The Witness

This page is for the 2016 puzzle game. For the unrelated 1983 text adventure game, see The Witness (1983).

Key points

Colorblind and hearing-impaired players may have trouble playing the game in full.^[1]

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Official website

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Epic Games Store		Can be played without Epic Store Launcher being open.
GOG.com
Humble Store
Mac App Store
Origin		Included with EA Play.
Steam		Can be played without Steam being open.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\data\Local.variables^{[Note 1]} %APPDATA%\The Witness\Launcher.variables
macOS (OS X)	<path-to-game>/The Witness.app/Contents/Resources/data/Local.variables ~/Library/Application Support/The Witness/Launcher.variables
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/210970/pfx/^{[Note 2]}

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%APPDATA%\The Witness\
macOS (OS X)	~/Library/Application Support/The Witness/
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/210970/pfx/^{[Note 2]}

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Epic Games Launcher
GOG Galaxy
Origin
Steam Cloud		Syncs up to 100 MB of game saves. Launcher preferences are also synced.

Video settings

Launcher settings.

Advanced launcher settings.

In-game general settings.

Template:Video settings

Input settings

In-game input menu.

In-game key customization menu.

Template:Input settings

Audio settings

Template:Audio settings

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Arabic
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Portuguese
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Spanish

To use a different language, change the language in the properties window in Steam for the game. Alternatively, use the command line argument -language with the correct language code.

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
Native 3D
Nvidia 3D Vision		See Helix Mod: The Witness.

Headsets
SteamVR		Might require launching the game outside Steam with Oculus compatibility layer.
Oculus VR (LibOVR)		Buggy and incomplete implementation, puzzles almost impossible to play and most likely require taking headset off and completing puzzles on monitor. Turn on with the command line argument `-vr`.
Windows Mixed Reality		This game might be playable with the Revive Compatibility Layer.
OSVR

Devices
Tracked motion controllers
Traditional controller
Keyboard/Mouse

Play area
Seated
Standing
Room-scale		Incorrectly detected and forced. Allows moving in the enviroment while the main body stays in the center, breaking the game even more.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	11

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Cutscenes	Bink Video

Configuration file structure and options

This lists all the possible variables that can be used with the games configuration file,^[2] however developer does point out that some of these settings can break the game in non-obvious ways.^[3]

	Description
low_res_reflections	Force reflections to be low resolution. Can be true or false.
shadow_quality
sun_shadow_resolution	Resolutions of shadows cast by the sun. Can be 256, 512, or 1024.
point_shadow_resolution
allow_non_essential_spot_lights
antialias_panel_rendering	Enables additional anti-aliasing for the puzzle panels. Can be true or false.
fxaa_panel_rendering
panel_mipmaps
grass_detail
grass_fade_begin
grass_fade_end
mipmap_filter_quality
skip_mipmaps	Changes texture resolution. Lower is better. Can be 0, 1, or 2.
aa_mode	2 for FXAA, 0 for no FXAA. Other values are the same as 0.
msaa_sample_count	Sets number of MSAA samples. Can be 1 for 2x, 2 for 4x and 3 for 8x.
msaa_coverage
msaa_coverage_sample_count
panel_render_width	Value must be a power of two. Values below 512 are not recommended.
render_width	Changes rendering width. Can also be set with command line argument -width.
render_height	Changes rendering height. Can also be set with command line argument -height.
dynamic_resolution	Dynamically changes the resolution to maintain framerate. Can be true or false.
show_config_dialog	Show configuration dialog before starting the game. Can be true or false.

See here for the location of the file on each system.

These need to be added to a graphical quality category called :/render/low (or medium, high).^[4]

Command line parameters

See command line arguments on how to use the following options.

Parameter	Description
-width	Force a specific width.
-height	Force a specific height.
-language	Force a specific language: `ar/ko/ja/ru/zh_CN/zh_TW`
-vr	Enables Oculus Rift support.
-fullscreen	Enables fullscreen mode.
-windowed	Enables windowed mode.
-no_window_border	Hides window border.
-no_hud	Disables the HUD.
-profile	Set render quality: `low/medium/high/ultra`
-no_log
-no_sound
-no_entities
-new_game
-demo
-non_interactive
-no_svn
-map
-centered
-profiling
-skip_config_dialog	Suppress the launcher when you start the game

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	7
Processor (CPU)	1.8 GHz	2.4 GHz
System memory (RAM)	4 GB	8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	5 GB
Video card (GPU)	Intel HD 4000 DirectX 10 compatible	Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 DirectX 10 compatible

Notes

↑ When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1
Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
- File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
- Games with Steam Cloud support may also store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/210970/.
- Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
- The app ID (210970) may differ in some cases.
- Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
- See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

References

↑ Colorblind And Hearing-Impaired Players Won't Be Able To Do All The Puzzles In The Witness - Kotaku - last accessed on 2016-01-28
↑ Command line arguments and config file variables :: The Witness Technical Support - last accessed on 2020-01-28
↑ FAQ: Launcher, Tweaking graphics settings :: The Witness Technical Support - last accessed on 2020-01-28
"Also, there are various forum posts out there in which people have figured out how to edit even more settings. Be aware that doing so can break certain puzzles and game functionality in subtle non-obvious ways, which is why they're not included here."
↑ Tweaking graphics settings :: Steam Community Discussions - last accessed on 2016-01-28

[gamedir-2] When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

[Proton_path_note-3] 2.0 ^2.1 Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
Games with Steam Cloud support may also store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/210970/.
Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
The app ID (210970) may differ in some cases.
Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

[3] File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.

[4] Games with Steam Cloud support may also store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/210970/.

[5] Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.

[6] The app ID (210970) may differ in some cases.

[7] Treat backslashes as forward slashes.

[8] See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

[1] Colorblind And Hearing-Impaired Players Won't Be Able To Do All The Puzzles In The Witness - Kotaku - last accessed on 2016-01-28

[4] Command line arguments and config file variables :: The Witness Technical Support - last accessed on 2020-01-28

[5] FAQ: Launcher, Tweaking graphics settings :: The Witness Technical Support - last accessed on 2020-01-28
"Also, there are various forum posts out there in which people have figured out how to edit even more settings. Be aware that doing so can break certain puzzles and game functionality in subtle non-obvious ways, which is why they're not included here."

[6] Tweaking graphics settings :: Steam Community Discussions - last accessed on 2016-01-28

[1]

[Note 1]

[Note 2]

[2]

[3]

[4]

Developers

	Thekla, Inc.
Release dates
Windows	January 26, 2016
macOS (OS X)	March 8, 2017