The Talos Principle

The Talos Principle wasn't a game that I ever really planned on playing but the fact that this masterpiece goes on sale for £2.50? I had to pick it up. It is a puzzle game with a heavy emphasis on it's theological story. To finish this completely and unlock every area, ending, puzzle and secret takes a lot of time, and for such a low price on sale? absolutely worth it.

Gameplay

The game has 4 main worlds, the first 3 split into 7 different areas, these are non-linear and so can be completed in any order, the 4th "world" being the puzzles leading up to the ending, These total to more than 120 puzzles. As you go through these areas and complete puzzles you will collect sigils which are used to unlock puzzle mechanics and new areas to progress.

There are a tonne of different puzzle mechanics across these worlds: Jammers to stop signals, lasers to activate things, cubes to press buttons and fans to blow yourself or other objects to different positions, with the main goal being to get to the end and get the sigil. The most difficult it gets is when it introduces a different version of yourself which copies your moves which means you have to look at puzzles in a whole other way.

There's also a bunch of secret stars in different areas either hidden or requiring you to setup puzzles in different ways so that you can, for example, see a laser from outside of the level in order to connect it and open up a secret area, and I think that's what this game does best, Easter eggs and hidden areas are littered through every single world mainly consisting of video game references.

Story

As you play through the worlds, the narrator will talk to you and guide you towards a certain ending, this game features multiple depending on the choices you make. There is a Terminal in each area where you can speak to an entity who will guide you to go against this narrator which gives you an alternate ending, all of these endings are similar but with slight differences in narration and meaning.

I can't speak on what the story is really about because, to be completely honest, a lot of it went over my head, it's a very theological and philosophical and there are so many dialogue options that it was really difficult to understand and follow. If you thoroughly read through every message in every ending it easily adds a tonne to your playtime.

Achievements (40/40)

The achievements here are quite annoying, requiring either multiple playthrough's or backing up save files in order to get all the alternate endings, the game does have in-game backups which works for most achievements but not all. I'd recommend using a guide if you don't want to re-do everything 3 times.

Settings/Accessibility/Misc

Checkpoints after each puzzle- Game stores up to 10 backups which you can revert back to at any point. Options to switch between first-person and multiple 3rd person perspectives. Option to change movement speed. In-game benchmark for performance. Motion sickness options. Rebindable keyboard and gamepad controls. Supports eye tracking. Workshop map support. In-game achievement menu. 15 languages supported for text, 13 languages supported for voice.

TL;DR

Phenomenal first-person story-driven puzzle game with a bunch of challenging puzzles and hidden secrets. Lots of unique mechanics and well-designed puzzles. Well worth it on sale. Achievements easier with a guide.

Check out my Curator page

Really one of the best puzzle games I've ever played... certainly on par with the original Portal, for sure. Here's my breakdown.


GRAPHICS
First of all, the graphics are... well, they threw me off at first. I assumed my graphics settings were way wrong, because it was way too pixelated. Fast forward about 10 seconds and I realized that was intentional, and they use it to great effect.

MUSIC/AUDIO
There's only one voice in the game, and I think it was voice-acted perfectly. Otherwise, the ambient music is beautiful and fits every scene.

PUZZLES
Some of these are definitely a bit mind-bending (and clever). That said, trying to find the stars would require a dedicated playthrough I feel, and might be tough without following a guide (which absolutely feels like cheating). That said, when you get one, you definitely get to feel pretty clever.

COMPARISON (to Talos Principle 2)
I'm partway through the sequel, and I can say at this point I certainly preferred the original. The puzzles are feel were a bit harder, I preferred the austere and simplistic setting, and think the sequel focused way too much on jaw-dropping visuals instead of compelling gameplay.

BUT... omfg. Best visuals I've seen in a game to date. It makes Cyberpunk 2077 look like Mario Bros by comparison. If 2 is a preview of what gaming is about to look like, sign me up - it just doesn't need to exist in a puzzle game IMO. Well worth it for some decent puzzles continuing in the style of the original, plus the incredible graphics feast.

CONCLUSION
Get this hidden gem.

The puzzles and story is really good. Great game design. Challenging