I always heard about this game back when I was younger, and when I discovered it was made by the same team that made all the Serious Sam games(which I also heard a lot in my teenager days), it was an internal cultural shock that resparked my interest in playing this supposed jewel.
So, did the game fulfill my expectations? Yes, it did. It plays like a mixture of Portal and Stanley Parable, it feels easily like one of Half-Life's derivatives, and I think this means a lot to the quality of the game.

The puzzles play in a simple fashion: you have cubes, laser beam connectors, fans and even a gameplay recorder which effectively makes you have two actions in the same time. But although it sounds overbearing(that was my fear), it presents all the puzzles in a non-linear fashion, and every new item is gradually unlocked, so it flows as natural as water on a riverbed.
The puzzles themselves rarely are too big for your understanding, even when they are complex and wide-spanning, you will solve each room sequentially, then add up the knowledge of the past rooms to apply in the later ones, so this all makes puzzle-solving really engaging and not a burden in any way.

I think I shouldn't talk a lot of the plot because it's an experience best played blindly, but I need to say that it reminded me of Nier Automata with the questions and dilemmas it poses, but it goes beyond by incentivating you to think into philosophical solutions for yourself. Reading every log, time capsule, dialoguing with MLA in the computer and paying attention to Elohim's narration are pretty much all optional endeavors, but I HIGHLY recommend you do every one of these things, not only it is a refresher from the puzzle brain-frying, it also will make you feel a lot of emotions and questioning the world and yourself.

You may think the story and the gameplay are disconnected by the way I presented them, and they in fact are, since its development(The writers were hired by Croteam when the puzzles were near the end) was also separated in a way, but at the same time the writing is so good, it feels connected somehow.
The game has three endings and I didn't finish the "best" of them because it needs you to get all the Stars and that's a real Einstein challenge which I didn't find myself qualified to complete, but the other two endings already present a great closure to the plot.

The Talos Principle is a first-person puzzle game much like the Portal games but at the same time not. The only thing the game has in common is two things: first person perspective and puzzle-solving.

The graphical design and gameplay of the game is great, it's the CroEngine which we all know and love from Serious Sam but here put in a different context which definitely works out. Sure, it's a bit clunky but I think that adds to it. You are a robot after all. The worlds look great too, although maybe somewhat repetetive and not too much variation in things. However the environment is not really the focus of the game so it can be excused.

The puzzles are everything from easy to frustratingly hard, but I don't think anything is unsolveable. As you progress in the game, you also unlock various new tools that helps you solve puzzles along the way through the different worlds. I think that's a nice touch and there is quite the variation among the puzzles, nothing feels the same.

The story... while there might not be much story that happens directly there is a backstory that you explore and get to know more about the further in the game you get. You also hear voices and talk with someone on the terminals, everything hidden in mysteries and for you to find out. Something to keep in mind is that there are multiple endings including some hidden easter eggs :)

I recommend this to all puzzle fans out there, especially if you want something similiar to Portal (but yet not!). It's a quite long game but since it's divided into various worlds and levels, it feels like you're making progress every time you play.

I love a pure puzzle game even though it often fluctuates widely from elation of solving a puzzle to the frustration of your own stupidity to not being able to solve one. The Talos Principle is definitely a good pure puzzler. There's a sense of progression since you unlock more puzzle components as you go. You start off with a disruptor for shields and you get beam, boxes, fans, platforms and an ability to make a copy of yourself as you go. Although there can be a sense of tedium to some of the longer puzzles especially if it involves the copy ability, the puzzles are very well designed. Playing through all the game and the optional puzzles, I did get a little tired of setting up beams even if the quality of the puzzles doesn't drop. There are some real tricky secret stars to collect which are very clever but I'll admit I didn't find most of these without a guide. There is an interesting premise to the setup although exploring it almost exclusively through written messages on a terminal isn't the most exciting way to engage with it. It's a cool game and hearing that the sequel develops on it further certainly has me intrigued.

Игра с очень крутым нарративом, который не опускается до средней примитивности видеоигрового поля(где бытует например фраза кармака "сюжет в играх как сюжет в порно"), а является действительно взрослым и сложным, при этом очень хорошо использует интерактивность(как уникальную фичу игр по сравнению с книгами), из-за чего мы получаем очень выдающийся нарратив, абсолютно уникальный, эта игра просто не имела шанса стать популярной из-за того, на каком уровне дискурса нужно находиться чтобы проникнуться ей.

I was looking for a puzzle game and got a philosophy class.
The Talos Principle curious plot and storytelling drove me to the end by itself, and what a narrative this game delivers! Got me hooked up and intrigued till the end.
Most puzzles felt bland tho, feeling extremely easy and simple. Some of the puzzles that got me stuck was even because I was thinking it was more complicated than it actually is, so overall (besides some actually genius ones) the actual gameplay part of the game is not that good, which made me not interested in seeking the other endings myself.