The Witness

The Witness

13 Achievements

1,000

15-20h

Xbox One
Xbox Series
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Challenge

Challenge

Complete a certain challenge.

125

0.42%

How to unlock the Challenge achievement in The Witness - Definitive Guide

I believe that this achievement can only be obtained after you beat the main story line and have turned on all of the lasers. However, you do not need to have beaten all of the random puzzles spread out across the island.

The top part of this solution is all about beating the challenge and any hints that I can give, as well as a glitch that was recommended by several in the comments (Thanks to @LORD Melchett, @Adm1ral Awe5ome & @LSF Overdrive). The bottom part of this solution is telling everyone how to get to the challenge room.

Beating the Challenge:
Once you are in the cave, go to the very back and start the record. That is accomplished by moving the cursor to the far left instead of going up, Going up will stop the record.
As soon as you start the record, run up to the wall and solve the first three puzzles. These are simple puzzles. The first two are mazes and the last one is black and white squares.
When you are doing these, make sure to hold down the button that speeds up your cursor (I believe it is LT) and push RB after you solve the puzzle to quickly switch to the next puzzle.

After this, run to the next puzzle which is a maze. In a little bit you will need to walk a full size version of this same maze, so pay attention not only to the solution of the maze but also to where the two dots are in the maze. In the full size maze, these two dots are the locations of two triangle puzzles that you must solve. I took a picture of the maze with my phone before I solved it so I would remember the location of those two puzzles.

Once you are done with the maze (which shouldn't take too long) run to the next section. Here there are four puzzles spread out around a pillar. Two puzzles are on the top part, and two are on the bottom. Only one puzzle will be lit up at a time, and the order is always random, so be quick about checking all 4 puzzles to know which one you can solve.
The puzzles rotate between these 4 locations. There will be a simple maze, a tetris with suns puzzle, a black and white squares puzzle, and a symmetry puzzle with multicolored dots.

The last puzzle I mentioned, the symmetry puzzle with multicolored dots, means that there will be three different colored dots on the symmetry puzzle. Orange dots, blue dots, and black dots. The color of line that that you control will be blue, and the color line you don't control will be orange (that may be backwards. I don't remember). The orange line must go through the orange dots, and the blue line must go through the blue dots. Any color line can go through the black dots.

If you fail any of these puzzles, you must go back and re-solve the last puzzle you did. So if one of them are too hard for you, just purposefully fail it to get a new puzzle of that same type.
Another thing that I started doing with the tetris puzzle was counting the amount of squares that the tetris designs filled up, and then just looking for that number of squares I could section off.

After you solve all 4 of those puzzles, run across the bridge to the next set of puzzles. In this section, there are three black and white square puzzles, but only one of them is possible to complete. The other two are impossible. Once you solve the one you can beat, go to the next set of three. These are multi-colored squares, and once again, only one of them is possible to complete.

When you are looking at the puzzles trying to figure out which of them is possible, look for quick hints. One thing that is nice about all of these puzzles is that because you are timed, none of the puzzles can be too difficult. So if one of the puzzles looks impossible right from the beginning, then it probably is. Look for what you believe is the easiest and try that one first.

Things to look for in the puzzles that be beat include corner sections of one color that can be separated from the other colors easily, and clumps of the same color going straight down the middle.
If you see a puzzle with three different color touching each other and none of them are touching a side of the puzzle, that puzzle is almost certainly impossible.

Another thing that I did was I attempted this challenge when a friend was watching, just so I could have a second set of eyes and try to determine which puzzle was possible faster.

After you solve the two possible puzzles, run into the full size maze. Pull up the picture on your phone and run to those locations in the maze. Then spin around. The puzzle will be on one of the screens close to your location. Solve the first one and then run to the next location and solve the second one. These puzzles are triangle puzzles. If you don't know how they work, scroll down in this solution. I talk about them farther down.
EDIT: Christoph 5782 has linked a website that will solve these puzzle triangles for you. I am posting that link here!
http://witness.webcrow.jp/

Again, I had someone else watching when I solved these puzzles to quickly count the sides of each box to make sure that the lines touching the box equaled the number of triangles in the box. This is really important at this step because if you screw up here you must re-solve the puzzle from before, which requires you getting out of the maze.

After you solve the two triangle puzzles in the maze, leave out the exit and come to the last two puzzles. They are pillar puzzles. They also aren't terribly difficult. However, because they are pillar puzzles, there is really no way to double check and make sure that you have the right answer before you finish the puzzle.
There will be two pillar puzzles. One is a black and white puzzle, the other is a symmetry puzzle with black squares. If you are having difficulty here, I recommend going to the end of the game right before the elevator and working on this pillars.
Those are the last two puzzles, so once you beat those, you will have beaten the challenge.

The entire challenge is timed with the record that you started at the beginning. The record plays two classical songs and once the songs are finished you are out of time.
If you are stuck on the same puzzle for too long, either fail it on purpose so you can get a new puzzle that is the same type, or run back to the record and restart it.

There is no way to pause this puzzle and solve it "offline" like there is on the ps4. On the ps4 you can enter sleep mode and solve the puzzle, and then turn the ps4 back on.
If you turn off the Xbox One, the puzzle will restart. And if you pause the game, the timer will continue, even if you open a new app.

I hope that this solution helps. Good luck on getting this achievement!


GLITCH UPDATE: @LORD Melchett
"The easiest way to accurately get the timing right for this is to use the stopwatch on your phone. On the record player slide the puzzle thingy all the way left and down to start the challenge and then press A at EXACTLY the same moment as you press start on your stopwatch. Make your way through the various puzzles as normal. Once you get to the big maze, do the 2 puzzles within it but then as you complete the second puzzle, hold off pressing A to finish it until your timer shows 6 mins 39 secs. Don’t be tempted to press it even half a second earlier. The music will have ended several seconds ago but hold on and as soon as you see 06:39 appear on your stopwatch press A to finish the puzzle. You will then be able to exit the maze and proceed to the final 2 puzzles with infinite time and attempts to do them. It is so much easier to time it from the beginning than to try and guess by counting the exact moment to pressing A from when the song ends."

