He Who Watches is a first-person puzzle platformer that feels a lot like Portal, except instead of a portal gun, you get a magical bow with one very hardworking arrow. You use this bow and arrow to hit buttons and drag blocks around.
What sounds like a cool little gimmick quickly becomes the source of some genuinely brain-bending puzzles. While I love a good puzzle game, He Who Watches had me scratching my head, rubbing my eyes and occasionally questioning whether I had ever been good at these puzzles at all.
Behind its simple design and mechanics lies a truly difficult and testy game that left me feeling inadequate.
QD’s Speedun Review:
Your goal is to reach the centre of a labyrinth by making your way through a series of puzzle chambers. Each chamber contains several puzzles, and once you’ve completed them, you can move on to the next via travelling glyphs. Simples!
Not really.
The game does NOT hold your hand. He Who Watches throws you straight into the deep end with very little instruction, and it takes a while to get your bearings — especially when “getting your bearings” can literally mean turning yourself upside down and manipulating gravity.
It took me a hot minute to get used to walking on walls and ceilings. At first, I spent so much time rotating myself around to work out which way was up that I was starting to feel dizzy. Eventually, I got the hang of it, but there were definitely a few moments where my brain simply refused to cooperate.
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Rather than traditional hints, some rooms contain smaller versions of the puzzle you’re trying to solve. These mini puzzles give you a nudge towards the solution without outright handing it to you, encouraging you to work things out yourself.
That’s nice and all, but after several hours of playing, I desperately wanted a “just tell me” button. There were many times I had to call it and come back with fresh eyes.
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Things I love about He Who Watches:
- Excellent use of gravity and 3D logic to create genuinely mind-bending puzzles
- A soothing soundtrack that helps keep things calm
- Over 100 puzzles, there’s plenty of content
- Mini puzzles provide useful nudges without immediately spoiling the solution
Things I don’t love about He Who Watches:
- Limited hint system that makes you want to give up
- You need to be crazily smart to play this
- The difficulty ramps up very quickly
Is He Who Watches worth your time?
If you’re a glutton for punishment and want to put your logical thinking to the test, He Who Watches is absolutely worth checking out.
If the thought of staring at the same puzzle for 20 minutes before dramatically questioning your own intelligence sounds less appealing, you may want to give this one a miss.
There’s a lot of content here for the price, with over 100 puzzles to work through, but He Who Watches demands patience. It’s the kind of game where finally solving a puzzle feels fantastic — mostly because you’re incredibly relieved that you can finally move on.
He Who Watches is out now for $29.99 on PC via Steam.
A copy of He Who Watches was supplied to Quest Daily for this review.
