Jonathan Blow's Follow-Up to Braid Has New Trailer, Release Date

[PatrickJS]

Jonathan Blow's Follow-Up to Braid Has New Trailer, Release Date

The long-awaited follow-up to indie darling Braid finally gets a solid release date and a new trailer.

Jonathan Blow, the indie game darling [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/107796-Braid-Creator-Calls-Social-Games-Evil], has finally revealed the release date of his latest game, The Witness: January 26th, 2016, for PC and PS4.


Blow enjoys a great deal of respect for his 2008 (has it been that long?) time-rewinding emotional roller coaster of a platformer, Braid [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/203-Braid]. Braid was a smash hit, critically and financially, and other than the occasional remark, Blow has been hard at work on The Witness since then, with his studio, Number None. Time will tell if The Witness delivers a similar kick to the heart as the former did in its climactic moment.

Then again, so little information is available about this latest game, I wouldn't be surprised if it takes an entirely different approach to story, let alone emotional roundhouses.

Personally, I am very excited to find out just what this game's secrets are. Anyone else out there thrilled for this? January 26th can't come soon enough.

Source: The Witness [http://the-witness.net/]





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[pearcinator]

YAY it's actually coming out! I'm excited for it. It looks very nice. I hope the puzzles are good though because that's what will make the game.

 

[ASnogarD]

I wonder why the link is called 'follow up to BraiN' ... hehe.
Small typo eh ?

(this is the link : http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/142469-Jonathan-Blows-The-Witness-His-Follow-Up-to-Brain-Has-a-New-Trailer-and-Release-Date )

 

[StatusNil]

Heh, "indie darling".

I used to be interested in this, until the dude outspoke himself right out of my support. I wonder how much sheer belligerent hubris ends up costing him and his fellow genii in the "indie" mafia. It's certainly cost the "culture" (such as it is) a lot, so it will only be right for him to bear his share.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

Looks---interesting, I guess? Gorgeous music, at least.

Is there any particular reason it's not appearing on XB1? PC and PS4 seems like a slightly bizarre exclusivity combo.

 

[Something Amyss]

Heh, "indie darling".

I used to be interested in this, until the dude outspoke himself right out of my support. I wonder how much sheer belligerent hubris ends up costing him and his fellow genii in the "indie" mafia. It's certainly cost the "culture" (such as it is) a lot, so it will only be right for him to bear his share.

Fortunately, being a pretentious jerk on the internet tends to get you more followers, not less.

 

[Made in China]

Looks---interesting, I guess? Gorgeous music, at least.

Is there any particular reason it's not appearing on XB1? PC and PS4 seems like a slightly bizarre exclusivity combo.

Jonathan Blow first first released Braid as an XBox 360 exclusive, and Microsoft made a bad impression on him to say the least. So now he's trying out Sony, releasing it on the PS4 as a timed exclusive.

The game itself is a very interesting concept, besides being very pretty. Very basic controls, no words - every puzzle and area in the game has its own internal logic which the player will have to figure out on their own - so if it's challenging enough, it's supposed to be timeless.

 

[Metadigital]

Heh, "indie darling".

I used to be interested in this, until the dude outspoke himself right out of my support. I wonder how much sheer belligerent hubris ends up costing him and his fellow genii in the "indie" mafia. It's certainly cost the "culture" (such as it is) a lot, so it will only be right for him to bear his share.

Good thing the quality of a work has nothing to do with the character of the creator or you might miss out on playing a really good game.

 

[CrystalShadow]

That trailer really makes me think of myst for some reason...

Other than that, well, it's gorgeous, but not having played braid, nor quite being able to follow what this trailer suggests this game is about...

All I can say is... Meh?

 

[ThinRedLine]

Good thing the quality of a work has nothing to do with the character of the creator or you might miss out on playing a really good game.

Granted, but there must come a point even for yourself where you must draw somekind of line out of principle on what kind of person you are willing to support by purchasing their products. Blow is involved in alleged racketeering regarding IndieFund, IndieCade and Fez, and has since his (only) game came out been a very abrasive, high and mighty, snobby person and constantly criticizing and demeaning not just other developers, the industry, but gamers - those who buy his products - as well.

All this "superiority" based on what? One game, which was a simple platformer puzzler with a time mechanic. It's vastly overrated, scratch a bit under the surface and it's a lame duck and you'll find quite the amount of people who think the same.

On topic, Witness as a concept when announced sounded fascinating - a open world puzzle game on an island. The Myst/Riven stalgs causing insta-tingling on my skin, and with such a self-said genius as Blow behind it with Sony support, it sounded like it could be actually good.

What happened, and I believe I share the disappointment of the majority here when the games theme was revealed - line puzzles. Nothing but endless line puzzles. It really looks like a long slog through a Sudoku book at the moment from all footage I've witnessed. Also to those saying it looks "great", you should really look out for more games, the visuals really are quite simple.

