So I enjoyed the first Talos Principle. The puzzles were fun headscratchers, not easy but also not too hard. But that's really all I can tell you about it, except for the musings on humanity and impending apocalypse. And you know what? The second one hits the same notes, for better and for worse.
Talos 2 can't be described without first talking about the puzzles. These are the kinds of puzzles that I really excel at: 3D-space-based, heavy on positioning and really make you use the tools at your disposal. For completion, you have to complete 4 zones of three smaller sections of 10 total puzzles per section. And for the most part, the puzzles are very clever and the difficulty has a great curve. Slowing down and spending the time to really concentrate on what your goal is, what tools you have right now, and sometimes working backwards, you can get the answers within a few minutes.
That said, after about 10 of the 12 areas, I think I was about done. Some of the puzzles became a bit convoluted, like I would place a button, but didn't get the feedback of what that button did, or extremely tight positioning of a laser made progress more of a headscratcher of "Wait, but why?" (that puzzle was "Jailbreak", where I finally lost a bit of interest). Again, great puzzles, and there are definitely people out there that will find each a treat, but I personally thought it a bit too many and the game could have benefitted from cutting a few.
The second thing you have talk about with Talos 2 is the graphics. Much improved, with full DLSS and RT on PC. But you know, the first game did just fine without the extra graphical fidelity, and I don't think it added much here, overall. I'm usually a graphic snob, but it wouldn't have bugged me if they hadn't used the extra enhancements.
The sound and music ARE much the same as the previous game though, to the point where the puzzles SFX I think are literally used over again. The music is just not good, at all. For a puzzle game where you're going to sit in thought for long periods of time, I found the music kind of grating after a while, and there just wasn't a ton of variety. I was hearing the same song over and over again, so I ended up turning it off and just became a podcast/Youtube game.
Philosophy is another massive part of the Talos series, and if you hated it in 1, you'll hate it in 2. I didn't really mind it, though it seemed like the writing staff spent more of their time talking about if robots can be considered human than spending time on the plot and dialogue. There are also the requisite audio and text logs for extra flavor, but honestly this is where the game got a little to "up their own ass". A fun extra, but I ended up just skipping them after collecting them.
So, is Talos 2 a good puzzle game? Yes! I would consider it top tier for 3D puzzle games and would love to meet the psychos who come up with these things. Just be warned that there are some annoyances that may or may not be your cup of tea, but if you're willing to sit and give the game the time it needs/deserves, there's a lot of good content here
Talos 2 can't be described without first talking about the puzzles. These are the kinds of puzzles that I really excel at: 3D-space-based, heavy on positioning and really make you use the tools at your disposal. For completion, you have to complete 4 zones of three smaller sections of 10 total puzzles per section. And for the most part, the puzzles are very clever and the difficulty has a great curve. Slowing down and spending the time to really concentrate on what your goal is, what tools you have right now, and sometimes working backwards, you can get the answers within a few minutes.
That said, after about 10 of the 12 areas, I think I was about done. Some of the puzzles became a bit convoluted, like I would place a button, but didn't get the feedback of what that button did, or extremely tight positioning of a laser made progress more of a headscratcher of "Wait, but why?" (that puzzle was "Jailbreak", where I finally lost a bit of interest). Again, great puzzles, and there are definitely people out there that will find each a treat, but I personally thought it a bit too many and the game could have benefitted from cutting a few.
The second thing you have talk about with Talos 2 is the graphics. Much improved, with full DLSS and RT on PC. But you know, the first game did just fine without the extra graphical fidelity, and I don't think it added much here, overall. I'm usually a graphic snob, but it wouldn't have bugged me if they hadn't used the extra enhancements.
The sound and music ARE much the same as the previous game though, to the point where the puzzles SFX I think are literally used over again. The music is just not good, at all. For a puzzle game where you're going to sit in thought for long periods of time, I found the music kind of grating after a while, and there just wasn't a ton of variety. I was hearing the same song over and over again, so I ended up turning it off and just became a podcast/Youtube game.
Philosophy is another massive part of the Talos series, and if you hated it in 1, you'll hate it in 2. I didn't really mind it, though it seemed like the writing staff spent more of their time talking about if robots can be considered human than spending time on the plot and dialogue. There are also the requisite audio and text logs for extra flavor, but honestly this is where the game got a little to "up their own ass". A fun extra, but I ended up just skipping them after collecting them.
So, is Talos 2 a good puzzle game? Yes! I would consider it top tier for 3D puzzle games and would love to meet the psychos who come up with these things. Just be warned that there are some annoyances that may or may not be your cup of tea, but if you're willing to sit and give the game the time it needs/deserves, there's a lot of good content here