LSF Overdrive mentions that if you pause the game while doing the glitch the game will reset itself back to normal


Getting to the Challenge Room:
So once you have done completed the game and started all of the lasers, go up to the top of the mountain where you started the final quest to finish the game.
(Side note. If you have already completed the game, just load an old file. Try and save before you get in the elevator to finish the game)
At the top of the mountain you can see a statue holding a box. If you get down beneath the box by walking down the stairs, you can see that there is another solution for the box.
If you are confused, look at this photo.
External image

From IGN

Once you re-solve the box, go back down into mountain until you reach the statue staring at a puzzle on the ground. This puzzle will be right before the room with all of the pillar puzzles that you needed to solve.
The solution to this puzzle is as follows.
Left, Up, Right, Up 4, Left, Down 3, Left, Up, Left, Down, Left, Down 2, Left, Up 4, Right, Up, Left

This puzzle was hard for me to see just because it was hard to get close enough to it.

If you don't understand this puzzle, the concept is pretty simple, There are several boxes that contain yellow triangles. For every one triangle in a box, that is how many times you must draw a line that touches the box that the triangle is in. So if a box has one triangle, one side of the box (And only one side) must have a line going through it. So if a box has three triangles in it, you must cover up three sides of the box with lines.
Remember this puzzle, it shows up in the finale.
Again, here is the link for the triangle puzzles that Christoph 5782 posted in the comments
http://witness.webcrow.jp/

Once you solve this puzzle, it will open up a secret door behind you, the direction that the statue is looking. The door closes after a couple seconds, so don't waste to much time getting there.
Once you do that, you must solve a black and white square puzzle
Solution for that puzzle
External image

Again, from IGN.

After that, another door will open. Back here there are lots and lots of puzzles to solve. However, only two of them need to be solved. Wander through this area a bit until you make your way to a pillar puzzle. The solution to this puzzle is as follows.
Right, Up 2, Right, Down 2, Right 3 , Up, Right, Up, Left 2, Down, Left, Up 3, Right 2, Up 2 Left, Down, Left 2, Down, Left, Down, Left, Up 2,Right, Up, Left, and then finish it.

After that, you will need to solve one more puzzle just opposite of the pillar puzzle. It is a sun and tetris puzzle.

The solution is as follow.
Up 5, Right, Down 4, Right 4, Up 2, Left 2, Up 2, Right 2

Now you have made it into the challenge room.
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01 Oct 2016 15:37

93 Comments
F me sideways this looks hard
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By on 01 Dec 2016 02:20
Does restarting the record reset all the puzzles? In other words, instead of the time limit being the two songs, could you restart the record halfway through the second song and have another two whole songs to finish all the puzzles?
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By on 01 Dec 2016 22:54
Yep, if you restart the record all of the puzzles are reset as well.
Sorry!
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By Sitop Apen on 04 Dec 2016 12:17
One thing that you may find helpful is turning your volume down. It eases the tension.
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By PilIow Pants on 03 Jan 2017 11:23
I believe you need to activate all of the lasers first before you can solve the final puzzle on top of the mountain. If you have already activated the lasers and it's still closed you might have an issue
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By Sitop Apen on 19 Feb 2017 02:23
Holy smokes - persistence is key here! Thanks for the in-depth guide!
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By bennjjee on 09 Apr 2017 08:16
To be honest I have no idea, I have never tried it.

You can and let me know how it goes!
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By Sitop Apen on 29 Apr 2017 03:35
I wonder. Are there only so many possible puzzles?
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By Ozbrithian on 05 May 2017 08:08
Well technically yes, it would take a very long time before that puzzle reappeared
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By Sitop Apen on 06 May 2017 20:24
Great guide. BTW, if you're already in the elevator, there's a way to reopen it at the bottom of the doors. No previous save required.
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By Sashamorning on 15 May 2017 06:47
Cool thanks! That's a good thing to know
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By Sitop Apen on 15 May 2017 17:57
This needs to be updated at the top to say "DON'T BEAT THE GAME BEFORE DOING THIS". I just did that and lost all progress because it resets. Now if I want this I have to do everything all over again. UGH
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By Shadow XBL on 09 Jun 2017 21:19
not true there is an option to load your last auto save once you have completed the game
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By Tazwaz on 09 Jul 2017 16:59
Yeah that's not true Shadow. Taz is right ^^
That's what I did
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By Sitop Apen on 21 Jul 2017 03:17
^correct, it doesn't matter if you entered the elevator, you can load up that save and open the doors.
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By Octobot Super on 09 Dec 2017 01:03
Ouch, I keep tripping up on the last pillar puzzle (collecting the black hexagons). I'll agree that the black and white square pillar puzzle isn't terribly difficult, but the other one is insane.

