Summary: The Witness is an unconventional game that everyone should play, but they won't.

I won't lie. It didn't take very long for me to feel frustrated and underwhelmed with this game. At first I wanted to give it a mixed/neutral score (ignoring the fact that Steam lacks the common sense to give us that feedback option). My general impression was that the ideas were creative, but the execution came up short.

One of the challenges that either the player or The Witness has to overcome (depending on your point of view) is that the rules aren't going to be explained. If your idea of a good puzzle game is knowing your objective, and just demonstrating what you know, then this game isn't for you. Or is it?

What I would argue is that The Witness was very deliberately designed to do something besides just be a game. The witness ISN'T about puzzle mechanics. It's about problem solving in general. It's about facilitating the change that takes place in your brain when you don't know; don't have a clue, but start asking questions; start testing ideas.

The Witness wants you to learn how to think for yourself. Not because your avatar has a backstory. Not because there's an achievement to unlock, or some time to kill, or even profit to be had in the business behind it. It just understands that thinking is very much the most fundamental part of being human. And maybe, fewer and fewer people are actually doing it (whether it be a side effect of technology, flaw in social and educational systems, or some other cause or influence).

Played correctly (without a walkthrough, video, backseat gamer, etc.), the Witness seeks to cultivate your desire to confront what you don't understand, to foster confidence in your inate ability to figure things out, and to instill passion for knowledge by appreciating your own progress.

The Witness is not a conventional game. Expect to be disappointed if that is the lens through which you try to judge it. I wish everyone had the open-mindedness and patience to play it. (And the ability, but that's another matter).