Town (Walkthrough)

The Town is a puzzle area in The Witness.

Town Hints

 * Hint 1: Symmetry: The palm trees in the background are a hint. There's a reason this panel is translucent.


 * Hint 2: Shadow Maze: The left side's pretty easy to see. How about looking for the source of the shadow to get the right side? Pen and paper helps!


 * Hint 3: What is that, a windmill symbol?: Nope. It's abstract. Look around -- anything familiar nearby?


 * Hint 4: The abstract crosshair: It's an apple tree. Four main branches and a bunch of smaller ones. The apple marks the spot.


 * Hint 5: Wait, what?: Each small line is a branch. Some are broken off. That will tell you which branch is which and let you figure out which branch has the apple (exit) on it.


 * Hint 7: Purple and red panels: These panels are reflective.


 * Hint 8: Seeking the glare: You have to get high up for the panels -- can you create a walkway through a puzzle solution?


 * Hint 9: Purple panel 2: Can you step outside and take another look? Maybe you can use the environment?


 * Hint 10: Colored stars: You ever visit the Greenhouse? Some colors are not what they seem.


 * Hint 11: Colored stars 2: There's a colored piece of glass somewhere that'll give you a different perspective.

'''Spoiler warning! The screenshots below contain solutions for every puzzle in the area.'''
 * Hint 12: Lattice work: Get outside, take another look. See any rogue pieces of lattice work sticking out that you can position to help you figure out the labyrinth?

Town Terrace
The first puzzle for the Town is located near the Docks. Solve them in the order in which the cables light up.



All three Terrace puzzles leverage your knowledge of previous puzzles of that type.


 * Terrace 1 Puzzle: This is a symmetry/overlay puzzle. Change your perspective to look through it and see the palm trees in the background. All you do is trace the palm trees and their reflections in the water.
 * Terrace 2 Puzzle: This shadow puzzle has you follow the dark "branches" to get through the labyrinth. But the right half is obscured. If you look at the source of the shadow pattern -- the wires nearby -- you can easily figure out the right side of the puzzle.
 * Terrace 3 Puzzle: It may not look like it, but that's a tree. It has four main branches with multiple smaller ones. If you look at the apple tree nearby, you'll see that some small branches are broken. When you compare the order of broken/not-broken branches with the arms of the abstract tree drawing, you'll figure out which branch is which. The apple marks the exit.

Large Blue Tile
There are THREE solutions to this large Blue tile. The three solutions below will open up a stairway to the roof of the building, which contains a giant dark-red tile.

NOTE: There is an orange-colored container in this building that contains two tiles puzzles, though solving them doesn't contribute to the main Town Laser puzzle.



The puzzles both use glare from the sun (move around and adjust your angle to see it) to reveal a path etched onto the surface. In the case of the purple panel, a maze of branches and the shadows on the surface act as hints to additional solutions. To see the branches, step through the hole in the wall and get a new perspective.

Oakwood House
Solving the five Gray tiles opens up a stairway that leads to the roof.



All six puzzle utilize the Tetris puzzle concept introduced in the Puzzle Types section. Basically, an angle Tetris piece means the shape can be rotated -- you need to create an outline around the piece(s) that represents the exact shapes. But the position and orientation vary in this case. The white triangle logo cancels another shape and rule. So including it with the Tetris piece effectively erases it -- which means the shape of the area doesn't matter since it doesn't exist.

White Bamboo House


NOTE: There is a large Blue-light room on the top floor of the building that has three tiles to solve but doesn't contribute to the main Laser puzzle.



Beige House (Grape Leaves)


Both of these puzzles can be tricky to figure out. Unless you change your perspective. To figure out the Tile 1-1 puzzle, walk over to the opened door in the nearby house and view the puzzle through the orange-colored "glass" panel. The color will reveal that white and yellow suns are actually the same color -- and purple and red are the same. And black and blue are the same color.

The 1-2 Tile relies on you overlaying a piece of lattice work that's attached to the trellis on the outside of the house. Step backwards and you'll see the broken wood pieces blocking a section of the maze. Draw the path around it to solve it.

Beige House (Right Side)
Solving this puzzle will unlock a tram for this house that leads to the rooftop of the Red house next door.



The first puzzle is a simple maze. Only that the solution to it lies with the actual maze of columns inside the building. It builds on knowledge acquired when solving the hedge mazes elsewhere. Look at the ground. The green plants on the floor show where hedge walls used to be. That's what the maze used to be, but it got changed over time as the hedges were cut. The pieces of wood scrap were added later and aren't part of the maze, so you can ignore them. Find the entrance to the actual maze and trace a route to the exit. Pen and paper are your friend.

The Tile 2-2 puzzle likewise relies on you comparing the real world to the puzzle panel. You can solve it in multiple ways, but the correct solution is to draw a shape that reflects the way you want to "plank" walkway to be in front of you, in order to get across to the other building.

Activating the Laser


Once all of the Town puzzles are solved, both doors in the mi-Tower structure will open up. All you need to do is make your way to the top of the Tower and activate the tile to fire up the Town Laser.