Ever since I played through The Talos Principle 1 back in 2016, close to 8 years ago at this point, it has held fast as my favorite game of all time without breaking a sweat. I am genuinely overjoyed to say that this is a complete improvement, and a more-than-worthy successor to the original game. The amount of times that I became stupidly giddy at any random thing in this game is absurd, and a little embarrassing, in retrospect. The dialogue, the characters, the worlds, the puzzles and mechanics, the environments, god, the environments alone.. I can't say enough good about this game. The number of hours that I pored over each text, decoding the hidden messages, or staring at the puzzles as I dramatically sit back in my chair and sigh at every roadblock puzzle. I wouldn't take back any of those hours. And I know for a fact that that will not be my last playthrough. The ideas that this game put in my head are going to stay with me for a long time yet, which is something I'm thankful for. I'll probably have to read through the texts a couple more times to fully understand what each conveys, and I can't wait.

Lets talk more materially, and with less gushing. I'm going to get all of my gripes out of the way:
I stand by what I said about the gameplay being a straight upgrade. Completely and with confidence. There are a few things I noticed in comparison to the first game, however none are severe enough to knock off even 1 point for. The first being that softlocks are much more common. Puzzles tend to have lose-states that cannot be recovered from without resetting the area, which can be a pain if you were working on a Star puzzle in the background. Where TTP1 would alert you of a puzzle softlock (which were fairly rare) by prompting you to reset with a HUD pop-up, TTP2 relies on the player to realize their own mistake, and take the initiative to reset themselves. The higher a puzzle's complexity, the higher the chance of creating a softlock is. Some of the Golden Puzzles were quite easy to accidentally break. Besides that, I did notice the removal of some minor control conveniences. The removal of the FFW bind was a somewhat understandable decision, considering how much rarer timing-based puzzles are in TTP2, however I did miss it occasionally. Thirdly, and finally, I encountered a particularly nasty game break near the last 10 minutes of the game where a lead-up puzzle became naturally softlocked, and failed to reset correctly, causing a hardlock where progression was impossible. However, the people over on the Discord were able to quickly and effectively assess and solve my problem, as they are aware of it. (This section of the review will be amended once this bug is patched.)

And... That's it. Those are the only 3 complaints that I can even fathom. I'm going to cover some specifics and 'quick points' that I think are worth covering and pointing out, now that we've cleared the air and acknowledged that nothing is absolutely perfect:

-Music is phenomenal. If you loved the OST to TTP1, TTP2 delivers in spades with wonderful music that continues to build on what TTP1 started.
-The inclusion of real and true dialogue between the player and other characters is a phenomenal change, and a new unexpected direction for TTP which works out BEAUTIFULLY for its' narrative.
-Speaking of characters, each character, major and minor, feels meaningful and potent in their identity. By the end of the game I could identify several minor characters walking around town, and I genuinely feel like I knew them from how they briefly interacted with the player throughout their many small appearances. I remember a particularly funny moment when I had to do a double take when I read a citizen's nametag while walking by, because I remembered just recently having an argument with them over Talos Twitter.
-The main cast is endlessly likable, each one of them bringing a wholly unique spin to the story, and they are just as capable of influencing the player as you are of influencing them, which is truly an incredible testament to, again, their wonderful writing.

I'm not going to touch the story side of things much, because it should truly be protected as a purely personal experience, but I want to include an experience that I had in the fourth act. Imagine striving for something so hard, and believing in it so fervently that you think it's truly the only way forward, and anything else is just ridiculous. You're telling everyone else that 'this is the way it ought to be!'. Suddenly, and unexpectedly, they start listening. Things are changing. They're changing fast; nearly to the point of a 180°, but you can't feel accomplishment. The only thing that you can feel.. is fear. Is this going too fast? What if we just rebound all the way to the other side of the extreme? Why does it feel like this is a slippery slope that I can't climb my way back up from? A veritable freefall. Are things moving too fast? Could I have been... Wrong?
These are the kinds of thoughts I had at one point, and it was the first time in a very long time that I had felt scared at a result that I had caused. I thank the writers for reminding me what that can be like, and commend them for being able to pull something like that off, intentional or not.

I was worried that this review would turn out a mile long, and scare off anyone from reading it, so I thought in my head before starting: "I'm gonna make a short review this time, so people will actually read it! This time, I'll surely be able to!!"

...

I suppose I shouldn't lie to myself like that. For better or worse, I'm utterly incapable of shutting up when it comes to something that I love. But in the end, I don't really mind whether or not anyone reads this review to the end. I want to see this game flourish, and to that end, I ought to make that positive rating go up as much as I can, even if it's just by 1, right?

If you enjoyed Talos Principle 1, play Talos 2. If you enjoy puzzlers of any kind, play Talos 2. If you enjoy having some thoughts being challenged, and being asked questions that you would probably never ask yourself, give it a shot. This is my Game of the Year, no contest.

