March 2019 PS Plus: The Witness

In February, PS Plus didn't really have any family games to offer, but March's lineup (now only two games, since there are no longer going to be PS3 and Vita downloads) includes The Witness (PEGI-3).  I'd heard a lot about how good this game was, but I'd never played it.  To be honest, I still haven't, since Dad and Seb have been playing it together.  I think perhaps it has melted their brains since at the moment Seb is giggling maniacally and Dad is calling him Mr Ploppy.  Ah well. 

The Witness throws you straight into the game, with no preamble.  It reminds me a lot of Rime in the way that you are just there, on a mysterious island, trying to figure out what on earth is going on.  I suspect, like Rime, you never actually find out what's going on...  After arriving on the island it's just puzzle after puzzle, which can be intense!  As you walk around the beautiful surroundings you discover new challenges: there are more than 650 puzzles, some of which are optional, thankfully. All the puzzles are solved in the same way, by drawing a line on a grid to get from one point to another.  There are different rules for each puzzle.  This doesn't sound that exciting, but it's keeping a 7-year old quiet for a surprising amount of time (and Dad hasn't wandered off or started looking at his phone), so it's obviously more exciting than you'd think.  :-) 

One of the maze puzzles in The Witness's pretty world

If you have PS Plus, download it and give it a go.  It's a great "couch" game for everyone to sit down and try and work out the puzzles.  Alternatively you can all sit there and shout at one person trying to solve the puzzles as if they are in the Crystal Maze.  Hehe.