The fact that it doesn't have any real introduction, that it just throws you into the deep end, was a design conceit that didn't really work for me - it made the game frustrating and the only real "payoff" I've seen is that it makes the people who got through it feel entitled to brag and gatekeep. It really could have done with one more world at the very start introducing the most basic, straightforward mechanics closer to the pace it layers in more mechanics later. There's a pretty reasonable progression of ideas after the first world, but the first world was just brutal. I haven't gotten around to finishing it, but I finished about half of the game, and I found the beginning to be far harder than anything that followed. To top it off, remixed art and music create a distinct atmosphere.
If you've already played and enjoyed Braid, you might enjoy my very own fan-made Braid mod, More Now Than Ever! The original game’s time-bending mechanics are further explored via a curated compilation of over 60 of the most surprising, cunning, and elegant puzzles from multiple fan mods (“After the Epilogue”, “Silverbraid”, “Stone”, and “Tim's Modysee”), plus many completely original levels! All-new writing continues the story of Tim and the Princess, paying homage to Braid’s complex structure and themes while also introducing fresh images and new directions. Finally, if you're willing to give up on puzzle gameplay and just enjoy a well-designed, beautiful first-person game, stuff like Edith Finch and Dear Esther might also be worth a look. Some more for the list: Fidel (which has a very similar maze-drawing mechanic to The Witness), Four Sided Fantasy, a short-and-sweet student project called Perspective (which uses a mechanic almost eerily similar to the environmental puzzle view-freezing in The Witness, although it came out years earlier), and FRACT OSC. I'd also second Portal 2, Fez, Stephen's Sausage Roll, and The Swapper (which has lots of philosophical story and solid puzzle mechanics - maybe the game most similar to Braid) as all being really good.
The number-one recommendation has gotta be Braid, Jonathan Blow's previous game. Puzzles were often repetitive (hey, remember when you did a double-layer iteration of Technique X? now do a triple iteration of Technique X!) and seemed thrown together kind of at random, compared to the way The Witness clearly builds up a sequence of ideas. The Talos Principle is a puzzle game with a philosophical story, sure, but personally I thought it was poorly designed, especially compared to the likes of The Witness, Braid, Portal, etc.
Please DO NOT include spoilers in post TITLES: neither mods nor users can edit or spoiler post titles, so the whole post will simply have to be removed. If submitting a spoiler, please flair your post as a spoiler AND mark as a spoiler in reddit. >!spoiler!! spoiler!! spoiler !< don't work consistently for all users, even if they look like they work for you.) Please report posts containing spoilers unless they are hidden using the following method or are inside a thread clearly labeled as containing spoilers. It revived that long forgotten sense than not everything is about the money.A subreddit for news and discussion about the 2016 puzzle game The Witness developed by Jonathan Blow (developer of Braid) and his company Thekla. And lastly, the game was NOT available for preorder which is a huge point earned in my eyes by Croteam.
The game and the expansion are now sold for less than $50. In summary, I'd like to say something which is more likely directed towards the developers instead of the game, but since I consider it very important in this day and age, I'd like to point it out. Other than that - I have no issues whatsoever.
The bad news - the PS4's framerate needs improvement badly.
The good news is - the PS4 version is on par with details and resolution with the PC version, it also has a decent amount of AA and not the most terrible FOV as well. I've played both PC and PS4 version of the game for more than 100 hours. Unfortunately, everything is a spoiler, so I'm going to skip the awesome story, music and atmosphere and will concentrate on the technical state of the game on the PS4. Unfortunately, everything is a spoiler, so I'm going to skip the awesome story, music and atmosphere One of the best games I've ever played.