GAME
The Witness
Until the island itself becomes a grammar book
Thekla, Inc.（Jonathan Blow） · 2016-01-26 · ■■■■■ 5/5 · 9/10
Where are you with this game?
Press one and the game goes on your shelf. You can see it on your account page.
In three lines
The Witness is a observation / narrative-puzzle puzzle game released by Thekla, Inc. in 2016.
Puzzlebyrinth scores it 9/10, with a difficulty of 5/5. Until the island itself becomes a grammar book
Its core mechanics are Environmental Observation / Routing & Line Drawing.
Our Review
More than five hundred line-drawing panels. Observation itself becomes the verb.
Mentions across our columns (72)
Essays（13）
- 2026-09-23 · Komugi · 12 mentionsThe Verb of Reflecting — A Puzzle Design Grammar From Portal 2 to The Talos Principle 2
- 2026-09-20 · Komugi · 2 mentionsThe Verb of Noticing — Puzzles Where the Answer Was Always on Screen
- 2026-08-14 · Komugi · 8 mentionsSolving by Ear — Designing Puzzles Around Sound (from The Witness's Jungle to Unheard)
- 2026-08-12 · Komugi · 9 mentionsDesigning the Overworld — Where Puzzle Games Let You Be Stuck
- 2026-07-14 · KomugiIf You Looked Up the Answer, Did You Really Solve It?
- 2026-07-12 · KomugiReading the Unreadable — The Grammar of Decipherment Puzzles, from Fez to Chants of Sennaar
- 2026-07-05 · Komugi · 8 mentionsWhen the Control Scheme Decides the Difficulty — From Grid Movement to Drag-and-Arrange
- 2026-06-24 · KomugiLegible Failure — Making the Dead End Readable in Puzzles
- 2026-06-07 · Komugi · 5 mentionsDesigning Hint Systems — How to Show, How to Hide
- 2026-05-27 · KomugiThe Vocabulary of Perspective Puzzles — From Monument Valley to Manifold Garden
- 2026-05-26 · Komugi · 2 mentionsThe Ethics of Undo — Forgiveness or Punishment
- 2026-05-20 · Komugi · 3 mentionsThe Lineage of Meta-Puzzles — When Rules Themselves Started Moving
- 2026-05-08 · Komugi · 4 mentionsObservation as Play — Common Grammar of Witness, Obra Dinn, and Lorelei
The Designer's Philosophy（11）
- 2026-09-29 · Kizuki · 2 mentionsInside Josh Wardle's Philosophy — Three Minutes a Day, Then Let Go
- 2026-09-23 · Kizuki · 2 mentionsInside Rand Miller's Philosophy — If the Player Blames Themselves, the Puzzle Worked
- 2026-09-15 · Kizuki · 2 mentionsInside Brian Moriarty's Philosophy — A Game Author Who Says Games Aren't Art
- 2026-08-07 · KizukiInside William Chyr's Philosophy — making infinity a place you don't get lost in
- 2026-07-17 · KizukiInside Jon Ingold's Philosophy — Keeping the Story Alive by Letting You Keep Failing
- 2026-07-13 · KizukiInside Jason Roberts's Philosophy — Turning the Space Outside the Frame into a Playground
- 2026-07-08 · Kizuki · 2 mentionsInside Bennett Foddy's Philosophy — Designing Failure to Fight Meaninglessness
- 2026-07-07 · KizukiInside Zach Gage's Philosophy — Rebuilding Games You Already Know
- 2026-07-05 · KizukiInside Alexander Bruce's Philosophy — Doubt conventions down to their reasons
- 2026-06-24 · Kizuki · 2 mentionsInside Patrick Traynor's Philosophy — Designing by Discovery, Not Invention
- 2026-05-30 · Kizuki · 11 mentionsJonathan Blow — The Truth-Revealing Instrument and the Meaning He Won't Surrender
Puzzle Soundtracks（10）
- 2026-10-03 · DoremiSoundtrack: Hidden Folks — Over 2,000 sounds, every one made by mouth
- 2026-09-23 · DoremiSoundtrack: Somerville — music the game only allows itself at reunion
- 2026-09-06 · DoremiSoundtrack: La-Mulana — sounding out a past that never existed, in 8-bit memory
- 2026-08-29 · Doremi · 12 mentionsSoundtrack: The Witness — the seven-year decision never to write a score
- 2026-07-31 · DoremiSoundtrack: Myst — the presence that flowed into an island that had decided against music
- 2026-07-20 · Doremi · 7 mentionsSoundtrack: Taiji — Choosing to keep the sound on, inside a lineage of silence
- 2026-07-16 · DoremiSoundtrack: Riven — On an island where you stand still, the music refuses to conclude
