The Witness on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
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You wake up, alone, on a strange island full of puzzles that will challenge and surprise you.
The Witness is a puzzle, exploration and first-person game
developed and published by Thekla and Inc..
Released on January 26th 2016 is available on Windows and MacOS
in 15 languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Polish, Portuguese - Portugal, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian, Arabic, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean and Hungarian.
It has received 18,937 reviews of which 16,069 were positive and 2,868 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.3 out of 10. 😎
The game is currently priced at 9.24€ on Steam with a 75% discount, but you can find it for less on Gamivo.
The Steam community has classified The Witness into these genres:
System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- OS *: Windows 7
- Processor: 1.8GHz
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: Intel HD 4000 series
- DirectX: Version 10
- Storage: 5 GB available space
MacOS
- OS: 10.11.6 (El Capitan)
- Processor: 1.8GHz
- Graphics: Intel HD 4000 series
- Storage: 5 GB available space
- Additional Notes: Metal support required
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
The Witness's deeper message is to make you witness how dumb you actually are the premise of the game's puzzles is simple. draw line from start to finish. simple enough. then, the game adds a few small mechanics that transforms the difficulty from dollar store coloring book to interviewing for a coding job at Google. The Witness is the Dark Souls of maze puzzles. The Witness is the first game i have ever played where i have sat in my desk, staring at the same exact puzzle for 2 1/2 hours in the middle of the night with no solution, asking myself "what do the symbols mean mason?" over and over again. i covered my hands and felt tears rolling down my eyes as i question my existence, not because of the impossible task laid before me, but because of all the philosophical quotes questioning society and reality scattered throughout the island as i wipe the tears away, i realize the puzzle has permanently burned into my frontal lobe and the only clear solution i can come up with is to get a lobotomy which triggers the third ending that even the walkthroughs online haven't found yet. once you play the game and finish it, the world will never look as it were again. you will see the puzzles. you must solve
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On the surface it's just a collection of line puzzles but very quickly into the game expands into so much more than that. Gorgeous visuals & art style, sound design, everything feels methodically crafted and placed and begs to be explored and uncovered. Some might feel it's pretentious but the game doesn't force anything unto the player, it's up to you to piece everything together and take out whatever makes sense for you from the whole experience.
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This is one of the best puzzle games and the ultimate one stroke drawing game. Before this game, I can't even imagine there're so many elements can be added to one stroke drawing. Both the quality and quantity of puzzles in the game are amazing. The first run will take 20+ hours, which is huge for a puzzle game. Although the game has a reasonable learning curve, it's common to enter areas with unknown mechanisms and this could be frustrating at times. In fact, there's no explanation on any game symbols or mechanisms. It will be very painful if you don't get it from the limited hints. There's a guide in the community provided basic explanation without spoiling which is indeed useful. There're only two achievements in the game. One for completing the game and the other one is a time limited challenge. The time limited challenge is difficult but doable after a few practices, provided you minimize the use of guides throughout the game. Or else, good luck. In Braid, the developer's previous game, there's an annoying time limited challenge achievements as well. I hated that achievement all the while. But now after this game, I think maybe I can understand where the developer comes from better. Probably one day I will go back and finish that game. Overall, this is a must play game for any player love strategy or puzzles.
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The Witness is a masterpiece that transcended my expectations and fundamentally changed the way I perceive not only games but the world around me. At its core, this is more than just a puzzle game—it’s an experience that invites you to question how you see and understand reality. From the moment I set foot on its mysterious island, I knew I was in for something profound, but I never anticipated how deeply it would rewire my thought processes. As you progress, The Witness steadily expands your mind. Each puzzle is a test of perception, and the beauty of the game lies in its quiet, yet full of beautiful sound design and ambience, elegant genius. The further you go, the more you realize that the only thing limiting your understanding is your own perspective. The game doesn’t hand anything to you; it gives you the tools to succeed in a non-verbal way, but you have to be willing to look closer, to notice the subtle, intricate patterns hidden in plain sight. The feeling of solving each puzzle is euphoric, but it’s more than that—it’s a revelation. You begin to understand that you aren’t just solving puzzles; you’re learning to observe, to pay attention to details that seemed irrelevant before. The more open you are to seeing beyond the surface, the more the world of The Witness reveals itself to you. And it’s not just about the puzzles themselves—it’s about how the game makes you realize that in life, too, we often only see what we’re willing to see. Every area of the island is coherently themed around a specific idea. Each zone feels distinct, with its own set of rules, visual cues, and atmosphere, subtly guiding you to grasp the concept it’s trying to teach. Each area "is about something". The architecture, the unique artistic visuals and colors, and even the extremely well crafted sound design work together to gently nudge you towards understanding without ever spelling it out. These areas aren’t just backdrops—they’re designed to suggest their secrets. As you explore, the way each space is crafted practically whispers clues to you, encouraging you to observe, experiment, and learn. The game operates on the principle that true understanding requires effort and introspection. If you rush through, you’ll miss the subtleties and nuances that make the experience so rich. It’s this meticulous attention to detail that makes every part of the island feel alive and meaningful, pulling you into the game’s world and making each revelation feel earned. And it never feels repetitive. Every puzzle introduces a fresh, new idea, challenging you in unique ways, and the game constantly forces you to think like a scientist. You’re not just guessing—you’re experimenting, forming hypotheses, testing them, and learning from each failure. Just when you think you’ve figured things out, it introduces a twist, or a partial carefully placed obfuscation, forcing you to adapt your thinking and test your hypothesis. Puzzles don’t exist in isolation. Everything is connected to everything else. They build on one another, coming together in spectacular and often unimaginable ways. The process is methodical yet incredibly creative, as you're driven to break down problems, refine your approach, and discover the deeper logic behind each challenge. It’s like performing scientific experiments on your own perception. The further you go, the more you realize how the game’s mechanics compose a brilliant system that rewards careful observation and persistent curiosity. Each solution opens up new layers of understanding in ways that are mind-blowing. In essence, The Witness teaches that meaningful insight is born from patience and curiosity, making every moment spent in its world incredibly valuable. Thank you, Jon. :)
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I finally beat this game after playing it on and off for the past ten years. The game exists in a state of duality, it's both the most peaceful and frustrating thing. It allows you to explore the world at your own pace and yet you feel compelled to keep working on a puzzle until you crack the code. Very enjoyable, and I'm glad I can close the experience as a chapter of my life.
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Frequently Asked Questions
The Witness is currently priced at 9.24€ on Steam.
The Witness is currently available at a 75% discount. You can purchase it for 9.24€ on Steam.
The Witness received 16,069 positive votes out of a total of 18,937 achieving a rating of 8.31.
😎
The Witness was developed and published by Thekla and Inc..
The Witness is playable and fully supported on Windows.
The Witness is playable and fully supported on MacOS.
The Witness is not playable on Linux.
The Witness is a single-player game.
The Witness does not currently offer any DLC.
The Witness does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
The Witness supports Remote Play on Phone and Remote Play on Tablet. Discover more about Steam Remote Play.
The Witness is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for The Witness.
Data sources
The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.
Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 02 September 2025 14:33 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 09 September 2025 09:14 |
| Steam price | 14 September 2025 20:45 |
| Steam reviews | 12 September 2025 11:55 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about The Witness, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about The Witness
- SteamCharts - Analysis of The Witness concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck The Witness compatibility
Game modes
Features
Online players
142
Developer
Thekla, Inc.
Publisher
Thekla, Inc.
Release
26 Jan 2016
Platforms
Remote Play
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