I’m so mad that I never knew about or played The Talos Principle when it was released in 2014. When I think about Croteam, I think of Serious Sam. I think of pulse-pounding, bullet hell, and anxiety sweats. I don’t think of contemplative puzzles that question the very nature of existence and of what it means to be human…
But that’s The Talos Principle: Reawakened. It turns out Croteam has a whole other gear. Who’d have thought? I mean, Croteam did, or they wouldn’t have bothered, but I’m so glad they did because now that I’ve gotten to play The Talos Principle: Reawakened, I am a bit obsessed.
Rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5, The Talos Principle: Reawakened includes the original game in its entirety, plus the “Road to Gehenna” DLC and some new content to round out the package. As someone who didn’t play the original, I’m not able to compare and contrast, but I can talk about just how good the Reawakened is overall.
The Talos Principle: Reawakened Review
Primarily a puzzle game, The Talos Principle is played from either third or first person as you enter chambers and attempt to get through each of them using the objects and contraptions at hand. It’s easy to immediately compare The Talos Principle and Portal, and they do have many commonalities, but a big difference between the games is their approach. Portal is deliberately comedic, often silly and focused on themes of the corrupting influence of power and the impact of technology on humanity.
The Talos Principle is a quieter game, less concerned with laughs and more interested in questions about the meaning of life, consciousness and the divide between humanity and technology. It explores these themes through its puzzles and exploration of the game space. Between the testing chambers (for lack of a better term) are wide open areas with notes to find, computer terminals to log into, and a massive backstory to explore that sets the stage for who you are, where you are and why you are.
The actual puzzles in The Talos Principle: Reawakened range from incredibly straightforward to ‘smash-your-controller’ difficult. Essentially, the puzzles require you to complete a technological obstacle course by powering on or off devices, connecting power, opening gates, avoiding ‘enemies’ and more. It starts simply enough with you using a Jammer device to open force-field gates and stop turrets and robot orbs from killing you.
As you progress, additional elements are added, and the difficulty gradually ramps up until you’re required to use every ounce of brain power you have. When that’s not enough, I found swearing, complaining and storming from the room to be a good palate cleanser. More often than not, I would soon after, think of the solution, curse myself for being such a moron and celebrate that the game didn’t beat me.
The nature of the puzzles alludes to the themes and thesis of The Talos Principle, which is, in some ways, one big Turing Test. The player character is required to interact with the world and the puzzles in a way that convinces the omnipresent Elohim that it is worthy of being “alive”. And so, puzzles involve making connections, subverting restrictions and using something’s nature against it. Often, puzzles are solved logically, but I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that thinking like a human being, using the flawed logic of a person, was the key to success.
Did that make solving the puzzles any easier? Absolutely not, but it did help me feel slightly less stupid when I found myself stuck. Once you’re solving puzzles with Jammers, Refractors, ‘Companion Cubes’, Pressure Switches, Keys and a Time Recorder that allows you to record actions and play them back, your brain will likely start melting. Even 10 years on, the gameplay and puzzles in The Talos Principle feel fresh and engaging, though that may be because I’ve never played the game before.
Let’s give it the benefit of the doubt and say that it’s just held up incredibly well. Because it feels like it has.
Aside from being a fantastic puzzle game with a deep philosophical message, the big selling point of this remaster is the upgrade. Rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5, The Talos Principle: Reawakened looks stunning and runs like a dream. Textures fly off the screen, bringing this world to life in a way never before seen. Coupled with the lighting effects and ray-tracing, The Talos Principle: Reawakened is one gorgeous piece of artwork.
It’s helped by the visual design elements and art direction, too. There are several environmental types and biomes, all of which look incredible and as different from each other as the last. When you get stuck on a puzzle, and you will, stop and look around at the world Croteam has created because it’s breathtaking.
The Talos Principle: Reawakened is a real triumph and goes to show that not all remasters are created equal. This one demands your time and attention.
The Talos Principle: Reawakened was reviewed on PC using code provided by the publisher.
