The Game Census
The Witness cover art

The Witness

Thekla, Inc. · 2016-01-26

SteamGOGPlayStation StoreEpic Games StoreMicrosoft Store

AdventureIndie

Modes: Single player · Perspectives: First person

Releases: Sep 13, 2016 (Xbox One), Sep 21, 2017 (iOS), Jan 26, 2016 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), Mar 12, 2017 (Mac), Jan 26, 2016 (PlayStation 4)

You wake up, alone, on a strange island full of puzzles that will challenge and surprise you.

The Witness is a 2016 Adventure and Indie game priced at $39.99, with an owner estimate of 1,000,000 .. 2,000,000 and a review sentiment of Very Positive (84% of 21395 reviews).

212
playing now
84%
positive of 22k reviews
Very Positive
steam's rating (official)
1,000,000–2,000,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
0
twitch viewers (latest)
88/100
critic score (12 outlets, IGDB)
82/100
IGDB user rating (521 ratings)
1
Nexus mods (54 downloads)
4.25★
PlayStation Store rating (23,833 ratings)
86/100
opencritic · mighty · 80% recommend · from 99 critics
20h
to beat · completionist 35h
gold
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Playable
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$39.99
steam price (US)

212 players in-game as of 2026-10-15 02:00 UTC (census sample)

The Witness is a 2016 puzzle video game developed and published by Thekla, Inc. Inspired by Myst, the game involves the exploration of an open world island filled with natural and human-made structures. The player progresses by solving puzzles, which are based on interactions with grids presented on panels around the island or paths hidden within the environment. No direct instructions are provided for solving these puzzles, requiring the player to identify the meaning of symbols in the puzzles. A central design element was how these puzzles are presented so that the player can achieve a moment of inspiration through trial and error and gain that comprehension themselves.

Trailer

The Witness trailer thumbnail

The Witness | Official Trailer | Netflix

≈1,000,000 YouTube results for this game's trailer search

Health check

Healthy
  • · 212 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 1,261 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~158/week).
  • · Review velocity up 31% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 2% of 28,945 Adventure games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-29

Estimated sales: 540k–1.3M copies

Review-multiple estimate from 21,596 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

Steam$3.99-90%
GOG$39.99
Microsoft Store$39.99

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $5.99 at Fanatical (2025-06-14) · bundled 10×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $39.99 · on sale 21 of 72 observed days · $34.00 above the all-time low (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
31531520182026Week of 2018-01-01: 227 positiveWeek of 2018-01-01: 73 negativeWeek of 2018-02-01: 127 positiveWeek of 2018-02-01: 36 negativeWeek of 2018-03-01: 96 positiveWeek of 2018-03-01: 15 negativeWeek of 2018-04-01: 67 positiveWeek of 2018-04-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2018-05-01: 58 positiveWeek of 2018-05-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2018-06-01: 69 positiveWeek of 2018-06-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2018-07-01: 142 positiveWeek of 2018-07-01: 46 negativeWeek of 2018-08-01: 56 positiveWeek of 2018-08-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2018-09-01: 48 positiveWeek of 2018-09-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2018-10-01: 31 positiveWeek of 2018-10-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2018-11-01: 262 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2018-12-01: 55 positiveWeek of 2018-12-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2019-01-01: 72 positiveWeek of 2019-01-01: 27 negativeWeek of 2019-02-01: 38 positiveWeek of 2019-02-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2019-03-01: 39 positiveWeek of 2019-03-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2019-04-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2019-04-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2019-05-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2019-05-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2019-06-01: 124 positiveWeek of 2019-06-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2019-07-01: 141 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2019-08-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2019-08-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2019-09-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2019-09-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-10-01: 34 positiveWeek of 2019-10-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2019-11-01: 94 positiveWeek of 2019-11-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2019-12-01: 128 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2020-01-01: 151 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 20 negativeWeek of 2020-02-01: 125 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2020-03-01: 210 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2020-04-01: 132 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2020-05-01: 87 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 97 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 20 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 315 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 39 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 119 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 91 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 77 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2020-11-01: 121 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 208 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 28 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 174 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 27 negativeWeek of 2021-02-01: 173 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 20 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 123 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 20 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 172 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 19 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 118 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2021-06-01: 166 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 28 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 118 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 20 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 153 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 26 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 92 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 20 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 79 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 110 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 120 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 19 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 120 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 22 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 75 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 90 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 110 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 23 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 89 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 102 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 27 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 148 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 38 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 128 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 25 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 87 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 59 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 82 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 98 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 100 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 72 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 15 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 83 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 97 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 22 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 125 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 45 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 86 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 25 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 149 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 31 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 70 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 69 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 122 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 23 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 174 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 23 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 161 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 24 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 152 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 22 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 107 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 132 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 22 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 80 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 19 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 71 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 88 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 121 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 26 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 174 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 45 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 92 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 75 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 20 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 90 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 15 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 133 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 24 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 150 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 34 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 93 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 107 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 83 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 111 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 22 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 86 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 20 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 124 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 42 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 87 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 83 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 80 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 29 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 119 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 26 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 114 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 29 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 171 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 28 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 109 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 26 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 141 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 40 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 113 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 20 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 112 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 157 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 38 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 120 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 26 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 121 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 26 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

