Loved the Witness, does this hold up?

[Visuwyg]

I never ended up getting Talos Principle due to the steep price, reported lengh (30 h long puzzle game?), apparent simplistic gameplay (lazor puzzles all day every day), and the unproven track record of Croteam (don't get me wrong I love Serious Sam, but a puzzle game is as far removed from that as possible).

But Jonathan Blow's incredible debut Braid convinced me to buy The Witness unseen, which shares a lot of similarities with Talos, it seems. It was long (30 hours!), kinda pricey, and seems to offer only line puzzles. But my blind faith in Blow paid off, I absolutely loved it.

So, this changed my view of Talos a bit - if I loved The Witness, maybe I'll like this game as well?

[Cask]

I can't think of one aspect of The Witness that gets even close to holding up against The Talos Principle.

In regards to pricing, both games are the same price outside of discount periods (TTL is on sale right now at 7.99). After playing the demo of TTL I would have been prepared to pay more than the list price. The Witness is overpriced by about 70% if you ask me.

TTL is full of puzzles but it's a story driven game. Perhaps the best story driven game ever made.

[checkers_of_shalmone]

Originally posted by Cask:

I can't think of one aspect of The Witness that gets even close to holding up against The Talos Principle.

In regards to pricing, both games are the same price outside of discount periods (TTL is on sale right now at 7.99). After playing the demo of TTL I would have been prepared to pay more than the list price. The Witness is overpriced by about 70% if you ask me.

TTL is full of puzzles but it's a story driven game. Perhaps the best story driven game ever made.

What do you mean a story driven game? It might be integrated with the environment and such, but the story is way more of an overlay on the game, for the most part it's not integrated with the puzzles.

[Cask]

Originally posted by main_gi:

What do you mean a story driven game? It might be integrated with the environment and such, but the story is way more of an overlay on the game, for the most part it's not integrated with the puzzles.

A puzzle game that is not story driven would be something like Tetris. TTL on the other hand is driven by a story with puzzles included.

[fidelio]

it's not for me to set expectation, but if you liked the witness, it's hard to imagine you wouldn't like this one and would strongly recommend you play it.

if you prefer your own judgement of experience, then don't read this hype: this game is phenomenal. in my 35 years playing games, this is one of the best; a true seminal work. if you're an introspective type, this game is for you!

[Str8up_Lowlife]

Hands down this is a million times better than the witness................

[VShadow]

I haven't played the Witness, but I'll say this about Talos. I don't know as I've ever played a game that's made me more introspective about the meaning of life, what it means to be human, and the value that comes from freedom. Not that I don't muse on those things, but no game has ever made me do it so much.

Yes, it's a story overlay on a puzzle platformer, much in the way Portal is. But like Portal, the puzzles do seem appropriate in that context and they actually do drive the plot. The puzzles actually seem like there's a good reason for them being there.

The puzzles, at times, are significantly challenging, so keep that in mind. More mind-bending than the Portal games, to go back to that comparison (and by the way, for anyone who hasn't played both Portal 1 and 2, get going), but there are plenty of hints and video walkthroughs in the guide section if you ever find yourself frustrated. But rarely were the difficult puzzles a source of undue frustration. They were filled with "ah HA!" moments rather than "oh, that's stupid" moments. Brilliant puzzle design.

I did find the basic story to be something of a sci-fi cliche. However, it was executed in such a novel way that it didn't feel hack.

At $10, this one is a "must play" in my book. I've paid more for less (sometimes a lot more for a lot less) so many times in my gaming life.

[BOMBARDIRO CROCODILO 🚀]

The Talos Principle its much more than puzzles on ingame screens. If u like the Witness, the Talos Principle its game for u, but its lil harder.

[dq333]

Originally posted by fidelio:

it's not for me to set expectation, but if you liked the witness, it's hard to imagine you wouldn't like this one and would strongly recommend you play it.

if you prefer your own judgement of experience, then don't read this hype: this game is phenomenal. in my 35 years playing games, this is one of the best; a true seminal work. if you're an introspective type, this game is for you!

I couldn't agree with you anymore.

[Tulslaeh Grande]

The only negative for me in this game are tetromino sigil puzzles, in some places there are just too many in a row without any variation on them, all the same thing but harder every time.

Apart from that I enjoyed this far more than portal or the witness, which I did not expect.

Also I recomment to try and get all the stars, the star puzzles are really the most mind bending this game has to offer.

[Tulslaeh Grande]

BTW I recommend playing the demo verison that also comes included when you buy the game, it is a reworked version of one of the levels in the game, very nice actually and gives an overall taste of the mechanics.

[Tulslaeh Grande]

Also in some more hidden/later on puzzles there are much more mechanics at play than redirecting lasers and more out of the box thinking than may appear at first.

Sorry for clogging up your thread, but this game gave me a gaming boner that I had been missing for a long time and I can't shut up about it.

[Bob3]

Play the demo. It will give a taste of what the full game is like.

[histeachn]

I assume people commenting about The Witness have also played that game? I just don't see any specific ways these two games are being contrasted.

[King China]

Like The Witness, TTP doesn't do any hand-holding. You have to learn all the puzzle mechanics by solving them step by step and learning the new rules. Imo, TTP has a great story, whereas The Witness doesn't seem to really have any story at all. So, if you like an interesting story, but still want to challenge yourself by solving (sometimes mind-boggling) puzzles, go for TTP. Payed full price for it and bought Road to Gehenna DLC too, don't regret those purchases one bit. One of the best games I've ever played! :)

[Eisenmonoxid]

I can't believe how underrated TTP is. This is easily in my personal "Best Games Ever" List. Can't believe that "The Witness" could only get near this masterpiece of a game. So Sad that Croteam didn't get the attention they should have gotten.