This review contains spoilers
SPOILER WARNING: SPOILER REVIEW
Gear up, this is somewhat of a long one, and my first big review on this website! :D
I just "finished" Talos Principle about half an hour ago, and by finished I mean I got two endings: the tower one and the stars one. I'm still not done, I'm going to go back and 100% complete the game and see the easter eggs I missed next week when I have free time, and I'll update this when I do so, but for now here's my thoughts.
Go for the tower ending. It's an absolutely fantastic closer to the story, which is I found to be extremely heartfelt and packed in with a lot of nice philosophy (which some admittedly goes over my head, I'm not very smart on this subject) and extremely hard-hitting moments. There were some extremely heartfelt and depressing moments that had me in tears, even when it was just text on a screen. The problems with the story, though, are the narrative pacing. A lot of its best moments are packed in with a lot of weaksauce allegory squished in between (that some also went over my head), though despite that, uncovering the secrets of the world you inhabit and what's actually going on is still a great experience, whether it's through Elohim, a snarky talker, good text logs, or the fantastic audio recordings (Alexandria's VA was so good!). Some of the QR codes were also funny and nice worldbuilding (and even lead to a nice out-of-world puzzle :D).
The "characters" are also good, specifically the computer AI and Elohim, though I think the computer AI needed some work. Part of his routine is to make you think about the world and ask you questions, but you have pre-ordained responses to him. I believe it's intentional, because of the nature of the world that it's built (commented meta-wise through text logs aware that it's a game), where it has specific responses you can use to eventually gain true independence. That being said, it's frustrating to be unable to answer questions in the way you want to, or to add nuance when the AI gives edge cases and you want to say "there's a line", or it's "context-dependent", which are not available answers. I still like it and the reason it exists, and the snarks are hilarious. Though I also think the AI could've been... a LITTLE less pretentious.
Also on the stars ending, it's not worth it. I think it's neat to potentially be a "helper" for future players that are in your friends list, but I think the QR paint code is already more interesting interaction (I got freaked out by a few of them lol). The helpers also come so late by the C-world, and from what I've gathered there's usually not that many puzzles left, unless of course they've been skipping sigils, but I think most people playing this game will go out of their way to do a lot.
The gameplay, especially the puzzle design, is top-notch with some rough patches. The difficulty curve is really good, especially with the grey puzzles and the think outside the box stars, though it has problems where by the C-world I found the main puzzles too easy, save for a few exceptions (the prison break one and Tower 5 AAAAAAA). The stars are GREATLY challenging and I appreciate their existence for the most part, though you do notice patterns eventually after solving a few (I like to say your brainwaves match the devs and you realize how they craft them). The way you think outside the box is great, especially with the signposting.
I had so many "a-ha" moments, which I think is my favorite part about playing puzzle games. I had a lot of them through Worlds A and B. I also think it's great how open-ended it is to go do puzzles while having some hard ones gated off, keeps the difficulty curve nice for most of the game. Elohim also pushes you to do other puzzles when you're stuck so you don't get tunnel vision, which is great.... but I'm super persistent and refuse to let a game BEAT ME! Got an achievement for it :3
Platform usage is also really cool but underutilized. Some reflector puzzles using great spatial awareness, especially the ones when you have to realize their multiple uses, are GOAT. Almost every puzzle requiring smart usage of multiple jammers were my favorite puzzles by far, especially ones asking for smart observation skills. The recorder also had some great puzzles. It's so much fun when it first shows up and you find out what it records over time, that's wild. The fans are also great for great 3D up-down awareness puzzles, though it can be a little frustrating when what you think the fan gives to solve isn't what it actually is (maybe fan distance signposting?).
Exploring to find stuff is neat, but... I feel like the process of knowing where the stars are is annoying, at least parallel to how little I think the stars ending is worth. I feel like a "path" signposting would've been nice to see where they are but give no help to solve it. There were 2 stars that were outright BULL and I don't even want to talk about them.
