How long did it take you to beat The Witness? Chances are high you’ve probably never beaten it at all. That’s alright, because speedrunner FearfulFerret has successfully 100% beaten the game, all at a record speed of 3 hours, 16 minutes and 21 seconds. But then, things get strange. FearfulFerret, while on his world record speedrun, gets up, drives to a restaurant, picks up a fish sandwich, drives right back and eats it on webcam, all while on the clock.
Puzzled by this bizarre break? It turns out The Witness features a puzzle that requires you to wait 58 minutes through a film in an underground theatre. The film, which is based on a GDC talk given by developer Brian Moriarty, runs parallel to an eclipse taking place across the screen. The puzzle, being a part of the game, is obviously not optional for a 100% completion playthrough of the game, and FearfulFerret powers his way right through it.
The entire ordeal starts at roughly 16:46 on the second video, continues on as FearfulFerret goes off-screen hunting for his fish sandwich, then returns at the 52:28 mark, and finally completes the puzzle at 1:12:06. A bizarre puzzle indeed, but at least that film is really good.
The Witness has been out for 2 and a half weeks now, which makes this early speedrun a world record. There will doubtless be more speedruns, perhaps even beating this world record. It will be interesting, then, to see how these other runs end up using their hour-long waiting time. Perhaps we have an have an alternate competition for the most absurdly time-consuming things done while on the clock for a speedrun of this game.
What would you do in the hour-long waiting time for this puzzle from the Witness?