Congrats! Tempted to get it, but I’ll hold out for the Steam version (not long now!).
I’ve really been looking forward to this game on so many levels. I was in college when Braid came out and it was hugely inspirational in my pursuit to becoming a game developer. Several years and jobs later I’m finally making a full committed leap into independent development.
Having consumed every interview and lecture about how you’ve improved since Braid and how you’re applying everything you’ve learned, I really look forward to seeing how such a simple game mechanic can be stretched into something so expansive. I really appreciate the design process and how you try to communicate ideas non-verbally, as well as how you explore a design space as completely as possible.
I’ve attempted to approach my own games in the same way – but I feel like playing this game will give me some much needed insight. A peak into some kind of truth I’ve still not fully grasped. Not just on a meta-development level, but also on a personal experiential level.
Cheers, Jonathan and team. The wait is finally over and I cannot be more happier.
Thanks Jonathan and the whole Witness team. I can honestly say I have not been this exited to play a game in years. My day at work has just begun so I’ll have to wait another few hours before I can experience your beautiful game. I’m looking forward to the challenge.
Thanks for all the blogs here too. Watching The Witness being made has been a pleasure.
To all of you at Thekla…I woke up a little earlier than usual this morning to download The Witness and play what I could before I headed off to work. I have only spent about 30 minutes in the world you all created, but I already get the sense that this is a game made just for me.
It is breathtakingly beautiful, engaging (even though I’m only past the initial green and blue panels), and it just kind of gave me a perfect sense of peace that I haven’t found for years in a video game. Thank you for making The Witness for all of us, and congratulations on seeing your hard work come to fruition.
Dear Witness team and Jonathan congrats on your game, good to hear it is doing good. I want to ask one thing:
Due to monopolization of console game market in Turkey, Sony ignores regional pricing in Turkey and this causes inflation in indie games too. Is there any possibility to price the game according to what steam has recommended for Turkish gamers? The game is 2 times more expensive on PSN store as expected. I dont own a console by the way, I just hope this game to be accessible to wider audience in my country, as what is usually expected from indie games.
Best wishes.
Congrats to the whole Thekla team for getting the game out! I woke up early this morning to download it from PSN and start playing before heading to work. I’m totally intrigued and can’t wait to get home and get back to it. Even though it’s still early in the game and I don’t understand much, I get that sense that there’s so much more to discover. I can see why Jonathan was so keen on keeping details secret, because that sense of discovery is exciting and I’m eager to discover more.
Thanks for all of your hard work and dedication. It is definitely felt and appreciated while playing this game.
Developers often neglect informing those who already purchased :-(
There are 3 groups of users:
PSN users
Steam users
DRM-free version users.
Apparently PSN users are already playing, while Steam users have to wait for 2 more hours (as of this post’s timestamp). No words on the DRM-free version.
It’s just… I don’t know – disrespectful? To boast how well the game is doing on Steam, but not telling customers (the only people that really matter, from business perspective) when they will be able to play.
Jon was speaking about preorders doing well, not people actually playing the game at that moment. Not disrespectful. He was sharing his excitement that the game even though it wasnt even out yet was doing well on steam through preorders.
Purchased and Downloading right now for PS4. The actual status of the video game industry is kind of hard, almost all the “big games” are FPS and I don’t see games trying to do something different or innovative in the AAA market.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy some of those big games, but I love when I get to play this type of personal, different and innovative video games (recently was Undertale). That’s when I actually enjoy gaming the most.
Braid was probably one of the most impressive game I manage to play in my life so this was a no brainer for me to buy this game
Congratulations to Jonathan and the dev team, I know that I will enjoy this experience.
Ps: Sorry about my english (spanish is my native language).
Just downloaded and played the Steam version on my lunch break! So far it is incredible! The puzzles, their progression, and integration are peferct! The graphics and exploration are amazing! As I’m exploring, I can’t stop enjoying taking it all in! Thank you for this experience!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hello and Greetings from Newcastle Upon Tyne North East England.(Home of Trains and Newcastle Brown)
Congratulations on your release. I have been playing The Witness for the last couple of hours or so (probably more!).
It really feels like a labour of love and thats the reason why I had to drop a line.
The art, the puzzles, the atmosphere, and the few recordings I have heard.
I have already rubbed myself against some hard puzzles and I have felt great enjoyment from figuring out some mechanisms, and I have seen many that I have yet to work out. 143 puzzles in – I love it!
Same here! Loving it! 127 puzzles in! I really got a sense of awe when I discovered my first “secret” puzzle that go boom right out of the gate! This island is magical to say the least!