881772026-09-15 12:00 — 120 players2026-09-16 20:00 — 165 players2026-09-18 03:00 — 101 players2026-09-19 11:00 — 125 players2026-09-20 18:00 — 204 players2026-09-22 02:00 — 99 players2026-09-23 10:00 — 90 players2026-09-24 17:00 — 159 players2026-09-26 01:00 — 145 players2026-09-27 08:00 — 131 players2026-09-28 16:00 — 146 players2026-09-29 23:00 — 103 players2026-10-01 07:00 — 83 players2026-10-02 14:00 — 549 players2026-10-03 22:00 — 494 players2026-10-05 06:00 — 400 players2026-10-06 13:00 — 781 players2026-10-07 21:00 — 460 players2026-10-09 04:00 — 370 players2026-10-10 12:00 — 664 players2026-10-11 20:00 — 497 players2026-10-13 03:00 — 249 players2026-10-14 11:00 — 286 players2026-10-15 02:00 — 212 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
1.3k0Dec 2015Aug 2026Dec 2015 — avg 0 · peak 1Apr 2016 — avg 198 · peak 514Aug 2016 — avg 89 · peak 175Dec 2016 — avg 257 · peak 1,024Apr 2017 — avg 444 · peak 1,140Aug 2017 — avg 228 · peak 749Dec 2017 — avg 186 · peak 508Apr 2018 — avg 142 · peak 371Aug 2018 — avg 97 · peak 199Dec 2018 — avg 141 · peak 437Apr 2019 — avg 91 · peak 227Aug 2019 — avg 67 · peak 149Dec 2019 — avg 135 · peak 376Apr 2020 — avg 258 · peak 635Aug 2020 — avg 142 · peak 243Dec 2020 — avg 220 · peak 474Apr 2021 — avg 177 · peak 430Aug 2021 — avg 201 · peak 499Dec 2021 — avg 129 · peak 281Apr 2022 — avg 120 · peak 312Aug 2022 — avg 142 · peak 290Dec 2022 — avg 118 · peak 241Apr 2023 — avg 152 · peak 651Aug 2023 — avg 91 · peak 181Dec 2023 — avg 157 · peak 317Apr 2024 — avg 114 · peak 207Aug 2024 — avg 181 · peak 456Dec 2024 — avg 169 · peak 302Apr 2025 — avg 147 · peak 260Aug 2025 — avg 113 · peak 213Dec 2025 — avg 159 · peak 340Apr 2026 — avg 165 · peak 316Aug 2026 — avg 191 · peak 379
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Chart history

PositiveNegative
40402026-10-022026-10-142026-10-02: 40 new positive2026-10-02: 6 new negative2026-10-03: 6 new positive2026-10-03: 2 new negative2026-10-04: 4 new positive2026-10-04: 4 new negative2026-10-05: 13 new positive2026-10-05: 1 new negative2026-10-06: 9 new positive2026-10-06: 5 new negative2026-10-07: 12 new positive2026-10-07: 5 new negative2026-10-08: 14 new positive2026-10-08: 3 new negative2026-10-09: 12 new positive2026-10-09: 2 new negative2026-10-10: 8 new positive2026-10-10: 3 new negative2026-10-11: 22 new positive2026-10-11: 5 new negative2026-10-12: 9 new positive2026-10-12: 3 new negative2026-10-13: 6 new positive2026-10-13: 1 new negative2026-10-14: 6 new positive
New Steam reviews per day (census review snapshots). Positive above the line, negative below.

