playing due to the sheer number of puzzles I could see would be required to get to an ending. Braid and Portal were both in my sweet spot for tight puzzle games that could be completed in a handful of long gaming sessions.

I'm planning on picking it up for the PS4, but can't find any info about what time it will drop. Since it's not pre-orderable, I assume it'll be mid-day tomorrow?

I think they need to make @danryckert do an Endurance Run of this shit. He has to complete EVERY puzzle. I mean, the guy hasn't done an Endurance Run yet. It only seems fair.

it doesn't utilize amiibos so i already think it's a nonstarter.

Not sure about this one, nothing in the QL really stood out to me apart from the visuals. I get that there's more to it, but if that's just variations on those puzzles that doesn't sound appealing to me, no matter how crazy they get.

In regards to spoilers and the QL, they only go over the tutorials and maybe two to three extra panels before Brad takes the sticks and wanders around the island. Minor hints as to what puzzles might look like, but no blatant step by step of puzzles. If you guys want to watch it and not be spoiled, just watch up until they get out of the walls of the first "room"

I'm sold on it. It has a look to it and the idea of an island full of puzzles appeals to me. And you can run. Take that, Myst. The puzzles look like simple mazes but if they're going to play around with spatial awareness and perspective then this might be worth the time and money spent on this. It's probably not going to go the full Fez but I'll settle for where it takes me.

Good job I took tomorrow off.

This also kinda makes me want to finally play fez and actually go through all the note taking rigamarole but I'd feel guilty not applying that time to skill building for my job or exercising or something.

Shit dude, this game looks great. I kinda wanna go finish Braid now.

It's great to hear that this game turned out well. It's been one of my most anticipated games for about two years.

Hard to believe it's already here, but I'm so glad a mix of people are enjoying it. Figured a long-ass puzzle game would be more divisive than this.

I think I mainly want to know how it stacks up to Talos.

@beachthunder: That's a fairly tall order.

Happy to see the good reception, I'll be buying it on PS4 ASAP

Wow, those review scores though. Critics are really praising this game. Okay, we'll see how this goes with the public. I'm really curious to see the publics reaction to the game after this kind of critical reception.

Please do. The puzzles are satisfying, the music is excellent, and that ending is a gut punch

Don't venture on the steam forums is all i have to say.

Braid was my favourite game...up until Binding of Isaac Rebirth was released.

Yep. Living up to both the lofty expectations of Blow's last game and Croteam's masterpiece with a similar concept is definitely a tall order...

Can't wait to play. I loved The Talos Principle even if I got a little frustrated with how fiddly some of the puzzles felt. This hopefully looks a little cleaner on the puzzles, and the hints Brad and others have been dropping make me eager to find out where the game goes.

Though strangely I just went to the PS Store to pick it up and I can't find it at all. Despite Sony having a ton of coverage for it otherwise, there's nothing on the front of the store and the only thing that pops up in a search is a several year old trailer for the game. I can still just as easily buy tomorrow, but weird nonetheless for nothing to be in the store for a digital-only game coming out tomorrow.

I mean, that statement applies to pretty much every situation.

Yeah I thought it was a PS4 exclusive, but it is on PC so fuck me.

@shagge: I had this exact feeling. I went into the quick look thinking, "huh, I wonder what this thing actually is" and came out thinking "PUT ALL OF THIS IN ME RIGHT NOW"

Does anyone have a link or idea where the store page for the game is on PSN? Maybe it was too much to hope for pre-loading, but I can't even find a store page for the game much less one with a pre-order. All I can find is a trailer that was uploaded nearly 2 years ago and some screenshots that aren't linked to any page.

@effache: Blow said on Twitter pre-ordering/pre-loading would not be available on PSN so it won't appear on the store until release day.

And it's up on PSN right now.

That QL won me over, bought it as soon as possible.

Just bought it, download to my PS4 right now