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The Talos Principle (PC)

Release Date:
Also On: iPhone/iPad
85
Metascore
 57 reviews
8.6
User Score
 715 ratings
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Developer: Croteam
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Game Details: In The Talos Principle, players assume the role of a sentient artificial intelligence placed within
In The Talos Principle, players assume the role of a sentient artificial intelligence placed within a simulation of humanity?s greatest ruins and linked together through an arcane cathedral. Players are tasked with solving a series of increasingly complex puzzles woven into a metaphysical parable about intelligence and meaning in an inevitably doomed world.
Developer: Croteam
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Genre(s): Sci-Fi Adventure 3D First-Person
Number of players: No Online Multiplayer
Cheats: On GameFAQs
Rating: T
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  • Talos Principle - Launch Trailer

    Talos Principle - Launch Trailer

  • E3 2014: Indie Game Lineup at Sony Press Conference

    E3 2014: Indie Game Lineup at S...

  • E3 2014: The Talos Principle Teaser Trailer

    E3 2014: The Talos Principle Te...

  • The Talos Principle: Road to Gehenna - Launch Trailer

    The Talos Principle: Road to Ge...

  • The Talos Principles - PS4 Deluxe Edition Trailer

    The Talos Principles - PS4 Delu...

  • The Talos Principles: Road to Gehenna Introduction to the Narrative

    The Talos Principles: Road to G...

  • The Talos Principle: The Deluxe Edition - Introduction to Puzzles and Tools

    The Talos Principle: The Deluxe...

  • The Talos Principle: The Deluxe Edition - Introduction to the Narrative

    The Talos Principle: The Deluxe...

  • The Talos Principles: The Puzzles and Tools of the Road to Gehenna Expansion

    The Talos Principles: The Puzzl...

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Critic Reviews
(57)
85
Metascore Generally favorable reviews
54 Positive Ratings 94%
3 Mixed Ratings 5%
0 Negative Ratings 0%
Based on 57 Critic Reviews View All
100
Digital Spy
Dec 12, 2014
"The Talos Principle ties its seemingly disparate parts together beautifully, making for a game that is every bit as smart as it purports to be."
91
Pelit (Finland)
Mar 18, 2015
"Satisfying puzzles, philosophically engaging storyline and exquisite presentation combine to make The Talos Principle one of the best of its genre. [Feb 2015] "
90
Eurogamer
Dec 9, 2014
"The Talos Principle is a game of challenges and conundrums and philosophical wonderings, filled with logic puzzles and cerebral mysteries." ... Read full review
90
The Digital Fix
Jan 14, 2015
"The Talos Principle will make you feel confounded but in that wonderful way that precludes an epiphany. You’ll leave each session feeling genuinely smarter – and perhaps a little rebellious to boot." ... Read full review
85
GameOver.gr
Feb 10, 2015
"Don't let the Portal similarities fool you. This is a cleverly designed puzzle game with its own identity, that will keep you hooked for hours upon hours." ... Read full review
82
Game World Navigator Magazine
Feb 17, 2015
"Despite the sharp turn toward pacifism one can easily recognize Croteam style: unusual for puzzles large open locations, majestic architectural forms of ancient civilizations... It seems that you are about to hear the cries of a headless kamikazes. So when a screaming figure dashes nearby you start spinning the mouse wheel in search of shotgun on pure reflex. [Issue #195, p.68]"
50
Riot Pixels
Feb 26, 2015
"The Talos Principle’s worst transgression is that it is absolutely predictable. The levels are all too similar, and by the end of the game you do pretty much the same routine as you do in the beginning." ... Read full review
User Reviews
(139)
8.6
User Score Generally favorable reviews
602 Positive Ratings 84%
62 Mixed Ratings 8%
51 Negative Ratings 7%
Based on 715 Ratings and 139 Reviews View All
10
Esett
Dec 13, 2014
A surprisingly fun puzzler with great graphics and great sound coming from the studio that made Serious Sam? That is a sentence i neverA surprisingly fun puzzler with great graphics and great sound coming from the studio that made Serious Sam? That is a sentence i never thought i would write! It is without a doubt the first FPS puzzler that comes near the perfection of Portal and in some, albeit subjective ways, it surpasses it. The "ways" i am talking about are the technical aspects(graphics and sound) which were always a forte of Croteam and the atmosphere. This game just grabs you from the first second with its amazing puzzle design and great writing. You just have to see what comes next. Overall a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stale year filled with over hyped triple A boredom. I wholeheartedly recommend buying it.… Expand
10
barbarabela
Dec 23, 2014
This game is awesome and fun, I played it several times..... It has great graphics and it's good for thinking. Thanks Ana for recommending it.This game is awesome and fun, I played it several times..... It has great graphics and it's good for thinking. Thanks Ana for recommending it. It was a real fun.… Expand
10
Keromyaou
Dec 27, 2014
This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is a great puzzle game. The mechanics is not similar to Portal games. All the puzzles are so clever that you can get great satisfaction when you find out the solutions. There are mainly two goals for the game. One is to collect sigils which can be used for you to reach the eternity. Another one is to collect stars which can be used to open up more puzzles. Collecting sigils is easier than collecting stars (I found all the sigils without much struggles. But so far I found 23 stars. I am still trying to find others). There is also an opportunity to climb up the Babel's tower, which I am going to try after I finish the star job. The background of the game is about fundamental philosophical ideas such as consciousness, ontology, moral, and divinity. If you have some ideas about philosophy, this game will give you good opportunities to think about philosophical problems while you are solving puzzles. After all, what human beings do is to solve puzzles which are presented to us in real worlds just like we solve puzzles in this virtual reality that the game presents to us.… Expand
9
smilzoboboz
Jan 10, 2016
Good game, similar to Portal, but definitely not at the same level.

