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What Does The Witness Teach Us About the Scientific Method?

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Gustavo León
Author
Gustavo León
🎮 Game designer & fullstack dev with a background in chemical engineering.

Introduction
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I’ve always considered myself a big admirer of Jonathan Blow ever since I played Braid. What truly struck me was how subversive it was in breaking platformer expectations: time manipulation as a core mechanic, beautifully crafted puzzles, and an evocative aesthetic challenged the conventional way of playing and thinking. That artistic and innovative approach deeply inspired me to pursue my passion for game development.

Later, when I discovered The Witness, it felt like a logical evolution: a more ambitious, extensive, and philosophically rigorous game in terms of design.

But what exactly makes The Witness so special compared to Braid or other puzzle games? Because The Witness is not just another puzzle game—it is also a reflection, a nod, even an ode to the scientific method itself. Although that same design philosophy is also the reason why it failed to connect with a broader audience.

Learning Without Words: Observation as a Starting Point
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From the very first moment, the game offers no tutorials or explanations. Instead, it presents you with panels you can only solve by observing and experimenting. This approach mirrors the purest form of scientific practice: learning through direct observation without external interference. Much like isolating a variable in an experiment, The Witness designs each area to isolate one mechanic, allowing the player to discover its function before combining it with others.

Deconstruct, Experiment, Integrate
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In engineering, we break down complex problems into subprocesses to understand each part before integrating them into a system. In my chemical engineering experience, this is standard (chemical reaction → mass transfer → thermodynamics). The Witness replicates this approach. In the swamp area, for example, the “pins” are introduced on their own. The player, acting like a researcher, tests several paths (hypotheses) until finding the one that unlocks the panel. Later, they return to more complex puzzles that combine other mechanics. The game “teaches” through practice, not text.

Iteration and Falsifiability
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As with pilot plant simulations, every failure teaches something new. If a path doesn’t work, the game doesn’t punish you; it simply confirms that the hypothesis is incorrect. This trial-and-error loop reflects Karl Popper’s model of falsifiability.

A Polarizing Experience
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Not everyone enjoys The Witness. Many find it cold, demanding, or even “pretentious,” and these critiques highlight a very deliberate design choice:

  • Wired described it as a “sterile, dispassionate… unforgiving” experience where “the satisfaction is overshadowed by the constant arrival of more puzzles” (wired.com).
  • On Reddit, comments like this emerged:

    “The only thing worse than the pretentiousness in this game is the rabid fans trying to argue…” (reddit.com)

These voices reflect the consequences of a “no concessions” design approach—prioritizing philosophical coherence over accessibility. On one hand, it creates a deeply intellectual experience; on the other, it may push away those looking for a more guided or emotional journey.

The Witness as a Symbol of Knowledge
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The game’s title is no accident. In both Eastern philosophies and science, the “witness” is one who observes without intervening, records with objectivity, and understands without needing to control. The Witness invites us to be witnesses of the world, of its rules, and—most importantly—of our own learning process.

The Puzzle as the Designer’s Language
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One of the most powerful ideas that emerge from The Witness’s design process is that puzzles aren’t just challenges—they’re a form of communication. Jonathan Blow has explained that solving a puzzle in his games is essentially the player saying: “I understand,” as Mark Brown points out in his Game Maker’s Toolkit analysis.

Unlike other games where puzzles can feel like arbitrary riddles, every panel in The Witness is carefully curated to express a specific idea, discovered during development or playtesting. The game “designs itself,” not from a pre-imposed idea, but as a series of logical consequences that emerge from a simple mechanic, as Brown details in his video.

Blow also prioritizes that puzzles make sense, even if they’re not necessarily “fun.” Some challenges remain in the game not for their entertainment value, but because they represent an interesting consequence of the system—something Brown highlights as essential to Blow’s design philosophy.

Conclusion
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The Witness goes beyond being just a puzzle game: it is a tool for introspection, methodological learning, and intellectual exploration. From an engineering perspective, its design is a tribute to the scientific method: observe, experiment, fail, integrate, and understand. A game that dares not to be for everyone—and, because of that, becomes something truly valuable for those who seek to discover.

References
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