Published , by Sam Chandler
Published , by Sam Chandler
For those who love puzzles, be they physical or philosophical, The Talos Principle has always been a shining gem that looks to offer both. The game originally released in December of 2014 and has since garnered an almost cult-level of appreciation, sitting at an Overwhelmingly Positive rating on Steam. And now, players are preparing for the sequel. In the lead up to the release of The Talos Principle 2, I had the opportunity to test out my puzzle-solving and introspection skills and walked away thinking about thinking and excited for what puzzles await me.
Anyone that’s played the original Talos Principle is no doubt waiting with baited breath to dive into what’s on offer in the sequel. But for those who are unaware, The Talos Principle is a puzzle game, not dissimilar to Portal, but set against the backdrop of consciousness, humanity, and a whole plethora of philosophical quandaries. This hands-on preview afforded me entry into the first five hours of the game, which Croteam is billing as roughly the first quarter of the experience. This number will no doubt fluctuate depending on your puzzle-solving skills and desire to read through all the terminals.
The whole adventure kicks off with about a dozen puzzle rooms. Each one included the entry-level puzzles from the first game: stepping on buttons, lifting boxes, using projectors to disable barriers, and floating through the air after stepping onto a fan. While this is going on, the narrator and main driving force of the first game, Elohim, speaks to me, encourages me, and talks about my kind as his children.
With the final puzzle in this tutorial area solved, I stepped through a portal and awoke in New Jerusalem, my consciousness having been born and placed inside a robotic shell. Today, as it turns out, is a special day as I am the 1,000th android to gain consciousness after completing Elohim’s puzzles. The great Goal has been completed and so this city of AIs can get about existing in perfect harmony with nature in a human-free Earth.
Before I’ve even stepped outside, I’m speaking with other robots and discussing matters of great import. My tabula rasa-like nature means I can offer a fresh perspective on the current political problems, with the main one being: should we stop at one thousand robots or keep going? But soon enough the attention shifts as an unknown holographic projection beckons the robots to come and visit an island outside the city.
It’s here that The Talos Principle 2 started to show me the scope that Croteam is aiming for in the game. My primary objective was to board a vehicle and head to the island. However, the mayor suggested I explore the city, my new home, to learn about our past and chat with the other robots. So I spent a bit of time reading exhibits in the museum, speaking with robots about whether the Founder had the right idea, and what I think of this mysterious hologram business. But with my appetite for puzzles whetted, I quickly boarded the vehicle and jetted off to the island in search of something to flex my brain.
The island is made up of a collection of different regions centered on a vast mega structure, with each location offering their own theme and puzzle mechanic that builds upon what came before. I was able to explore three of these vast areas while my robot companions wandered about exploring, nattered about what this island meant, and questioned who could have made it. There certainly feels like more narrative direction this time around, with a focused story and beats to lead players along instead of just the desire to reach the top of the tower and do more puzzles.
As for the puzzles, the first one lulled me into a false sense of security. I immediately saw it was some sort of laser tripod, similar to the first game, and thought I knew what I was doing. I had done dozens of puzzles involving lasers. Just point it at a laser and it will refract the laser at an angle, right? Wrong. The red laser refused to beam out of it. Then, when I focused a red and blue laser at it, a green laser came out. Things were getting weird.
The second puzzle utilized two of these tripods in order to get the laser around a corner. My first thought was to do what I did in the first game: simply link the second tripod to the first – but the second tripod required two inputs as well, and mixing the correct color with another resulted in the incorrect output. The solution was to have the first tripod output the wrong color and use the second tripod to mix it with another to get the correct one. It was an ever so slight change that added a layer of complexity to a standard puzzle I was all too familiar with after my time with the first game.
Soon enough I was introduced to another device that created a quantum hole through specific walls. I could pass tools through it but I couldn’t jump through it myself or pull the device through its own hole. Mix in the multi-input laser tripods and The Talos Principle 2 had me stopping a few times to appreciate the disco tech I had created in the middle of this mysterious island of puzzles.
Between these puzzles, I found myself exploring the areas in search of secrets like hidden recordings, journals packed full of philosophical writings, and consumables players can use within puzzles to get help.
All good things must come to an end, and so after completing all three sections, three lasers hit the mega structure and my band of robots were ready to continue. It’s at this point the demo finished and I was left to do the only thing that made sense: play it again from the start.
Suffice it to say, The Talos Principle 2 is shaping up to be a sequel that rivals the first, both in its puzzle design and in its storytelling. It feels like a similar step up that we saw from Portal to Portal 2. But instead of pondering if cake is real, you’ll be pondering about what it means to be a conscious human when The Talos Principle 2 launches on November 2, 2023.
This preview is based on a Steam version of the game provided by the publisher. The Talos Principle 2 is set to release on November 2, 2023 on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5.