Let's start with what I think were mistakes on this game: - theyGood game, similar to Portal, but definitely not at the same level.

Let's start with what I think were mistakes on this game:
- they failed on the Law of Conservation of Energy during the narration (or at least the Italian translation did, badly) and since the whole game is about AI this is really bad IMHO
- puzzles are repetitive, to a point that for more than half of the puzzles everything is reduced to the hassle of running around with the pieces (and/or falling/else because you're bored and you don't pay attention anymore) of a puzzle you solved as you entered the room because you've already solved that same puzzle before, with minor differences
- narration is slow... actually it's a direct consequence of the exaggerated amount of puzzles needed to beat the game

So why isn't my review negative? Because, again, the game is good.
The plot, even though it's smeared on almost 20 hours of game-play, is nice and catching with all the reasoning, philosophy and physics. Graphics are top notch (mostly) and anyway always visually rewarding. Same could be said for the soundtrack that was never able to bore me even if I was listening to it for 20 hours straight. Probably something more could have been done on sound effects, sometimes they felt repetitive or missing.

I'd like to talk a bit more about those puzzles, because the concept is great, and the realization is great too, when I was given a puzzle I had to think to solve it was fun and rewarding, but then I was given the same puzzle, with minor differences that took me a minute or less to understand and I lost tenth of minutes just running around with puzzle pieces, bored, so bored I'd actually fail falling or being killed because I was rushing to end the thing ASAP, furthermore increasing the boredom adding some frustration.
And again, certain puzzles were great and on others I even gave up (more or less 1/3 of the "stars") so challenging they were, I just cannot stand this "same puzzle over and over" thing, sorry. Not to mention that to beat the game you HAVE to complete all the puzzles (except for the "stars").

To conclude, in my opinion this game could have been on the same level of Portal if it had 1/3 of the puzzles it has (or even less), so that the narration would have been a bit more fast paced and catching and every puzzle would have felt a new challenge.

