Masterful First-Person Puzzler
Valve classed up the first person puzzler genre when they released Portal, and then put a stake in the ground with Portal 2 as the defining game in the genre. The Talos Principle deserves a spot right next to Portal 2 on the Mount Rushmore of first-person puzzlers. If such a thing existed. It really shouldn't, that'd be a terrible waste of money.
Talos' puzzles require moving and manipulating specific tools, channeling power, avoiding enemies and a lot of Doc Brown-style "fourth dimensional thinking". The challenge curve ramps up steadily, requiring the use of more and more varied tools simultaneously, until it really spikes at the end and gets hard enough that unless you're in MENSA you're going to Youtube for walkthroughs. There are some breaks in the action you can pursue, through "found" story items like QR codes from other "players" and hunting for secrets in each of the hub worlds and levels. The terminal interactions - where you unlock story content by examining documents on in-world computers - were some of my favorite experiences. But the bulk of your time is spent scratching your head, trying to figure out how to solve that seemingly unsolvable level.
That said, its shining feature is a very interesting and well-written story, unfolding at just the right pace, and the player will probably figure it out right as the game exposes the truth to them. That story kept me going through the extremely tough puzzles at the end. It's worth getting every tetromino and going all the way to the top of the tower, FYI.
The soundtrack is also wonderful, perfectly matched to the gameplay, and a great complement to the visuals. You can buy it separately as DLC - makes great background music for writing papers or working!
My biggest gripe besides the unreasonably high difficulty spike at the end is that the game feels about two hours too long.
If you even sort of liked Portal, give this a shot. Where Portal was funny, this is serious and philosophical, so if that's not your gig, you might get annoyed by the backdrop, but stay for the puzzles.
