The Talos Principle

The Talos Principle is a first-person puzzle game in which you play as an android waking up in an unknown world, guided by a godlike being named Elohim who promises you eternal life if you solve his puzzles. Various mechanics await you, from the classic cubes and pressure plates to complex laser manipulations, but remember: you’re forbidden to enter the ominous tower soaring at the center of this strange world. Through Portal-like puzzle chambers and philosophy, The Talos Principle offers a deep thought-provoking experience in every aspect.

A typical Talos Principle level consists of force-field doors you have to deactivate one by one, granting access to additional elements to use until you can reach the sigil — a tetromino piece located at the end of the puzzle. The mechanics are varied, from cubes to activate pressure plates or gain height to recorders that can duplicate every item and create a clone repeating your actions. Do note that good timings are sometimes necessary, whether it is to dodge sentry mines or to correctly execute the recorder puzzles.

The most distinctive Talos Principle item is the connector, which can be linked to any laser source, receiver or other connector to create laser circuits. The lasers come in two different colors that cannot cross each other. The complexity ceiling is very high and allows for a lot of very intricate puzzles. You can solicit an oblique hint inside some of the hard levels, although you're only allowed to use this system for a very limited number of times in a single playthrough.

The game is divided into three hub worlds, each of them having their own mythological theme and puzzle mechanics. They lead to plenty of semi-open areas housing multiple puzzles you can take in any order. Compared with its sequel The Talos Principle 2, there's not a strong emphasis on exploration, yet secret stars, easter eggs and bonus terminals can still be found.

As part of this additional content, the game takes full advantage of the infinite range of the lasers with interconnected puzzles that require finding a way, for example, to activate a blue receiver in a room that only contains a red laser source. These puzzles are optional and will grant you secret stars. There are other types of optional puzzles though, as stars can be locked behind a harder part of certain puzzles or discreetly hidden in the environment. Stars can sometimes be frustrating to find, being either too well-hidden or too obscure.

The Talos Principle tells its story through computer terminals. They contain pieces of lore as well as mythological and philosophical fragments of ancient texts. The Milton Library Assistant, a nihilist program guarding the Archives of all humanity's data, also regularly talks with you and directly confronts your beliefs by pointing out contradictions and shortcomings in your answers.

Though the plot and interactions with Milton are a big part of the game, the puzzles are still what makes its core. Elohim wants you to collect all the sigils and promises you eternal life if you succeed. The Talos Principle has multiple endings, but whether you'll end up following Elohim's guidance or not, collecting every sigil from the main worlds is mandatory to reach a conclusion.

The game has a DLC, Road to Gehenna, which explores a hidden part of the story and features harder puzzles. A direct sequel, The Talos Principle 2, was later released. The original game was then remade as The Talos Principle: Reawakaned, which includes gameplay and graphical improvements along with a brand new chapter and an official level editor.

This description was written by Andréas Andrieux.