In a nutshell: Incredibly well designed and large areas, choked by horrendous enemy designs, somewhat disappointing weapon options, and confusing area progression.

Broken down further:
-The re-introduction of the scythe weapon class was exciting to see! ....Only to notice that the moveset is entirely unchanged, and still lackluster. I don't think it's in a good state as being just 'Axe+ (with special parade leader twirling action!)' This also feels slanted in the direction of boss drops. It would've been nice to find some new guns in this gun-focused game, but after 2 playthroughs of the DLC, all's to be found have been gun mods and melee weapons.
-Overtuned to hell and back enemies in select areas (Whoever designed the green explosive enemies most assuredly hates fun. I'm genuinely shocked they don't inflict Corrosive, just to add insult to injury.) Enemies that aren't infuriating to deal with just feel lackluster. The red-coated giant enemy is a good example of what I mean. It's nothing that the player hasn't been faced with before, and it doesn't feel like overcoming anything new or interesting.
-Area progression: multiple times, my friend and I were faced with the problem of 'how do we get over there?'. We never found the answer, either. Not during our entire playthrough, or after. It certainly wasn't for lack of trying. Certain quests that felt incomplete also left me frustrated: having scoured a map top-to-bottom but being unable to find a key to unlock a mystery door hidden at the bottom of the map, for example.

Look... As far as $10 DLCs go, I really can't complain. $10 for 2-3 hours of new gameplay, with added replayability on top of it is a great rate. There are some genuinely great things in this DLC. The voice cast kills it, the areas are some of the biggest and best in the game so far, and the map design is (for the most part) pretty tight and well-done. If you love Remnant 2, please do get this DLC, because I'm sure that you, specifically, will enjoy it; and these developers still do have my support, as I believe they will for a long time still. But based on my personal enjoyment, as of this moment, I can't give it a personal recommendation. I'm going to keep going, and keep trying to see if that is all that there is to see, but for now, it's a thumbs down.

This is my second time through this game. My first time through, I only obtained one ending. (the default ending), and went on with my life. I did enjoy the game back then, all the same. But going through it again? Knowing what I'm doing, getting to see every nook and cranny, and besting every obstacle to finally, FINALLY, after more than 2 years, get all of the endings?

Even though my experience with this second playthrough is very skewed with personal anecdotes, I can safely say that Ender Lilies is now my new favorite metroidvania, unfortunately dethroning Momodora: RUTM. This game has so many things coming together to weave the perfect storm, and it's truly beautiful. Musical composition, gameplay, an immaculately perfect blend of difficulty that I wouldn't change if I could (and I can, if I wanted to, another nice thing to note that the devs threw in for finishing the game.), an enthralling plot that evokes deep emotions and powerful melancholy...

It really is worth all the time that it asks of you. Check it out if you even have an inkling that it might be your style, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

There is so much that this game does better than the first game, and yet I can't call it a straight upgrade. It's noticeably shorter, the party is oversaturated with several party members with no defining characteristics or uses (this is a problem the first game has as well), several Plans don't ever see use, or get added too late to be of great use... I have a lot of problems with the gameplay side of things, even with the story, too, for as much as I do like it (the entire first game is non-canon? What? Why??). If none of those were present, I'd probably rate this higher than the first game, because this game has:
-Better character writing
-Improved voice acting and direction
-More interesting interactions
-An actually compelling emotional moment (1)

There's so much that I WISH these games would do, yet I know they probably never will because of their nature as technically parody games/too lighthearted to delve into anything below ankle deep writing. I enjoyed my time with this game, but I wish it did more, I wish it did better. Re;Birth2 is unquestionably better than Re;Birth1, but I can't confidently reflect that in the score, which is a shame.

Addendum 7-16-23: After going back into the game in pursuit of the other endings, I actually learned that there are a TON of endings available for the game, on top of there being 2 whole chapters more to the game!!! But each and every one is locked behind absurd grinding activities that are not fun, and haven't been fun for the entire duration of the game. I'm lowering the game from a 3.5 to a 2.5; this really leaves a poor taste in my mouth, because I really want to see the other endings, but I cannot be fucking bothered to do more Shares grinding, and Shares passing. Not when they add at a rate of 2-5% at most each mission... It's so tiresome, and I really don't like this system in the first place... What a sour note.

A flawed game, with flawed combat, somewhat mid EN voice acting, and occasionally annoying fourth wall breaks that become excessive very quickly. The story is nothing to write home about, and the characters didn't leave me feeling any kind of way. And yet, for some reason, my hour count won't stop going up. It's got charm. I want to see where the rest of the series takes this; if it gets any better. The potential is undoubtedly there. This is a series that I WANT to call good, and that I WANT to like. So let's see what the future installations hold for me. (That is, after I beat NG+... I really want to go unlock the other characters.)