Edit: I finally ended up getting it... I actually had some runs where the other pillar was the difficult one. I eventually got a run where all the puzzles were easy and I finished up just as the second song was starting! I took photos of the maze model each time; even though it took a few seconds, it saved time later so I wasn't running around the maze aimlessly
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By Octobot Super on 09 Dec 2017 22:43
Finally finished this after a few hours of runs getting screwed by random puzzles with no solution. It's definitely do-able with one mistake or bad puzzle (that needs a reset) if the rest goes smoothly, but that's not often the case lol. The frustration is compounded when you do finally get to the last pillar puzzle and run out of time only to then spend another hour trying to progress that far again. Just keep at it, eventually you'll get a favorable set of puzzles that align all on the same run.
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By Blost on 02 Apr 2018 06:45
I can't access the cave. I try to draw to the spot on the cube but the bottom part is blocked. Yes, I've done all the lasers.
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By Apostle92627 on 10 Apr 2018 04:35
What do you mean by blocked?
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By Sitop Apen on 10 Apr 2018 04:40
If all lasers are 'done' and you still cannot access the bottom, it means you haven't aligned the Desert laser to point at the middle.
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By I AM CULLY on 10 Apr 2018 06:10
Yeah, I figured it out.
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By Apostle92627 on 10 Apr 2018 18:11
How the shit do you align the desert laser though. I'm sitting here staring at it and there's nothing I can do with it. Instead of telling people what to do, explain how to do it. Otherwise you're not helping, you're just being annoying lol
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By Project Torture on 11 Apr 2018 20:44
If you follow the direction of the desert laser, you will reach a point where it bounces off a mirror. Just turn that mirror so that the laser is now pointing to the summit of the mountain
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By Sitop Apen on 11 Apr 2018 20:55
Yes. i did it, with my godly RNG a finish the challenge room smile
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By REGIX 117 on 11 Apr 2018 20:58
I'm unsure if this was due to the update or not, but when I pause the game during the challenge, it completely resets now. It doesn't just keep the timer going anymore.
Maybe its just my game, but I've tried it many times, and it happened every time I paused.
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By l BlackBrian7 l on 13 Apr 2018 22:19
This took me about 5 hours before the heavens opened up and gave me 2 relatively easy triangle puzzles and my pillar puzzles were really easy as well. Persistence is key and having a good intellect about solving the puzzles. I beat the game using minimal hints, but only when necessary if something had me stuck for a really long time. If you "used a guide" throughout the whole game your not going to be successful at these puzzles.
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By OverkillChaos on 15 Apr 2018 16:59
I’m struggling quite a bit with a majority of the Tetris ones and the colored blocks I’m making it to the maze maybe every 9 attempts then when I do that I’m pretty lost anyone have any helpful tips at this day in age? pausing the time would make this so easy message me @ The Norda on xbox hell if you’re really good at this and wouldn’t mind doing it for me also message me that’d be awesome and I’d appreciate it very much I’d rather not attempt this for weeks ;-;
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By The Norda on 17 Apr 2018 01:20
Only took maybe 2 hours but this challenge is DONE
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By Joshua4Life on 18 Apr 2018 06:44
This achievement is a bear but this guide helped tremendously! Keep at it and you'll get better and faster with each run. If you're clearly not going to make it, I find working the puzzles still for practice paid off. Eventually, the stars will align and an easier set will come up, +1
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By Pmalone6 on 20 Apr 2018 22:35
This challenge is such bull, I keep watching youtube videos to see different puzzles but they all get the easy puzzles to solve and I keep getting the ones where every other line is broken, the lines have to double back on themselves to work (which doesn't work) or solutions that should work mysteriously don't so I have to redo the prior puzzle again and again and again.
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By Death Dealers on 24 Apr 2018 16:23
For the triangle puzzles, simply just put the puzzle into this solver: http://witness.webcrow.jp

It's way faster and less frustrating than actually trying to solve it
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By Christoph 5782 on 25 Apr 2018 02:26
I can see that tool being the difference between a failed run and a successful one. The triangle puzzles aren't bad (it's the pillars at the end that are tough) but using the tool would probably save 10 to 30 seconds.

Also, I mentioned this above but I'll repeat here again: take a picture of the maze map with your phone. This saves a lot of time when you get to the actual maze.
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By Octobot Super on 25 Apr 2018 10:10
down right impossible.. the PS4 folks get a work around putting the system in "rest" which will pause the timer.. we Xbox types are boned.. I'll never do this shit in 7 minutes.
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By Xenolith666 on 26 Apr 2018 02:59
This is a real challenge with the time limit. Took me about an hour and finally got it with 10 seconds left on mountain king. Really had my heart pumping. The key is to not waste any time in the maze, you'll need it all for the columns. Some of the tetris and black/white puzzles seemed impossible. In total I had three resets on my winning run (to reroll the rng) so if you get perfect luck it's easily doable as long as you know the logic. toast
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By DaChiefOfOwnage on 26 Apr 2018 21:36
^ The games does offer the triangle puzzle in the form of broken panels scattered about the island. The issue (for me at least) is that I was able to solve the ones that I found based on some arbitrary rules that I made up that happened to work for them. Also, the ones scattered around the island are easily brute forced for the most part.
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By Octobot Super on 27 Apr 2018 18:04
Whilst that is true, very rearly in the game do you get a triangle puzzles that has more than 1 triangle and no major area of the game has a focus of any kind on the triangle puzzles. Going in I knew the rules of the puzzles but had no efficient strategy to solve them. The same was true for the column puzzles for me as in doing the challenge I had yet to go to the final area of the game to do the 8 column puzzles there, but going there I had over 3 minutes to spare so I just drew out the puzzles on paper and inputed the solution
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By Christoph 5782 on 27 Apr 2018 18:50
It seems like a lot of people are popping this consistently now, does it mean that' it's not as hard as everyone has let on? or has all the random elements been determined and there's details for it now?
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By count023 on 30 Apr 2018 01:17
Never mind. Because it wasn't covered here, I had to find it on...another...site dedicated to xbox achievements. In case anybody else ever encounters the issue that I did, don't panic.
The way to load your game is, somewhat counterintuitively, to start a new game. As soon as you load in, hit Menu and then you'll see the option to load game. Load the most recent one and you're all set.
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By Theophilos on 30 Apr 2018 04:52
Is this an achievement where is may help to team up? Like, we form a team where one person streams on Twitch and we all help out in solving the puzzles and once that person is done, we switch places and repeat? Having 3 or 4 people looking at he same puzzles could make it slightly easier?
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By KiloOscarZulu on 02 May 2018 03:22
The 'taking a picture of the maze' tip helped immensely. It took about 18-20 tries, but I finally got a favorable run and was able to complete the challenge with half of "Mountain King" yet to play. Thanks!
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By Arma9edd0n on 05 May 2018 18:49
Just a tip : during my tries, I noticed that you should enter the labyrinth before the second music begins. Otherwise, you won't have enough time to finish...
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By LibelluleGino on 07 May 2018 13:17
got it at 4th try ^^
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By T0per Harley on 03 Jun 2018 19:20
For Xbox you can press the home button and go to home screen to help with the achievement. The game will effectively pause and no puzzles will be erased. You can only go home though you can't open any other app or puzzles will erase.
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By skittles2519 on 04 Jun 2018 00:02
^ Nope. Doesn't work.
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By Skanker irl on 11 Jun 2018 22:21
Finally got this a achievement. Got lucky with easy puzzles
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By MurmuringSum34 on 12 Jun 2018 20:38
Theophilos thank you.
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By Movie Mario on 18 Jun 2018 03:39
This sh*t's impossible to do within the time constraint.
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By Movie Mario on 26 Jun 2018 01:31
Going to home from guide button doesn't seem to work as Skittles described. I tested it before an actual run and found it never pauses. Not for 3 minutes, not a minute or even 30 seconds. Perhaps I didn't wrong? Could someone do a step by step exactly what to do for someone who hasn't figure it out? Much appreciated. If not, maybe another solution? Or has this been exhausted? :(
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By FaceTheCarnage on 29 Jun 2018 10:59
This is gonna be one of those games where all I need is one more achievement but that one more really isn't worth the trouble. Too bad we don't have a way to take our time like the ps4 players do...
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By Sipuli91 on 22 Jul 2018 22:41
Wish I could upvote Cristoph 5782's comment. The ability to quickly solve those triangle puzzles made this far, far easier. Link below again, since it's in the middle of the comments section:

