Taiji

About

Taiji is a single player open world puzzle game. It was developed by Matthew VanDevander and was released on September 9, 2022. It received very positive reviews from players.

Explore a mysterious and detailed world full of puzzles. It is important to think hard and to pay close attention, as vital clues are sometimes hidden in plain sight.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

+10

Skip User Reviews

90%

Audience ScoreBased on 966 reviews

gameplay51 positive mentions

grinding14 negative mentions

Excellent puzzle design with a large variety of mechanics and 445 puzzles offering a satisfying learning curve and many 'aha' moments.
Beautiful pixel art and calming, dynamic soundtrack that enhance the relaxing and enigmatic atmosphere.
Strongly inspired by The Witness, it successfully offers a very similar exploration and deduction puzzle experience in 2D, appreciated by fans of The Witness and puzzle enthusiasts.

Tutorials and puzzle introductions can be unclear or insufficient, leading to confusion and occasional frustration in figuring out mechanics.
Some puzzles and areas are poorly gated or visited out of intended order, causing high difficulty spikes and wandering without guidance.
Certain puzzles feel obtuse, rely on guesswork or brute forcing, and some rules are inconsistent or conveyed unclearly, impacting player satisfaction.

gameplay
310 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
82%
2%
Taiji offers a rich puzzle gameplay experience inspired by The Witness, featuring 445 grid-based puzzles with diverse and creatively combined mechanics across nine unique areas. The game emphasizes discovery through play, relying on players to deduce rules from visual clues and trial, though it often struggles with unclear or inconsistent teaching of its mechanics, which can lead to frustration. Despite some obtuse or poorly explained puzzles, fans of logic-driven, exploratory puzzle games will find its challenging design and satisfying "aha" moments rewarding.
- “The game presents puzzles in a wonderfully creative way and consistently leads you to figure out the puzzle systems on your own rather than telling them to you directly - while this could easily go wrong, I've found that working out the mechanics from tutorial puzzles has been very satisfying and I've personally never felt cheated.”
- “Each area has a specific ruleset of puzzles for you to figure out, with a series of tutorial puzzles that let you intuit the mechanics, and then a region of puzzles which utilize the mechanics to test your fluency.”
- “Once you get past these initial hurdles, you will find a wonderful puzzle game with a unique atmosphere that is well worth exploring and has this "one more try" draw to its gameplay.”
- “The game does not teach you its mechanics and logic properly, and it is infuriating.”
- “So many of the mechanics were just too obtuse or poorly explained.”
- “Some of the tutorial puzzles that introduce a new puzzle mechanic are too obscure and I had to rely on hints in the discussion forum and guides to help me understand.”
music
92 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
37%
3%
The music in the game is widely praised for its relaxing, soothing, and ambient qualities, perfectly complementing the beautiful pixel art and puzzle gameplay. Many reviewers highlight the dynamic and evolving soundtrack that enhances the serene atmosphere, helping to reduce frustration during challenging puzzles. Overall, the soundtrack is regarded as a standout feature that enriches the immersive and tranquil experience.
- “Taiji stands on its own as a great puzzle game, with its beautiful art style, soothing music, and, of course, its compelling (if sometimes frustrating) puzzles.”
- “The soundtrack in particular is absolutely phenomenal.”
- “The game features beautiful pixel art and an amazing soundtrack, allowing you to chill in magnificent landscapes while your brain explodes trying to figure out how lines work.”
- “Though the game features some great production quality in the pixel artwork and music, sadly this game falls short of those comparisons.”
- “The graphics and music get the job done, without either being exceptional.”
- “Having an actual OST is a plus, though the game doesn't feel pretentious in the same way, but it is in a few too many aspects a clone of another game to feel fresh to anyone familiar with The Witness.”
graphics
78 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
50%
4%
The game features charming, minimalist pixel art graphics that create a relaxing, atmospheric environment, well complemented by a soothing soundtrack. While the visuals are simple and sometimes lack depth or clarity, they effectively support the game's chill, puzzle-focused aesthetic. Overall, the graphics are praised for their beauty and mood-setting quality, enhancing the immersive and tranquil experience despite occasional visual confusion.
- “The overall art style and aesthetic is outstanding, perfectly matched to the zen-like music, subtle sound effects and overarching theme.”
- “Aside from the puzzles (which comprise the main draw of the game), the world in which they're set is beautifully composed with an absolutely gorgeous artstyle, and making my way from puzzle-to-puzzle was actively refreshing.”
- “Taiji is a wonderful game that mixes awesome puzzles, beautiful visuals, and intriguing secrets.”
- “Taiji is not quite as polished as Witness; new puzzle elements can remain unclear for some time, navigating the walkways and tunnels on the island gets confusing, and I'm personally not a fan of the pixel art style used here.”
- “It lacks all the polish of Witness, and not just the graphics (I don't mind the low res pixel art, but it is a bit too minimalist in certain applications), but the puzzles themselves.”
- “Once I did realize the puzzles didn't get much easier, the pixel graphics do a terrible job at implying depth, and one of the puzzles is diagonal and I ended up merely guessing the answer because I couldn't 'read' where the answer tiles were supposed to be in place.”
atmosphere
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
68%
21%
11%
