My one regret is not playing this sooner
Like many others, I consider 2014 a bit of a down year for video games. Bayonetta 2 has been the singular 2014 game I’ve tended to recommend to friends as a “must play.” So now in 2016, with my 2014 backlog down to a mere handful of games, I need to admit I was mistaken. The Talos Principle is not just one of the best titles from that year, but one of my favorite games from recent times.
While many have summarized The Talos Principle as “the best puzzle game since Portal,” that description does a bit of a disservice to the game. Sure, both games are played from a first-person perspective, but that’s about where the comparisons end. Let’s start at the beginning. You are immediately made aware that your character is a robot. This robot has woken in what appears to be ancient ruins. You are greeted by the voice of ELOHIM, who informs you that he is your maker. He tasks you with searching him out, which requires you to solve the numerous puzzles in your way. You soon witness occasional glitches in the game world, hinting that you’re inside some kind of simulation. And that’s the long and the short of the game’s setup.
The Talos Principle is very much focused on providing the player with as little information as it feels is necessary to complete it. Even the very first puzzle presented to the player offers no extensive tutorial. Rather you are presented with an energy barrier. You have to find a way to get past it. So you look around and find your first puzzle device. The game tells you the basics on how to manipulate the device, but then starts the process of putting obstacles in your way that let you learn what to do with said device.
Solving puzzles is a very iterative process for the player. As you solve additional puzzles, you not only continue to learn about new ways each mechanic functions, but you are also asked to think in further and further abstract ways. Soon, you’ll be asked to mix in two different puzzle mechanics, and then three, and so on. You unlock these additional puzzle mechanics after solving a certain set of previous puzzles.
With each puzzle you complete, you receive another tetromino sigil. These sigil pieces are also color coded. Various amounts of these sigils are necessary for unlocking areas or elements of the game. The sigil colors further hint at what you’re unlocking as well as sometimes indicating the difficulty of the puzzle. After you collect all the necessary sigils for unlocking something and locating the appropriate gate or device, you need to solve a tetromino puzzle. These tetromino puzzles do start to get a little repetitive after a while, though most of them aren’t time consuming.
Where Talos Principle somewhat differs from some other modern puzzle games is that it lacks a sort of “core puzzle mechanic.” So for instance, all of Portal’s puzzles revolve around your Portal gun. Talos Principle uses maybe half a dozen different mechanics throughout its sizable length, and a fair complaint could be levied toward it that these mechanics feel a little random. They do ultimately combine together well to create more complex puzzles as the game progresses, but you could replace each of them with something else and not drastically change the game.
I was continuously surprised at how smart the game’s narrative was. The narrative is conveyed to the player almost entirely through emails and log entries accessible via computer terminals. In the hands of some game developers, this method of storytelling often feels lazy and out of place. However, it makes sense in the context of events in this game. Even more importantly, these items maintain the illusion that they were not necessarily written to tell someone else about events. Rather, the player feels much like an archeologist exploring ancient documents and trying to decipher greater meaning from them. For instance, in the endless slew of emails, blogs, and other electronic documents, only one entry alludes to how one of the most important narrative events occurred.
Many describe the game as deeply philosophical, but what I think is important to say about this is the game has the proper amount of self-awareness. The game is perfectly okay with the player dismissing much of the narrative as a bunch of philosophical wankery, and it even builds that view into the narrative should that be your take on it. The narrative works not because it answers questions or imparts a world-view, but because you’re bound to sympathize with what the characters went through and their thoughts about it. It works not because it wants to scream about how deep it is, but because it’s about the discussion itself and why that discussion has meaning.
There’s a moment in the first Portal game which perfectly encapsulates the feeling of what the best puzzle games evoke in the player. In that moment, the game converts from what it had appeared to be up until that point to a different type of game. That moment requires the player to make a leap in logic from the more linear structure it had been following until then. The Talos Principle constantly had moments like this for me. And this is quite a sizable for the genre. It could easily take thirty-five to forty hours for the average person to complete everything there is to experience in this game. At no point did I ever feel bored with it.
The fact that I sought out about every piece of content the game contained not because of a completest compulsion, but because the content was just so damn fun, is a testament to the quality of this game. While the game hints at what some of this extra content is and where you can find it, it asks the player to engage in a lot of abstract thinking to locate and solve its most devious puzzles. There are even plenty of fun Easter Eggs lying around for those who want to extensively poke at the game.
While it is by no means a graphical powerhouse, this is a visually striking game. There are several different motifs you’ll find throughout your travels. Often times there are views in the game there for simple visual pleasure. The game’s classical soundtrack compliments both its visuals and gameplay well. It’s the type of soothing background music that will help you concentrate on solving whatever current puzzle you’re working on.
From start to finish, The Talos Principle made me feel smart. It’s a smart game that respects the desire of its players to feel smart. To me, that is the hallmark of the best puzzle games. Its puzzles rarely felt unfair, and its insidious secrets constantly made me feel a sense of pride upon solving them. It is truly a shame it was released when it was and thus missed on Game of the Year accolades it most definitely deserved consideration for.