The courage, dedication and love that was put into this production shine through. I struggle for the correct words to express the whole extent of my gratitude. So, I will leave it at “thank you.” I hope to see more from all of you someday. You have done an amazing and beautiful thing.
Congratulations to the team. Just bought this for my brother, he loves puzzle games. I am certain he will adore The Witness in much the same way as we enjoyed Braid.
It would be so awesome if we could get a XBox One version of the game.
I don’t own a PS4 and my gaming rig is shit. Please consider porting it!
This game looks so awesome. I can’t believe I would have to miss out on this!
Jon,
Ive been curious as to when I read an interview with you saying that one of puzzles in the game only 1% of players would solve. Can you allude to which puzzle you were referring to? Secret puzzle, panel puzzle, etc?
What a great game! It makes me feel very clever, I like that :)
Only downside for me… Motion sickness… Am I the only one? I was hoping so much that there will be a simple option to adjust the camera sensitivity/turning speed, this would solve the problem so easily but unforunately, nothing. At least not for PS4. Also no FOV option. The camera is way to slow, it doesn’t feel natural and makes me feel sick. But hey, great game so I have to go through that, I think. Maybe it gets better when I need more time on each console without exploring so much. :)
It’s great! I have laughed out loud a couple times after discovering a solution that was “right in front of me.” So satisfying. Couldn’t fall asleep last night due to a particular puzzle… couldn’t stop trying new lines in my head.
I bought a PS4 two years ago in anticipation for The Witness.
This was everything I hoped for. I played for several hours last night and am astounded at the visual style, the content density, and the delicately crafted manner in which the puzzle concepts are introduced. I’ve already had several “I can’t believe they did that! That is so cool!” moments that I really enjoyed.
A truly amazing experience. Well worth the wait!
Is there any chance of offering a way to manually create save files?
I see that the game autosaves often, but so far the game seems to create new save files at random, sometimes with multiple hours in between. My worry is that if I fall out of bounds, then my previous ‘good’ save will be hours in the past.
Right now the workaround seems to be backing up saves to USB now and then, but that does not seem ideal.
Thats my only annoyance is with the saves. You save the game by pressin the load button, but if you wanted to load something previously you cant. You just load the save that it just created by hitting the load button. Seems like an after thought. Need separate load and save options.
I found myself wanting to load my last puzzle and I couldnt, just showed me where I currently was. Annoying.
I’ve never cursed a game designer’s name so many times while playing… in the best possible way. Only 3 hours in and the game is already challenging and rewarding. Braid is one of my favorite games of all time, and I think this one is going to beat it hands down. Happy to see it’s doing well! Great Work Jon.
I finally had an AHA moment last night while driving down the road contemplating a puzzle in the town area by the windmill. I havent actually went back and solved it yet but I am 100% sure I know the solution based on the room and audio logs that I pondered. Now that is good game design!
Jon, I seemed to have let a platform run away from me by activating it while not being on it and I cant get it back to me because its too far away to see the panel. Am I screwed? I dont recall another area that I would be able to get back to it from another angle since the other panels to exit are internal to that area.
actually soon after commenting i got that,
and din’t want to spoil it here.
and also understand what a laugh i must have gave thekla. lol
just wow.
reminds me of myst. (:
Excited to play the game! Going to buy it very soon! You guys should probably update your “About” section on your webpage now that you may have more time. Glad to see the game is doing well!
Jonathan, we waited patiently and are incredibly happy that you took your time. It is a genius work. Subtle, challenging, visually stunning, immersive. Best game I have ever played.
I’ve listen to almost every talk Jonathan Blow made on game design and art in general. So playing the witness right now feels like the experimental validation to a very elegant theory.
The bird tweeting puzzle has the wrong audio for some of the panels. The link below shows three panels, but the one on the right has the same bird noises as the one on the left, however, it’s solution is different.
There were many times in the game when I thought “The game was just released, this is probably a bug.” And then I realized that I was wrong, not the game. Sometimes it feels like the game is playing you and not the other way around. I love that.
Thank you! I cannot tell you how happy I have been playing this game. I am making a documentary of my experiences and can’t wait to share it with everyone! I’m trying to 100% the game with no spoilers or hints, so I’m saving all my thoughts and comments until I’m finished. Thanks to Team Thekla, this is a dream come true. It’s actually better than what I’ve dreamed of, and I’ve been dreaming for about 6 years! Wow!
i’m sad that i can’t play this game yet the way it was meant to be played because of the amd bugs and humble not updating the build, but i’ll wait as long as it takes
Congrats, I’ve been watching the progress on this for several years now, and it’s very exciting to see it’s finally released. Do you know when (if?) it will become available to play on the Mac OS?
