The Witness ► Some Kind of Review [SKOR]

My SKOR for The Witness? The perfect game for a specific audience!

Some Kind of Review—otherwise known as SKOR—is a casual video game review format of released games that I have played for a good amount or until completion.

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[GamerZakh]

This was a tough one. What do you think of the game?

[dcashley]

I've finally played this game, almost completed it after 24 hours of feverish play. And I absolutely love it! I love the way it doesn't teach you the rules of play but subtly imparts logic to the player. The world is so incredible to explore and the number of 'ah-ha!' moments is through the roof, really making you feel like you are learning something and that anything can be overcome when you really put your mind to it.

[WRND]

Awesome, beautiful interactive puzzle game. Well worth the 80 USD my wife and I payed for two copies of it. Definitely not a game for everyone though.

[dcashley]

I find people often like to label games as 'pretentious' when the game tries to do something outside of gameplay norms... surely innovation and experimentation are both things that should encouraged, right!? I'm thinking of Killer 7 and it's peculiar narrative, it's on-rails gameplay and crazy graphics, Gone Home and it's slowly unfolding narrative that relies on exploration of an envioronment and The Old City that has you unpick a knotted story from multiple angles. I feel games like this shouldn't be shunned or simply labelled 'pretentious', this doesn't solve anything, instead people should do as you have done here, try to look at the game from multiple angles and weigh everything up in a fair manner. Good job!

[amshermansen]

As much as I liked this game, I definitely cannot defend the pricetag. Nor would I recommend it to anyone who isn't willing to spend potentially an eternity on certain puzzles.

Not being given any instructions only works if the game can convey the solutions and basic rules in a meaningful way. The game offers some "tutorial" style puzzles to teach you rules, but you can accidentally luck your way through them and be confused for a LONG time afterwards - potentially leading to feeling dependent on a walkthrough in a browser.

And then there's the pace and repetitiveness. There are areas in the game where you will potentially grow incredibly annoying and droll. You will be going from puzzle to puzzle with little to no exploration of the island. It ceases being a game of exploration, and starts feeling like you're flipping pages in a Sudoku book.

And all of the puzzles are either based on the grid tablets, or the environment - It doesn't really try to expand beyond that like Myst and other games do. I really missed having some more variety.


Edit: Also no plot of substance. As old and "primitive" as Myst was, at least it managed to make you feel like you were there for a reason - completing puzzles for a reason. Here... I feel like I'm wasting power having my PC run a 3D Sudoku book.

[HenryTownsmyth]

A shame for the original Myst the game.

[HenryTownsmyth]

line puzzle simulator.

Boring. I would rather just pay 10USD max to just explore the graphics.

I like puzzles and I have played alot alot of puzzle games but this one is Line Puzzler not the one I would expect.