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Jonathan Blow has spent the past decade designing 1,400 puzzles

arstechnica.com

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Re: Jonathan Blow has spent the past decade designing 1,400 puzzles

#12

Post by __alexs »

actionfromafar wrote: post #11
__alexs wrote: post #6

The Witness was a slog, maybe he's learnt how to make puzzles which are actually fun this time.

I was gonna buy it for Christmas!

I don't hate it but also it's a deeply flawed game. It walked so that Talos Principle could run.

Re: Jonathan Blow has spent the past decade designing 1,400 puzzles

#13

Post by jsheard »

__alexs wrote: post #12
actionfromafar wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was gonna buy it for Christmas!

I don't hate it but also it's a deeply flawed game. It walked so that Talos Principle could run.

The Talos Principle came out a few years before The Witness though.

Re: Jonathan Blow has spent the past decade designing 1,400 puzzles

#14

Post by actionfromafar »

__alexs wrote: post #12
actionfromafar wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was gonna buy it for Christmas!

I don't hate it but also it's a deeply flawed game. It walked so that Talos Principle could run.

Good tip, thanks, clearly I'm behind more than a decade. :)

Re: Jonathan Blow has spent the past decade designing 1,400 puzzles

#15

Post by block_dagger »

__alexs wrote: post #6

The Witness was a slog, maybe he's learnt how to make puzzles which are actually fun this time.

That slog led to some of the most satisfying feelings of accomplishment for me. I love the lack of instruction in that game.

Re: Jonathan Blow has spent the past decade designing 1,400 puzzles

#16

Post by jstimpfle »

sxzygz wrote: post #2

In case you assume novelty, a comment [1] from ArsTechnica reader Jensen404 explains otherwise by linking to [2] a post on Bluesky. [1] https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/12/jonathan-blow-has-spe... [2] https://bsky.app/profile/draknek.bsky.social/post/3m7qybidq7...

I haven't played any of these games, but "explains otherwise" seems to be a misrepresentation given that the commenter you linked is saying himself that Blow's game combines ideas and rulesets from several other previous games.

Elsewhere in the arstechnica comments you linked

> But, uh... this isn't a "Linus Torvalds is a jerk" sort of situation. "Controversial" undersells just how outlandish and inappropriate Blow's views are. Blow is a full-bore fascist sympathizer who also doesn't seem to think that women have any role to play in his profession.

What's going on on these platforms? Is there any serious evidence to the strong claims?

Re: Jonathan Blow has spent the past decade designing 1,400 puzzles

#18

Post by jsheard »

dwroberts wrote: post #9

Interested to play this but I think the trailer does it a huge disservice. Just a barrage of voice clips and no real structure to it. I think it would help the game a lot if they replace that trailer ASAP

Yeah it's a real step backwards from how The Witness was presented: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul7kNFD6noU

This looks to be the first of Jon Blows games to put writing front and center, so I wonder if the clunkiness goes beyond the trailer. That's not really his forte.

Re: Jonathan Blow has spent the past decade designing 1,400 puzzles

#20

Post by serial_dev »

tormeh wrote: post #3
sxzygz wrote: post #2

In case you assume novelty, a comment [1] from ArsTechnica reader Jensen404 explains otherwise by linking to [2] a post on Bluesky. [1] https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/12/jonathan-blow-has-spe... [2] https://bsky.app/profile/draknek.bsky.social/post/3m7qybidq7...

Seems like the original puzzles were licensed for this game, in which case why not?

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