Review for The Witness. Game for PlayStation Network, PC, iOS, Mac, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 26/01/2016 The version for Xbox One came out on 13/09/2016
Let it be clear: to enclose within a few thousand characters what is hidden by the second, majestic, binary envelope designed by the visionary genius of Jonathan Blow it is an unlikely undertaking. We therefore ink a review based on feeling, without the presumption of producing an all-encompassing analysis, tending to touch those emotional strings that intersect, in particular pieces of review, a more precise and technical analysis. A sincere review illuminated by the goodness of the subject analyzed, adequately permeated by the same passion that transpires overwhelmingly from every pore of The Witness, celebrated there in function of its publication on Xbox One.
The prosopope of the gamer starts abruptly, without any explanation. The first cries produced are also the noisiest, destabilizing ones, with the protagonist's lungs busy providing the necessary air destined to scream in the phases immediately following acclimatization. The homo ludens screams with pleasure, intoxicated by a maieutic succession of puzzles characterized by a gross level of difficulty capable of sending even the most experienced of adventurers, or aficionados of The Puzzle Week, fate vobis into a doll. In short, only a few meters, and it is immediately Myst.
Playing with The Witness is equivalent to sharing an epiphany on a global scale, it almost seems to escape the reins of spacetime to ecstatically embrace the distant 90s. Lapping the sunny lands that frame this wonderful excursion into the mystery instantly reconnects the soul of the user with the decade of dance music, the Power Rangers and the Sellerona, refreshando the foggy screens of the controversial masterpiece made in Cyan which, for years, has constituted the reference point for every adventure game. And while something swells up there the pilgrimage on the warm surfaces of Braid's brother stimulates the harakiri of neurons of the user through a double corroborating action.
The riddles increase in number and complexity, giving enormous doses of fun to every step. Elements such as the vastness and richness of the environment to be explored, on the other hand, go hand in hand with the exploratory instinct of the gamer, perpetually looking for new details to be processed and introjected. An explosive intravenous of sensations that converge in a single, majestic consideration: The Witness is a mental trip.
Almost impossible to pigeonhole into a single genre of reference, Thekla's marvelous production increases the stimulation of synapses, transforming neuronal pathways into a highway of excitement mixed with desire. The desire to discover the unknown, the arcane and to decipher every tiny detail transpires in order to then be able to combine it with the rest of the copious amount of information displayed on the video, trying to compose a totalizing picture of a virtual (ir) reality that can hardly be forgotten, either for the quality level achieved, or for a global duration of almost seventy hours.
An incredibly high, almost diabolical challenge rate leads the gamer by the hand, guiding him to discover the island of The Witness, a real final puzzle in an avalanche and a half of riddles and questions. Placing his limbs on every track ravine may attract his attention, homo ludens continues to produce copious drool, such is the hunger for knowledge that runs through it. An appetite that is not satiated even by the credits of this masterpiece work.
The porting itself, then, is done in a workmanlike manner, pushing the foot on the accelerator especially in relation to the resolution of each frame, locked at 1080p. An update that (almost) constantly knocks on the door of 30 pictures per second enhances the qualities of a graphic engine that, by the will of Blow himself, has been tailor-made for The Witness.
In short, perfection made into a video game? Almost, but only because perfection doesn't exist.
If you were to propose to any lover of adventures to select a list of video games to slam in the face of a friendly alien scum, The Witness would undoubtedly struggle to find a place there. Playfully flawless, technically sublime and decidedly long-lived, this heap of zero and one reconciles with Heaven, distributing pleasure to anyone who wants to suggest the very tasty playful nectar. You can also find our review of The Witness for PS4.
► The Witness is a Puzzle type game developed and published by Thekla Inc. for PlayStation Network, PC, iOS, Mac, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 26/01/2016 The version for Xbox One came out on 13/09/2016
Our latest game news: The Witness - Xbox One Achievements List