Where can I get the reading list for some of these things? I would like to find the full source material for some of the clips in the theater. Btw, this is a VERY good game and I LOVE how much thought you guys put into it.
Agreed. Really want to play the game but I have only Apple products and don’t want to set up a windows partition. Any chance of a macOS, iOS, or tvOS release?
Sorry to hear about the level of torrenting. I bought it twice but I only offset one of those torrenters, hopefully you’ll release some financials at some point and if you didn’t get where you need to be to happily embark on your third game then I’m sure we can find some people to buy more! I’m really enjoying the game so far!
It should go up on Steam this morning around 9 or 10am Pacific time.
Congrats! Tempted to get it, but I’ll hold out for the Steam version (not long now!).
I’ve really been looking forward to this game on so many levels. I was in college when Braid came out and it was hugely inspirational in my pursuit to becoming a game developer. Several years and jobs later I’m finally making a full committed leap into independent development.
Having consumed every interview and lecture about how you’ve improved since Braid and how you’re applying everything you’ve learned, I really look forward to seeing how such a simple game mechanic can be stretched into something so expansive. I really appreciate the design process and how you try to communicate ideas non-verbally, as well as how you explore a design space as completely as possible.
I’ve attempted to approach my own games in the same way – but I feel like playing this game will give me some much needed insight. A peak into some kind of truth I’ve still not fully grasped. Not just on a meta-development level, but also on a personal experiential level.
Cheers, Jonathan and team. The wait is finally over and I cannot be more happier.
Purchased! Downloading!
Thanks Jonathan and the whole Witness team. I can honestly say I have not been this exited to play a game in years. My day at work has just begun so I’ll have to wait another few hours before I can experience your beautiful game. I’m looking forward to the challenge.
Thanks for all the blogs here too. Watching The Witness being made has been a pleasure.
Thanks for letting us know. :)
Well done, I look forward to playing this very soon! Your story was inspirational and you’ve taught me a lot about games design.
I’ve been patiently waiting six years for this day. Congratulations to the entire team, and thank you for all of your hard work.
To all of you at Thekla…I woke up a little earlier than usual this morning to download The Witness and play what I could before I headed off to work. I have only spent about 30 minutes in the world you all created, but I already get the sense that this is a game made just for me.
It is breathtakingly beautiful, engaging (even though I’m only past the initial green and blue panels), and it just kind of gave me a perfect sense of peace that I haven’t found for years in a video game. Thank you for making The Witness for all of us, and congratulations on seeing your hard work come to fruition.
Dear Witness team and Jonathan congrats on your game, good to hear it is doing good. I want to ask one thing:
Due to monopolization of console game market in Turkey, Sony ignores regional pricing in Turkey and this causes inflation in indie games too. Is there any possibility to price the game according to what steam has recommended for Turkish gamers? The game is 2 times more expensive on PSN store as expected. I dont own a console by the way, I just hope this game to be accessible to wider audience in my country, as what is usually expected from indie games.
Best wishes.
What about iOS? I have neither a PS4 nor a PC, and I cannot wait to play!
Congrats to the whole Thekla team for getting the game out! I woke up early this morning to download it from PSN and start playing before heading to work. I’m totally intrigued and can’t wait to get home and get back to it. Even though it’s still early in the game and I don’t understand much, I get that sense that there’s so much more to discover. I can see why Jonathan was so keen on keeping details secret, because that sense of discovery is exciting and I’m eager to discover more.
Thanks for all of your hard work and dedication. It is definitely felt and appreciated while playing this game.
Developers often neglect informing those who already purchased :-(
There are 3 groups of users:
PSN users
Steam users
DRM-free version users.
Apparently PSN users are already playing, while Steam users have to wait for 2 more hours (as of this post’s timestamp). No words on the DRM-free version.
It’s just… I don’t know – disrespectful? To boast how well the game is doing on Steam, but not telling customers (the only people that really matter, from business perspective) when they will be able to play.
Jon was speaking about preorders doing well, not people actually playing the game at that moment. Not disrespectful. He was sharing his excitement that the game even though it wasnt even out yet was doing well on steam through preorders.
I’m sure you’ll hear before too long. I’m waiting for the Steam version myself and I’ve realized that I need to work on my patience.
Purchased and Downloading right now for PS4. The actual status of the video game industry is kind of hard, almost all the “big games” are FPS and I don’t see games trying to do something different or innovative in the AAA market.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy some of those big games, but I love when I get to play this type of personal, different and innovative video games (recently was Undertale). That’s when I actually enjoy gaming the most.
