The Talos Principle: Reawakened

I played the original Talos Principle over 10 years ago, just long enough to have forgotten all the puzzles, many of which my brain-rotted 20 year old self shamelessly cheated on/looked up to complete. So, I was happy to do another playthrough of this prior to starting Talos Principle 2, in my older and wiser 30s. While I definitely enjoyed it back then, I don't think I appreciated it fully. This is an astounding experience, both as a puzzle game and as a meditative journey on mankind's holistic attitude toward its inevitable death. That sounds so grim in text, but I think the game's approach, aesthetic, and overall [i]vibe[/i] is so delightfully optimistic, even as its pontificating on mankind's thorough and complete death. The depiction of AI not as some dystopian conqueror but as a successor, as a child we have knowingly and unknowingly nurtured over centuries through the cultivation of both knowledge and machines, is unique. Given modern political climates around AI, I don't know if I'd go so far as to say it's prescient, but it's probably the most thorough investigation of AI and its implications on sentience and consciousness in gaming. Talos Principle is also one of the few games that couches its puzzle-solving in the narrative. You're solving the puzzles from a human perspective and answering Milton's questions as a human would, in the body of a machine. The thought processes you employ as a player are arguably no different from that of a machine's, especially a machine made in the body of man. And that makes Milton and Elohim's position as antagonists so much more powerful. They're simply nascent creatures trying to understand their place in the world, and succeeding requires you using an intrepid, investigative approach to carving out your own understanding. I think this is one of the few games that I do not mind including somewhat illusory dialogue choices in. At the very least, they get you to think. There's a hefty amount of reading to understand the plot, but most of its in quick spurts and very naturally written, with an equal amount of voiceovers to balance it out. And the puzzles are awesome too! 20 year old me was stupid. If you stick to the main puzzles, they're a perfect level of difficulty, slowly scaling throughout the game without becoming inscrutable. Many are quite intuitive, and above all else, they make you feel smart for accomplishing them. The game never holds your hand in explaining what an item does; it assumes you will fiddle and play with things. The items themselves are so flexible that no two puzzles feel the same, even if you employ many of the same tactics throughout. For those that crave a really hardcore challenge, you can search for all the stars and complete the hidden puzzles, which are considerably harder. This isn't required to really enjoy the game, though. As far as how this works as a remaster, it's... fine. I don't think the original game is a standout in visuals. Aesthetically it's great, which the remaster retains, but the remaster does have the UE5 visual flattening issue that many modern games do. I do not think this was a necessary remaster, but as an introduction to Talos Principle for those that never played the original, it's worth the 40 dollar price tag. However, if you think you'll have performance problems (neither this nor the original are well-optimized), consider buying the original instead. I'm more lenient on this remaster as I think it important to get more thoughtful games, like this, in the hands of as many people as possible. As human-computer interaction becomes more and more an inescapable part of our daily lives, using it to think alongside play is more and more important.