The Witness Documentary 

Every time I play The Witness I just end up rage quitting because the puzzles fly so far over my head. Regardless Jonathan Blow is one of the realest artists in video-games, awesome video.

25:17 And then there is Simon from cracking the cryptic, who discovered the meaning of the symbols and solved the puzzle, before going to the tutorial.

Absolutely wonderful game. Wish I could experience it for the first time again.

38:40 This is why I love this game. _"It had to be legitimately likely that you could finish the game and never see that stuff. You had to take an extra step of noticing something, on your own, to find that. It was not handed directly to you."_ People complain about The Witness not always being clear, or getting frustrated by not being guided directly to what you're supposed to do. But without that it wouldn't be so enjoyable to play, and so rewarding when you noticed something. This is an aspect missing from so many modern games, and it made the experience of playing The Witness so much more fulfilling for me. It's like feeling that challenge that you first felt playing games as a kid (remember how intense the experience was then?). Great interview.

Man, this really makes me want to play The Witness again.

42:45 - I felt this "We're doing alright..." in my bones. These are the words of someone for whom things are actually going pretty great, but who cannot escape an acute awareness of how fragile success can be. I try not to be superstitious, but there's still a hesitation to speak of success, lest the universe hear your words and bend to bring your fate back into balance.

- designing difficulty - don't cut something just because one person had a bad time - let the folks who want a linear experience enable that if they want - don't rank/filter using averages; preserve things only few people love, but as optional content exclusively for a cult following - sort controversial/difficult/obscure/hardcore beauty into optional layers, let skill-based players seek it out | layer | obvious puzzle | obvious solution | obvious reward | |-|-|-|-| | 1 | Y | Y | Y | | 2 | N | Y | Y | | 3 | N | N | N |

I really digged the puzzles and thought it was a nice puzzle game. Then almost 80% finished I noticed that one shape in the environment looks suspiciously like the puzzles. I thought 'There is no way', but I still tried it got my mind totally blown away. It was like the ending in Portal 2, but instead of the final move this added a whole new layer to the game and changed everything I thought I knew about it. It also was like a totally new game on top of everything else. To this days one of my most awesome moments in gaming.

This game is a work of art that will stand the test of time.

10 minutes in and im absolutely amazed. fantastic work danny on one of my favourite games of the past decade. thank you

I love the witness. I admit I got stuck and had to look up a guide when I got to the treehouse but man, for such a simple looking game it has really complicated elements and that’s probably why it stands out so much. I recommend it to all my friends when they ask what I’ve been playing.

I love how Danny is getting more artistically bold and exploring the documentary medium.

he has the rare combo of genius and the ability to clearly communicate his thoughts and ideas. it's nice.

Okay friends, let's talk spoilers. For those of you deep into the game, we worked very hard to ensure few "hidden" areas are shown. The only environments we show off in detail are places you can access once you leave the tutorial area and one or two early rooms behind locked doors. We don't spoil any end-game or end-biome areas. The video does show LCD panels being used which may reveal some individual puzzle solutions, some of which contain minor game mechanism spoilers. Most importantly, the second half of this video contains some significant spoilers in relation to other aspects of the world of The Witness. You either know to which we are referring, or you don't. If you don't, we recommend you play some more of the game. If you have any individual questions about these spoilers, feel free to ask @dannyodwyer on Twitter. We'd rather you don't post about them here, for fear of spoiling other viewers. *exhales* Okay, thanks for reading, and we do hope you enjoy the show.

Late to the party, but I finally got to sit down with this brilliant game. As a long time fan of adventure games from the '90s, this feels like coming home. The Witness is art.

Anyone else searching what to connect Jonathan's hair with?

why did it take me so long to find this documentary. this game is the best puzzle game i've ever played and one of my favorite games of all time. also i never see anyone touch on the voice recordings in this game.i think the theme they chose to talk about in these recordings really reflects the game itself. you get this beautiful artistic environments and these logic driven puzzles in tangled in each other. and in the voice recordings its always a debate about logic and feelings or science and poetry/spirituality .how they contradict each other or even how they are weaved into each other depending on your perspective.so its all about perspective ,sorta like the game itself. i hope someone reads this and feels the same about the game.

