The Witness is coming to PlayStation 4 next week, but visual puzzle enthusiasts on Xbox One apparently won’t have to wait long for their own take.
Jonathon Blow of Braid fame is rowing ashore his newest creation for PlayStation 4 and PC thanks to a timed exclusive deal between Sony and developer Thekla. Interestingly, as the ESRB rating for the game has come out for those consoles, one has also been spotted for the Xbox One version of Blow’s new title. That would point to the game already available to go through the ESRB testing process on the Xbox One, which would further indicate a really tight window of exclusivity for the title on PS4.
Blow addressed this exclusivity for The Witness way back in 2013 when the current generation of consoles was still gestating. In an interview with Game Informer, he explained that “because we are a small developer, we only have the ability to launch on a small number of platforms at once.” Fast-forward to today and that situation may have changed a bit given the over two year gap since that interview. There are some other intriguing tidbits in that answering session as well with Blow talking about a Wii U port of The Witness and how his team chose Sony exclusivity over Microsoft because of their messaging.
Meanwhile, the game looks to be a visual treat backed by audio talent that rivals a project of a larger studio. The video above shows the Euclidean content of the puzzles and colorful vistas that will surely come with some kind of heart-wrenching story.
The Witness comes out on January 26 for PlayStation 4 and PC.