The game's atmosphere is consistently praised for its calming, soothing, and zen-like qualities, enhanced by beautiful pixel art and lush music that balance the challenging puzzles without causing frustration. Players find the environments visually stunning and varied, creating an inviting and immersive experience that encourages exploration. While some mention the narrative is minimal and the atmosphere may lack a sense of wonder for a few, overall it is regarded as a perfect blend of relaxing ambiance and engaging puzzle design.
- “Puzzle games often risk frustrating players after prolonged attempts to solve a particularly stubborn puzzle, but Taiji's soothing music creates a calming atmosphere that keeps frustration at bay.”
- “I should also mention that this game is absolutely stunning, and the soundtrack works with the environments and atmosphere perfectly.”
- “This is a gorgeous looking and extremely atmospheric game about figuring out rules to solve puzzles.”
- “The atmosphere for me personally was lacking; it just felt a little boring and didn’t make me feel a sense of wonder.”
- “The story is almost nonexistent; there is a style, an atmosphere clearly, but the narrative is as simple as it can get.”
- “The atmosphere, while lonely, isn't oppressive.”
story
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
74%
13%
The story in the game is minimal to nearly nonexistent, serving mostly as a vague backdrop rather than a driving force. Players appreciated the lack of narrative clutter, focusing instead on challenging puzzles and atmosphere, though some desired more lore or clearer plot elements. Overall, the game offers a pure puzzle experience with little emphasis on story or character development.
- “Came here for a puzzle game, left with a whole book of experiences and a jaw pain from how much my mouth was open by the amazing story behind it.”
- “Taiji is a very interesting puzzle game, following a mysterious unnamed character on a quest for who-knows-what.”
- “Story: minimal but decent plot.”
- “As there does not appear to be any story or narrative to the game, there is nothing propelling me to persevere to the end, other than learning new puzzle mechanics.”
- “Blow (and Moriarty) gave support and succor to the game, but the game's plot is, miraculously, even more razor-thin than The Witness.”
- “Last and probably least as I doubt that many people care about this point, the story, if you can call it that, is told only through two vague cutscenes corresponding to the two endings.”
grinding
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
7%
93%
Grinding in the game is often described as tedious and frustrating, with tedious maze-like navigation and fiddly puzzle mechanics detracting from the experience. While some puzzles are fun and avoid tedium, many require repetitive manipulation or poor logical flow, making the overall progression feel slow and monotonous for several players.
- “I was thinking 'wow walking around everywhere sure is tedious I'm surprised they didn't include the ability to teleport' and sure enough you can but I bloody missed it after 30 hours of gameplay.”
- “Where The Witness had the absolute minimum of barriers necessary to create a plausible terrain and steer players to the best starting places for each area, Taiji more than once steers the player away from ideal starting points and remains a tedious maze long after all the gates have been unlocked.”
- “There are also several 'Tower of Hanoi' puzzles - puzzles where I saw the crux of it, I saw what I was supposed to do, but it was extremely tedious to manipulate all the pieces into position (looking at you, mushroom platforms).”
humor
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is noted for its ironic and self-aware tone, often playfully acknowledging player frustrations. While some find the comedic elements clever and amusing, others feel the humor can highlight the game's challenging or unbalanced aspects.
- “Funny that this features a yin yang symbol on its cover and yet had no balance whatsoever.”
- “Hilariously much like The Witness, the environmental-based section was a bit infuriating, which is my only criticism.”
- “Oh, I get it now, I'm stupid and the game is laughing at me...”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game is well-optimized, offering good visuals without major bugs or performance issues, though some users find certain design choices unnecessarily tedious.
- “Game looks good and there were no major bugs or performance issues.”
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the game's top-down camera encourages thorough exploration by making navigation less obvious, fostering engagement with puzzles. The emotional impact is heightened by wholesome endings, especially the secret one, which players find more satisfying than those in comparable games.
- “Update: I have now 100% completed the game and I can say with absolute confidence that the endings (especially the secret ending) are more wholesome than whatever The Witness came up with.”
- “Taiji's top-down camera made me feel less inclined to leave a puzzle unfinished, since it wasn't as obvious where I would go instead.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is generally well-made but exhibits occasional bugs affecting stability, such as fixed cursor positions, inconsistent symbol highlighting, and puzzles resetting due to misclicks. However, the developer actively releases patches to address these issues.
- “The game does some weird things, like keeping the cursor at a fixed position, not always highlighting which symbols are wrong (seems buggy), or un-solving a puzzle because of a missclick.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Replayability for these games is generally low, with little incentive to play again after completion; however, "The Witness" offers some extended play through a dynamic speed-running area and a strong user-made puzzle community. Conversely, "Taiji" lacks any meaningful replay value once finished.
- “Sadly, there really isn't any replay value to this game. I will give some credit for having a really over-the-top speed-running area that changes with every attempt, and a fan site dedicated to user-made puzzles, but with Taiji, once you're done, you're done.”