Developer: CroTeam
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Steam Deck Compatibility?: Verified
Rrp: £24.99 (Humble, Steam and Epic)
Released: 2nd November 2023
Available on: Humble, Steam and Epic
Played Using: Mouse and Keyboard
Approximate game length: 30+
Normally I would write a little story based on the game the review is about. However, this time I have a story that the first Talos Principle tangentially relates to. The first Talos Principle poses a question regarding souls and if machines can attain them. It also asks another question which is; Is a soul something you imprint upon through your life like a lump of clay or do you become moulded into the shape of your soul as you grow. I found this question interesting and posed it to my best friend (who I knew would love a debate on something like that) and she and I discussed it, or rather, we argued about it. During that argument we asked her partner what he thought. His response disappointed us both as he had no opinion at all about it, not even as a thought experiment. They broke up shortly after.
So anyway, that’s how the Talos Principle broke my friend’s relationship…
This game is set in a world where all of humanity has long since gone extinct… Well, all organic humans are anyway. You may be wondering why would I state specifically ‘organic humans’? That’s because there are sentient robots that call themselves humanity and consider us (the organic ones) to be their ancestors.
In this game, as it was with the last game, you play as one of those robots. In the first game you were the first of your kind to be born into the real world and in this one you are the last, specifically the one thousandth. You being the last one is apparently a big deal and so you walk out to a large celebration. A celebration that is short lived as it gets interrupted by Prometheus himself, or at least a representation of him. He just manages to command your race to investigate a distant island before being dragged off by Pandora. It seems something big is occurring and so you and a small team jet off to this mystery island.
As is to be expected a new game comes with new puzzles and mechanics, such as the RGB splitter that requires two coloured beams of light to create a third, such as red and blue to make green.
There are also a lot of puzzles, within each of the nine biomes there are eight ‘main’ puzzles, two ‘lost’ puzzles, two statue puzzles and a golden gate puzzle that can only be accessed in the late game. There are actually more than that but telling more would be something of a spoiler.
The puzzles are scattered across each biome and are numbered from one to eight (except the two lost puzzles, the statues and the golden gate) and each biome introduces a new mechanic for you to utilise. While you don’t have to go through them in numerical order, I do strongly suggest that you at least start with puzzle number one before trying the others if only to get an understanding of the new mechanic being shown to you.
Hidden around the biomes are two ‘Sparks of Prometheus’, you can use these sparks to skip a puzzle. Though it takes three sparks to skip a single puzzle and there are only eighteen sparks to be found in the entire game, so if you do decide to use them be sparing with them.
As I mentioned in the story at the beginning of this review, the previous game posed a philosophical question ‘Can a machine have a soul? And if so is the soul developed over time or granted in full at creation?’ It seems the first half of that question was answered, so now this game poses many more questions such as if knowledge should be sought out for its own sake, the nature of self determinism and the direction that the new human society should take.
In the last game there was a journal that was accessed with the [Tab] key, in this game the journal has been replaced with something of a status screen. While in this screen you can read information on the things your companions have found, check the clues that the sphinx statues give, relisten to the voice logs you find (which will continue to play out of the status screen) and you can interact with the games social media. That’s right the new humans in this game have created some kind of twitter analog, thankfully this version is actually moderated and the discussions generally don’t get insulting or abrasive. You can, of course, ignore it however I would encourage you not to as the short conversations you have on there have an impact on certain events that happen in the story.
While in the first game you were all alone, struggling your way through the various puzzles. In this game you actually have companions that wander around the various biomes, they won’t help you with the puzzles at all, that’s your job, but they will want to speak to you about the various things you discover as you play. I really like the inclusion of these characters as they add moments of levity and sometimes an alternative perspective on the various subjects this game likes to throw at you. Plus some of the characters I genuinely grew to like and would seek them out for a conversation whenever something important happened just to hear what they had to say.
I have to say that Croteam certainly do create a beautiful looking game, the various vistas are absolutely stunning to look at. Bear in mind that the screenshots are from my rig which is running just a little over the minimum specifications. I will admit it does make me a little sad to see that Croteam are no longer using their own engine, they really have shown that they know what they’re doing with the Unreal 5 engine.
On Steam Deck this game runs flawlessly. However, some of the puzzles (especially the ones that require you to do things outside of the various puzzle enclosures) can be very difficult to see simply due to the screen size.
If you like puzzles then this is a game I can highly recommend. I had an absolute blast playing through this, to the point that I found every secret, completed every puzzle and found the alternative ending. There aren’t many games that get me to do that.
If this appeals to you perhaps try;
The Talos Principle
Portal 2
Quantum Conundrum
