As intricate and clever as the main puzzles are, they do at least simply require you to work within the individual puzzle room. If you thought the main puzzles were obscure these are ridiculous. It’s almost as difficult to explain as it was to use and I felt my heart sink every time I walked into a puzzle and saw the time loop machine there.Īlongside the main sigils are bonus stars which can unlock a new ending. The mechanic which caused me the most grief was one which lets you create time loops to duplicate items for a short amount of time. The Talos Principle forces you to consider your environment in a way I hadn’t really done since Portal 2 in fact, this game has a fair bit in common with Portal, perhaps with a dash of Myst thrown in. The game forces you to consider every use for your items to give a simple example, just because your item is for channelling a laser beam doesn’t mean it can’t weigh down a pressure plate and maybe channel a laser at the same time. The satisfaction of success is massive though, from creating a complex laser grids to using items in a less obvious, more ‘outside the box’ way. By the end you have around six items available for use in the puzzles and it gets properly, ridiculously, difficult. The puzzles themselves are largely based around energy gates which must be kept open a variety of ways, from simple pressure pads to jammers to guiding lasers onto panels. The satisfaction of completing a puzzle and unlocking a new area is really lovely. There are dozens of them and all see you collecting little Tetris pieces called sigils which are put together into keys to unlock new areas or give access to new tools. If any criticism can be given it is that the gameplay and narrative don’t necessarily feel particularly well entwined, but the two separate elements are so strong individually it’s hard to be too upset by this. If you’ve ever got into an argument with someone and realised half way through that there’s no way you can win because your opponent just knows more than you, you’ll know what talking with Milton feels like. It’s not a conversation, obviously, but it does sort of feel like one. The most interesting parts of the game are your discussions with the library AI Milton, who questions you about your assumptions about the world and relentlessly challenges you on every point you make. Compared to something like the recent Deus Ex games, which explore similar themes with all the subtlety of a claymore, The Talos Principle takes a musing and thoughtful approach and doesn’t offer any answers. Artificial consciousness raises the question of the soul and the right for humans to assume dominance over other intelligences. If The Talos Principle can be said to have a central argument, it is that the musings of the great philosophers about the nature of humanity are in fact more relevant in our technologically advanced world rather than less. It’s very concerned with philosophy, specifically the point where philosophy and technology intersect. The Talos Principle is a game with extremely lofty narrative ambitions and genuinely hits almost all of them. At the centre of the world there is a tower which Elohim forbids you to climb but…that’s not going to stop you is it? Elohim isn’t the only person communicating with you, dotted terminals scattered around the world drop hints about the nature of the world you inhabit, whilst an AI masquerading as a library assistant program hides out from Elohim and fills your head with thoughts of rebellion. When you first reach a computer terminal and see your robotic hands, it becomes very clear that this is not a story to take at face value. I was initially worried that the puzzles would hit a difficulty wall which would just infuriate me and well…it did, but despite me being an idiot and relying on guides for the final quarter the interesting story and unique way it is told carried me through.Īt the start of The Talos Principle you awaken with no memories in a beautiful garden filled with decaying Grecian architecture and art, when a booming God-like voice identifying itself as Elohim tasks you with completing a series of puzzles to ascend and join him. I picked The Talos Principle because I had nothing to play and just looked at the Metacritic top rated PS4 games and went with the first one I hadn’t played. The Talos Principle for PS4, PC, OS X, Linux and Android
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