http://witness.webcrow.jp
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By ShadowEchelon91 on 05 Sep 2018 18:54
Thanks for that heads up. I just edited the solution to include that website because that definitely helps (I gave him credit too)
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By Sitop Apen on 08 Sep 2018 00:58
One thing that might help some players is more practice with the different kinds of puzzles. At the very least, getting more familiar with the puzzle logic will help save time. I just discovered this site and have killed a couple hours playing random puzzles while away from home: https://windmill.thefifthmatt.com

Also, this youtube playlist is very thorough and gives good strategies for the whole challenge: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1u_Gpn9ll95h7hvhtUeB...
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By FivePartTrilogy on 21 Sep 2018 18:28
I finally beat this stupid achievement. The best tip I can give (like most others who beat it) is to keep trying. I maybe spent one hour and failed, then returned later or the next day with a clear mind. The puzzles I struggled with were the tetris and the pillars, but after a while you just 'get it'. So please, don't get discouraged if you are having a hard time. You will get it with persistence.
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By teddieboi on 23 Dec 2018 09:58
If I never hear Peer Gynt again it will be too soon...
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By talkietoasta84 on 01 Jan 2019 15:36
The triangle puzzles are some of the easiest ones here. The tetris puzzles drive me crazy and the column puzzles took forever in the "main" ending. But my brain just isn't agile enough for this -- even though I had little trouble with most of these types puzzles in the main game, I'm rarely even making it to the maze before timing out.

I can't see myself getting twice as fast.
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By Mike Marcelais on 19 Apr 2019 03:01
I found another puzzle solver that could be helpful especially on the colored blocks. It pretty much does everything besides triangle puzzles:
https://overv.github.io/TheWitnessSolver/

Triangle solver (again): http://witness.webcrow.jp
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By RepentantHades7 on 02 May 2019 21:09
The glitch in the above comment still works. Takes a ton of stress away on the pillar problems.
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By Ron69Bongkowski on 09 Jan 2020 17:40
O. M. G.

This just moved to the top of my to-do list.
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By Sashamorning on 09 Jan 2020 23:44
Just did my first few runs of the challenge today, forgot about the triangle puzzle solver, and the furthest I got was the big maze.
Having the ability to extend the time indefinitely will help a lot. No reason why this wouldn't still be a thing so if you pull it off you basically have 7 or so minutes to get to the maze, awesome find!

EDIT:
Still works, all done now. I definitely underestimated the difficulty of the final challenge. The pillar puzzles especially because you don't really do any through the game that I remember. Glad to get it done though, thanks again to both Sitop Apen and Adm1ral Awe5ome
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By TangerineGamer on 26 Feb 2020 21:53
Just picked this up, finally!
I didn't even have the timing perfect, because i could hear the system shutdown right before I closed the screen and the pillars were still usable.

It pays to come back and look at old achievements that defeated you years ago!
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By ARAHN1 on 12 Apr 2020 16:11
Just did it on my 6th or so try, wasn't insanely difficult. I planned on doing the exploit but accidentally finished the maze. Got pretty easy pillar puzzles to end it off.
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By Bazingator on 13 Apr 2020 22:54
May 5th, 2020. Glitch still works. Ive counted to 5
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By Kiarinha Nyo on 06 May 2020 00:34
I found to quickly identify which is solvable on the black and white square puzzles, if there is a 2x2 "checkerboard":

black white
white black

anywhere within the puzzle, it is not solvable. Generally one or both of the unsolvable puzzles will have this pattern.
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By wizzardSS on 09 May 2020 16:54
I can’t get into the challenge room. I’ve completed the pillar puzzle but the rock wall won’t open up to reveal the second puzzle needed to get to the record player. Help!
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By HEY0KA on 27 May 2020 04:58
That achievement is so mean. Good luck everyone xD
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By on 15 Aug 2020 20:04
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqBFrC3xuUc&t
Infinite time glith!
-All plataforms-
OBS: Count 3s and going to 4s, finish the puzzle.
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By iHipNoTiCz on 20 Oct 2020 02:59
An additional advice to the infinite time glitch detailed in the youtube video found in another comment here. Counting seconds is very hard - especially when under stress and there is also the problem with when exactly to start counting. My advice is therefore to use a timer. I used https://www.timeanddate.com/timer/ but any countdown site or app would work.

Set the timer to count down from 6 minutes and 39 seconds and start the timer and the challenge at the same time. This time above accounts for the silence in the beginning and the end. The puzzle end between 6:39 and 6:40 so complete the second maze puzzle just after the timer reaches 0.

You won't see if you succeeded as the screen in front of you will go black. You need to go and check if the cylinder puzzles are still lit. If not: You're timing was off and need to do it all again.

Hope this helps someone.
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By Atsumer on 22 Oct 2020 14:59
I am going to try this with a combination of the Witness Puzzle Solver on github (google it), and the Xbox Series X quick resume. It looks like it works the same as the PS4's sleep mode, where the game is paused without knowing it's paused. Will update.

