The Talos Principle 2

A wonderful, satisfying sequel. If you loved the first game, you'll love this, too. It's more great puzzles, featuring some new mechanics, and also more story and more choices to make. There's even a shiny graphical upgrade that can sometimes take your breath away. And lots of philosophy, of course. This is, after all, Talos Principle.

The star of these games is the puzzles. The basic set here is excellent, starting from clever introductions to the mechanics, to mind-bending combinations of non-intuitive elements. And there are plenty more optional puzzles that can be devilishly difficult indeed, true "thinking outside the box" fare. Plenty of times I banged my head against the wall (literally! in game!) and had to take a break and come back with a fresh mind to see the solution. Of course, with so many puzzles there are bound to be a couple that you won't enjoy, because they seem unfair, misleading, or are just tedious. There's definitely one of those for me! As a whole, though, they are overwhelmingly delicious.

And it's not just puzzles. The co-star is the gorgeous, diverse, dream-like environment, lovingly crafted and beautifully rendered by Unreal Engine 5. I feel the stylistic influence of both the Myst series and The Witness here. Nevertheless, the result feels cohesive and stands on its own.

Unfortunately, it comes with an annoyance: the areas are just way too big. You can run quite fast in this game, and indeed you might find yourself running most of the time just to get from puzzle to puzzle. This means that you need to consciously slow down and even stop if you want to savor the world. Also, though there is a compass showing main points of interest, there is no in-game map, so navigation can get convoluted and tiresome. I was not ashamed to look up maps online.

And ... that's pretty much my only criticism. Oh, also the HDR implementation is lackluster.

Many thanks to everyone who made this feast of a game. Almost 70 hours of thought-provoking, smile-inducing fun. Strong recommendation from me. And play the first game first, it's just as wonderful.