The Talos Principle 2

this game is like portal on philosophy steroids plot you play as 1k, the 1000th robot to be created. you, along with everyone else, live in new jerusalem. as the city celebrates, a mysterious figure gives a strange message with some coordinates. you join a crew to explore something called the megastructure. and as you explore the area to solve puzzles, you begin to unravel what the megastructure is this game is way bigger than the first one. you'll notice the download size and go "wow...is that much gb really needed?" yes it is it's been a while since i've played the first game, but i just remember having to cheat at the end because it was so hard. there were hard moments in the second time too but i found it to be much more digestible. some puzzles i thought "wow i can't believe i solved that so easily." other times it was "i have no idea what i did or how it worked but i solved it". and sometimes it was just "i've been staring at this puzzle for 20 minutes. i'm going to look at a guide" there were some moments in the game where i wasn't a fan of the moon logic (puzzles where the solution was just unrealistic or you would've never thought to do that). they didn't have a whole lot in this one, but there were some where i went "really??? that's the solution?" the game sets up new concepts from the original game. and in one puzzle, there was never any hint or indication of doing it that way. it never reinforced you to go "you need to solve it this way". i was like "okay that's really frustrating" talos principle 2 has strong philosophical themes that you explore during the game. while i did expect this, i came in for the puzzles but stayed for the story. and so to me, this isn't a game you can rush. you can blitz through the puzzles sure. but engaging with the philosophy, it took me a while to digest. and that's okay. you might complete a puzzle in 2 minutes, but look at some philosophical text for 10 minutes. at least that's how i did it the game also has extra puzzles you can do. to my understanding, they lead you to more puzzles. i did some of these puzzles but not all of them. i liked how the creators made them optional. to me, they helped you explore puzzles in a different way and in a sense the lore of it all. so it rewards those who is more hungry to solve puzzles but doesn't punish you for not doing them. you can just do the main story and be okay. you get some added background but isn't necessary to completely or understand the story above all else, talos principle 2 shows us the journey is more important than the destination. i enjoyed this one much more than the first one. some of the puzzles were a little crazy, but overall i was pleasantly surprised with my experience of the game