Update: Even when it's stored away in Quick Resume, the time keeps ticking (and the music keeps playing). Will have to do this the hard way.
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By Raziel Cruentus on 19 Nov 2020 18:11
Great guide, but you should add in the infinite time glitch from 3 posts above. That’s a game changer!
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By BenL72 on 30 May 2021 13:36
Great guide! I can confirm that infinite time works on Xbox One 11/June/21. You just need to have right timing. I used my wristwatch and started to take time as I pressed "A" and started to play the music. Was it like my 6-8th try when I got it right.
Big shoutout to http://witness.webcrow.jp/ solver, whoever found that... THANKS!
Take a photo of the maze so you find the puzzles easily. Biggest challenges were detecting the impossible puzzles and getting through tetris puzzles.
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By RapidARA on 11 Jun 2021 17:50
@L0RD Melchett's tip worked a treat. Using this method I managed to do the glitch at the first try! Much easier than trying to count yourself, which I tried beforehand and didn't get it to work.
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By IstIngiliz on 15 Feb 2022 13:36
Can confirm the 6:39 glitch still works as of March 5, 2022.

Just a note, as I probably screwed this up multiple times. When you hit the last puzzle at 6:39 the screen will still go black, but you can continue on.

I probably tried this 6 or 7 times thinking I had the time wrong, without knowing I could just walk further ahead and check. I kept thinking the glitch would keep the puzzle lit when you complete it
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By Firebird22x on 05 Mar 2022 23:14
If anyone still going for this like I am. The button that makes it go faster is RT not LT.
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By JOKER REJECT on 08 Apr 2022 01:54
The 6:39 glitch is still working as of 5th June 2022.
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By Praggers on 06 Jun 2022 09:28
Wow that glitch makes this achievement stupid easy! I used the below tools during my run:
For Normal Puzzles - https://overv.github.io/TheWitnessSolver/
For Triangle Maze Puzzles - https://azekeprofit.github.io/preact%20triangles.htm
I did this in no lie less than 10 attempts using this method and I used the walkthrough for the entire playthrough, so I was not an expert at the games mechanics at all. If anyone is putting this off, use these tools plus the glitch and give it a go again. The normal puzzle tool takes a bit to get used to, but very efficient once you get the hang of it. I managed to get to the end of the second triangle puzzle about 30 seconds before enabling the glitch using those.
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By iTz Canada Ehh on 22 Jun 2022 14:19
I never thought I would get this. I was always just a few seconds short of getting to the last pillar room when i would run out of time. With this new method and all the help here I finally completed this game! Thanks so much. Still works June 24 2022!
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By Davis 888 on 24 Jun 2022 18:56
Glitch still working 10th July. @LORD Melchett thanks for adding this in the guide. I was never good enough to do it in one go.
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By TheKillerTheme on 10 Jul 2022 20:44
I just did the glitch and the door opened but I didn't get the achievement. The door is still open and my save file updated after I opened the door... I'm going to try to beat it again I'm doubtful it will work. My next oldest save is like 60 puzzles behind lol.

Edit: Even with the door stuck open I was able to complete it normally without doing the glitch and I got the achievement to pop.
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By subatomic beast on 20 Sep 2022 23:11
Could you update the guide to warn anyone attempting the glitch that they MUST NOT pause the game for any reason once the glitch is activated, found out the hard way that doing so resets the game to "normal" conditions and turns off the pillars T_T
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By LSF Overdrive on 09 Nov 2022 13:38
in the same boat as subatomic beast... guess i am retrying it again... cry

Got back there 2nd attempt... it unlocked rock
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By xMoBBzY on 10 Dec 2022 06:30
I completed it and the achievement didn't pop, I just did it again and it popped. Thanks :).
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By Vaughan14 on 15 Jul 2023 15:32
En-Us: I confirm that the glitch still works on August 19, 2023. The music practically ends at the same time as 6:39 on the timer (or almost) and the screen for the second triangle puzzle had not yet gone out, it just went out the instant I I pressed A at 6:39. I got it on my first try.

Pt-br: Confirmo que o glitch ainda funciona em 19 de agosto de 2023. A música praticamente acaba no mesmo instante dos 6:39 do cronômetro (ou quase) e a tela do segundo quebra cabeça de triângulos não tinha apagado ainda, só apagou no instante q eu apertei A no 6:39. Consegui na minha primeira tentativa.
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By lrtfonseca on 19 Aug 2023 16:51
Can confirm the timing glitch still works as of 28/04/2024.

Had a stopwatch ready, pressed A the EXACT same time as I started my watch, made it to the second puzzle, waited and hit A at again EXACTLY 6:39 not a second earlier or later to finish the puzzle.

The puzzle screen went black but walking to the next room showed the 2 pillars were still lit up indicating it worked.

The only puzzle I had problems with that sacked alot of time up was the tetris shape ones. If you get an easy one first or second time it REALLY shaves a lot of time that can be used for the rest.
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By Devil Warr1or on 28 Apr 2024 13:51
Is taking a photo of the puzzle on a phone etc, switching your xbox off (NOT hard reset), figuring it out and then doing it in the game an option, rinse and repeat? obviously long winded, but perhaps so is trying it umpteen times? When you just press it off on energy saver, once you log in you return straight back into the game as you left it, its only on hard reset the game closes.

On PS I know you can suspend your game but that isn't an option on XB1.
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By NoHeroes94 on 27 Apr 2017 07:32
"Instead of telling people what to do, explain how to do it. Otherwise you're not helping, you're just being annoying lol"

