The Witness - A Great Game That You Shouldn't Play
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN uses it mainly as a critical review of the game, saying it captures a lack of respect for the player, though one commenter suggests watching it after finishing.
What it is
Joseph Anderson's long critique of Jonathan Blow's puzzle game The Witness, covering its gameplay, its hundreds of puzzles and its philosophical pretensions. He argues it is a great game that he nonetheless advises against playing.
Recommended by 1 HN commenters across 1 different months, 2021 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Recommends Jach · 2022-02 · on “A Shader Trick”
When you're done playing, I recommend watching this video: [this video] Games are part art, what's more to understand? There's some fun image out there I can't exactly recall, but it's basically of an interview with some game devs, and one of them saying something like "We wanted to have a pot with flowers on the table here, and when you come back to this room later, the color of the flowers changes. No gameplay consequences. But we cut it for time. Why did we want it? Because we thought it'd be cool." But in a lot of games there's tons of stuff like that which doesn't get cut. Gamedev is full of those "because it'd be cool" or other vague artistic reasons (as opposed to business reasons or resea
Cites passion__desire · 2022-04 · on “Thoughts on the Witness (2016)”
I loved the interpretation videos out there on Witness. It's like an experimental style Alan Watts video. [LINK] [this video]
Critical bmn__ · 2021-02 · on “CD Projekt Red has been subject to a cyber attack and ransom demand”
> he believes time is valuable and should be respected That's what he says , but not what he does . [this video] Haven't experienced a bigger author disconnect in gaming in the decade.
Critical dsego · 2022-04 · on “Thoughts on the Witness (2016)”
Had high expectations for this game, anticipating with great excitement. I loved Braid, was following all the blog posts and videos with great admiration. And the game wasn't that bad, it was interesting for a while, but also frustrating. Talos on the other hand was a revelation, a thoroughly fun and enjoyable experience, very similar to Portal games. I think this was a fair critique of the Witness and why it lacks respect for the player: The Witness - A Great Game That You Shouldn't Play [this video]
Critical gravypod · 2022-06 · on “Ask HN: Non-violent video games with great stories?”
> "attempting to impress by affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed" I think the critiques in this video [0] sum up my main feelings about the game. The puzzles are fantastic. The <spoiler> puzzles are fantastic. The movement, environment, graphics, etc are all fantastic. But, the "story" and "message" of the game can be interpreted in many ways. It is art in the sense that everyone gets something different from it. But it is pretentious because, if everyone gets something completely different from your "experience", you really didn't convey anything. That's what most people (I think) are talking about when they say "<art> is pretentious". [0] - [VIDEO
Critical dsego · 2025-12 · on “Jonathan Blow has spent the past decade designing 1,400 puzzles”
How do you compare it to the Portal games or the Talos principle? I find those superior in puzzle mechanics, sense of achievement and playing dynamics. They can be challenging but you never feel aimlessly going around without a purpose like the Witness. There is good review of the game on youtube by the title "The Witness - A Great Game That You Shouldn't Play", it covers a lot and resonates well with my experience, the panels could've been a standalone mobile/tablet game. Everything else in the game is beautiful but frustrating. [this video]