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Honestly not that bad of a game, chances are if you are fan of puzzles you're going to like this one. But some of the design choices and general puzzle compositions later in the game just aren't particularly fun to play. The game starts out pretty strong with mostly minor annoyances, but once the rewind mechanic starts being part of the majority of puzzles. it starts to really drag on. Setup per try of rewind is incredibly annoying and a lot of the puzzles also rely on timing stuff which I really hate in puzzle games. Additionally, the clarity of what the game expects you to do becomes increasingly non-existent towards the end of the game. The game seems to enjoy consistently breaking its own rules, which is nice if properly executed; it isn't in this game for 2 reasons in my opinion: 1. The fact that there is so much hidden stuff in nooks and crannies of the levels, taking items from one puzzles into the overworld and even from the overworld into puzzles later on, etc., that you are never sure if you've missed a lever somewhere, the current puzzle is trying to teach you a new mechanic or you are missing essential items that come from a completely different part of the level (finding a lot of the stars is honestly just a dumb game of hide-and-seek running around blindly) 2. The game is wildly inconsistent with applying its own game/physic mechanics and some of the puzzles actually depend on these differences without them ever being explained to the player (e.g. picking up a jammer from above moves you forward and potentially dropping you down ledges if you are on static ground, but you remain in place when standing on a moveable box, while boxes in general can be freely picked up from above) This combined with some of the later Tetris puzzles, which are just random trial-and-error for the player since there is no natural evolution of mechanics or learning process here, caused me to noticeably resent the game towards the end, despite liking it very much initially.
Overall the game is good. Motivates you work with your brain, think about some philosophical topics, look at the world around you and... play until you save up money for The Talos Principle 2
I picked up this game close to launch or maybe a few months later, as i wanted to support CROTEAM. I have played their Serious Sam games since i was a teenager and loved them. This was a completely different take on gaming and it confused me at the time. I stopped playing it within a day or two after i bought it. I am glad i reinstalled it this week. The puzzles are fun and it takes a certain amount of persistence to conquer them. The name of each level does provide a hint to your approach , so please keep that in mind. I am nowhere close to the end, i am still in 'C2' and got a long way to go still. The game takes a bit of maturity and patience to conquer it , something the me from 2014-15 lacked. So here i am writing this review after playing the game continuously over the past 3 days and being hooked onto it. If you are a puzzle nut or someone who loved PORTAL, please get this game. I plan to pick up its sequel once i am done with this .
Wonderful game design. Every time you start a puzzle, there is an obvious solution that doesn't work. You feel lost. Then you start to think. Finally, you get this pleasant feeling the moment you guess the solution. You try it. The new solution works. You go to the next puzzle. In the background, there is a story that you don't really need to follow, but if you do, it can be very rewarding. One thing that I didn't like is the clicking the options in the terminal and, in general, the way how the story is presented. Not so engaging.
The music is nice. The puzzles are mostly quite simple and boring. There are only a few interesting ones. But after finishing A and B areas and 2 Tower levels I've only had one single moment of excitement after realizing how to solve a puzzle. The rest were just not challenging and not interesting at all. There is A LOT of pointless running around. Points of interests are unnecessarily spread out over a large distances with literally nothing in between. Extra items that can be found can often only be found through a very thorough exploration, but there is no incentive to explore in the game whatsoever. There is literally nothing interactive and nothing special in the environment aside from very few limited objects used for puzzles solutions. I was also expecting some hardcore philosophy after reading the reviews but in fact it is so basic and simplified, I struggle to call it philosophy at all. Overall very busy-body game that could've been much much tighter in terms of design. Compared to Portal games, or Outer Wilds neither level design, nor puzzle themselves are anything to write home about.
All of the great reviews don't lie - it's a great puzzle game with some neat story. To get through all of the puzzles is quite a challenge and requires you to think outside the box (pun intended). Would recommend to anyone who enjoys puzzle games. If you're not too keen on the puzzles and are more interested in the philosophical story, you may want to watch a playthrough online as the puzzles are the primary focus.
I did it. Took me 16hrs on a single weekend and I had to make use of some excellent guides since my brain simply fails to think in 4 dimensions (the record/replay puzzles killed me and some of the star puzzles are pure evil). Better men than me would have done it without help, but I have no problem with a "little cheating" if it helps me appreciate the game, its atmosphere and its story. On the plus side, I aced all of the Tetris puzzles, even the bigger ones stood no chance. My brain was always better with getting things in order than to think creatively. Although I did manage to solve some puzzles unconventionally on my own. ^^ Ah yes, the game. Well, it's Talos Principle. It's been around for 8 years (and in my backlog nearly as long) and just got a sequel, so I finally figured I would give it a try. It's great. As advertised. Gameplay and technical aspects are smooth like butter. Music and sound design is flawless. It all works together well. The documents you can read are fine, they range from pointless to helpful and are often borderline philosophical. The discussion with the computer entity is fun as well, probably the most interesting part story-wise. I don't have anything to criticise. It's not 100% my cup of tea, but close enough to be motivated to power through this in less than 2 days. Looking forward to play the sequel, although I think I do need a bit of a break before I dive in, as otherwise I might be tempted to give up too early when my brain does not work the way the game requires it (one way or another).
very good puzzle game, very much recommend this
This game makes me feel like a moron and I love it.
A good puzzle game, where you'll need to question your own assumptions, aside from figuring out what goes where. The game hints at some big reveal at the end, but the ending I've got was somewhat disappointing, so don't expect much in that regard. Got a little annoyed with searching for sightlines and repetitiveness mid-game.
Was ok at first. I thought the puzzles were fun. The stars are a huge pain to get all of them. My take on the whole game, would be great if it was 75% as long and maps didn't all reset (only the one someone was working on). That would solve many problems.
One of the best puzzle games ever made. Not only are the puzzles very well designed, there's also a superb story that makes you think about life a long time after completing the game. Very, very recommended! Score: 9.0/10
Great Game and a very good Setup for the secound game
If you like Portal then you will probably like this.
This game is simply amazing. It made me feel like I was on vaction in the first part and keept my attention throughout the whole thing. It asks many philosophical questions and poses questions you don't have answers to. My only fault with this game, is that this is sometimes too forced, making me avoid it sometimes. Definitely worth it! Especially on sale for 3€ like right now, a 100% must buy.
learnt what tetrominoes are
I loved this game and also the DLC 'Road to Gehenna' ... it's really well made. I loved the Linux compatibility too and i played it in Linux ...
It's really good but puzzles like Nerve Wrecker are absolutely awful. Thankfully those puzzles are optional bonus levels. But in either case, the writing is very good and the mechanics tend to work well. Sound is excellent and holds up better than the graphics which isn't ugly but not great looking in 2023
Phenomenal game! a great pleasure to play. I had been looking for something similar to Antichamber after beating that one a second time and while this doesn't really come close to it, it does have a similar feeling of existential dread and philosophical undertones (although in this game it is pretty much the core of its story). The puzzles all felt incredibly well balanced and the mechanic where you basically 'co-op' with yourself is incredible, never seen anything like it. makes me want to try the second game to see how the story goes on! 8/10
You know I'm not really good at writing game reviews, so I'll just leave it at this: This game is worse than Portal 2, but better than Portal 1, which is damn good praise in my opinion.