To be fair, it is a puzzle game and it's fairly obvious that it's the only laser not pointed at the mountain (even if you only have one other laser activated). If you've solved all the puzzles to activate the other lasers, you should be smart enough or have the patience to figure this out too instead of scolding someone on a solution where the desert laser is arguably beyond the scope of the solution.
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By Octobot Super on 12 Apr 2018 10:45
After I beat the game, I originally got kicked back to the main menu, with only one option: "Start a Nrw Game." I force-quit the game and restarted. Now my only options at the menu are "Start" and "Switch User." Everybody seems to be of the opinion that there's an option to load last save somewhere. Where is it? How do I load it? Any help would be greatly appreciated, as I'd prefer not to have to play the whole thing again. Thanks
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By Theophilos on 29 Apr 2018 22:44
There is a way to do this co-op, that I have discovered but I want someone who has the drive and know how to do all of the puzzles like me. Sadly this will need to be done twice since we team up one go through, then another. It makes it MUCH easier. Message my gamertag if interested since im not on here as much. If you agree to help, we don't stop til both players have it. May take a day, or couple depending on how well we work together but very do able.
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By FaceTheCarnage on 28 Jul 2018 08:35
I found this glitch to complete the Challenge:
https://youtu.be/E80zsRcVXcI?t=326
This works as of 08/07/2019. It's stated in the video you have to count to 3 (almost 4), but I personally had to count to 5. You have to press A just as it's about to fade away. So you enter the solution a split second before it resets. Hope this helps people.
This means that you don't have to stress about the the last two pillars, "all" you have to do is get consistent at getting to, and completing the maze. The maze is a breeze when you use the solver provided in the guide. Biggest issue for me was the tetris puzzles.
I personally spent at least 10 minutes solving the last two pillars drawing out the solution using a pen and paper.
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By Adm1ral Awe5ome on 07 Aug 2019 11:05
Can confirm the time glitch at the end of the maze still works. Thank you to whoever first posted it, I’m glad I came back to see if this was any easier now. I’ve come back to it 2 years later so I’ll just drop some thoughts in case anyone else is coming back after that long.

It took me about 2 hours from logging in (at the record player) to getting the achievement. Once I actually got to the final maze puzzle I was able to do the glitch first time despite the level of panic I was in with the music counting down just as I was inputting the solution.

My main struggle was with the Tetris puzzle in the group of 4 that appear in a random order. A few failed attempts was all I needed to re-familiarise myself with how all the other puzzles work. Given how long it takes to input some puzzles into the online solvers provided here, I found it made more sense to practice ones that were easy enough and just use the solver for the Tetris and the triangle ones in the maze.

Good luck to everyone else still trying!
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By Bobbo on 10 Jun 2020 17:29
So, I finally made it through this challenge, and there's quite a bit of room for error in there. The big difference maker (for me) was being able to spot the solvable one of the three on the impossible puzzles quickly, and the maze being simple. In my final attempt, the impossible puzzles were massively obvious, so I was able to narrow it down to which one to attempt at first glance and my maze was insanely simple. I was out the far side of the maze and starting the pillar puzzles just after In the Hall of the Mountain King started.

https://youtu.be/ojyhOwdYzbo
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By Aki2403 on 05 Aug 2021 19:42
glitch working on 10/05/2024

Most troublesome parts of the puzzles are the tetris and pyramid puzzle

here's the solver I used for the pyramid puzzles: https://azekeprofit.github.io/preact%20triangles.htm
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By raultono 10 on 10 May 2024 16:23
The only real issue with the pillar puzzles is that you can't see the whole puzzle at once. The actual puzzle in itself is fairly easy. For me the triangle puzzles where by far the hardest thing to do as nowhere in the game did it ever have you learn the complex triangle puzzles and strategies on solving them. Just knowing the rules isn't simply good enough when your on the clock and failure here basically kills the run.

The first 4 puzzles are fairly simple, the 3rd one can be tricky and if you get a bad draw you might as well just reset the run as you want to get out of the first 3 puzzles in 15-20 seconds. After the 4th one I quickly just sketched the path using dashed lines for an easy reference, placing a slash where the dots were

The next 4 are pretty straight forward. With the tetris puzzle one, the goal is almost always to simply form the shapes with out using the squares with the stars. The other rules should fall into place. And teal is the one you select for the symmetry puzzle.

The 'one solveable' puzzles require a bit of practice as well to be able to look at a puzzle and determine if it can be solved, but for the black and white one, if at any point in the puzzle there is a square of 4 filled with 2 black and 2 white but the same color is diagonal from each other, it isn't solveable. Most unsolveable puzzles have this configuration in them but not all of them do. The tri-colored one doesn't have anything as easy to spot but usually the simplest looking one is the one that is solvable. The only real instance where you know a puzzle isn't solveable is when 3 different colors are in any 2x2 square but this happens far less often than the black and white puzzle and is harder to notice instantly.
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By Christoph 5782 on 27 Apr 2018 17:22
Another comment about the infinite time glitch (which works still as of 27 Dec 2021), and please add this to the guide because it is SO helpful. The easiest way to accurately get the timing right for this is to use the stopwatch on your phone. On the record player slide the puzzle thingy all the way left and down to start the challenge and then press A at EXACTLY the same moment as you press start on your stopwatch. Make your way through the various puzzles as normal. Once you get to the big maze, do the 2 puzzles within it but then as you complete the second puzzle, hold off pressing A to finish it until your timer shows 6 mins 39 secs. Don’t be tempted to press it even half a second earlier. The music will have ended several seconds ago but hold on and as soon as you see 06:39 appear on your stopwatch press A to finish the puzzle. You will then be able to exit the maze and proceed to the final 2 puzzles with infinite time and attempts to do them. It is so much easier to time it from the beginning than to try and guess by counting the exact moment to pressing A from when the song ends.

Great guide though, it helped me immensely. [+1]
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By L0RD Melchett on 28 Dec 2021 15:00
View all 93 comments Show less comments
Without spoiling this, you MUST have all the other trophies other than The End to get this.

In addition this is a hard challenge. Unlike the other trophies, you can't "Cheat" this by looking up a solution. The image of the trophy gives you a hint.

Heavy spoilers: (I'll leave a little of the mechanics out so you can experience it for yourself)



Finally if you have any questions, or need a specific solution or are confused by one step of the puzzle, feel free to message me, I'll try to explain. It'll be useful to see the puzzle that's giving you problems but not required if you can explain what the problem is.
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05 Feb 2016 06:26

Just to add onto Sitop Apen's guide for this achievement, if you're spending too much time on a puzzle in the challenge then it's probably best you cn_start reset it and start again. RNG is a big factor in getting this achievement, and getting easily conquerable puzzles can make or break your progress. Regardless, you'll need to be *good* at solving puzzles quickly to pull this off, so grinding out the challenge itself as practice doesn't hurt at all.
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14 Oct 2019 03:36

Can confirm the 6:39 glitch from @LORD Melchett still works as of March 5, 2022.

