Each time we pick up a new video game, we’re faced with the same dilemma: “How do I play this game?” Most games now feature tutorials, which can range from the innocuous — gently introducing each mechanic at a time through natural gameplay — to downright disruptive — in which the gameplay freezes to text box after text box.

我們挑選了一個新的視頻游戲éACH時候，我們面臨著同樣的困境：“我怎么玩這個游戲？” 現在，大多數游戲都具有教程，其范圍從無害的游戲(通過自然的游戲過程一次輕輕地介紹每個機制)到徹頭徹尾的破壞性游戲(在其中將游戲過程凍結到一個文本框后一個文本框)。

However some games opt for no tutorial at all. Games like Pong are fairly simple: move up and down and try to outscore your opponent. Because you have so few inputs at your disposal, everything you see in front of you is all you need to intuit how to play. Computers can even “learn” how to play many of these games on their own, sometimes outperforming their human counterparts.

但是，有些游戲根本不選擇任何教程。 像Pong這樣的游戲非常簡單：上下移動并嘗試超越對手。 由于您的投入很少，因此您眼前所見的一切都是您直覺如何玩的必要。 電腦甚至可以“學習”如何獨自玩許多這樣的游戲，有時甚至勝過其他同類游戲。

“A good start would be to recognize within yourself the ability to understand anything, because that ability’s there, as long as it’s explained clearly enough.“

“一個良好的開端就是在自己內部承認理解一切的能力，因為只要有足夠清晰的解釋，這種能力就在那里。”

— James Burke

-詹姆斯·伯克

But even in these games without instruction, the absence of a tutorial is coincidental. The designers didn’t include one because they thought none was necessary. What if having no explicit tutorial was one of the key features of the gameplay? The Witness sets out to achieve exactly that. In this puzzle game, discovering the rules for yourself is the driving experience.

但是即使在這些沒有指導的游戲中，缺少教程也是偶然的。 設計師沒有包括一個，因為他們認為沒有必要。 如果沒有明確的教程是游戲玩法的主要特征之一怎么辦？ 見證人著手實現這一目標。 在這個益智游戲中，發現自己的規則就是駕駛體驗。

All you need to navigate the island is a willingness to discern for yourself how the world works. Early puzzles are very simple, where you can naturally deduce your objectives. Every successive puzzle beyond those is meant to refine your understanding of the environment. If you’ve stumbled upon a solution haphazardly, you may want to investigate it further before proceeding — later puzzles can be quite unforgiving.

您需要在島上航行的唯一意愿就是親自了解世界的運轉方式。 早期的難題非常簡單，您可以自然地推斷出目標。 除此以外的所有后續難題都旨在增進您對環境的理解。 如果您偶然發現了一個解決方案，則可能需要在繼續之前進行進一步的研究-以后的困惑可能會令人難以原諒。

Each region of the island is littered with its own bespoke set of puzzles that alter the parameters of the game, with a steep learning curve as you delve further into each territory. Every now and again you’ll find puzzles that combine several of these elements to form some truly hostile challenges. Be careful not to lose your wits.

島上的每個區域都散布著自己的定制拼圖，這些拼圖會改變游戲的參數，隨著您深入研究每個領土，學習曲線會陡峭。 時不時地，您會發現難題，這些難題將其中的一些要素結合在一起，構成了一些真正的敵對挑戰。 注意不要失去智慧。

Fortunately, when you do find yourself in need of relief from the puzzles that ail you, you’ve no shortage of options to explore. Among the biomes you’ll encounter are a monastery tucked away beside a chirping forest, a fortress teeming with hedge mazes and pressure panels, and a prismatic greenhouse overlooking the coast. For the most part, you won’t find any music in the game to accompany your travel, making for an immersive experience.

幸運的是，當您確實需要從困擾自己的難題中解脫時，您會發現很多選擇。 在您遇到的生物群落中，有一個藏在一片forest森林旁邊的修道院，一座堆滿樹籬迷宮和壓力板的堡壘以及一座俯瞰海岸的棱形溫室。 在大多數情況下，您不會在旅途中找到任何音樂伴隨著沉浸式體驗。

There’s not much in the way of a narrative that is presented to you. But there is such clear attention to detail in the structures which span the island that you may find yourself speculating all the while. There’s a constant struggle between monuments and nature that give each part of the island its own character, imbued with varying degrees of disrepair. Stone figures populate various destinations as if frozen in time, awaiting a backstory of your choosing.

呈現給您的敘述方式不多。 但是跨島的結構對細節的關注如此之明顯，以至于您可能會一直在猜測。 古跡與自然之間不斷進行斗爭，使島嶼的每個部分都有自己的特色，充滿了不同程度的失修。 石頭雕像像凍結的時間一樣散布在各個目的地，等待您選擇的背景故事。

Now if this game were just a vibrant island filled with line tracing puzzles, you’d probably still enjoy it all the same. The Witness provides an engaging succession of puzzling one-upsmanship that is sure to be worth your time. But there’s more than meets the eye. If you’re fortunate, you’ll find a mechanic in the game that stands apart from the rest. That is the set of puzzles that don’t introduce themselves as puzzles at all.