Glad to see The Witness getting some love. Absolutely adored this game on every level.

This made me decide to buy the witness for myself and my mom

The Witness is just kind of more than just a puzzle game. It really kinda shifted my perspective of how I would look at the world, both in its shapes and its philosophies. Plus, it helped me get hooked on Tarkovsky. The Witness is just now such an important tool that expanded my mind when it came out.

LOVED this game, like a zen trip - with one of the most lovely hand crafted worlds ever made imo

Hats off to Noclip for holding my attention for 45+ minutes. Great stuff!

I wouldn't say the witness is my favorite game, but I'd say it certainly the best one i've ever played, in term of design, both artistic and game-play. The first environmental puzzle I found was under the elevator in the desert. That was actually, literally a mind-blowing epiphany.

6 years later: Yes, it will take that long for his next project.

Such a great documentary, I enjoyed every second of it. It's also quite impressive that there's still an entire aspect of the game that wasn't touched upon in the video, that is the meaning and interpretations of the game. It really shows just how vast the Witness is. For people interested look up the unbearable now, I think it's a great complement. Again huge thanks for your work on this series!

as a grown man that's been gaming most his life. this is a special game that really took me by surprise and I'm so so glad you made this. this game was worthy of an excellent doc.

I'm 35. This is the greatest puzzle game I've ever played in my entire life. It's a 10. Just a big fat 10 out of 10. It's in my list for my top 10 favourite games. Also in the list are Demon's Souls. Dark Souls. Final Fantasy 7 etc etc. The game is a masterpiece in every sense of the word. I don't know what else to say. Just enjoyed it so much. I'm looking forward to watching this doco as I just got on here and posted a comment asap. Now for a coffee :-D

I'm deaf. Will captions be added?

Thank you for this! The Witness was one of my favorite games of 2016. It was fascinating to see early or discarded concepts, and it is always fascinating to hear Mr. Blow speak. Makes me want to play the game again.

Loved the game to death beating it the first time. Beaten probably dozens of times now, solved all of the puzzles twice. Still love it.

I can't believe this channel isn't way way bigger. Keep up the good work mate! All of the documentaries I've seen from NoClip so far have been insightful and beautifully crafted. Also now I am going to play a game I may not have otherwise, Thanks!

Hey, listen!

*Teasing him for his next game after The Witness: "Are we gonna play this video in 10 years? 15??" "No, not that long, maybe 3, something like that" Famous last words, 7 years later.

The beauty of the Witness for me was how seemingly impossible puzzles could become so obvious after taking a break and coming back to them later. The game's design complements this by stopping your progress if you find yourself stumped... the island fluidly connects, so you can just wander off in a new direction and start solving something else, which often times helps you understand something you missed earlier. I found a lot of similarities back when I took math... so many times something would seem impossible to understand, but after sleeping on it, all the pieces would click. In many games, you gain new skills by leveling up through gaining experience points... killing a monster or completing a thing gives you X experience points, and when you gain Y experience points, you gain Z skill which allows you to gain more of X to reach the next Y, to get the next Z, etc etc. but when the game ends, these experience points and skills in game mean nothing in real life. In the Witness, your experiences in the world lead you to gain the skills you need to progress... this becomes a very real experience that stays with you even after the game is turned off. While "I gained knowledge" may seem like an answer that is applicable to any game (transferable skills can be argued to any capacity: "Doom gave me better reaction time, CS1.6 gave me better hand eye coordination, etc"), it is different with this game, and you will know what I mean if you try it. All in all, this is a very well designed puzzle game. If you like the Witness and are left wanting more (even though the world is full of so many optional puzzles, I think I only finished 70-80% of everything there was to do on my initial run), check out Talos Principle. Different in tone (Talos includes more of an explicit story and the puzzles focus more on 3D space and sequencing), but still full of excellent spatial puzzle solving and self exploration.