Just a note, as I probably screwed this up multiple times. When you hit the last puzzle at 6:39 the screen will still go black, but you can continue on.

I probably tried this 6 or 7 times thinking I had the time wrong, without knowing I could just walk further ahead and check. I kept thinking the glitch would keep the puzzle lit when you complete it
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05 Mar 2022 23:16

1 Comment
En-Us: I confirm that the glitch still works on August 19, 2023. The music practically ends at the same time as 6:39 on the timer (or almost) and the screen for the second triangle puzzle had not yet gone out, it just went out the instant I I pressed A at 6:39. I got it on my first try.

Pt-br: Confirmo que o glitch ainda funciona em 19 de agosto de 2023. A música praticamente acaba no mesmo instante dos 6:39 do cronômetro (ou quase) e a tela do segundo quebra cabeça de triângulos não tinha apagado ainda, só apagou no instante q eu apertei A no 6:39. Consegui na minha primeira tentativa.
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By lrtfonseca on 19 Aug 2023 16:51
There is infinite time glitch for the Challenge room: headspin

Simply finish second maze puzzle with triangles 3 seconds after the second song finish (end of time).

Credit goes to ZoKu08:
Read the YT description
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16 Apr 2019 22:19

For those who are stuck in this achievement and find it really hard to do, the majority of you already know the infinite time glitch but it doesn't work all the time. I'm gonna recap everything and explain the tip to perform the glitch with success.
So basically before you start the challenge, get your phone and start a timer as soon as you click on the music box to start it because you will need to finish the level in a certain way to perform the glitch, after that you will need to use 2 websites if you want to be fast, for the 8 first puzzles I just do them without the help of any website, I just keep repeating over and over until I get the perfect run where those puzzles are fairly easy, after that you will encounter 3 panels with the white and black squares, you have to know that 2 of those puzzles are impossible to solve and only one of them is solvable, so I just determine which one I will start with depending on how the squares are placed, but it doesn't always work, after choosing the panel I wanna work with, I open this website https://overv.github.io/TheWitnessSolver you might want to have like 6 tabs of the website already open to make things faster, then I just put the puzzle in the website and click on solve, if it gives you a solution, do it and go to the next 3 panels and do the same, if not you just want to repeat solving the other panels in another tab until you get the right one, after that you will go to the maze and you gotta go to the area where the 2 yellow circles were in the fourth puzzle, you will find the 2 two last puzzles in the pillars, those puzzles are quite easy with the help of the this website https://azekeprofit.github.io/preact%20triangles.htm after you finish the first one and found the solution for the second one DO NOT FINISH THE PUZZLE, just let your mouse over the "exit" where you have to click to end it and wait until your phone's timer reaches 6 minutes and 39 seconds, as soon as it does click to end the puzzle and the glitch will be performed, the puzzle that was in front of you will have a black screen but if you go to the last room you will find the last 2 puzzles in those round pillars, you will just need to finish them without worrying about the timer. And you will get your Challenge achievement.
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14 Aug 2022 00:00

UPDATE! - Patch v1.02 has removed the exploit using the rest mode function to solve the puzzles in the challenge. If you've downloaded the game before the patch was released and have not downloaded the patch yet, you can pause the download and play the challenge using the exploit. However, you might want to stay offline to avoid the patch resuming download.

In order to take on the certain challenge, you must have all 11 lasers activated. Once done, go to the top of the mountain, open the box the statue is holding and complete the floor puzzle. After completing the floor puzzle, go down the stairs until you can see the bottom of the box and you'll find the line puzzle on the box can be continued. Finish it, and head down the inside of the mountain until you reach the statue of a man crouching on the ground in front of the double door puzzles. If you've been down here before for the endgame, you'll notice the black screen he was looking at is on. Complete this puzzle and a secret door will open in bottom left corner of the room (facing the double doors).

Once inside the cave, go down the hall, unlock the door in your way and ignore every puzzle until you find the pillar puzzle. Complete the pillar puzzle and open the wooden door that has been unlocked. Behind this door is the final challenge room. You'll want to head to the back of the room, moving back until you enter a cave with a record player. Use the line puzzle to start the challenge. There are 15 puzzles to complete in order to finish the challenge. The catch, however, is that you have until the end of the music (about 6 ½ mins) to complete the set of puzzles, of which are all randomly generated every attempt.

If you've downloaded v1.02, your best option is to practice the challenge a lot. Find out where your weak points are and practice those puzzles. Every puzzle in the challenge is available out on the island so find them and try solving them or run the challenge multiple times.

If you are playing the unpatched version, you can refer to this video for assistance:

 

This section will help you to understand the less obvious puzzles. Most of the puzzles, like the black hexagon dots, symmetry, mazes, shadows, senses and perspective puzzles, will either not be covered or touched on lightly. This is because these particular puzzles vary from player-to-player. Everyone thinks differently, hears differently, sees differently, etc.

Black and White Squares/Multi-colored Squares
 


The key to solving these puzzles is to divide the squares so that each color is separated. Same color squares can be grouped together or split apart, as long as they aren't with another color.


Tetrominos/Angled Tetrominos
 


The key to the tetromino (tetris block) puzzles is that you must include each shape with your path and only form the shape(s) as well. It does not matter where you start the shape(s), as long as the shape(s) is/are in the same orientation shown. Shapes can also be combined. Angled tetromino puzzles are the same, except that you can orient the shape(s) any way you want.


Stars/Multi-colored Stars

There are multiple different ways to solve these puzzles and here are the methods:

  1. One star and one same-colored block can be paired together.
  2. Two of the same-colored stars can be paired together, along with another pair of different-colored stars. Two pairs of the same colors cannot go together.
  3. Multiple pairs of different-colored stars can go together.
  4. A pair of same-colored blocks and a pair of different-colored stars can go together.
  5. A pair of same-colored stars cannot go together with one or a pair of similar-colored blocks and vice versa.


