The Witness guide

Whether you want a gentle nudge, an outright solution or a full walkthrough, this is the guide for you

In every puzzle game, there is agony and there is joy. The Witness' island — idyllic, beautiful, as devoid of people as it is of hints — excels at both.

The best moments in The Witness happen when a solution dawns upon you like the rising sun. Still, we all need a little help sometimes. Sure, you'll almost certainly figure this blasted puzzle out if you spend another hour in front of it. But is it worth the investment, worth forgoing the rush you feel when you finally figure it out?

These are the questions we ask ourselves when we play puzzle games. We asked the same questions when it came time to make a guide. Our conclusion? Every page is organized with those competing ideals in mind. The farther down you scroll, the more you're going to learn — and potentially spoil. At the top of each page, we offer hints, ways to think about the puzzles that should gently nudge you in the right direction. Scroll down, and you'll find outright solutions.

How you use this guide is up to you — and, we suspect, your current level of frustration with whatever puzzle sent you here. All we ask is that you keep in mind that, just like there's more than one way so solve a puzzle in The Witness, there's more than one way to read this guide.

We've organized this guide based on the island's landmarks. As you can see in the image, we've named each section of the island, each of which has a corresponding section in the table of contents below.

Finally, this guide is a work in progress. We'll be updating it throughout the week to add more collectibles, images, videos, tips, hints and walkthroughs.

We wrote this to help you think like The Witness wants you to think, to give you some hints — but not solutions. If you're stuck, read through its tips, and you'll be that much closer to a solution.

The Island map