JB is a fucking genius, and this ended up being one of my favorite games ever. Absolutely GORGEOUS and the level design/world building is miles above most - if not all - of other games that I've ever played. Just all around a perfect game in my opinion.

Hey danny, as i have never played the Witness, I have to say that your video was remarkable, specifically how it captured the idea of being on the top of a mountain and looking back differently. The thing you did with the images in the beginning and end of the video (not saying more to not spoil) , and me realizing why you're doing it, felt exactly like it was described in the video. It seems that through your video, I EXPERIENCED that essence of the game. Amazing, and thank you.

Nice work Danny! B-roll & over all editing is top notch. Love seeing the progression of NoClip.

You've got a gift for interviews, Danny. Thanks for all the hard work you put into these

Thanks Danny! It's always a pleasure when I have a new Noclip video to watch. Keep doing what you're doing. Love the interview shot in this one, great set.

John was right for the pitch puzzles, as I was completely unable to do them, but everything else was amazing, and I'm glad that he chose to keep them in, because I'm sure a number of people did enjoy and solve them easily. Respecting his vision is what made this game a true gem.

Great video! Made me boot up The Witness again after months. Found a puzzle I haven't seen before and solved it. And here we are with this incredible feeling again. What a game.

brilliant video! I like the way you just let him speak for the most part, it takes a good interviewer to get the best out of people! great job Danny!

What I love most about this game is that it's not really about the line puzzles. Instead it's a game who's focus is the meta-game: the focus is on the very nature of how the game communicates its ideas to you.

Fantastic Documentary, as always, about one of my favorite games this generation. A true masterpiece by one of the few true innovators in the industry. Thank you guys so much.

Nice job, Danny. Killed it as always! These are literally the best videogame documentaries of all time, it's not even debatable. Keep doin you.

I've never played the Witness. I wasn't interested in The Witness. I'm speechless by just LOOKING at this game's puzzles at work. Absolutely mind blown. I'm looking forward to finding a way to play it.

Stunning documentary. Honestly, amazing photography and great editing. You guys are terrific!

That was fantastic, thank you for doing this. And thanks to Jonathan Blow too.

I appreciate that this video was mostly surface level about The Witness, and focused more on the history of Jonathan Blow. This was a very enjoyable watch. Thank you NoClip. The Witness was an extremely satisfying and personal journey for me. All the elements of that game really helped me mature in areas of self reflection and mindfulness. I wish everyone could take the many hours of unspoiled journey that I got to take, and it helps if you have a friend who is playing on their own time as well and then you two can talk about the game but in a very abstract way so as not to give away any spoilers. Thank you Jonathan and all the other people that helped make this game a reality. I will never forget it, and I will never stop encouraging people to give it a try :) Looking forward to the next time I decide to go back and rediscover the island all over again.

Jonathan is so amazing, i could listen him for hours. I loved The Witness. Please upload extended interview like you did for Doom. Thank you for this!

Never played a puzzle game before. I fell in love with the witness over time. This game touched me in a way no other game has done. Now I am watching this documentary for the third time.

Great episode. I could just listen to Jonathan, talking about anything, for hours. Such an interesting and deep person. Keep up the wonderful work Danny!

What's amazing is, when he talks about the inspiration of The Witness and using gestures to cast spells and change their properties, The Wonderful 101 actually uses a very similar system for changing weapons. Drawing a bigger "unite sword" symbol results in a bigger "unite sword" weapon model that deals more damage etc. I find that interesting given the time of it's release.

44:53 Haha, welp, that didnt age well, didnt it? :D

Oh man, this is so good! Keep it up with the good work, i love to watch this kind of documentaries.

The Witness puzzle starting sound cue played right before the Arx Fatalis spellcasting hum was the coolest.

That was awesome. I absolutely love this channel and all the neat insights you present. Thank you!

Just finished watching the video. it's really well done and I am excited for your next project. you're doing great work!

Great doc Danny! Thanks so much for making these, very interesting.

Huge fan of this game and Blow as a character in the industry. So happy to see my meager patreon donation come to such well produced and insightful fruition. Keep up the great work guys.

