Going Platinum #2: The Witness

Platinum Trophy #2: The Witness

Date Earned: 21st February 2016

Dopamine Index:

Something I've only just thought of: I never earned a single platinum Trophy before I started writing for Push Square. It was only after I became involved with this website that my interest in Trophies started to really take hold.

Fun fact: The Witness was the 12th game I ever reviewed, which isn't a particularly significant number, but putting things into some sort of perspective, I'm approaching 400 as I write this. That feels mad.

Anyway, this game remains extremely memorable for me. I loved every second of it — even the abstract story stuff and those esoteric monologues you could listen to. Everything, from the setting to the design of the puzzles and the strange atmosphere across the island, built up this evocative sense of place and mystery that I found irresistible.

I really love The Witness (there's a reason it's my avatar on the site), and I sometimes think about playing it all over again. Replaying games is something I've largely left behind, but I definitely wouldn't mind relearning all this puzzler's strange rules.

I actually played more of this game than I needed to, and that was in order to complete the Trophy list. Each major area of the island ends with you activating a laser aimed at the summit of a mountain, and doing so unlocks a Trophy for each one — but you don't need to do them all to progress to the game's ending.

Fortunately for me, I wanted to see and do as much as I could. I was truly enamoured with the way the game wordlessly teaches you how to solve it, and wanted to learn everything I could by playing as many of those line puzzles as I could handle.

So, working towards the platinum was pretty natural, but as anyone who's delved deep into The Witness will know, there's a challenge that acts as a sort of finale, one that really tests your knowledge of every puzzle mechanic.

It's a gauntlet of puzzles you have to complete within a strict time limit, and it's tough. You don't even get an on-screen timer telling you how long you have left, but you'll get a feel for it thanks to the music.

Classical pieces Anitra's Dance and In the Hall of the Mountain King play one after the other, and I quickly learned to judge my own performance in the challenge based on how far through the music I was.

This music is now so intrinsically linked to The Witness in my head that, as I write this, I can hear it playing in my mind's... ear? Is that a thing? A mind's ear?

I don't know how many attempts I had to make before I finally conquered the challenge, but I'm sort of glad of that. The main thing is, I did it, and I have the platinum to prove it.

Cheers, The Witness.

Do you have the platinum Trophy in The Witness? Let us know in the comments section below.