Recent reviews by Fade to Noir

I'm gonna sing the Doom song now!

Doom, doom, do-do-doom, do-do-doom, DOOM! Doom, doom, doom. Doom-de-do-doom, de-do-do-doom. Doom, doom, DOOM!

It's DOOM! It's Doom like it was in 1993 except in 2016 - that is to say, a first person shooter that doesn't get bogged down in plot, cut scenes or other gimmicks (like jump scares - looking at you, Doom 3) and is, instead, just a (literal) blast to play, fun from beginning to end (and then from beginning to end again, because you WILL want to play it again, especially thanks to the Arcade mode that has been added). I would say that its only bad point is that it doesn't do anything innovative (because what was innovative in 1993 obviously isn't innovative in 2016) but perhaps that is its innovation - that, unlike other games, it doesn't try to do anything innovative and therefore doesn't fail at it. It's just simple, good, retro-FPS fun that somehow manages to feel like old DOOM even though it's new DOOM.

TL:DR - This is DOOM. If you like your FPS games dumb and fun, you will love this.

On the surface, The Talos Principle is, quite simply, a puzzle game. If you like solving puzzles then you will get your fill here - there are over 120 of them - and it would be quite easy to just run from one to the other, without stopping to enjoy the scenery or pay any attention to the audio and text logs that comprise the backstory and narrative. However, under the surface, it's an intriguing philosophical sci-fi/post-apocalyptic adventure that will have you question the very nature of existence and what it means to be alive.

You play as an articial intelligence given a robotic android body and told to solve these puzzles by Elohim, a disembodied voice. As you progress through the game, you will discover more about who you are, where you are and, crucially, when you are (and what has happened to the world) through collecting audio logs and snippets of text left on the computer terminals scattered throughout the land, which also happen to be home to Milton - an artificially intelligent library assistant, who provokes most of the philosophical thinking in the game by asking you a series of questions about the nature and purpose of life and consciousness and suggests that Elohim, and this world, are not all they seem. This is the kind of world building I like in video games and it is used to great effect here. Again, what's great about it is that, if you're only interested in solving puzzles, you can speed through the game ignoring all of this - which is great for replayability, as you could do that on subsequent run throughs - but it is well crafted enough that you will want to take it all in.

Comparisons to Portal are inevitable, as the nature of the puzzles is similar (albeit without portals!) - you go from one area (or test chamber?) to the next, guided by a God-like voice that seems to consider you some kind of test subject - but the two games are different enough for them to coexist and even complement each other. Suffice to say, if you enjoyed Portal you will probably enjoy this game, but even if you didn't like Portal there could be something here for you. For me, it was also reminiscent of Myst and other earlier puzzle adventure games.

In each puzzle, the aim is to collect all of the sigils (which are basically Tetronimos, or Tetris pieces). They will be locked behind a forcefield, gate or some other obstacle that you need to find a way around using only the objects provided - a combination of things like forcefield jammers, hexahedrons (cubed boxes), connectors (which direct laser beams) and even a sort of time travel device which records your actions and replays them, so that, with some good timing, present you can interact with past you. Each puzzle challenges you to use these objects in new and innovative ways each time. Collect enough sigils and you unlock the door to the next area. The learning curve is tough but fair - the more frustrated you feel whilst trying to figure out a solution, the more satisfaction you will feel when you find it.

All this puzzling is presented in a beautiful 3D game engine (you can play in first- or third-person, although it really feels like it was meant to be played in first-person, the world is that immersive), with lush environments and detailed textures, plus great music and sound effects. Visually and aurally it's a stunning game.

All in all, an amazing game. I'm glad I discovered it - this one is going to stick with me for a long time!