I really liked this game. I also think it's a great game to use to introduce people who don't usually play games to games. The intuitive tutorials, simple controls, and lack of need for speed make it easy for people unused to games to understand and play the game and get used to moving around a digital 3D environment in first person and using standard movement controls.

i love the editing and flow of the documentaries, very professional work, Subscribed !!!!

Jonathan Blow is certainly the most interesting game designer to listen to, a real guru. Thank you for this documentary.

Your documentaries shinning light on the game developers are really fantastic. Thank you for providing a bridge between the game developers and the game players.

This is like a masterclass. I really like how it came together and how he tried to explain what happend in his head to get there!

Absolutely amazing work. Thank you!

Kudos to the disclaimer at the beginning. Very well made video! This documentary really covers a lot of really good stuff. The Witness is probably among my top 5 favorite games of all time. Just wanted to leave my small token of thanks here.

Another great doc Danny, thank you so much for doing this.

Such a gutsy game. Great interview with Jon, and beautiful vid.

Jon Blow is such a great human being. Really so much respect for the man

Thank you for this video, Jonathan Blow is a genius and a big inspiration for me.

Another great doc. Well done Danny! I love this game so much. I really think it is one of my favourites of all time.

Awesome work Danny. The Witness is a genuinely amazing experience and easily one of my favourite games of all time.

Playing this game was the most rewarding/enriching/beautiful experience I've played. It changed a lot about the way I see the world, and how to see more about the world, and I've always been curious as to the mind behind this incredible game. Thank you for putting this together. (And if you're looking for other people to doc, I've always wanted to see more into Superhot)

Another great doc! I've always liked listening to Jonathan Blow explain his ideas and this doc really showcases that. He's an articulate guy who is definitely operating on a different plane. Looking forward to the next game!

Fantastic video - thanks Noclip!

Best one yet Danny! NoClip docs are quickly becoming my monthly RU-vid highlight. )

Great job sir! I love how you let them talk and give them a platform to do so.

Love to see my favorite RU-vid channel and one my favorite games come together. thank you Danny!

Another great documentary! I love the visual style of this one.

This game gives me such a dose of the Tetris effect. For weeks after I played, I noticed circles and lines everywhere I went. Even in this video (which, granted, is probably on purpose) i kept seeing things that caused me to momentarily reach for my mouse to draw the puzzle.

that was fantastic. The was so eye opening to me and this doc made me feel the same way. Well done.

“The Witness” and “Baba Is You” are the most mind-bending games of all time

Another Stella Documentary - Big thanks to John and all the team involved.

28:00 - There is a lot of graph theory in this game. It's great. I need to stop playing it when I'm tired, and waking up an hour later, not having found any new insights into the puzzle where I'm stuck.

27:34 Great editing, subtly showing the rock in The Witness are similar to (maybe inspired by) Mega Man.

another very informative et interesting documentary ! NoClip is on FIRE ! glad to have learn some unkown anecdotes about Johnathan i didn't already heard before, and that's a prowess in itself ! :p

Fantastic job, Danny & crew!

You just got yourself a supporter. We need more like this !

You and your team always delivery and inspire. Thank you.

Solid little documentary! Well done guys, and much respect for Mr. Blow

That was a really good one man! Deep and very enjoyable. Keep it up!

even the intro sequence alone is superb, capturing the game's themes and aesthetics with some wonderful images and music great interview / documentary film (about one of the most unique games ever made)

absolutely wonderful game. I've played through it twice and watched a friend play through all of it and I'm discovering new things each playthrough. the juggler shadow with the stones on the floor or the person on the burning stump lighting a fire are things I haven't even noticed yet. I'll always remember the island and the incredible amounts of detail that I did not know games could have.

Another great one Danny! Can't wait for the next one!

Nice video Danny, great job as always!

Such a warm documentary. Lots of love floating around there.

Great as always. Thank you for the content.

Awesome work, Danny! Great piece.

i think this island is the second most wonderful world I've explored in video games after Outer Wilds. Very different games, really lovely, exquisitely crafted worlds.