The Talos Principle 2

My intelligence is itchy now

10/10

Great game, 10/10. I would recommend it to anyone who likes puzzle games or some philosophical dilemmas. It feels like a direct upgrade in most aspects to what was set in the first game and it also adds new elements to it. While it's almost a direct continuation from the previous game, I don't feel like it's necessary to finish it first to enjoy playing this one. The plot is based on what was set in the previous game, but since the main focus are the puzzles and that the story is mostly based on events that took place after the initial game, I feel like this would also be a good entrypoint to the serie. And if anyone would want to try and experience the original game, they also released the remastered version of the game around last year on the improved engine from this game. Compared to a previous game, each world location has become much bigger and opened up, which also allowed them to make some terrain puzzles harder and much more interesting in comparison. Overall each puzzle is it's own mini-level with some challange to solve and sometimes they can be used to interact with some terrain/location puzzle outside of the level itself. This means that you will have to think outside the box sometimes, which also makes you wonder about other possibilites how to solve or use elements from each puzzle. Compared to a previous game, they use some existing puzzle mechanics from it, but also provide new objects and interactions, which makes it refreshing and doesn't recycle old puzzles. The biggest change from the previous game is the inclusion of more story elements that are much more apparent and direct then what was presented in the previous title, along with NPCs and storyline that you interact with between puzzles. In my opinion these are really great additions, since they makes you more invested in the story and lore of the game, while providing some breaks and ways to spent time on between puzzles and searching for locations environment puzzles. The philosophical aspect of the game, when it comes to reading philosophical texts inside the game (which are totally optional and not required at any point), is still way too much for me, so I mostly skip it. This is something that was also present in the previous title, but I never felt any attachments to it and I don't have the patience or will to read through it all. I know that it might be interesting for some people, but that's just not for me. Contrary to that, I much more prefered the philosophical aspects and dilemmas that were presented in the NPCs dialogues and through the whole game storyline, since these felt more natural and not so out of the place, but that might just be me. The only other thing that I can complain about is the game file size. I understand that the game itself looks gorgeus and that it's highly detailed, but right now it weights around 100GB, which is a lot. It might be that there is no better way to handle textures for a game like this, but this would be the only thing that could keep me from reinstalling the game and playing through it again in the future. I also played through the "Road to Elysium" DLC and overall I can recommend it. It's not required for the base game playthrough, since it's rather a set of a few additional bigger world locations with more new puzzles and story that happens after the end of the base game. I would recommend to buy and play it after finishing the base game, if you enjoyed the puzzles or storyline of the base game.