Sorry for negativity, have a nice weekend.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

So now he's trying out Sony, releasing it on the PS4 as a timed exclusive.

Braid at least made it to a Sony platform, so hopefully the same'll be true of this. #fuckonami #fuckexclusives

 

[Made in China]

So now he's trying out Sony, releasing it on the PS4 as a timed exclusive.

Braid at least made it to a Sony platform, so hopefully the same'll be true of this. #fuckonami #fuckexclusives

I'm pretty skeptical about that. Blow has pretty much denounced Microsoft, XBLA and everything pertaining to them and the indie scene.
At least it's released on PC. I think he once mentioned porting it to mobile tablets? That was before the Sony deal, but it's still an option, I guess.

 

[Metadigital]

What happened, and I believe I share the disappointment of the majority here when the games theme was revealed - line puzzles. Nothing but endless line puzzles. It really looks like a long slog through a Sudoku book at the moment from all footage I've witnessed. Also to those saying it looks "great", you should really look out for more games, the visuals really are quite simple.

These are all excellent reasons to wait for the reviews to come in and see whether or not it is worth playing. As far as I'm concerned, though, Blow's personality (and business practices) are irrelevant.

My personal experience with him is very positive, but then again, I get along with a number of controversial indie devs out there, so maybe I'm just one of the jerks.

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

Also to those saying it looks "great", you should really look out for more games, the visuals really are quite simple.

Simple doesn't mean it can't still look great. Windwaker has a very simple style, but a lot of people loved it. Frankly I think this game looks absolutely gorgeous, in no small part to the simplicity. The game would have lost a lot of character if it went for realistic graphics. Not to mention how rich and vibrant all the colors are. You rarely see in games

That being said, I agree with you on your worries for the game. It's not really that obvious yet how the puzzles will be connected to the world, and from what I've seen of the gameplay so far, it looks like the world is mostly something to traverse through between puzzle levels.

Still, I liked Braid, and the game's beautiful, so I'm going to keep an eye on it

 

[martyrdrebel27]

Heh, "indie darling".

I used to be interested in this, until the dude outspoke himself right out of my support. I wonder how much sheer belligerent hubris ends up costing him and his fellow genii in the "indie" mafia. It's certainly cost the "culture" (such as it is) a lot, so it will only be right for him to bear his share.

Good thing the quality of a work has nothing to do with the character of the creator or you might miss out on playing a really good game.

i'd rather miss out on a good experience than support a shitty person. not saying that's the case here, but I still haven't played Fez because Phil Fish is a shitty excuse for a human being. I won't go back and get any remakes of Earthworm Jim for the same reason.

in the consumer/creator relationship, there is only one truly effective way to show the creator how you feel about their beliefs: don't give them money.

 

[RedRockRun]

I just hope it doesn't... blow. *sunglasses*

 

[Metadigital]

in the consumer/creator relationship, there is only one truly effective way to show the creator how you feel about their beliefs: don't give them money.

Giving them money shows them how you feel about their product. That's it.

If you don't like them as a person, I'm afraid you can't solve that with consumerism.

If you disagree, though, I've got some $100 rocks for sale with a guarantee that I'm a pretty swell guy.

 

[martyrdrebel27]

in the consumer/creator relationship, there is only one truly effective way to show the creator how you feel about their beliefs: don't give them money.

Giving them money shows them how you feel about their product. That's it.

If you don't like them as a person, I'm afraid you can't solve that with consumerism.

If you disagree, though, I've got some $100 rocks for sale with a guarantee that I'm a pretty swell guy.

I view it differently. There are two parts to any product purchase, in my mind. Your opinion on the product and your opinion of the creator. Same applies to non-gaming. Chik-Fil-A will never get a dime from me even though I like their sandwiches, because of other things they have said and done.

i'm not gonna buy your $100 dollar rocks because I see no value in them, regardless of how I feel about you.
i'm not gonna buy your $100 moon rocks (even though that would be an amazing deal) if I don't like you because I don't want you to have my money.

two parts.

 

[ThinRedLine]

Simple doesn't mean it can't still look great. Windwaker...

And Windwaker had very advanced and stylized cel-shade graphics that stand the test of time TO THIS DAY. It was a masterpiece type decision of graphics. The Witness just looks mundane and lazy, and definitely not like a PS4 title should.

 

[Metadigital]

I view it differently. There are two parts to any product purchase, in my mind. Your opinion on the product and your opinion of the creator. Same applies to non-gaming. Chik-Fil-A will never get a dime from me even though I like their sandwiches, because of other things they have said and done.

For consistency's sake, you must have an extremely limited selection of products you're willing to buy considering how much of the market is worse than Blow or Chik-fil-A.