Taiji is an open-world Puzzle Game developed by Matthew Van Devander and released in 2022. The game features puzzle panels scattered across a floating island - similar to The Witness - that you solve by painting them in two different colours in accordance to a set of rules... which you have to figure out yourself.
The game is available on Steam and Itch for 21€ and 25€ respectively.
Taiji provides examples of these tropes:
- All the Worlds Are a Stage: The gallery and the end are both areas that require you to know the puzzle mechanics decently well.
- Apocalypse How:
- Why is the floating island barren? Why are there puzzles everywhere? Is there a meaning to it all?
- In the "Black" ending, you get to do this to the world.
- Beautiful Void: There is close to no context given about the island, but someone clearly cared about decorating it well.
- Golden Ending: The "White" ending, which - trust us, you want to figure this out on your own! - requires looking for clues in the environment.
- Guide Dang It!: If you don't notice and interpret the notches in the sides of the pillars correctly, you might struggle a lot with the ruins area. Even then, a lot of the puzzles there have an ambiguous interpretation.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: Some puzzle clues are part of the environment. Even better, you might not even realize they're clues until much later in the game.
- No OSHA Compliance: The sawmill has some broken pathways. Thankfully, you can't fall off them.
- Shout-Out: Some puzzles closely match puzzle layouts seen in The Witness. Beyond that, there are some areas resembling environmental puzzles, and sometimes, you may find face silhouettes hidden in the environment.
- Silent Protagonist: Your player character is a girl with black hair, who does not say a single word while solving the puzzles.
- Warp Whistle: An interesting variation. There are monoliths scattered across the island, which have a 3x3 panel appear above them once you step on a pressure plate. In order to use the system, you need to input the right patterns into the panel.
