The Witness
The Witness is a game by Jonathan Blow, both a genius, and a pretentious git (according to Electron Dance)
The Unbearable Now-Electron Dance
#todo The greatest game you shouldn't play
The witness is not explicit about its philosophical points; despite that I think there are some arguments I’ve seen in a variety of criticisms.
The environment
The world is rich with incredible hidden treasures. There is subtle artistry hidden in the branches and rocks everywhere. The puzzles of the Witness aren’t divorced from the environment, and many of them rely on features, natural or artificial outside of the puzzles themselves. One of the first puzzles of the sort looks like an abstract tree. Behind it is a similar physical tree with a single apple. To solve the puzzle, you have to notice the tree and fill in the puzzle up to the apple.
The ultimate puzzles in the witness aren’t the explicit ones, but the circles and lines hidden within the environment itself. The player is rewarded not by progressing, but by noticing.
Achievement
What is the point of playing games, of doing things? The Witness seems slightly… anti-achievement. While there are achievements in the game, the design seems to argue against playing the game for achievements sake. The game should be played in an autoelotic sense, and you shouldn’t look up tutorials just to progress. If you get stuck, the game encourages you to go to a different area and come back with a new perspective (in fact, there are a variety of puzzles designed to make you stuck and come back)
Perspective
The audio logs scattered throughout the game all talk about perspective. There are scientists who see the world numerically, spiritualists who see it holistically, and everyone in between. The environment itself is beautiful, with artwork only visible from certain perspectives.
Game Design
The Witness’ game design attempts to be perfect, almost to a problematic level. It eschews non-diegetic elements and attempts to teach through small tutorial puzzles. Since nothing is explicitly said, it fails often, but when it does succeed it is beautiful
Time
The animations in the witness are slow, which lends to its broader theme of ‘slow down, enjoy the world’, but is extremely frustrating to play.
A simple story, complexly told
The witness has a narrative and meaning, but it is light on both those. Hell, I think if this note was twice as long, it would probably cover the entire story of the witness and everything it says.
Does the Witness need to be a 40 hour experience to tell a 40 minute story? On the one hand, the time taken allows the meaning to sink in, and meshes well with the idea of ‘slow down’ present. On the other hand, the length of the game allows it to appear deep without actually being so.
the theater and the story of the candle