Jungle Puzzles

These puzzles are hearing-based. The animal sounds are what you want to listen for and they will change each puzzle you stand in front of. Each sound has a pitch (high, mid or low) and a number of parts (for lack of better words). Listen to what sounds matches the board you're looking at. This applies to the puzzles that snake around with a horizontal line through the middle. Use sound for the block puzzles with hexagon dots as well. The only difference is that the small dots are high pitch, the medium-sized dots are mid-pitch and the big dots are low pitch.


Shady Trees Puzzles

The trees will cast shadows over the boards. Some shadows may be incomplete on the board but continued on another part of the environment. Depending on how the shadows line up, you may have to avoid them or follow them to reach the end of the puzzle.


Puzzles with Color

If the colors don't seem to work out, no matter what solutions you come up with, try looking at the puzzle through colored glass (if some is around).


Discarded Panels/Triangles

These aren't main story puzzles but they are crucial to know when attempting Challenge. In order to solve these puzzles, the number of triangles in a box represent how many sides of that box the line must touch.

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The challenge you must complete for this achievement lies deep inside the mountain, and is only accessible after activating all 11 lasers across the game and then accessing the final area inside the mountain at the end of the game. Here are the steps you must take to reach the room where you can attempt this challenge:

1. Activate all 11 lasers

2. Make sure all lasers are directed towards the mountain. One won't be, and you'll have to rotate a reflective panel in the Town on a roof to redirect the laser toward the mountain peak

3. Complete the mountain layers down to the last room at the end of the game

4. At the top of the mountain, on the underside of the cube you solved to activate the entire mountain area, you'll see a second way to solve this cube. Go on the stairs under the cube and solve it this way.

5. Head all the way down the mountain to the penultimate room, the red one with the statue of a person trying to solve a puzzle. The puzzle will now be active. Solve it, and it will open a door in the wall near the entrance.

6. Head into "the Caves" and you'll find all sorts of puzzles around the area. None of them does anything, aside from one: a puzzle on a pillar on the second floor. Solving this pillar puzzle will activate a puzzle tile on a hidden door directly behind you. Solving the puzzle on the door will open it. You now have access to the Challenge.

To start the challenge, go past the podium, through the room filled with pillars, past the 6 unlit puzzle panels, past another section of 4 unlit panels (make note of where each of these 4 panels is!) down into the cave past a table on the right, and then down further. At the end, you'll find a record player. Activating the record player will start the Challenge. It is a timed gauntlet of procedurally generated puzzles, so unfortunately there are no set solutions to provide. You will have to solve the puzzles quickly on the fly in a set amount of time. The timer ends when the music ends (don't worry, you'll know when it's about to end). Step by step, here's what you have to do:

1. Activate the record player

2. Run up to the set of 3 puzzle panels. You'll have to solve these three, left to right. They are very easy. The first is a small maze puzzle, the second is a larger maze puzzle, and the third is a very simple black/white square puzzle. Each puzzle shouldn't take you more than a few seconds.

3. Run up the hill to the table on the left, whose surface is now a puzzle. It is a maze puzzle with two hexagons you need to pass over to complete the puzzle. *NOTE* the path you draw in this puzzle and the two hexagons you pass over are critical to remember for Step 6 below!

4. Run up the hill to the right and there are 4 puzzle panels located around a pillar on two floors. One of these four will be activated randomly. A new one will activate after solving each one, and which one activates is random too. The only thing not random about these 4 are the types of puzzles that are generated. There will be a big maze puzzle, a hexagon/sun puzzle, a symmetry puzzle, and a tetris shape puzzle. None of these should be too difficult. The maze is easy, the hexagon/sun puzzle has only a couple possible paths to take anyway, and the tetris puzzle will almost always have the two shapes grouped into a single area. The symmetry one is the only one that could be pretty tricky.

5. After completing these four puzzles, run across the bridge and you'll come to a set of 3 lit puzzle panels with black/white square puzzles. You have to solve one of these three to progress, so look over all three quickly for one that looks simple (there is often a really easy one) and quickly solve it. This activates the second set of three panels. Again, you only have to solve one to progress. Unfortunately these have 4 colors of squares and can be a little tricky. Not only that, but it is possible for one or two to be impossible to solve! You'll again have to quickly assess the three and pick one that looks easy and solve it to progress.

6. Run up the hill and you'll be back at the room full of pillars that you passed through when you originally entered this area. This is where the tabletop puzzle in Step 3 comes into play. The path through these pillars is the path you drew on the tabletop puzzle. Not only that, but there are two "arrow" puzzles (refer to THIS POSTfor a description of arrow puzzles) set in the pillars, and they are positioned on the pillars equivalent to where the hexagons were on the tabletop puzzle. You'll have to navigate the maze and find the two arrow puzzles, hopefully by memory, solve each of them, and then get to the exit in the corner opposite from where you entered. This section ruined my attempts more than any other section, so focus on remembering the route from the table puzzle and where the hexagons were.

7. Once you solve the pillar room and exit, you'll be back in the Podium room. There will be a puzzle on a pillar immediately to your left when you enter this room. It will be a hexagon puzzle only, so it should be pretty simple and not take you long. After solving this one, another pillar will activate (the one on your right from where you entered). This pillar puzzle will be a black/white square puzzle that is also a symmetry puzzle. Again the solution here is going to be pretty simple, it's just tough to see exactly where both lines are going because of the pillar. Take a look around the back of it to get a sense of where the squares are, and remember it's a symmetry puzzle, so one color needs to be "between" the two lines being drawn and the other color needs to be "outside" the lines.

After solving the two pillars, CONGRATULATIONS! You have completed the challenge and unlocked the last achievement in the game.

Definitely don't expect to do this in one go. It took me probably around 10 attempts, most of which I screwed up by being unable to find the arrow puzzles in the pillar room. So the most important thing I can tell you is to remember the tabletop puzzle. Keep the path in your head (or snap a picture on your phone) the whole time so you know exactly where to go and don't waste time. The symmetry puzzle in the group of 4, and the multi-colored squares puzzles in the second set of 3 are likely to be your two biggest stumbling blocks, so save time elsewhere.

Lastly, if you get stuck for a while on a puzzle and think you wasted too much time, you can return to the record player and "solve" it the short way to cancel it and then restart it.

Good luck!

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