Braid was probably one of the most impressive game I manage to play in my life so this was a no brainer for me to buy this game
Congratulations to Jonathan and the dev team, I know that I will enjoy this experience.
Ps: Sorry about my english (spanish is my native language).
Crossing my fingers for an OS X version!
Just downloaded and played the Steam version on my lunch break! So far it is incredible! The puzzles, their progression, and integration are peferct! The graphics and exploration are amazing! As I’m exploring, I can’t stop enjoying taking it all in! Thank you for this experience!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hello and Greetings from Newcastle Upon Tyne North East England.(Home of Trains and Newcastle Brown)
Congratulations on your release. I have been playing The Witness for the last couple of hours or so (probably more!).
It really feels like a labour of love and thats the reason why I had to drop a line.
Thank youn and well done
Marcus
Thank you!
Having a great time with it so far.
Finally a game which isn’t released prematurely.
Regards
to fix sound issues, and others…
run install “as administrator”
humble version
“data-pc.zip” (with sound files, etc.)
was unable to extract,
without “as administrator”
install privilege.
also, the desktop shortcut,
would not work,
until run “as administrator”
thanks. good luck.
this resolved my problems.
I hope that this helps others.
to resolve sound issues, and other…
need to run install file “as administrator”
“data-pc.zip” folder (with sound files, etc.),
was unable to extract, without “as administrator” privileges.
also, the desktop shortcut would not run.
all is ok now.
It’s beautiful!
The art, the puzzles, the atmosphere, and the few recordings I have heard.
I have already rubbed myself against some hard puzzles and I have felt great enjoyment from figuring out some mechanisms, and I have seen many that I have yet to work out. 143 puzzles in – I love it!
Same here! Loving it! 127 puzzles in! I really got a sense of awe when I discovered my first “secret” puzzle that go boom right out of the gate! This island is magical to say the least!
Congratulations to your entire team!
The courage, dedication and love that was put into this production shine through. I struggle for the correct words to express the whole extent of my gratitude. So, I will leave it at “thank you.” I hope to see more from all of you someday. You have done an amazing and beautiful thing.
I found a couple of small bugs (Russian translation and wrong labyrinth map).
What’s the right way to report?
Those arent bugs, they are features.
5 hours into it and…. There is now word.. I’ts huge at every levels…
Congratulations and thank you.
Will buy when/if there is a Linux version. Congrats on your launch!
Yes, pleeeease give us a Linux version! I’d buy in an instance!!
When will it be up on other PlayStation Stores? Like Hong Kong’s?
It will be a while. We don’t know yet.
Any update if HK psn store will get the witness?
We are still working on that. Things have been moving slowly so far but we have hope.
Hi Jonathan,
Is there any update on ports to other systems (OSX, iOS, Xbox one)? I’d love to be able to play without buying a PS4 or PC.
Congratulations to the team. Just bought this for my brother, he loves puzzle games. I am certain he will adore The Witness in much the same way as we enjoyed Braid.
It would be so awesome if we could get a XBox One version of the game.
I don’t own a PS4 and my gaming rig is shit. Please consider porting it!
This game looks so awesome. I can’t believe I would have to miss out on this!
Jon,
Ive been curious as to when I read an interview with you saying that one of puzzles in the game only 1% of players would solve. Can you allude to which puzzle you were referring to? Secret puzzle, panel puzzle, etc?
What a great game! It makes me feel very clever, I like that :)
Only downside for me… Motion sickness… Am I the only one? I was hoping so much that there will be a simple option to adjust the camera sensitivity/turning speed, this would solve the problem so easily but unforunately, nothing. At least not for PS4. Also no FOV option. The camera is way to slow, it doesn’t feel natural and makes me feel sick. But hey, great game so I have to go through that, I think. Maybe it gets better when I need more time on each console without exploring so much. :)
Great game so far! I couldn’t put it down last night.
Thanks Jon and Team!!
PS – Whats next for you?
It’s great! I have laughed out loud a couple times after discovering a solution that was “right in front of me.” So satisfying. Couldn’t fall asleep last night due to a particular puzzle… couldn’t stop trying new lines in my head.
I bought a PS4 two years ago in anticipation for The Witness.
This was everything I hoped for. I played for several hours last night and am astounded at the visual style, the content density, and the delicately crafted manner in which the puzzle concepts are introduced. I’ve already had several “I can’t believe they did that! That is so cool!” moments that I really enjoyed.
A truly amazing experience. Well worth the wait!
Is there any chance of offering a way to manually create save files?
