The Talos Principle, in my opinion, is what a puzzle game should strive to be. I'm not going to talk about how fun it is, or how good the puzzles are. I want this small reflection to deal with its narrative, because the joy of solving puzzles would be short-lived if I didn't see a scope to it all.
Something that's often overlooked in the genre is a compelling narrative with a satisfying closure. See games like The Witness, for example. That game managed to keep me engaged with its ethereal atmosphere, not dissimilar to T.T.P., but that would soon leave me kind of disappointed when I saw that there was nothing to learn about the world I was in, only abstract commentary about thinly linked subjects. What makes T.T.P. different, and more enjoyable for me, is that it manages to create context for its atmosphere and breathe life into the mistery, keeping it fueled thanks to a very careful stream of information from the game world to the player. I really loved the feeling of following a well-trodden path, with all the characters that once solved the very same puzzles leaving messages on walls in the form of QR codes. All of you trying to figure out what the world you booted into means.
All this mistery isn't without a proper pay-off, as the ending spectacularly keeps you both hanging from your lips and gives an epic closure.
...work in progress...