Entry Area (Walkthrough)

The Entry Area is a puzzle area in The Witness.

Entry Area Hints

 * Hint 1: Mazes: The first set of puzzles in the entry area are simple maze challenges. All you do is get from the circle (entry) to the half-circle (exit).


 * Hint 2: Black and White Dots: Black and white dots need to be separated by the line you're drawing. All black dots need to be separate from all the white dots.


 * Hint 3: More than two areas: Sometimes, you can't neatly separate all dots in two areas. That's okay. You can isolate one dot by walling it off at the endge of the maze, then separate the rest. As long as a dot isn't sharing space with the opposite color, you're okay.

'''Spoiler warning! The screenshots below contain solutions for every puzzle in the area.'''

The following screenshots will cover Puzzle Solutions for the Entry Area, which will reveal how to open the gate. This area also includes the puzzle solutions to the green puzzles in the white shed and the blue puzzles in the field after you exit the Entry Area.

Entry Area - Part 1


Here's the first real puzzle you'll encounter in The Witness. After completion, you'll notice a black wire jutting from the left side of the panel lights up.

The Witness features several puzzle sequences, where multiple panels connect logically, in terms of the common rule(s) used, and physically, with these wires. Individual puzzles activate others, which ultimately lead up to activating something larger.

In the case of this courtyard, you are trying to open the door locked by a laser force field. Continue on to the next few puzzles, remembering to follow the wires if you can't locate an unsolved one.







Some puzzles in The Witness have multiple starting points to choose from. For this puzzle, start at the circle on the right. The one on the left will continually lead to dead ends.



Some puzzles in The Witness also have multiple end points to choose from, and sometimes they activate different wires, as is the case in this last puzzle. The top end point will not open the last panel on the final puzzle that opens the gate. It does open something else that you can access behind the fort at a later time.



Once the final panel is unlocked, you can easily complete it with any path you want. Several "puzzles" in The Witness are actually just "switches" to open doors or activate things like lifts, and their "solutions" can range from simple to more complex.

When the sun is directly behind the end of the white pole on the gate, the player can click on the sun and "solve" it as if it was a puzzle. This causes the gate to turn into a house. Wandering deep enough into the house triggers an alternate ending.

After you exit the Entry Area, walk further up the path. At the fork in the road, you'll see door locked to the left, covered in black and white squares and small black dots.



For the solution to this door, see our Briefcases page. If you want to try to solve it yourself, go further up the path to learn its rules.

Entry Area - Part 2
Ahead, you'll see a long panel of puzzles with only the first one activated, and another shorter sequence of puzzles in a white shed to your right.



These don't seem to activate anything, and exist only to introduce two of the most basic rules in The Witness, which you can read more about on our Puzzle Types page.

Find the solutions for both sequences below.



See our Puzzle Types page for more on Hexagons puzzles.



See our Puzzle Types page for more on Squares.

Entry Area - Cliffside gate
There's a door behind the Entry Area of The Witness, which can only be unlocked by solving the two-solution maze puzzle in the courtyard so that the top wire, not the bottom, lights up. You can only do this after you've unlocked the laser door in the starting area.



After returning to this panel, exit the courtyard and head down the path, pass the bunker door, and then up the hill to the left.



Go past the crumbilng part of the fortress wall and down towards the cliff, where you'll see the top wire hanging out of a window and connected to a newly unlocked door.

This small, hidden area contains two panel puzzles, one to open the first door, one to open the second door out to the main Entry Area, a discarded panel puzzle and an Audio Log.



The solution to the first door.



The solution to the second door.

Entry Area - Pillar puzzle and floor puzzle


A pillar in the Entry Area adorned with triangle symbols is actually a puzzle that activates another larger puzzle on the ground nearby. Solving both counts towards the main puzzle count.



The solution to the pillar puzzle is:


 * 1) RIGHT (3)
 * 2) UP
 * 3) RIGHT (3)
 * 4) UP
 * 5) RIGHT (3)
 * 6) UP
 * 7) RIGHT (3)
 * UP
 * 1) RIGHT (3)
 * 2) UP
 * 3) RIGHT (4)
 * 4) UP
 * 5) LEFT
 * UP

Solving the ground puzzle in a way that's deliberately incorrect can actually help you find an environmental puzzle.