Some other frustrating mechanics I want to talk about include the recorder. While I love its use in puzzles, it's SOOOOO SLOWWWWWWWWW. I wish there was a way to speed it up instead of having to stand on a platform for so long because I don't trust myself to be speedy. The mines and turrets are also TOO GOOD AT THEIR JOB. I think they're way too scary. Made me dread every time I came close to them, or had to do a puzzle with them. I had to use a messenger on one with a mine because I didn't want to do it because SCARY... and that's when I found out they don't solve it for you, so I had to do it anyway. ;_;
Getting the axe and then having to painfully go through elevators to open up new entrances was a bruh moment. Block sigil puzzles are also STUPID AND I HATE THEM. 2D topography awareness is my kryptonite along with geometry. Figuring out where one stupid block goes in the square drove me nuts. They also had an annoying difficulty spike around Tower Level 3 in runtime.
Not a fault of the game, but I do wish this game was more accessible. The messengers you can unlock do give neat guidance, but I wish they were more helpful and plentiful. Having a tiny amount makes you never want to use them, though I think it was the devs' intention of wanting you to solve it by yourself (especially with the ARE YOU SURE)... but the hints they give aren't that great either. They're a good step to help, but they're not amazing from the two times I used them (just for achievements hehe). But again, this is a nitpick.
Some other nice things. Finding the dev room was super nice, and I'm excited to find other easter eggs when I go back to 100% finish. I was warned that the game would not be wise during current time right now, but I actually found the coronavirus timing to be both hilarious for some things and.... made other stuff hit harder. I don't think the current global situation is a barrier to entry, but it's worth thinking about..
The aesthetic is nice, though it really hits when you find the sacred grounds. The music for messenger rooms are godlike. The general OST is pretty good, though I started tuning it out (save for sacred grounds) by the C-worlds. Long times spent on puzzles and the OST not being that gigantic does eventually make you grow tired of it, and it's not THAT amazing an OST to replay constantly, unlike Celeste imo (though they're both completely different games).
When I'm eventually completely finished with Talos Principle, I really want to break down how each puzzle teaches the mechanics of the world. It reminds me of Portal but it has more depth to its teachings, and I think in the future that's going to be a big passion project for me... when I have time. I'm doing a lot of things at once.
Anyway, really good game. I don't have the time for a TL;DR right now, and these aren't my true final thoughts as I still need to complete it all! But I enjoyed it still. Thinking 8.5/10
(Thanks to SGS for the game rec!)
Gear up, this is somewhat of a long one, and my first big review on this website! :D
I just "finished" Talos Principle about half an hour ago, and by finished I mean I got two endings: the tower one and the stars one. I'm still not done, I'm going to go back and 100% complete the game and see the easter eggs I missed next week when I have free time, and I'll update this when I do so, but for now here's my thoughts.
Go for the tower ending. It's an absolutely fantastic closer to the story, which is I found to be extremely heartfelt and packed in with a lot of nice philosophy (which some admittedly goes over my head, I'm not very smart on this subject) and extremely hard-hitting moments. There were some extremely heartfelt and depressing moments that had me in tears, even when it was just text on a screen. The problems with the story, though, are the narrative pacing. A lot of its best moments are packed in with a lot of weaksauce allegory squished in between (that some also went over my head), though despite that, uncovering the secrets of the world you inhabit and what's actually going on is still a great experience, whether it's through Elohim, a snarky talker, good text logs, or the fantastic audio recordings (Alexandria's VA was so good!). Some of the QR codes were also funny and nice worldbuilding (and even lead to a nice out-of-world puzzle :D).
The "characters" are also good, specifically the computer AI and Elohim, though I think the computer AI needed some work. Part of his routine is to make you think about the world and ask you questions, but you have pre-ordained responses to him. I believe it's intentional, because of the nature of the world that it's built (commented meta-wise through text logs aware that it's a game), where it has specific responses you can use to eventually gain true independence. That being said, it's frustrating to be unable to answer questions in the way you want to, or to add nuance when the AI gives edge cases and you want to say "there's a line", or it's "context-dependent", which are not available answers. I still like it and the reason it exists, and the snarks are hilarious. Though I also think the AI could've been... a LITTLE less pretentious.
Also on the stars ending, it's not worth it. I think it's neat to potentially be a "helper" for future players that are in your friends list, but I think the QR paint code is already more interesting interaction (I got freaked out by a few of them lol). The helpers also come so late by the C-world, and from what I've gathered there's usually not that many puzzles left, unless of course they've been skipping sigils, but I think most people playing this game will go out of their way to do a lot.
