“Because if we get too concerned, with saying a bunch of wise things in the least personally-revealing way, then we’re basically putting up a front, in danger of becoming a false front. The game finally self-references itself in a hidden, post-game audio log, asking the player to keep in mind that this game was made by humans and not meant to aspire towards Truth. Roughly, the themes of the three endings are (1) – Don’t get caught in cycles of insular thought, (2) – Try to abstract and use lessons in real life, and (3) – Digging for secrets likely has diminishing returns and can also be dangerous for mental well-being. This ending says that what’s important isn’t the ‘meaning’ of the puzzles, but what one can take outside of the game into real life. In a second ending (14:00), at the end of an Easter Egg room, a video made with a GoPro plays where a person ‘wakes up’ from the game, taking off electrodes, then walking around The Witness‘s development office, trying to find patterns in the environment representing the game’s circle and line puzzles. A rather literal way of saying that the value of The Witness is in the journey, not the end – that figuring out these puzzles doesn’t give a single concrete Truth. In addition to the third, the game’s first ending (0:00) takes place after solving puzzles in a surreal area that references the game’s development: sketches of the island adorn the walls, some rooms look like offices, piles of monitors are stacked here and there.Īt the end, it leads you into a cage, and takes you to the beginning tunnel of the game, resetting the island’s puzzles. The Witness is saying: “I am just a game, and I have no Truths, so don’t worry about digging through all of my nooks and crannies.” It might be the last big secret you find. You get this video at the end of a timed, secret gauntlet of randomized puzzles. The game, in the third ending – a video recording of the talk, Psalm 46 – has a theme saying that the phenomenon of digging for secrets goes back forever, yet history shows that this compulsion can easily lead us down to dead ends we may never realize we’re in. I consider The Witness‘s three “endings” to mean the cage ending, the wake-up ending, and the hour-long Psalm 46 video. But creators should be wary that if they do have something to say, they should opt for being clear. This content tends to help a player re-contextualize their experience with the game towards a reading more in line with the creators’ intention. A player’s reading is just as important as what the creator intended, and there is no correct meaning. The Witness comes off as contradictory, but much of this feels intentional with the context of the endings and some post-game secrets.Īs I’ll mention later – other games, such as Undertale, and my own Anodyne – leave some content at the end, that only a few players will see. Some videos condemn Art and value Science, yet the detail in the architecture and the portrayal of nature in The Witness – the way we learn about the spaces in the game through our footstep noises – seems to value Art. These ideas are contradictory at times: we might be solving some logical puzzles, and then, we are listening to an audio log that tells us about Zen and the value of asking unanswerable questions. The game uses audio logs, videos, and gameplay to present quotes and visual cues for contemplation, often about the process of learning, Zen, and connections of religion and science. I will post each part separately over the coming days – this is just Part 1! The third talks about downsides of other games with creators with singular visions, and how they can lead to fans and the media constructing ‘genius narratives.’ The second brings up how the way we discuss and perceive The Witness has been warped by the hype and media portrayal of the game and its primary creator.

The popular perception and influence of The Witness.

It was fun!īut, enough about me. The three parts of my essay are: I’ve spent around 24 hours in The Witness, stopping after the Platinum trophy. I’m Sean Han-Tani-Chen-Hogan, and am currently developing the adventure platformer game, Even the Ocean, with a friend, Joni Kittaka.

Hi – this is Part 1 of an essay about the game The Witness! This part tries to establish what The Witness is trying to convey, then, I discuss how well the message is communicated.

Witness meaning