It’s so satisfying to be put in a room where there’s seemingly no visible way to progress or even start the puzzle, for things to suddenly click after rounds of experimenting. There’s some parts that felt a bit too much trial and error with the mechanics, where you know what they want you to do, but not how to do it. This could lead to just wanting get through certain parts so you could get back to the good stuff. This feeling was all too common when exploding droids make an appearance.. Some of the philosophical elements were entertaining, although it initially could get annoying when you feel the game is pushing back on an idea you were forced to pick because there was no option that matched your line of thinking (the reason for this becomes apparent however). Story tied the themes and gameplay together nice and its impact was dependent on how much you chose to engage with the narrative elements. The game overall does start outstaying its welcome slightly which meant fully completing this is something I’ll need to return to without risking burning out on the iterative puzzle design.

I did everything there is to do in this game, and the puzzles are incredibly fun to discover. The ideas and solutions build on themselves in super creative ways throughout the whole game, and solving everything feels incredibly satisfying, even the incredibly convoluted stars. Admittedly, this game likes to wax philosophical a lot in its texts, and most of the analogies went straight over my head. I was able to follow the base story easily enough though, so that felt straightforward. Overall, fantastic puzzle game with a neat story on top that ponders the several questions of life.

A thoughtful puzzle game with an interesting story. At a glance, the Talos Principle might seem a little basic. There aren't really any unique mechanics--you just pick things up and move them, and the method to solving the puzzles is relatively straightforward--get the correct beam to the correct receiver. But, even in that simplicity, something engaging comes out of it all. There's even a plot buried underneath, and a frighteningly familiar backstory! The puzzles are satisfying and many of the solutions surprising, and the meditative soundtrack makes for a soothing, cerebral experience if that's what you're looking for.

Never has a game held me by the throat and called me a dumb b'tch quite as much as The Talos Principle did.

So many times did I end up starting a new puzzle, staring at it for 3 hours and still come away with absolutely no clue how to solve it - only for the solution to just be right there, sat in front of me almost with an arrow saying "do it like this you absolute dumb'ss".

What makes that more frustrating is that it strokes your ego with plenty of simpler puzzles then it'll just smack you with a "tough" one.

The overall "story" touching philosophical themes of humanity was enjoyable, being able to actually choose responses to these questions posed to you and them affecting the response you get / game itself (ending wise, I think?) is a nice touch.

*potential ending spoiler ***

The final part being an unexpected timed section that I had to restart a few times before I realised was annoying as hell. It took me genuinely 4 attempts before it became obvious to me that I had to do it all fast otherwise I'd end up dying and having to do it all over again.

I guess I should add stuff I know at this point I'll likely never get back to. I made it to the tower bit, and while that was cool, I didn't like the sudden time limit and I just walked away.

The narrative here is beautiful, the writing excellent, the design gorgeous, the puzzles... just fine. There were some brilliant puzzles, the kind that really gust me, but to many of them were "three doors, two keys", where you have to figure out how to juggle things through and around doors, and that's just not fun.

But when this game is good, it's GOOD.

I enjoy walking sims and many puzzle games, and was compelled to purchase The Talos Principle after only seeing a few images of it, not even knowing what to expect from the game itself. After playing, I can safely say- it’s okay.
The story of the game is interesting, and its puzzles are good, but something just always feels… missing. Reading the computer terminals scattered in the game feels more like a chore than anything, and its puzzles don’t feel very rewarding to beat even when they are difficult. Though I’ve enjoyed what I’ve played so far, I think there is something holding it back from being truly great.

You awaken as a robot in a garden of puzzles, as a God tries to lead you to eternal life, while you think about some philospohical shit.
This is probably one of my favourite games with a puzzle tag but as a puzzle game it leaves some to be desired.

So like 2/3s of the puzzles are great, some even phenomenal. But the other 1/3, just, jesus. They struggle a lot with a good balance of noise(noise as in the puzzle, not audio). Sometimes there's so little noise I accidentally solve it, other times I'm having a meltdown just trying to work out what is going on. Some puzzles are just not sightreadable at all, you have no idea what you are supposed to do just placing shit and hoping it works. Some puzzles were more like Where's Waldo Puzzles, where instead of trying to figure out what to do with your items, you have to look into every nook and cranny just to find a connector behind some random ass wall(and thus waste a bunch of time, trying to solve the puzzle without one of the components), and just generally fucking with the environment just to line something up.
But keep in mind this is only like 1/3s of the puzzles, the others are great.

But the story, oh man. I rarely get invested in a story so much as to actually read every piece of text I come across, and collect everything. The story focuses a lot on identity, understanding of the world, free will, all of the good philosophy shit while you solve puzzles and learn the story of a scientist doing sciency stuff and changing the world.
The music and voice acting complemented everything perfectly imo.

Imagine the second game doesn't exist, and stop once you finish this game.

Overall: 7.8/10 (8)

Gameplay: 8/10
Story/Narrative: 8/10
Graphics/Visuals: 7/10
Audio/Soundtrack: 8/10

This might be my favorite puzzle game of all time. The puzzles get super hard (especially if you go for the optional ones) and you just get so many of them. The mechanics are all novel but it doesn't overwhelm you with too many of them, and the interactions between them keep you surprised until the end.

I'm also a big fan of the plot and atmosphere. The mystery slowly unravels at a pleasant pace and it never gets in the way of the gameplay. When I first played it years ago it gave me my second major existential crisis that lasted like a month so it must have been doing something right

Yes, it is cool that the Serious Sam devs created a contemplative philosophical puzzle game. No that does not mean that The Talos Principle is some genre defining proclamation of metaphysical heft. What it is, most certainly, is a nifty puzzle sandbox that just slightly wears out its welcome, with a spottily compelling deific narrative clumsily shoved in the open cracks.

The design fundamentals are solid. There are player-controlled objects that create and react to the level in specific ways, and levels with varying obstacles for you to apply these objects to. Some are thought-provoking brainteasers where the player has to concoct a specific sequence of events to complete. Others, however, are little more than technical rube goldbergs, placing laser refractors in just the right way as to be tedious rather than enlightening. The frustration of not knowing which kind of level you are going to get stays in the forefront of the player's mind throughout The Talos Principle - and is why the lore terminals dotted around the ancient landscapes should provide a welcome respite.

But the framework for why you are doing these puzzles is eye-rollingly cliche. During the first 15 minute tutorial it’s quite obvious what is happening, and the mystery of the world falls away. The music queues and almost Myst-like design of the ethereal puzzle gardens do provide some desperate ambience, but computer terminal after computer terminal confirming your prior assumptions does little to ameliorate the fact that there should be something more going on beyond the simple narrative chassis. Admittingly, a few of the terminal entries and dialogue options are compelling and thoughtful, and are well written enough to exceed most AA video game writing.

Despite all of this, I like a lot of what’s presented here, even if it's a tad overstuffed. The gameplay mechanics are solid, if uninspired, and lead me to a satisfying amount of “aha” moments. The story is… fine, but isn’t creatively interesting enough to hang the rest of the game on. By the time I was able to climb the final tower and truly complete the game, I was wholly ready to leave the garden.