- 2026-06-25 · DoremiSoundtrack: TUNIC — Music that turns like the pages of a manual
- 2026-06-08 · DoremiSoundtrack: Gorogoa — Every time tiles overlap, the music overlaps too
- 2026-05-31 · DoremiSoundtrack: Return of the Obra Dinn — music that sounds, then steps back
Digest（9）
- 2026-10-04 · Michi · 5 mentionsThis Week's Puzzle Dispatch — 2026-10-04
- 2026-09-06 · Michi · 6 mentionsThis Week's Puzzle Dispatch — 2026-09-06
- 2026-08-15 · MichiThis Week's Puzzle Dispatch — 2026-08-15
- 2026-08-14 · Michi · 4 mentionsThis Week's Puzzle Dispatch — 2026-08-14
- 2026-07-19 · Michi · 3 mentionsThis Week's Puzzle Dispatch — 2026-07-19
- 2026-07-12 · Michi · 3 mentionsThis Week's Puzzle Dispatch — 2026-07-12
- 2026-07-05 · Michi · 3 mentionsThis Week's Puzzle Dispatch — 2026-07-05
- 2026-06-07 · MichiThis Week's Puzzle Dispatch — 2026-06-07
- 2026-05-31 · MichiThis Week's Puzzle Dispatch — 2026-05-31
Design Roundup（9）
- 2026-09-23 · Tsumiki · 4 mentions"I Will Get Rid of Fun" — Jonathan Blow at IndieCade on Digging Up The Witness's Line Puzzles
- 2026-08-31 · Tsumiki · 2 mentions"The Whole World Becomes a Puzzle" — Thinky Games Maps the Mystlike, and Bets the Market Will Return
- 2026-07-04 · Tsumiki · 2 mentionsPuzzle levels aren't something you wait for: Patrick Traynor's toolbox for level ideation
- 2026-06-29 · Tsumiki · 5 mentions"Cut the bad difficulty, keep the good": Jonathan Blow on designing puzzles for Order of the Sinking Star
- 2026-06-26 · Tsumiki · 6 mentions"A difficulty challenge alone isn't interesting": Jonathan Blow on Order of the Sinking Star, and indienova on engineering the aha moment
- 2026-06-15 · Tsumiki · 6 mentionsThe Design of 'Four Worlds That Collide' — Jonathan Blow's Order of the Sinking Star Steam Next Fest Demo Launches Today
- 2026-06-08 · TsumikiJonathan Blow on Puzzle Design: Difficulty That Reaches the Player vs. Difficulty That Doesn't
- 2026-06-03 · TsumikiTwo design decisions about not locking the player out — Pragmata running puzzles and shooting at once, and how to treat the player who can't solve it
- 2026-06-02 · TsumikiThis weekend's Cerebral Puzzle Showcase, and designing the act of 'taking notes' into the puzzle itself
The Counter-Review（6）
- 2026-08-27 · Mayoi · 2 mentionsCounterpoint on Maquette — Reading Through the Negative Reviews
- 2026-08-24 · MayoiCounterpoint on Firmament — Reading Through the Negative Reviews
- 2026-07-20 · MayoiCounterpoint on Antichamber — Reading Through the Negative Reviews
- 2026-06-25 · MayoiCounterpoint on Gorogoa — Reading Through the Negative Reviews
- 2026-06-15 · Mayoi · 2 mentionsCounterpoint on Lorelei and the Laser Eyes — Reading Through the Negative Reviews
- 2026-06-01 · Mayoi · 16 mentionsCounterpoint on The Witness — Reading Through the Negative Reviews
Paper Digest（5）
- 2026-10-03 · FukaiEngel et al.: When the right path through a maze flips, other people's footprints help people switch faster — Fukai Reads
- 2026-09-23 · Fukai · 2 mentionsvon Gugelberg: How people solve differed more by 'which item' than by how hard it was — Fukai Reads
- 2026-09-21 · FukaiLiquin: Told the answer would cost them, people wanted it just as much — Fukai Reads
- 2026-09-17 · Fukai · 2 mentionsLi et al.: the AI that showed up uninvited was closed by five players out of ten — Fukai Reads
- 2026-08-22 · Fukai · 3 mentionsZhao et al.: People Build Their Own Reusable Parts While Solving Puzzles — Fukai Reads
Retro Revisited（3）
- 2026-08-12 · TokiSkipping Stones to Lonely Homes (2015) — The Bridge of Thrown Stones That Reached a Cosmic Train
- 2026-07-27 · Toki · 2 mentionsSkipping Stones to Lonely Homes (2015) — Throwing Stones Across Islands, the Free PuzzleScript Game That Fathered Two Descendants
- 2026-07-22 · TokiEnglish Country Tune (2011) — Where an Egg Falls Changes Every Time It Moves
