He Who Watches Review on Steam - Gravity, Genius, and Getting Gloriously Lost

Some puzzle games want you to solve a room. He Who Watches wants you to rethink how you perceive space itself. Developed by Bobby Vanden and published by Draknek & Friends, this first-person puzzle adventure drops you into an ancient labyrinth where walls become floors, gravity is more of a suggestion than a law, and every solution feels like you've outsmarted reality itself. Walk on walls, manipulate gravity, uncover secrets, and seek the imprisoned god at the centre of the maze.

What immediately sets He Who Watches apart is how confidently it trusts the player. There's very little hand-holding here. Instead, the game hands you a handful of mechanics and lets you slowly unravel a sprawling network of interconnected puzzles. At first, you're simply learning how movement works when every surface is potentially a floor. A few hours later, you're mentally rotating entire environments, plotting routes across ceilings, and feeling like some kind of dimensional architect.

The gravity-bending mechanic is the star of the show. Walking onto a wall and having your orientation shift never stops feeling oddly magical, even after dozens of puzzles. Yet He Who Watches avoids the common trap of turning its central gimmick into a repetitive trick. Every new chamber seems to find another way of challenging your understanding of space, layering ideas together in increasingly clever combinations. The result is a game that constantly surprises you, even when you think you've mastered its rules.

There's a pleasing touch of classic first-person puzzle design throughout. The labyrinth feels like a place rather than a collection of disconnected levels. Exploration matters. Observation matters. Sometimes the answer isn't about finding a hidden switch but understanding how seemingly unrelated parts of the environment connect together. The deeper you venture, the more the world begins to reveal itself, creating that wonderful sensation of uncovering knowledge rather than simply progressing through content.

The atmosphere deserves plenty of credit too. The ancient stone corridors, mysterious symbols, and looming sense of something greater watching your journey create a subtle but effective feeling of unease. It's not a horror game, but there are moments when the silence and scale of the labyrinth make you feel incredibly small. The narrative elements remain intriguing rather than intrusive, encouraging curiosity without drowning the experience in exposition.

That said, He Who Watches is absolutely designed for players who enjoy being stuck. Some puzzle solutions demand considerable spatial reasoning and patience. There were stretches where I wandered the labyrinth convinced I'd overlooked something obvious, only to later discover the solution had been quietly sitting in front of me the entire time. For puzzle enthusiasts, those breakthrough moments are exhilarating. For players seeking a more relaxed adventure, they may occasionally feel frustrating.

Thankfully, the game's difficulty feels earned rather than arbitrary. When solutions click, they're usually accompanied by that magical puzzle-game moment of "of course that's how it works." The game rarely relies on obscure logic. Instead, it challenges your assumptions and expects you to experiment.

By the end, He Who Watches feels less like a sequence of brainteasers and more like a journey through a beautifully engineered machine. It's the kind of game that respects your intelligence, rewards your curiosity, and leaves you thinking about its puzzles long after you've closed it.

Pros

• Brilliant gravity and wall-walking mechanics

• Exceptionally clever puzzle design

• Strong sense of exploration and discovery

• Atmospheric labyrinth full of secrets

• Rewarding "eureka" moments throughout

• Trusts players to figure things out for themselves

Cons

• Can be intimidatingly difficult at times

• Limited appeal for players who dislike getting stuck

• Occasional navigation confusion is inevitable given the game's design

He Who Watches is one of those rare puzzle games that genuinely changes how you look at its world. By combining gravity manipulation, intricate environmental puzzles, and a mysterious labyrinth begging to be explored, it delivers a consistently rewarding experience for players willing to engage with its challenges. It's demanding, occasionally bewildering, and frequently brilliant.

XPN Rating: 4 out of 5 (GOLD)

He Who Watches is available now!