With the announcement of The Talos Principle 2 coming out on November 2nd and the original game having come out in 2014 it seems like an excellent time to get the first game fresh in our minds. How are you enjoying it and if you played it back in the day, what’s it like coming back nearly 9 years later?
I’m going to try to take a moderate stance on spoiler tags as I know entire threads of REDACTED aren’t very enjoyable. If you have been playing for more than about 8 hours you should start tagging story. All puzzle solutions must be spoiler tagged.
I had apparently played 14 hours already but epilepsy deleted those memories so this is as good as my first time playing. I’ve just barely started but right away the game is very pretty. Hard to go wrong with crumbling grassy ruins. It’d be quite serene if it weren’t for the occasional mine drone or auto gatling gun. So far it feels like it’s aged excellently and could easily have been released yesterday. Also I get the feeling this is the kind of game that will hold a lot of secrets.
I tried The Talos Principle twice. The first time, I didn’t get too far and gave up. But the second time, I got drawn in and spent a lot of time. The best puzzle game I played in a long time. Actually, before Talos I did not even realize that puzzle games could be so much fun. I loved everything about it. The puzzles, the story, the music, the game design and atmosphere. But the best part was looking for all those hidden secrets and Easter eggs. It was so rewarding. You just explore the map, which seems small, and yet if you look close enough you will find a ton of hidden stuff. I don’t think I found all the secrets, but I got pretty close. The end game was so epic, too, especially after the slow-paced main game. I also think the game was just very well written, which in addition to the well-designed game play, makes the game so great. The game also inspired me to play Into the Breach (although now I don’t remember how I related one to another…)
I’ve done about half of A and a little bit of B so far and the game’s quite fun and challenging. Any time I figure out a puzzle that was stonewalling me I’m amazed and slightly embarrassed by how simple the answer was. The light hearted tone of the personhood discussions has been a nice break to the struggles of puzzlery. I’m interested to see how deep they get.
I’d say light-hearted becomes pretty serious at some point, which is, again, good writing. There is one unnerving Easter egg you can find that kind of hints at the tension.