Developer: CroTeam
Publisher: Deveolver Digital
Rrp: £29.99
Released: 11th December 2014
Available on Steam
Played using: Mouse and Keyboard
From CroTeam, the studio that brought you the gloriously fun, run and gun Serious Sam series comes the Talos Principle a slow paced philosophical puzzle game… That’s quite a leap there.
I’ll be honest, I’ve really struggled to review this game because it’s hard to talk about without giving away spoilers, due to that I’m afraid this review is going to be shorter than I would normally do.
The Talos Principle is a FPP (First Person Puzzler) that poses a philosophical question. Unfortunately I can’t tell you anything about that question because it would be a huge spoiler, but rest assured it’s a good one.
This philosophical aspect is the key feature that distinguishes itself from its many peers, such as Magrunner or the Portal series because it’s not merely asking the player to solve its many puzzles but also think more deeply in general. Of course, you can choose to ignore the philosophy part of it almost entirely, but if you do you’ll be missing out on some context as to what’s going on or has gone on.
For the most part the controls are standard fair for a game in first person, [W,A,S,D] to move, holding down [Shift] while moving makes you run, and [Space] jumps. Discounting the journal [Tab] there are only three real differences. Firstly there is no crouch function, which is understandable as its really not needed for this game. The second difference is that holding down [X] at anytime resets where you are, allowing you to restart a task without backtracking. Lastly is that clicking the [left mouse button] is a multifunctional, it picks objects up, puts them down and interacts with the environment.
The main objective of the game is to collect the sigils that have been put in ‘task rooms’ (basically the test chambers in Portal) within each area, once you collect enough you can unlock a gate that’s impeding your progress
The sigils you collect come in several different colours each pertaining to their function, green unlocks a new world hub once you solve a basic logic puzzle and yellow grants new equipment to use for certain puzzles. There are more but sadly I can’t tell you more without spoiling the game.
The sigils you have collected (and their purpose) is displayed across the top portion of your HUD, allowing you to easily keep track of what you can access or need to work toward thus far.
When you enter a task room a title briefly appears in the center of your screen. This title not only gives you the name of the task but also the sigil you can collect and what equipment is required to complete it.
Talo’s Principles puzzles extend beyond the ‘task rooms’ that you perform. You see, scattered around the areas that connect the task rooms (and within them) are stars that you can collect. Collecting them is beneficial but sadly I, yet again, can’t tell you why without spoiling the game a bit. I warn you though if you choose to try and get these stars (without a guide) you’re going to have to think outside of the box as they can be pretty damn hard.
As you play you will find free standing computers you can interact with, it is from these PC’s you can glean more information about the past of the world you are in. Once you’ve accessed them you can reread them whenever you wish in your journal.
What’s interesting is that despite the fact that the puzzles became more and more difficult as the game continued, especially with the puzzles that exist outside of the ‘task rooms’, I never found myself getting frustrated with it. Everything about this game is geared to make you be more thoughtful and conscious, the text you read on the computers and walls, the environments you work within and, most importantly, the music. It changes to suit the theme each area and never becomes intrusive to thought. What I found was that the music encouraged me to remain calm and focused.
This game has some very clever design choices, for example; you are often given seemingly infinite expanses to explore but should you wander too far out the world becomes blurred and you are quickly dragged back to where you originally appeared. At the same time the game encourages you to explore the large areas you are given, littering them with Easter Eggs, messages and secrets to find.
Another clever design choice is the way to each task room is signposted for you, literally. These signs even tell you if there you have collected a sigil by putting a black cross over any you have collect on the sign post.
Graphically speaking you can really tell it came from the team who created the Serious Sam franchise, I will freely admit there were times I felt like I needed a gun in case a screaming horde of headless bombers appeared.
That isn’t to say it’s not good looking, it most certainly is, there were several times I just stopped to enjoy the view.
Here’s the thing, as much as I really enjoyed this game i can’t recommend it at its Rrp, not when you can buy Portal and Portal 2 in a bundle for under £20. If you can find this game going for around the £20 mark then I would highly encourage you to get it. That is, if you like a hard puzzle game, because this is leagues above both Portal games when it comes to difficulty. If you’re unsure about it though give the free Public Test a go, it’s a pretty good representation of the full game.
