The Talos Principal II - Review

Prometheus crafted humanity from clay, and then stole fire to gift it to them. Technology, knowledge and civilization were the gifts he gave, and the gods punished him for it. Locking him in chains. But the damage was done, for humanity had achieved consciousness.

The Talos Principle 2 is a far more expanded puzzle solving philosophical journey than its predecessor. Earlier this year we got a taste of the journey with a preview, and now we’ve experienced this journey in full. The Talos Principle 2 scales back the danger element of the puzzles that frequented the first game, with an aim to focus more on the world and the depth of the puzzles themselves. A far more in-depth journey that looks to explore the ideas behind philosophical idea of The Talos Principle, coupled with a touch of Greek mythology. How does The Talos Principle 2 fair in this far more elaborate and expansive narrative, gameplay loop and visual experience? Pretty damn well as it turns out.

The puzzles in The Talos Principle 2 will see you needing to complete a minimum of 8, out of 10 possible puzzles per area. You’ll need complete three sets of eight to unlock the Megastructure which will serve as the focal point of your journey throughout the game. Each section will build in difficulty of the puzzles, compounding with each new puzzle element you unlock. Interestingly, the puzzles of the final area are the most stripped back in terms of different components, but are far and beyond more difficult than any other puzzles you’ll experience through-out the game. For the most part, 90 per cent of the puzzles will be easily solved within a minute or two. Some will take a little more thinking, but as there isn’t any puzzles that require quick movement or complex platforming, The Talos Principle 2 is overall a challenge of just the mind and your puzzle-solving thinking. A mostly accessible experience, the end stretch of puzzles may be somewhat of a wall for a large majority of players. The Talos Principle 2’s decision to strip away the danger elements seen in the first title plays a major part in the success and difficulty of the puzzles themselves. A far more solid experience than the first title, with a much more enjoyable gameplay loop as a result. The two ‘harder’ optional puzzles per area can also contribute to the required 8 of the area, so exploring the world for these slightly more hidden and ‘optional’ puzzle zones can result in progressing where a pseudo-mandatory puzzle is a little too perplexing to solve.

Exploration is a major part of the game here. Each area is a fairly vast and expansive environment to explore. There are dead labs, lore terminals filled with text documents of background information, and voice logs to help develop the underlying theme of the game. That being what is the correct choices for the development of humanity, and should following arbitrary goals be a requirement of humanity not making the same mistakes as the past. Exploring the world will reward you with more information about it, as well as give you progress towards the super-end game puzzles which require to to fully complete every other puzzles, and side objective to unlock them. Unfortunately, my brain wasn’t quite up to the task, so I wasn’t able to experience these Golden Gate sections, but for the dedicated player the expansive world gives you the ability to learn and explore, and in turn keeping the gameplay feeling fresh and different. The environments themselves are designed gorgeously so travelling through the open environments is rewarding.

In the preview build, there was some complaints about eye strain and motion sickness. The developers bring attention to the motion sickness options upon boot and it is very much appreciated. Switching from first person to third person, and reducing motion blur helped tremendously and meant that instead of being in pain after a few hours, meant that longer play sessions were completely doable without the pain that came with eye strain and motion sickness. Of course, its always important to take breaks, but the options given to help with extenuating circumstances is a welcome inclusion. The world is gorgeous and being able to look at it for longer than ten minutes is incredibly important.

Story-wise The Talos Principle 2 doesn’t shy away from its existential and philosophical questions. A game titled after the concept of materialism and consciousness being about the idea of humanity, community and the role of the individual and the truth. It is no surprise then that the story is incredibly heavy upon the ideas of existence. In a world post the existence of humans, sentient robots are created with incredibly complex programming to see if they can survive and thrive as the new ‘humanity’, or if they’ll fall prey to the same mistakes that humans had made in the past. The game challenges the idea of AI development, shining a positive on the future potential of AI, rather than the bleak and negative view that we are regularly presented with. Despite being a title that is incredibly heavy on the existential aspects, there is always a semblance of hope. The hope keeps the deep subject matter from bordering on depressing, as it runs that risk.

For those who are not particularly keen on the idea of having their views of existence, humanity and the idea of the danger of knowledge and truth, this may be a bit too much of an experience. For the most part, you can skip through all of the dialogue and focus on just playing the game, but being that the reason for the puzzle solving is explained through the philosophical delving, it may feel a little hollow to simply ignore it. There is elements of Greek and Egyptian Mythos weaved throughout the experience. Particularly with a focus on Pandora and Prometheus, as well as Athena and even the Sphinx. The reason for the existence of these characters is intrinsically linked with the overall narrative, and their reason for existing is only really understood as progress the story. Save it to say, they are far more literal in their existence than they may originally seem. This is a story of humanity, and it makes every avenue relate back to that in some way, shape or form.

The Talos Principle 2 is an incredibly well put together puzzle experience. An overstrong focus on philosophical ideology might prove a little too much for some people, but for those who are willing to have their minds stimulated in multiple ways The Talos Principle 2 may be their puzzle game of the year. There is a vast world with lots of things littered throughout it to make it feel alive and important. The puzzles are generally accessible with a steep difficulty curve towards the end game. A relatively long experience, looking at close to twenty five hours for a mostly completionist playthrough, there is plenty here to keep you occupied. An incredible puzzle experience, that keeps you thinking even after you’ve put it down.

The Score

9.0

Review code provided by Devolver Digital

The Pros

Generally accessible puzzles

Gorgeous and expansive world to explore and enjoy

Encourages you to think more philosophically about the story themes

The Cons

Philosophical depth may be off-putting

The character model looks goofy in third person

End-game puzzles are obnoxiously more difficult than all previous ones