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Learn panel controls, observation techniques, and where to revisit earlier lessons. Choose the help you need, from beginner advice and original symbol examples to staged hints for individual areas.
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What is The Witness?
Learn panel controls, observation techniques, and where to revisit earlier lessons. Choose the help you need, from beginner advice and original symbol examples to staged hints for individual areas.
Edition: The Witness base game on PC (Steam/Windows), in normal play. Excludes mods, randomizers, speedrun shortcuts, and achievement conditions on other platforms
Verification scope: Public sources cross-checked on 2026-10-04. The installed build number and in-game inputs have not been tested. PC keys are documented default examples only; follow your current bindings if changed
Sources checked: 2026-10-04
9 / 9 rows
Explore the island and discover what each puzzle asks
The Witness is a single-player, open-world puzzle game developed and published by Thekla, Inc. The PC version was released on January 26, 2016. Its official store description presents over 500 puzzles, each adding new ideas. Japanese interface text and subtitles are supported.
- Solve a simple puzzle, then compare what changes in the next one
- Note the location and your question when stuck, learn elsewhere, then return
- Separate time spent examining a panel from time spent walking around it
This guide covers the PC base game. Review totals and prices change, so they are not treated as fixed evidence for the walkthrough.
Open only the page that matches your problem
Players want different amounts of help. You can narrow your reading to controls first, familiar symbols next, and a solution for your current location only when needed.
Wide tables scroll horizontally.
| Problem | Page to read | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Unsure how to draw a line or find the next panel | Beginner guide | Checking inputs, cables, and return routes |
| Unsure what a symbol means | Puzzle rules | Valid and invalid examples using the same symbol |
| Reached an area but cannot progress | Area walkthrough | Entrance landmarks, required knowledge, staged hints, and solutions |
| Looking for additional exploration or the endgame | Later sections of the area walkthrough | Progression requirements and observations, opened only when wanted |
No matching entries in this table. Shorten the query or clear it to restore all entries.
Discovering a symbol's meaning is part of the experience. Rule explanations and specific solutions appear only when you open their closed sections.
Checks to make before repeating the same line
Distinguishing an unfamiliar rule, an overlooked condition, and an inactive device helps you choose your next action.
Wide tables scroll horizontally.
| Current situation | What to check | Next action |
|---|---|---|
| An unfamiliar symbol appears | Have you solved a small puzzle containing only that symbol? | Return to an introductory sequence near an entrance or in another area |
| A familiar rule seems to fail | Has a new color, quantity, gap, or starting point been added? | Add just one new condition to your hypothesis |
| The panel is dark or cannot be used | Is an earlier puzzle along its cable still unsolved? | Follow the cable backward and check from a powered point |
| You can draw a line, but nothing nearby moves | The cable's destination and the device's state | Step away from the solved panel and watch what happens |
| The grid alone seems to lack information | Your viewpoint, the reverse side, and nearby structures | Leave panel mode and try different sides, angles, and heights |
No matching entries in this table. Shorten the query or clear it to restore all entries.
You do not have to finish one whole area before visiting another. Individual doors and transport devices still have their own requirements.
When unsure, choose a place with an introductory sequence
This is one example focused on learning, not the only valid or fastest order. Test an unfamiliar mechanic in a simple sequence before it combines with known symbols.
- After leaving the starting area, use nearby small panel sequences to explore basic lines and divisions
- Visit the seaside workshop and the area of pink trees to practice comparing panels with their surroundings
- Walk around the island and try each area's opening puzzles. Note difficult entrances and leave them for later
- If the town combines several symbols, return to introductions for any unfamiliar rule rather than learning everything there at once
What this guide covers
The beginner page does not reveal individual symbol rules or later mechanics. Read the rule page by symbol and the walkthrough by area.
- Examples on the rules page were created for explanation; they are not solutions to matching in-game panels
- The walkthrough covers major access requirements and ways to get unstuck, not every panel's line sequence or every collectible location
- Additional observations and endgame conditions have separate closed sections. Their conclusions are kept out of ordinary hints and headings
- Advanced exceptions disputed by sources and unchecked line sequences are not presented as confirmed solutions
This is an editorial guide cross-checked against official information and independent walkthrough sources. It does not claim playtesting.
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