The Witness

Ultimately, The Witness is a solid mobile adaptation of a really enjoyable puzzle game. It’s every bit as clever and compelling as it is on PC and consoles. The main thing that sucks (see what I did there?) is how little of it you’ll be able to play without either keeping your phone plugged in or having a backup charger handy.

I never played The Witness before, nor did I know much about it, so I'm glad that it's now available on iOS. The game is packed with stunning visuals, and everything runs smoothly. The lack of music was a bit strange to me at first, but after reading the reason behind it, I completely understand. The lack of a soundtrack only adds to the experience, oddly enough. Sound effects were spot on and immersive. Controls are easy to learn and feel natural on a touch screen.

The fact that The Witness can bring out such extreme emotions of both exasperation and astonishment is undoubtedly an achievement in itself. So many modern puzzle games strive to be as inoffensive and straightforward as possible, in an attempt to be accessible to a large and increasingly impatient audience of potential buyers - The Witness boldly shuns such expectations to simply do its own thing.

The Witness is an example of superlative game design. Carefully crafted and mentally challenging. Everyone should dive into this world, it is the perfect game for several players to sit on a couch and solve. It will make your head hurt, it will tease your brain more than any game before it, but it also delivers satisfaction in solution better than anything else before, and perhaps after it. Play this game.

The Witness is a perfect example of video games as art. It presents a beautiful, fascinating world to explore, but also gives players great gameplay opportunities. And the way it does so, by not intruding on the experience and allowing the player to figure things out for themselves, is truly admirable. However, those who are looking for a more traditional experience, and players who require more reward for their effort might find The Witness to be either boring or overly challenging.

The Witness is an excellent puzzle game, featuring many complex yet fair puzzles, a great atmosphere, an interesting narrative method and a lot of content. With no handholding whatsoever, The Witness certainly is not a game for everyone, but those who are up to the challenge will feel enriched once they solve most of the puzzles included in the game. After all the delays, Jonathan Blow and his crew fully delivered.