This is a hard one to recommend because it takes a certain type of person to enjoy the concept of this game. You’re dropped in a world devoid of life but full of puzzles, with no direction other than the controls. Move to the door, click to open solving mode, draw a line from the circle to the end of the path, then the door opens into a very pretty garden with more panels and puzzles to solve. Of course the world is far far bigger than it seems on the surface level, but to explain why would take away the joy of discovery.
The reason it’s hard to recommend this game though is because there are 5 symbols that may show up on a puzzle panel, and the game does nothing to explain to you what they mean. There are areas in the game where you do learn these mechanics through trial and error, but you’ll encounter mechanics generally before you encounter their tutorial areas, so you end up in situations where you’re thinking to yourself “can I solve this yet, or should I move on?” which may cause a lot of friction during gameplay. For this reason, I think the only fair clue to give is probably to just leave the town for last. You’ll know what that means and why I say it if you play the game.
The beautiful world around you may just seem like eye candy, but you’ll have to be a little more observant when it comes to some puzzle panels, as the solution to those panels may be hidden in the environment around you. A note about accessibility however, there is one set of puzzles that will be difficult for people playing the game muted, people who are hard of hearing, people who have trouble distinguishing relative pitches, etc, as some puzzles are based on audio cues in the environment. Other than this, the rest of the game can be completed through sight alone
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/210970 £29.99
Humble Bundle: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/the-witness £29.99
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