You'll like this one. It's got more of what you liked about Talos 1 without being a carbon copy:

1. The puzzles are more consistently difficult. Better still, there aren't any puzzles that are mindlessly easy or make you want to pull your hair out.
2. The philosophy is even more profound and relevant. Plus, with more characters comes more perspectives to consider, learn from, and debate with, and they take full advantage of that.


The Talos Principle games are characterized by a sense of thoughtfulness. They submerge you in a philosophically dense narrative for you to reflect on while you solve a series of Portal-esque logic puzzles. As the story progresses, you'll be asked questions about your thoughts about the game's events, your own philosophy, and the Big Questions of the setting. Each part of the game is different, but they compliment each other so well that it's easy for the world of Talos to suck you right in.

If that sounds good to you, buy the game now.

If you still need convincing, know that

1. The philosophy is accessible without being overly simplistic. Unlike games like Soma or Bioshock, whose themes are too surface-level to be worth thinking about past the end credits, Talos Principle fearlessly takes on both historical and modern problems/perspectives without being pretentious, preachy, or regurgitating political talking points. Fundamentally, it's an exploration of how societies form and decay, the ways in which reality shapes our ideologies, and how societies can unwittingly transform their own good intentions into cultures of self-loathing.

2. The puzzles are top-notch. Imagine Portal, but with a new puzzle object introduced every ten puzzles. 50% of them are inventive, and 50% of them are iterative; half the time you get a mechanic that completely revolutionizes everything (teleportation and mind-swapping, for example), the other half of the time, you get one that interacts with the existing mechanics to increase the complexity of the puzzles. It's a great way to keep things fresh while preventing puzzles from becoming too easy as you get used to the mechanics.

There are 120 main puzzles (12 areas with 10 puzzles each). For the most part, the difficulty remains consistent, requiring about 5-10 minutes to solve each on average, with two exceptions:

1. The first few puzzles in each area are easy, since they serve to introduce a new mechanic.

2. The final few puzzles in each are are harder, since they're trying to test your understanding.

Better still, you only have to solve 8 puzzles per area to proceed, and you do get a number of collectible tokens that allow you to skip puzzles, so players of any skill level should be able to complete the game.


Talos Principle 2 is the right kind of sequel, that meaningfully expands the gameplay and themes from the original without losing its sense of identity. It's more than my game of the year--it's a one-of-a-kind game, and I can't wait until Talos 3.

[h2] If you played the first game:[/h2] You'll like this one. It's got more of what you liked about Talos 1 without being a carbon copy: 1. The puzzles are more consistently difficult. Better still, there aren't any puzzles that are mindlessly easy or make you want to pull your hair out. 2. The philosophy is even more profound and relevant. Plus, with more characters comes more perspectives to consider, learn from, and debate with, and they take full advantage of that. [h2] If you haven't played the first game:[/h2] The Talos Principle games are characterized by a sense of thoughtfulness. They submerge you in a philosophically dense narrative for you to reflect on while you solve a series of Portal-esque logic puzzles. As the story progresses, you'll be asked questions about your thoughts about the game's events, your own philosophy, and the Big Questions of the setting. Each part of the game is different, but they compliment each other so well that it's easy for the world of Talos to suck you right in. If that sounds good to you, buy the game now. If you still need convincing, know that 1. The philosophy is accessible without being overly simplistic. Unlike games like Soma or Bioshock, whose themes are too surface-level to be worth thinking about past the end credits, Talos Principle fearlessly takes on both historical and modern problems/perspectives without being pretentious, preachy, or regurgitating political talking points. Fundamentally, it's an exploration of how societies form and decay, the ways in which reality shapes our ideologies, and how societies can unwittingly transform their own good intentions into cultures of self-loathing. 2. The puzzles are top-notch. Imagine Portal, but with a new puzzle object introduced every ten puzzles. 50% of them are inventive, and 50% of them are iterative; half the time you get a mechanic that completely revolutionizes everything (teleportation and mind-swapping, for example), the other half of the time, you get one that interacts with the existing mechanics to increase the complexity of the puzzles. It's a great way to keep things fresh while preventing puzzles from becoming too easy as you get used to the mechanics. There are 120 main puzzles (12 areas with 10 puzzles each). For the most part, the difficulty remains consistent, requiring about 5-10 minutes to solve each on average, with two exceptions: 1. The first few puzzles in each area are easy, since they serve to introduce a new mechanic. 2. The final few puzzles in each are are harder, since they're trying to test your understanding. Better still, you only have to solve 8 puzzles per area to proceed, and you do get a number of collectible tokens that allow you to skip puzzles, so players of any skill level should be able to complete the game. [h2] For everyone[/h2] Talos Principle 2 is the right kind of sequel, that meaningfully expands the gameplay and themes from the original without losing its sense of identity. It's more than my game of the year--it's a one-of-a-kind game, and I can't wait until Talos 3.