Developer: Croteam
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Steam Deck Compatibility?: Verified
Rrp: £16.75 (Humble, Steam and Epic)
Released: 14th June 2024
Available on: Humble, Steam and Epic
Played Using: Mouse and Keyboard
Approximate game length: 18 Hours +
This DLC is split into three parts; Orpheus Ascending, Isle of the Blessed and Into the Abyss. Each of the three parts is a self contained story. The first two (though you can play them in any order) are set after the events of the main game and the third takes place during the main story.
In each of the three parts you play as a different character. This makes no difference as to how the game plays but does change how the characters are personified. In the case of Orpheus Ascending you reprise the role of 1K (the player character from the base game) and you’re mute. However, in Isle of the Blessed you play as Yaqut who is much more reticent and nervous which is displayed in how he speaks with other characters. In the final part, Into the Abyss, you play as Byron who is much more introspective and curious. You may consider this to be needless flavour but I found that these interactions fleshed out the characters and their relationships to each other. You even get to speak to 1K while playing as Yaqut which was somewhat strange to experience.
I’d say that the puzzles in this DLC are generally more difficult than the majority of the ones in the base game, especially in Into the Abyss. While no new mechanics are introduced the developers have certainly found new ways to confound the player with the ones they already had on hand.
As soon as I saw this DLC was available I had to snap it up. The Talos Principle 2 is easily one of my best games of this year and I couldn’t pass up the chance to go back to that world. Once again the developers have created a game that both stuns and stumps.