現在，如果這個游戲只是一個充滿線描拼圖的充滿活力的島嶼，您可能仍然會喜歡它。 見證人提供令人困惑的令人難以置信的一鍵手法，這肯定值得您花時間。 但是，不僅僅是眼神。 如果幸運的話，您會在游戲中找到與眾不同的機制。 那是完全不會將自己介紹為難題的難題。

Chances are, the first time you encounter one of these hidden puzzles, you’ll simply stumble upon it. You’ll stop for moment in your tracks, perceive that something is afoot, and realize that what lies before your eyes is unmistakably yet another puzzle. Surely the mere existence of this one hidden puzzle implies the presence of more. This newfound prospect of discovery is what makes the experience so exhilarating. It is unabashedly awesome.

第一次遇到這些隱藏的謎題時，您可能會偶然發現它。 您會暫時停下腳步，感知正在發生的事情，并且意識到眼前的事物無疑是另一個難題。 當然，這個隱藏謎題的僅僅存在就意味著更多的存在。 這種新發現的發現使體驗如此令人振奮。 確實很棒。

“Awesome things don’t hold anything back. Awesome things are rich and generous. The treasure is right there.”

“很棒的事情不會阻止任何事情。 令人敬畏的事物是豐富而慷慨的。 寶藏就在那里。”

— Brian Moriarty

—布賴恩·莫里亞蒂

It’s even crazier to think that they were right under your nose the whole time. This one pivotal experience changes the nature of the game completely, forcing a radical rethink of the environment you’ve come to know up until this point. If you’ve found the standard puzzles rather drab or unengaging thus far, this new set of puzzles will reinvigorate the gameplay, as anything and everything has become fair game in the hunt for the secrets of the island.

一直認為它們一直在您的鼻子底下甚至更瘋狂。 這項關鍵性的體驗完全改變了游戲的本質，從而迫使人們重新思考直到現在為止您所了解的環境。 到目前為止，如果您發現標準拼圖比較單調或令人困惑，那么這套新的拼圖將重振游戲玩法，因為所有事物和一切都已成為尋找島嶼秘密的公平游戲。

And it was no mere coincidence that you made your discovery. Granted, you almost certainly discovered your first hidden puzzle without intending to do so, because you weren’t looking for it and no one told you to look for it. But in the back of your mind, you saw something that gave you pause, something you recognized. When you could have seen merely what was in front of you and been none the wiser, you instead made an observation and thought to yourself, “What if there’s something more?” It was your curiosity that drove you to look beyond what you initially understood about the world around you.

您做出發現絕非偶然。 當然，您幾乎可以肯定地發現了自己的第一個隱藏難題，因為您沒有尋找它，也沒有人告訴您尋找它。 但是，在您的內心深處，您看到了讓您停下來的東西，您意識到了。 當您只看到自己面前的東西而沒有一個人更明智時，您反而觀察了一下，然后心想：“如果還有更多東西呢？” 正是您的好奇心驅使您超越了您最初對周圍世界的了解。

So often, we take for granted our surroundings because they were simply always there and we never stop to question it. Take gravity: there’s the iconic story of Isaac Newton and the falling apple. Gravity predates Newton by at least a few years and was readily evident for all to see. But it was not well understood until it occurred to Newton to study it and challenge any preconceived notion of how it behaved.

很多時候，我們認為周圍的環境是理所當然的，因為周圍的環境一直都在那里，我們永不停止質疑。 注意重力：這里有艾薩克·牛頓(Isaac Newton)和墮落的蘋果的標志性故事。 重力至少比牛頓早了幾年，并且所有人都可以輕易地看到它。 但是直到牛頓開始研究它并挑戰任何關于它的行為的先入為主的概念之前，人們對它的理解還不是很清楚。

And that is perhaps my key personal takeaway from The Witness. There’s an entire world right in front of us full of discoveries to be made. It’s incumbent upon us to be mindful of our surroundings and alert at every moment, so that when serendipity strikes, we’re in a position to capitalize on that opportunity. Inspiration, revelation, creativity — all these things are rendered fruitless if we’re not prepared and willing to capture what that moment has brought us.

這也許是我從《見證人》中獲得的關鍵個人收獲。 眼前，整個世界充滿了許多發現。 我們有責任時刻注意周圍的環境并時刻保持警惕，以便在偶然事件發生時，我們能夠利用這一機會。 靈感，啟示，創造力-如果我們不準備好并愿意抓住那一刻帶給我們的一切，那么所有這些都會變得毫無成果。

That moment of epiphany is one of the most integral experiences in The Witness, be it whether you’re solving an especially challenging puzzle that the game lays in front of you or one of the hidden puzzles. It can be quite elusive, but if you pay attention long enough and loosen any prior assumptions you’ve held, eventually opportunity will strike. And it is at precisely that moment where everything seems to fall into place. The world is exactly the way it was before, only we’re different for having truly understood, experienced, and witnessed it in all its complexity.

頓悟的那一刻是《見證 》中最不可或缺的體驗之一，無論是要解決游戲擺在您面前的特別具有挑戰性的難題，還是隱藏的難題之一。 這可能很難捉摸，但是如果您足夠長時間地關注并放寬您以前的假設，最終機會就會來臨。 恰恰在這一刻，一切似乎都準備就緒。 世界與以前完全一樣，只是我們與眾不同，因為它真正理解，體驗并見證了它的所有復雜性。