Mikina

I needed to play the game before watching the video

I recommend watching the video anyway - the theory about the game being made just to mess with players is actually from that video. Also - even if you didn't manage to finish The Witness, I highly recommend playing The Looker. It's free, it's short (i think you can finish it in an hour or so), it has the best ending and if you've played The Witness, you will definitely appreciate the game. It has one of the best endings I've ever saw in a video game.

Hmm, I feel like I've already played YOU and ME and HER, but I'm not really sure. Gonna check it out, but the names and characters feel familiar.

It's a leading theory, but I don't think it was ever officially confirmed.

I do realize that it's a popularity contest, but I still find it kind of saddening. But it's not an issue of only Steam Awards - IIRC, even awards that do have a panel of judges usually have the same problem - such as Game Awards. But you are right that it's just made for a different audience, and you get the same issue with movies or books - experimental game design simply isn't mainstream, and it's not a target audience of such award shows. Which is OK.

I've played Doki Doki Literature Club, and I really love how did they approach the horror genre. IIRC Undertale is doing something similar at it's ending, but you are right that from the top of my head I don't remember many games experimenting in this direction.

Ooh, thanks for mentioning that. Someone was recommending the Viewfinder, and I thought that I've already played it - but I actually mistook it for Superliminal!

The Witness is one of those games I more enjoy reading about than playing. I really love the theory that the game was designed with the goal of just abusing the popularity of the devleoper, and trying to make a game as annoying and time-wasting to play as possible, just to see if the audience would still accept and praise it, because it's from someone who's a popular and known game designer. Which is what has happened - the game was really well received. And it's also true that some mechanics aren't making any sense and are in direct contrast with the main description of the game on Steam:

The Witness is a single-player game in an open world with dozens of locations to explore and over 500 puzzles. This game respects you as an intelligent player and it treats your time as precious. There's no filler; each of those puzzles brings its own new idea into the mix. So, this is a game full of ideas.

This is blatantly false. There are puzzles that requires you to wait for an hour. Slow moving lifts and contraptions. The whole first part of the game is just the same mobile-game style puzzles, with minor twists in between. And that's why I love the game from the game design perspective - because if it's true that it was indeed made to mess with players, it was a success and I really respect that the developer did that.

Also, it has inspired someone to make The Looker, and parody games are my most favorite genre.

Thank you, there are some games I haven't heard about. Hypnospace Outlaw and Antichamber sounds cool, the rest I've already heard about or have on my backlog, but thanks for reminding me that I should finally play them.

I've played Return of the Obra Dinn, it's exactly along the lines of what I'm looking for. Have you heard about The Case of the Golden Idol? It's similar to Return of the Obra Dinn, in it being a detective game that nails the design and solves issues of that genre in a clever way. I've found it in a game awards I've recently stumbled upon - the Independent Games Festival, which looks like one of the few game awards that are worth following (the only other one I know about are the BAFTA awards).

Because in general, I'd say that most game awards are a joke. I mean, look at the "Most innovative gameplay" from the last few years of Steam Awards, and compare them to BAFTA or IGF. I may have a different outlook skewed by my interest in game design, but I just can't get over Stray winning so many game design awards, especially in a year where games such as Immortality came out. I mean, there's literally not a single unique mechanic in Stray. It's a platformer where you don't even have to jump manually -.-

I did play it for a while, but as you've said - I've eventually given up. I did see a few talks/videos about the game, and I really like what they are doing! Which is enough for me to enjoy the game, since I can appreciate a good design in theory. I had exactly the same experience with Pathologic - I'm just not patient enough to finish it, but I really love reading about it's design and what they are trying to accomplish with it, even though it's not for me.

Thank you, those sound interresting. I have already played The Forgotten City, and it was an amazing experience. Hell Let Loose I never got into, I did try to play it for a while but eventually have up - unfortunately, that's the kind of game I don't have friends or dedication for. I imagine it's similiar to Eve Online, which I did play for a few years and had an amazing time and community in, but it's one of those games where you really have to invest a lot of time and make the game for other players, because being just a linemember isn't that interesting. But once you get into higher positions, be it squad leader/fleet commander, that's where the game really shines. But I'm not assertive or brave enough for that.

But I really fondly remember the experience of being a covops/stealth bomber fleet member in larger Eve Online alliance, and training for a fleet commander. Nothing will ever come close to it, but I'm just not made for leading people. And without it, the experience is not as unique or interresting, since it basically boils down to "simon says".

Radio Commander and Majesty sounds like fun, I will have to try it.

Journey was one of the first games that made me fall in love with unique game design.

I've really enjoyed Danganronpa on PSP - it's a murder mystery visual novel, so it may not be something you're interested in, but I enjoyed it even though I'm not really that much of a VN fan.