The game includes around 650 puzzles, though the player is not required to solve them all to finish the game.

Blow desired to create a game around non-verbal communication, wanting players to learn from observation and to come to epiphanies in finding solutions and leading to a greater sense of involvement and accomplishment with each success. This required a protracted development process, and the game's release was delayed from 2013 to 2016. To create the game's visual language, the team developed their own game engine and retained artists, architects, and landscape architects to design the structures on the island.

The financial success of Braid allowed him to hire a larger production team without ceding creative control over the final product. Jonathan Blow, the game's lead designer, started work on the title in 2008, shortly after releasing Braid. A central design element to the game was how these puzzles are presented so that the player can achieve a moment of inspiration through trial and error and gain that comprehension themselves.Īnnounced in 2009, The Witness had a lengthy development period. The game provides no direct instructions for how these puzzles are to be solved, requiring the player to identify the meaning of symbols in the puzzles. The player progresses by solving puzzles, which are based on interactions with grids presented on panels around the island or paths hidden within the environment. Inspired by Myst, the game involves the exploration of an open world island filled with natural and man-made structures.

The Witness is a 2016 puzzle video game developed and published by Thekla, Inc.

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