4.5/5 ★ – sirreldar's review of The Talos Principle.

I overwhelmingly enjoyed The Talos Principle. The game begins cryptically, with the player character waking up in a walled garden, and the disembodied voice of God booming from the sky with one simple instruction: “Seek Me”. The player must then run a gauntlet of puzzles to progress through the story and the game. Overall, the puzzles were very well done. They started off rather simple and gradually introduced complexity and new mechanics at a good pace. Each new tool and mechanic was generally well-tutorialized and combined well with other elements for countless unique puzzles. Each puzzle used the available mechanics in unique and interesting ways, so that even the repetitive use of mechanics felt novel and fresh with each new puzzle. Between puzzles, the player has opportunities to slowly unravel the cryptic story and lore of the game through audio logs, interactive computer terminals, dialog, and notes left by other characters. I really enjoy this type of narrative, even though I often struggle to piece it together on my own. I also appreciated that nearly every piece of story and lore was optional. While I enjoyed pondering the philosophical story beats between (and often during) puzzles, I liked that this is mostly optional for those that wish to focus purely on the puzzling. The story itself was enjoyable, though very challenging for me to piece together. Each answer was accompanied by more questions. And characters often contradicted or disagreed with each other, making even simple answers feel unreliable. Even still, it was fun to theorize about the game, find evidence of deceptions, and challenge the logic of arguments. I believe that this ambiguity is by design, effectively making the story itself a kind of puzzle. Besides the top-tier puzzles and engaging story, the game is filled with optional secret challenges. I really appreciated that the game tells you how many secrets are in each area, and in some cases “hid” them in plain sight. This made pursuing the secret collectibles much more fun for me. They usually felt less like searching for a needle in a haystack, and more like extra challenging bonus puzzles, which I liked. Furthermore, the game contained numerous easter eggs and references which were fun to find. This may be an odd thing to praise, but I felt that the game was very well organized. There are distinct areas, numbered sub-areas, signs pointing to puzzles, checklists for completed puzzles and secrets, a sort of “logbook” for discovered lore, and a progress tracker for each area. Generally, I always had a pretty clear picture of my progress, and navigating around the world typically felt deliberate and efficient. I very rarely found myself lost or unsure of what to work on next. Beyond this specific praise, I also enjoyed the graphics, music, UI, and other elements of the game which all came together wonderfully. I do have a few minor nitpicks. While rare, there were a few cases of mechanics which were not “taught” well. This caused a few instances of getting really stuck, and finally discovering the solution felt more annoying than satisfying. In the game’s defense, the world is pretty non-linear, and it might have been intended to return to these areas after the mechanics are better showcased, and I was just too stubborn to admit defeat until later. Another very minor nitpick was the gratuitous use of the “tetris” puzzles. I generally found these boring and tedious, but of course, that is purely subjective. I did appreciate the changes of pace from the regular puzzles, but I wish they had used a different puzzle type, or even multiple types for variety. Overall, I really enjoyed this game. From start to finish, the game was filled with engaging and interesting puzzles, fun and unique mechanics, and cryptic, philosophical story elements. I would very highly recommend it to anyone that enjoys puzzle games or is considering trying one out for the first time. The neat organization, generally well-tutorialized mechanics, and generous hints would make this a great first-time puzzle game. But the more complex later puzzles, bonus challenge puzzles, and unique mechanics also make this a fantastic game for those with more experience in puzzle games. This game nailed the formula, and it deserves the widespread praise that it has earned.