The Talos Principle 2

Inviting vistas, great puzzles, religious fundamentalists and philosophical debates greet me in the opening hours of The Talos Principle 2. The first thing that strikes me in the sequel to the fantastic 2014 puzzler is not the puzzles but the storytelling. I stand in a digital world and hear a muffled voice guiding me. It feels safe and you know you will find a way forward. This time, philosophy, science and religion are a much bigger part of the experience. They are the three foundations of the whole experience much like the three concepts of the Trinity are interrelated. Almost every interaction, whether it is a conversation with other self-aware robots, or machines, there is always an intriguing question to ponder. These are usually questions humanity has been trying to answer for over thousands of years.

When you wake up as a Citizen Thousand, you are a key figure in the future of New Jerusalem and even the gossip of the day. The battered city looms large and is a sight to behold. The robots have built a civilisation from the ashes of humanity's collapse and are trying to avoid making the same mistake. In this universe, humanity overused Earth's resources, overheated the planet and unleashed a deadly virus. A mysterious figure named Prometheus (the titan who stole the fire from Zeus and gave it to humans) appears in a thunderous grey cloud and invites the inhabitants to follow him to a mysterious island landscape.

The robots tell you early on that they were created by humanity, as a consequence they see themselves as real people. Our protagonist and the rest of the cast are constantly trying to find their place in this reality. At the same time, cracks are building up between older and younger machines. Those who came first do not necessarily share the worldview and goals that the mayor is trying to establish for the future of the inhabitants. As with humans, camps and groupings form. Among the artificially intelligent robots, we see fissures. Religious doctrines clash with both scientific and philosophical approaches. It sometimes feels more like an intellectual exchange of ideas than a game.

The oldest machines are seen as wise and authoritative. They have been guided by the first machine and met people. They make me think of Jesus and his disciples. Without revealing anything, the firstborn is given the status of a prophet. His message and teachings form the basis of the city's inhabitants. There is a lot of theology (in the old sense of the word) and religious symbolism woven in with the philosophical and scientific issues the title touches on. I think this is one of its greatest strengths. At the same time, I wonder if the task of stacking boxes to reach a button has anything in common with the rest of the adventure. There are often dichotomies in how our characters view the world and what we do. As players, we are often challenged to think about whether there are more ways to look at complex issues. It's great fun to see how the characters you meet are also challenged in their worldview and how they can change their own over time.

The Talos Principle is not just a name but something that permeates the entire adventure. Straton of Strageira is a fictional Greek philosopher, who argues about what life really is with his machine he calls Talos. We also encounter databases where names like Hobbes, G.K. Chesterton and Alfred, Lord Tennyson are mentioned. Croteam manages to constantly ask big and difficult questions using established and fictional culture, science, philosophy and religion. The best part is that you don't have to have an answer. However, you do get reactions from the world around you depending on what you say to other characters. To so satisfactorily balance puzzles with given answers and philosophical questions is impressive. Using this dichotomy between solutions for all puzzles and open-ended questions with no answers in dialogue as a foundation for game design is a bit unusual. As a result, The Talos Principle 2 gives you a little more to chew on and ponder even after the credits have rolled.

I felt that the music contributed to the feeling of being part of something bigger. It harmonises with the theme and captures the mystery. Several of the pieces are both powerful and beautiful. It's music I could listen to when I'm doing something else. I must also give some credit to the sound designer. Even if the sounds don't overwhelm you, everything sounds great. A good example of this is that the sound mix, such as the volume of voices and ambients, is always at a perfect sound level. Nothing sounds like it belongs anywhere else. Should you have a problem with anything, you can adjust lots of audio options to customise your experience. When both music and other sounds are intertwined, the aesthetics work wonderfully well.

Technically and graphically, it looks really good for what it is. The environments are beautiful and full of detail. The worlds you visit feel extensive and look really gorgeous. It can't match the big high-budget games of the year but it comes close. The lighting is certainly limited in each area (no period between day and night). This results in what I perceive as very handcrafted areas. Wherever I stop and look at the textures, it looks great. It has crashed a few times and I have managed to lock myself into a wall on two occasions. Aside from that, the title has worked well. I miss a manual save function. Saving only when you exit poses some risks if you get stuck in a wall and exit. The reset button for the puzzles has not always worked.

The question you might ask yourself is what do I do as a player. It's a question I've been thinking about for a long time. The set-up is quite simple. You can walk, jump and run. You can talk to characters and choose response options. You also have a social media app where you can interact with other residents. The third component is that, just like in its predecessor, you go into small restricted zones and solve puzzles. The puzzles are structured so that you need to complete eight of them to reach more of the story. You are free to tackle these and more hidden counterparts in any order you like. The puzzles themselves contain their own unique interactions with gadgets. These can involve shutting down energy fields, opening holes in the wall, or allowing you to take over the bodies of clones. The difficulty level can be a little uneven, but I've rarely spent more than 25 minutes with a puzzle. I like the variety of these and I've had a lot of fun solving the problems put in front of me.

The sum of my opinions with The Talos Principle II is that you can buy it without the slightest concern. It is a clear improvement on one of my favourite games of 2014 in exactly every way. You are treated to brilliant music, acceptable voice acting, nice graphics, well-done elements of philosophy, science and religious issues. You are offered a good variety of puzzles with both simple and tricky problems to solve. You are also expected to interact with more complex and open questions. Every argument you make is usually met by others. I also love the clashes between the characters, ideologically and otherwise. If you happen to like ancient Greece, there are also some fun elements related to it. Some iconic characters from the first title return. Ultimately, it's a very entertaining product and one of several favourites in 2023. It's a niche experience, but if you like to ponder questions like our role in the universe, or what a soul might mean to a self-aware machine, you've probably found one of the most interesting games of the year.