Although it's tempting, this is a game you really don't want any spoilers about (if you are ever going to play it). Vi Hart, who has been playtesting the game for months, said:
> Tips for playing The Witness: give yourself a week or two, no hints, no reviews. Sleep on it. Take breaks. It's a big game. Nothing like it.
> If you can't spend all day every day playing The Witness, give yourself months. Engage deeply with The Witness and it will stare back.
> Don't watch twitch streams or look at screenshots or read reviews. Just play it, seriously.
> ...this is a game you really don't want any spoilers about...
I couldn't possibly agree more. But, just so others don't end up making (or not making!) a blind purchase, I present a spoiler-free summary:
It's a puzzle game. I'm likely not nearly done with the game and the puzzles have ranged from trivial to really, really, rather hard. The guy who made Braid is the designer of and one of the programmers of this game. It's also rather pretty, and the art (and foley) directions [0] are solid.
From what I've seen so far, there's no reason why you couldn't control the game with two fingers, rather than a gamepad or a mouse and keyboard. Of course, it would be less pretty with one's hands in front of portions of the screen, but whatever. :)
Since the game turns out to be pretty polarizing, I would suggest reading a review or two. Most reviewers appreciate the design of the game and keep it spoiler free.
While this is technically true, I really think it gives people the wrong impression. The colored mazes are the universal UI widget but many of them are switchboards that control the environment in the game in ways typical to 3d puzzlers (turning on lights, moving platforms, aligning objects.)
Many of the puzzles are the sort of abstract logic puzzles you'd see in an IQ test or mobile game, but most of them revolve around paying close attention to your environment and seeing it in different ways. I'd love to describe a few of them, but wouldn't want to spoil the moments of euphoria from noticing them yourself.
It's unfortunate that the game starts with some of the more abstract ones, because the real joy lies elsewhere in the game, but I would say that if you don't enjoy an abstract intellectual challenge you probably won't enjoy it.
> Tips for playing The Witness: give yourself a week or two, no hints, no reviews. Sleep on it. Take breaks. It's a big game. Nothing like it.
> If you can't spend all day every day playing The Witness, give yourself months. Engage deeply with The Witness and it will stare back.
> Don't watch twitch streams or look at screenshots or read reviews. Just play it, seriously.