General hints | The Witness The Witness Guide
Last update: 06 March 2019
This chapter contains basic information about the gameplay in The Witness. Here, you can find tips that will help you solve the puzzles.
- Take a walk around the island
- Choose which puzzles you want to solve first
- Make notes
- Look around
- Keep a puzzle's location in mind
- Pay attention to where you are standing
- Don't worry when you fail
- Adjust your mouse's sensitivity
- Take brakes
Take a walk around the island
Do that after you leave the Fort. Ignore all puzzles on your way and focus on locations. Visit each one of them and memorize their locations. Check the paths and locked shortcuts leading to them. Pay close attention to Bridges, stairs and narrow passages. Check what kind of puzzle blocks the access to each of the locations. If you want to, you can draw a map with symbols for each of the puzzles. Mark those you can solve and those you currently don't. This will help you determine in which order you should do them.
Choose which puzzles you want to solve first
You can explore the entire island. The puzzles can be solved in any order. In many cases, you will have to go back to a given puzzle due to its difficulty. It is possible that one of the puzzles near the Fort will be too difficult for you. You can also find a puzzle located on the opposite part of the island that will be a piece of cake. If you have problems with a certain puzzle, leave it for later. There is a chance that you will find the solution in another place.
Make notes
Many of the puzzles require you to copy a solution from a previous one located nearby. Others may require you to look at two different spots or to find a solution in their mirror image. Sometimes, a hint may be located far away from a puzzle or can be so complicated that you will forget it quickly. This is where a pen and a piece of paper come in handy. Note important things, draw solutions, and write down locations to which you will have to return later. This is especially true to unspecified hints found in various places. They may be useful later in the game.
Look around
The hints are around you. Pay attention to the shapes of items near a given puzzle. Look at panels from different angles and perspectives - from above, from a side, from behind, by standing behind another object, from up close and from a distance. Pay attention to the surroundings and look for similar objects. Sooner or later, you will find the solution.
Keep a puzzle's location in mind
If a puzzle is in ruins of a temple of the sun, there is a high chance that the sun will be the key. If a puzzle is in shadows, try to use them to find a solution. Try to match rocks of different size by standing in the right place etc. The majority of the hints are near a puzzle.
Pay attention to where you are standing
You can solve a puzzle only when its panel isn't obstructed by anything. You can't draw a line through obstacles or outside the screen. In other words, you need to stand in front of a panel throughout the entire process of solving a puzzle (some of them will require you to stand behind a panel or next to it).
Don't worry when you fail
You have an unlimited number of attempts. Sooner or later, you will solve the puzzles. Don't worry when you have to reset a previously solved puzzle because you failed to solve another. This rarely happens, and the solution to the previous puzzle will still be visible.
Adjust your mouse's sensitivity
All puzzles require you to draw a line in a maze. High mouse sensitivity will lead to many mistakes, especially when a maze consists of diagonal lines.
Take brakes
The difficulty of many of the puzzles comes from the simple fact of not knowing how to solve them yet. Their hint is usually nearby, often right in front of the puzzle. However, finding a clue can be problematic. If you have problems with solving a puzzle, stop playing the game. Don't think about it and do something else - go to another section, look around, or turn the game off. There is a chance that the solution will become apparent later on.