Price history

$39.99$3.992016-01-192026-10-152016-01-19 — best price $39.992016-06-22 — best price $39.992016-12-03 — best price $39.992017-03-17 — best price $19.992017-06-22 — best price $19.992017-09-18 — best price $15.992017-12-21 — best price $15.992018-03-26 — best price $15.992018-07-06 — best price $11.992018-12-13 — best price $9.992019-03-29 — best price $39.992019-09-30 — best price $11.992020-01-02 — best price $39.992020-07-27 — best price $39.992021-02-15 — best price $39.992021-07-22 — best price $9.992021-11-23 — best price $9.992022-02-04 — best price $9.992022-05-27 — best price $9.992022-09-06 — best price $39.992023-04-07 — best price $39.992023-11-20 — best price $39.992024-06-05 — best price $7.992024-10-24 — best price $11.992025-04-03 — best price $39.992025-06-16 — best price $39.992025-11-20 — best price $39.992026-04-16 — best price $9.992026-08-13 — best price $9.992026-09-05 — best price $39.992026-09-15 — best price $39.992026-09-25 — best price $39.992026-10-05 — best price $3.992026-10-15 — best price $39.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

1.2k2722026-05-31 — 357 pageviews2026-06-04 — 466 pageviews2026-06-08 — 687 pageviews2026-06-12 — 362 pageviews2026-06-16 — 561 pageviews2026-06-20 — 429 pageviews2026-06-24 — 344 pageviews2026-06-28 — 532 pageviews2026-07-02 — 273 pageviews2026-07-06 — 311 pageviews2026-07-10 — 344 pageviews2026-07-14 — 348 pageviews2026-07-18 — 278 pageviews2026-07-22 — 375 pageviews2026-07-26 — 311 pageviews2026-07-30 — 298 pageviews2026-08-03 — 272 pageviews2026-08-07 — 940 pageviews2026-08-11 — 319 pageviews2026-08-15 — 374 pageviews2026-08-19 — 380 pageviews2026-08-23 — 371 pageviews2026-08-27 — 328 pageviews2026-08-31 — 355 pageviews2026-09-04 — 352 pageviews2026-09-08 — 346 pageviews2026-09-12 — 272 pageviews2026-09-16 — 313 pageviews2026-09-20 — 275 pageviews2026-09-24 — 349 pageviews2026-09-28 — 371 pageviews2026-10-02 — 437 pageviews2026-10-06 — 466 pageviews2026-10-10 — 762 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Twitch viewers

18902026-10-02 15:34 — 14 viewers2026-10-03 00:34 — 29 viewers2026-10-03 09:34 — 13 viewers2026-10-03 18:34 — 12 viewers2026-10-04 03:34 — 11 viewers2026-10-04 12:34 — 10 viewers2026-10-04 21:34 — 30 viewers2026-10-05 06:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-05 15:34 — 8 viewers2026-10-06 00:34 — 22 viewers2026-10-06 09:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-06 18:34 — 31 viewers2026-10-07 03:34 — 10 viewers2026-10-07 12:34 — 133 viewers2026-10-07 21:34 — 36 viewers2026-10-08 06:34 — 6 viewers2026-10-08 15:34 — 17 viewers2026-10-09 00:34 — 4 viewers2026-10-09 09:34 — 8 viewers2026-10-09 18:34 — 25 viewers2026-10-10 03:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-10 12:34 — 8 viewers2026-10-10 21:34 — 11 viewers2026-10-11 06:34 — 12 viewers2026-10-11 15:34 — 43 viewers2026-10-12 00:34 — 15 viewers2026-10-12 09:34 — 17 viewers2026-10-12 18:34 — 189 viewers2026-10-13 03:34 — 11 viewers2026-10-13 13:34 — 67 viewers2026-10-13 22:34 — 8 viewers2026-10-14 07:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-14 16:34 — 97 viewers2026-10-15 01:34 — 9 viewers2026-10-15 06:34 — 0 viewers
Hourly Twitch viewers (census snapshots).

Completion

2
achievements tracked
18.8%
earned "Endgame"
5.4%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsmacOSSingle-playerSteam AchievementsCaptions availablePartial Controller SupportSteam CloudRemote Play on PhoneRemote Play on TabletFamily Sharing

14 supported languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Polish, Portuguese - Portugal, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian, Arabic, Japanese, Simplified Chinese…

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
PS4 (PlayStation)44,64319%14
Xbox One (Xbox)10,3257%13
Steam (Steam)9,79940%2

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Where its players are

Share of Steam reviews by language (top languages measured) — a proxy for where the player base lives.

Player tags

IndiePuzzleMysteryColorfulRelaxingAdventureDifficultNonlinearOpen WorldAtmospheric

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Recent updates

Players also track

Gone HomeAmnesia: A Machine for PigsThe Talos PrincipleThe Vanishing of Ethan CarterNo Man's SkySOMAINSIDEFirewatch

Similarity via IGDB.

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