I see that the game autosaves often, but so far the game seems to create new save files at random, sometimes with multiple hours in between. My worry is that if I fall out of bounds, then my previous ‘good’ save will be hours in the past.
Right now the workaround seems to be backing up saves to USB now and then, but that does not seem ideal.
Thats my only annoyance is with the saves. You save the game by pressin the load button, but if you wanted to load something previously you cant. You just load the save that it just created by hitting the load button. Seems like an after thought. Need separate load and save options.
I found myself wanting to load my last puzzle and I couldnt, just showed me where I currently was. Annoying.
I’ve never cursed a game designer’s name so many times while playing… in the best possible way. Only 3 hours in and the game is already challenging and rewarding. Braid is one of my favorite games of all time, and I think this one is going to beat it hands down. Happy to see it’s doing well! Great Work Jon.
I finally had an AHA moment last night while driving down the road contemplating a puzzle in the town area by the windmill. I havent actually went back and solved it yet but I am 100% sure I know the solution based on the room and audio logs that I pondered. Now that is good game design!
Jon, I seemed to have let a platform run away from me by activating it while not being on it and I cant get it back to me because its too far away to see the panel. Am I screwed? I dont recall another area that I would be able to get back to it from another angle since the other panels to exit are internal to that area.
i thought the island was empty but the player… there’s a damn bird at the camouflage panel area.
i hate this.
Those are speakers playing bird and animal sounds.
actually soon after commenting i got that,
and din’t want to spoil it here.
and also understand what a laugh i must have gave thekla. lol
just wow.
reminds me of myst. (:
Excited to play the game! Going to buy it very soon! You guys should probably update your “About” section on your webpage now that you may have more time. Glad to see the game is doing well!
I am playing the game right now and I just had to take a minute to thank you guys for making such an amazingly fun and entertaining game!
Jonathan, we waited patiently and are incredibly happy that you took your time. It is a genius work. Subtle, challenging, visually stunning, immersive. Best game I have ever played.
Jim Sayre
I’ve listen to almost every talk Jonathan Blow made on game design and art in general. So playing the witness right now feels like the experimental validation to a very elegant theory.
lol this comment is awesome
The bird tweeting puzzle has the wrong audio for some of the panels. The link below shows three panels, but the one on the right has the same bird noises as the one on the left, however, it’s solution is different.
https://twitter.com/boobeckett1971/status/692431244831891458
The next panel along also has the wrong audio for it. Somewhere in the coding there is a misdirected sub-routine.
Nope, this puzzle is fine.
lol this comment is awesome
There were many times in the game when I thought “The game was just released, this is probably a bug.” And then I realized that I was wrong, not the game. Sometimes it feels like the game is playing you and not the other way around. I love that.
There are 14 trophies on PS4. Why only 2 achievements on Steam??? It would be much nicer with 13 or 14 of them (possibly without platinum one).
What a wonderful game! I especially dig the interaction / mapping between puzzles and the island. Congratulations!
Awesome game! I love it; my 4yo son loves it; thank you so, so much!
P.S. – We need more “Ill-Advised Rants” :)
Thank you! I cannot tell you how happy I have been playing this game. I am making a documentary of my experiences and can’t wait to share it with everyone! I’m trying to 100% the game with no spoilers or hints, so I’m saving all my thoughts and comments until I’m finished. Thanks to Team Thekla, this is a dream come true. It’s actually better than what I’ve dreamed of, and I’ve been dreaming for about 6 years! Wow!
i’m sad that i can’t play this game yet the way it was meant to be played because of the amd bugs and humble not updating the build, but i’ll wait as long as it takes
Congrats, I’ve been watching the progress on this for several years now, and it’s very exciting to see it’s finally released. Do you know when (if?) it will become available to play on the Mac OS?
Where can I get the reading list for some of these things? I would like to find the full source material for some of the clips in the theater. Btw, this is a VERY good game and I LOVE how much thought you guys put into it.
You made a language and let me teach myself how to speak it.
Thanks for that.
p.s. fuck you I’ma make it into that boat.
Thank you so much for this game!
20 hours in and I’ve loved every bit of it.
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3
Any news on an OSX release date? Are we talking ‘never’, ‘in a month or two’, ‘later this year’, or ‘other’?
Agreed. Really want to play the game but I have only Apple products and don’t want to set up a windows partition. Any chance of a macOS, iOS, or tvOS release?
Sorry to hear about the level of torrenting. I bought it twice but I only offset one of those torrenters, hopefully you’ll release some financials at some point and if you didn’t get where you need to be to happily embark on your third game then I’m sure we can find some people to buy more! I’m really enjoying the game so far!