NOTE: Italian dub is not that good and Italian translation isn't either, since reading a lot of text on a foreign language is quite demanding I still opted for the Italian translation, but I couldn't really stand the dub too, so I played the game with the original English voice acting and Italian subs/text; if you feel very confident with the English language I'd suggest you to play the whole game (speech, subs and text) in English language.… Expand
9
J4MESOX4D
Dec 29, 2014
The Talos Principle is a first-person, Portal-inspired puzzle game with a philosophical narrative as a backdrop that makes for a trulyThe Talos Principle is a first-person, Portal-inspired puzzle game with a philosophical narrative as a backdrop that makes for a truly intriguing and remarkable experience. The game delivers a wealth of challenging puzzles compiled with a thought-provoking story. It's a fantastic combination that makes this title a prime GOTY contender.

You begin by not knowing who you are, what you are or why you exist before you are propelled into a mysterious world in where you seek answers for your existence. Your progression in the land is unfolded by completing puzzles and collecting Silgils. Only you and a strange voice seemingly from the sky reside in this strange place but can whoever or whatever is there be trusted? You'll have to progress to find out..

The game houses a vast selection of smart and beautifully crafted puzzles which were designed to an amazing standard by the developers; Croteam - the development house behind the Serious Sam games. Some are fairly routine in the early stages as expected but the more Sigils you collect; the harder the puzzles become especially in the latter stages of the game. You will find yourself deeply confused, frustrated and dumbfounded at times but it's all worthwhile for the satisfaction on completion of a tricky task and is a testament to the developers for their creativity. The supportive writing and story complimenting the game is also of a very impressive standard and you really have to admire the effort that has gone into producing a game that's more than just a puzzle title.

Overall; I hadn't heard of The Talos Priniple this time last week and now I am the proud owner of a truly fantastic title that is worth every penny. The narrative is deep and compelling and the puzzles on offer are of the highest standard. The developers have done a truly fantastic job in their design and execution and should be commended in the highest order for what has been a dreadful year in gaming. The Steam Workshop potential is also another selling point to what is a beautifully produced title.… Expand
8
everin
Oct 1, 2015
Tier 2
+ Creative and unique puzzles that keep the player mentally engaged from start to finish
+ Interesting interplay between gameplay andTier 2
+ Creative and unique puzzles that keep the player mentally engaged from start to finish
+ Interesting interplay between gameplay and story
+ Allows the player freedom in their order of progression
? Odd hint system tied to tedious online Tetris piece puzzles
? Particularly challenging collectible system, only for the most die-hard completionists
- Aspects of the story feel hamfisted in their message and poorly integrated
- Some puzzles are enormously tedious not just due to complexity but also in execution
- Final level of the game is lamely tied to a "rising lava" obstacle that does nothing but frustrate… Expand
2
bigsilverhotdog
May 1, 2016
This was just shockingly terrible. Vacuous, uninspiring, and full of psuedo-philosophical nonsense, there's almost nothing to do here exceptThis was just shockingly terrible. Vacuous, uninspiring, and full of psuedo-philosophical nonsense, there's almost nothing to do here except look at the graphics and solve -extremely- simple puzzles.

As a mobile game... ehhh, maybe. It sucks and is simple enough, but the graphics are too nice for mobile.

As a Portal clone... ehhh, also maybe. It feels like a Portal clone, looks like a nicer outdoor version of Portal, and the game seems generally trying to copy the Portal FPS-puzzle-physics-placement formula in order to print money.

As a benchmark... doubtful. The engine looks nice but doesn't seem to push my rig like other benchmarks already widely available.

As a good game? Not a chance. Maybe I didn't play it long enough to see something worthwhile, but every single second that I played absolutely sucked. It felt like I was playing a Myst-Portal hybrid made by an untalented, copycat developer. It also crashed my entire rig when I tried to switch resolutions to Surround.

I regarded Serious Sam as cynically designed, generic, and generally tedious company, and I dislike this for similar reasons. It was on my wishlist based on hype, genre, and screenshots, but it sure isn't now.

Goodbye trash.… Expand
User Reviews