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- #THE WITNESS ENVIRONMENTAL PUZZLES SERIES#
- #THE WITNESS ENVIRONMENTAL PUZZLES TV#
- #THE WITNESS ENVIRONMENTAL PUZZLES FREE#
Many of these are well hidden within the environment or on small panels left lying in obscure and out-of-the-way areas on the island. Within The Witness, is a total of 600 puzzles. Even after technically finishing the game, we wanted to continue exploring until we had uncovered everything the game had to offer us.
#THE WITNESS ENVIRONMENTAL PUZZLES SERIES#
If the rule used in those puzzles was non-obvious or the first puzzle was too difficult, we would simply backtrack a bit to find if there was another series meant to precede it. We enjoyed wandering around the island until we came across a new series of puzzles.
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This happened to my friends and I a few times. If a player is able to figure out that rule through, experimentation, though, there is nothing keeping them from moving forward in whatever fashion they wish to. Some of the puzzles are impossible to solve without learning a new rule from a puzzle series in another area, though.
#THE WITNESS ENVIRONMENTAL PUZZLES FREE#
Players are free to choose their own path through the game and tackle the series of puzzles in any order they would like. The way in which The Witness caters to creativity-based player motivations is through exploration. While playing The Witness, my friends and I would often try to walk anywhere our character could fit to see if there was anything hidden that might give us some other hint of what was happening on this island. We created a dedicated group chat separate from our other friends dedicated solely to discuss revelations and ideas about the game. A few times, one of us would quietly and calmly ask for the controller, and slowly solve the puzzle in one go as if possessed by the puzzle solving gods or a sphinx. Solving a puzzle became a hallowed moment in these times.
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#THE WITNESS ENVIRONMENTAL PUZZLES TV#
For many of them, one person would stand by the TV and point out possible paths.
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All the puzzles were solved together in some way. Play sessions lasted late into the night until we were all loopy, surrounded by notes and practice puzzles, and pontificating about what are we witnessing. By the end of the month, we solved 105 puzzles, cleared two sections of the map, made progress on a number of others, and had solved 14 of the bonus puzzles.Īfter a short break for finals and summer, we took up the helm once more at the beginning of fall semester, racking up a count of 369 puzzles solved and 50 bonus puzzles solved by the end of September. Three puzzles later, we found ourselves glued to the tv in the lounge of my apartment, arguing over the best way to solve a puzzle. When I first started playing, my friends wandered over, interested in the vibrant colors and scenery of the game I was playing. I will be using the listing of motivations from Quantic Foundry’s Gamer Motivation Model. I want to look at how the game managed this feat by discussing how it caters to different player motivations. By the end of the day, two of my friends and I were completely obsessed with the game.
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Later, after my subconscious had been mastered by this game, I found out that the designer of the game was Jonathan Blow, the designer behind Braid, another game I loved. The game is a 3D puzzle game released in 2016 by Thekla, Inc. I originally approached it as a beautiful and relaxing puzzle game I could fit into breaks between study sessions. I started playing The Witness alone back in the first week of April 2018.
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