The Witness

The Good
“The Witness” is the second of the mystery text adventures or interactive fictions produced by Infocom. The game shares a number of features in common with its predecessor, “Deadline”. “The Witness” also sets you in the role of a policeman investigating a murder by investigating his home. As with “Deadline”, there is a 12 hour time limit to solve the crime and each move made by the player advances the clock by a minute.

Instead of a modern setting as in “Deadline”, however, “The Witness” is set in Los Angeles in 1938. This is a natural setting for a mystery game since it recalls the works of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. The time period is captured well through descriptions and period slang. The game box also includes a number of high quality materials to help build the setting. The characters in “The Witness” are the game’s strongest feature, as they are developed nicely with sharp dialogue. A few of the NPCs also move freely about the game area, which makes them more realistic.

There is really one main idea that the story of “The Witness” builds on and which the player discovers by the end of the game. Fortunately this idea is interesting, and the author tied everything in the story together with an explanation of the full story earned when the game is completed successfully.

A satisfying point about “The Witness” is that its puzzles can probably be solved by adventure gamers with minimal clues given enough time. Some may say that this makes the game too easy, but it was nice that the puzzles were not too obscure. The parser is generally good about responding to player input. As in “Deadline”, one of the fun tools players have in their arsenal is to have objects analyzed by Sergeant Duffy for anything that may shed light on the solution to the mystery. The game includes enough details and false leads to potentially give players a decent run before they crack the case.

The Bad
The first notable negative point about “The Witness” is the protracted opening sequence before the main game starts, which could have been shortened at least somewhat. While the main idea behind “The Witness” is interesting, its limited scope is a detractor. One of the appeals of mysteries is their tangled plots, especially when following the genre of mysteries like “The Big Sleep” or “The Maltese Falcon”. “The Witness” is lacking in this area because there is not many secrets that have to be discovered by the player during the bulk of the gameplay. The number of NPCs is limited, which not only makes the mystery less interesting than it might be, but also means that the game’s major secrets can potentially be discovered quickly. “Deadline”, in contrast, had a number of threads in the mystery which were discovered by the player and woven together skilfully by the author.

The Bottom Line
“The Witness” is an Infocom mystery set in 1938 which challenges players to solve a murder. The setting is constructed nicely and what characters the game has are well-written. Another nice point about the game is that the puzzles are likely solvable with minimal clues, but some may dislike this because it makes the game easier than other Infocom titles. The opening sequence of “The Witness” is longer than it needs to be, but the main negative point about the game is the limited scope of its plot. With a finite number of NPCs and few secrets that need to be discovered to solve the case, “The Witness” misses its full potential.