The Witness goes 8-Bit

Jonathan Blow’s The Witness earned rave reviews for its challenge and wonder. It stands as one of 2016s best games, but now you can puzzle like it’s 1989!

Game developer dustmop is creating a NES rom that “stands as a reinterpretation and tribute to the original work. Aimed at both players unfamiliar with the full game who want to learn what it’s like, as well as veterans that need a fix of new puzzle panels to solve.”

It’s still in demo form currently, but you can download the demo here to play on an NES emulator. Dustmop’s itch.io page includes links to working emulators that will run on PC/Mac/Linux/ and even Android.

Jonathan Blow spoke out about the rampant piracy of The Witness so it remains to be seen what he thinks of this little project. Since The Wit.nes is comprised of completely new assets and given away for free, I don’t think he’ll mind.

Mathew Falvai

Mathew is a huge fan of Space, Strategy, and Shadowrun (Genesis version is #1). When it comes to games and films, he’d much rather experience a 10/10 classic from yesteryear than a 6/10 modern blandfest. He does feel we’re living in a gaming golden age with the power of indie developers at an all-time high, but wishes AAA publishers would take more risks. Mat believes it’s only a matter of time before the pendulum swings the other way and new ideas take their rightful place above reboots.