The gameplay, especially the puzzle design, is top-notch with some rough patches. The difficulty curve is really good, especially with the grey puzzles and the think outside the box stars, though it has problems where by the C-world I found the main puzzles too easy, save for a few exceptions (the prison break one and Tower 5 AAAAAAA). The stars are GREATLY challenging and I appreciate their existence for the most part, though you do notice patterns eventually after solving a few (I like to say your brainwaves match the devs and you realize how they craft them). The way you think outside the box is great, especially with the signposting.
I had so many "a-ha" moments, which I think is my favorite part about playing puzzle games. I had a lot of them through Worlds A and B. I also think it's great how open-ended it is to go do puzzles while having some hard ones gated off, keeps the difficulty curve nice for most of the game. Elohim also pushes you to do other puzzles when you're stuck so you don't get tunnel vision, which is great.... but I'm super persistent and refuse to let a game BEAT ME! Got an achievement for it :3
Platform usage is also really cool but underutilized. Some reflector puzzles using great spatial awareness, especially the ones when you have to realize their multiple uses, are GOAT. Almost every puzzle requiring smart usage of multiple jammers were my favorite puzzles by far, especially ones asking for smart observation skills. The recorder also had some great puzzles. It's so much fun when it first shows up and you find out what it records over time, that's wild. The fans are also great for great 3D up-down awareness puzzles, though it can be a little frustrating when what you think the fan gives to solve isn't what it actually is (maybe fan distance signposting?).
Exploring to find stuff is neat, but... I feel like the process of knowing where the stars are is annoying, at least parallel to how little I think the stars ending is worth. I feel like a "path" signposting would've been nice to see where they are but give no help to solve it. There were 2 stars that were outright BULL and I don't even want to talk about them.
Some other frustrating mechanics I want to talk about include the recorder. While I love its use in puzzles, it's SOOOOO SLOWWWWWWWWW. I wish there was a way to speed it up instead of having to stand on a platform for so long because I don't trust myself to be speedy. The mines and turrets are also TOO GOOD AT THEIR JOB. I think they're way too scary. Made me dread every time I came close to them, or had to do a puzzle with them. I had to use a messenger on one with a mine because I didn't want to do it because SCARY... and that's when I found out they don't solve it for you, so I had to do it anyway. ;_;
Getting the axe and then having to painfully go through elevators to open up new entrances was a bruh moment. Block sigil puzzles are also STUPID AND I HATE THEM. 2D topography awareness is my kryptonite along with geometry. Figuring out where one stupid block goes in the square drove me nuts. They also had an annoying difficulty spike around Tower Level 3 in runtime.
Not a fault of the game, but I do wish this game was more accessible. The messengers you can unlock do give neat guidance, but I wish they were more helpful and plentiful. Having a tiny amount makes you never want to use them, though I think it was the devs' intention of wanting you to solve it by yourself (especially with the ARE YOU SURE)... but the hints they give aren't that great either. They're a good step to help, but they're not amazing from the two times I used them (just for achievements hehe). But again, this is a nitpick.
Some other nice things. Finding the dev room was super nice, and I'm excited to find other easter eggs when I go back to 100% finish. I was warned that the game would not be wise during current time right now, but I actually found the coronavirus timing to be both hilarious for some things and.... made other stuff hit harder. I don't think the current global situation is a barrier to entry, but it's worth thinking about..
The aesthetic is nice, though it really hits when you find the sacred grounds. The music for messenger rooms are godlike. The general OST is pretty good, though I started tuning it out (save for sacred grounds) by the C-worlds. Long times spent on puzzles and the OST not being that gigantic does eventually make you grow tired of it, and it's not THAT amazing an OST to replay constantly, unlike Celeste imo (though they're both completely different games).
When I'm eventually completely finished with Talos Principle, I really want to break down how each puzzle teaches the mechanics of the world. It reminds me of Portal but it has more depth to its teachings, and I think in the future that's going to be a big passion project for me... when I have time. I'm doing a lot of things at once.
Anyway, really good game. I don't have the time for a TL;DR right now, and these aren't my true final thoughts as I still need to complete it all! But I enjoyed it still. Thinking 8.5/10
(Thanks to SGS for the game rec!)