3 ms·

I personally didn’t enjoy the witness. I do enjoy puzzle game’s and I enjoy exploration for the sake of exploration, but the witness felt very samey and after a

I personally didn’t enjoy the witness. I do enjoy puzzle game’s and I enjoy exploration for the sake of exploration, but the witness felt very samey and after a few hours it just felt dull and boring to me. I did enjoy the aesthetics at least and exploring was fun for a little while. Of course everyone is different, but it felt very overhyped to me, definitely wasn’t for me, I guess. Incidentally I also didn’t really enjoy Braid, so I’m not really excited about Jon’s future games although I suppose he could surprise me. It’s weird because on paper his games are the exact things I should love, but so far they didn’t resonante with me.

mattbee 5y ago
I'm the same, I loved the perfect polish of both games, they beg to be played with. My specific issue (in both games) was that I solved later puzzles by just exploring the problem space and not understanding the logic behind them. Like just try this ... uh no that didn't work ... try that, oh good right, onto the next... I was felt deaf to whatever the game was trying to tell me, and it became endless chores with no motivation behind them.
X0Refraction 5y ago
Have you played Outer Wilds? If you've got even a passing interest in exploration, puzzle and environmental storytelling I would highly recommend it.
- dkersten 5y ago
  I haven't, although its been on my list of things to play, so I will prioritise it. Thanks for the recommendation!
  - scrollaway 5y ago
    Do prioritise it and make sure to go in completely blind!
- cloogshicer 5y ago
  +1, Outer Wilds is one of the best gaming experience I've had in over a decade. If you decide to play it, it's absolutely essential that you go in knowing as little about it as possible. You can only ever play this game once, since your only progression in this game is your knowledge about the world.
- LichenStone 5y ago
  Both The Witness and Outer Wilds were two highly acclaimed games that I fully expected to really enjoy, but with both of them I left feeling very disappointed, for different reasons. I respect what the Witness does and the craft of how it's all put together, very clever. But it just ends up feeling like a bumper book of puzzles to me, after a few dozen of the same kind of puzzle I just get very irritable. I was expecting a more Myst-like experience where the puzzles are varied and integrated into the environment, where there's equal focus between world/story building and the puzzling. To me The Witness felt like it took a long time to say very little, it's very rare that I use the term pretentious but I do feel like it applies here. The Outer Wilds also has some very innovative and interesting ideas and craft, but left me very underwhelmed. I won't go into details but I honestly think it's pretty overrated. It all hinges on how well the story and world captivates you though, I can see how many people would like it. Riven is still the absolute high point of the explorative puzzle genre for me.
  - the__alchemist 5y ago
    I played Myst 2022 and Riven in the past month. Riven is still as amazing as I remember. I didn't remember any dialog, plot, or books, but remembered all the puzzles and settings - after 20 years! The Witness and to a lesser extend OW were evidently influenced by these games. Overall, I liked them more! Subtle and clever in ways the Cyan predesessors are not.
- the__alchemist 5y ago
  I love the comparison - I've heard a number of outer wilds players not seeing the comparison due to lack of story in The Witness. I think that's missing the point - TW and OW are the best exploration-driven games I've played, and I'm suspicious they're the best ever made.
- robin_reala 5y ago
  Weirdly I loved The Witness and really didn’t get on with The Outer Wilds. The story didn’t grab me, and the controls were unbelievably janky.

mattbee 5y ago

I'm the same, I loved the perfect polish of both games, they beg to be played with. My specific issue (in both games) was that I solved later puzzles by just exploring the problem space and not understanding the logic behind them. Like just try this ... uh no that didn't work ... try that, oh good right, onto the next... I was felt deaf to whatever the game was trying to tell me, and it became endless chores with no motivation behind them.

X0Refraction 5y ago

Have you played Outer Wilds? If you've got even a passing interest in exploration, puzzle and environmental storytelling I would highly recommend it.

dkersten 5y ago
I haven't, although its been on my list of things to play, so I will prioritise it. Thanks for the recommendation!
- scrollaway 5y ago
  Do prioritise it and make sure to go in completely blind!
cloogshicer 5y ago
+1, Outer Wilds is one of the best gaming experience I've had in over a decade. If you decide to play it, it's absolutely essential that you go in knowing as little about it as possible. You can only ever play this game once, since your only progression in this game is your knowledge about the world.
LichenStone 5y ago
Both The Witness and Outer Wilds were two highly acclaimed games that I fully expected to really enjoy, but with both of them I left feeling very disappointed, for different reasons. I respect what the Witness does and the craft of how it's all put together, very clever. But it just ends up feeling like a bumper book of puzzles to me, after a few dozen of the same kind of puzzle I just get very irritable. I was expecting a more Myst-like experience where the puzzles are varied and integrated into the environment, where there's equal focus between world/story building and the puzzling. To me The Witness felt like it took a long time to say very little, it's very rare that I use the term pretentious but I do feel like it applies here. The Outer Wilds also has some very innovative and interesting ideas and craft, but left me very underwhelmed. I won't go into details but I honestly think it's pretty overrated. It all hinges on how well the story and world captivates you though, I can see how many people would like it. Riven is still the absolute high point of the explorative puzzle genre for me.
- the__alchemist 5y ago
  I played Myst 2022 and Riven in the past month. Riven is still as amazing as I remember. I didn't remember any dialog, plot, or books, but remembered all the puzzles and settings - after 20 years! The Witness and to a lesser extend OW were evidently influenced by these games. Overall, I liked them more! Subtle and clever in ways the Cyan predesessors are not.
the__alchemist 5y ago
I love the comparison - I've heard a number of outer wilds players not seeing the comparison due to lack of story in The Witness. I think that's missing the point - TW and OW are the best exploration-driven games I've played, and I'm suspicious they're the best ever made.
robin_reala 5y ago
Weirdly I loved The Witness and really didn’t get on with The Outer Wilds. The story didn’t grab me, and the controls were unbelievably janky.