14 DAY TRIAL // Braid creator Jonathan Blow has been working on a new game for several years now. The Witness seems to be a much larger game that requires more resources than Blow’s first really popular game, Braid.
The Witness has been in development from 2009, but only as a PC and iOS title. Even though Jonathan Blow wanted to bring the game to consoles as well, he was disappointed by the low system specs of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. This was the main reason he decided to wait a while longer and release The Witness on Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
What we know
The Witness is a puzzle adventure game where players’ main objectives is to solve mysterious riddles that will eventually allow them to access the main section of the game and ultimately complete it.
The action takes place on an island split in 10 sections, each with its own set of puzzles that players must solve. After finishing all the puzzles in a section, a golden turret will highlight the achievement by focusing its light to the mountain in the middle.
If players manage to get past seven of the sections included in the game, they will then be able to access the middle section of the island. The mountain in the middle of the island is the last section, so in order to finish the game, players will have to solve all the puzzles.
According to Blow, The Witness’ concept is based on a balance between puzzle-solving and perception. Players will have the possibility to explore the open-world of The Witness, while solving theme-based puzzles that will offer hints on how to get passed the next ones.
Why it matters
From what Jonathan Blow has revealed until now, The Witness is supposed to be a unique game due to its interesting concept. If successful, we will probably see more than one title in the same genre trying to clone the concept, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
The Witness will be available on PlayStation 4, PC and iOS sometime in 2015. Xbox One owners will be able to play the game after the exclusivity period ends.