An underrated classic, The Talos Principle joins Portal 2 in the rank of puzzle games that I think are as exquisitely designed as any work of art. There are several moments and puzzles where the game clicks in such a way as to give you a feeling of great clarity and wonder. There was one particular level in the third building where I felt genuinely amazing after solving it. The game does not hold your hand - it leaves you to learn the mechanisms of each puzzle element yourself, and it has an uncanny way of making you think at the beginning of a puzzle that you don't have quite enough tools at your disposal. But the solutions in the end turn out to be deceptively straightforward, and although the puzzles may appear to be fairly rigid, it turn out that many can be solved in more than one way despite the limited range of stuff you have to play with. All these things make The Talos Principle wonderful to play - there were several puzzles that really had my head spinning, but made me think about how I solved them hours after doing them.

And the rest of the game? Well, it looks gorgeous, has fantastic music, and has a very affecting story conveyed very well through audio logs and computer terminals. Some of the later snippets made me feel genuinely sad. There are red herrings in many puzzles to spot and avoid, raising the difficulty curve to a high but gratifying level. And it all comes together on an epic and quite nerve-wracking final level. I can't recommend this game highly enough, especially to anyone who's played Portal 2 or any other 3D puzzle game. It will challenge you, and sometimes will have you stumped for half an hour or more, but when the sense of accomplishment is so great, it's got to be worth it. Buy this.

An underrated classic, The Talos Principle joins Portal 2 in the rank of puzzle games that I think are as exquisitely designed as any work of art. There are several moments and puzzles where the game clicks in such a way as to give you a feeling of great clarity and wonder. There was one particular level in the third building where I felt genuinely amazing after solving it. The game does not hold your hand - it leaves you to learn the mechanisms of each puzzle element yourself, and it has an uncanny way of making you think at the beginning of a puzzle that you don't have quite enough tools at your disposal. But the solutions in the end turn out to be deceptively straightforward, and although the puzzles may appear to be fairly rigid, it turn out that many can be solved in more than one way despite the limited range of stuff you have to play with. All these things make The Talos Principle wonderful to play - there were several puzzles that really had my head spinning, but made me think about how I solved them hours after doing them. And the rest of the game? Well, it looks gorgeous, has fantastic music, and has a very affecting story conveyed very well through audio logs and computer terminals. Some of the later snippets made me feel genuinely sad. There are red herrings in many puzzles to spot and avoid, raising the difficulty curve to a high but gratifying level. And it all comes together on an epic and quite nerve-wracking final level. I can't recommend this game highly enough, especially to anyone who's played Portal 2 or any other 3D puzzle game. It will challenge you, and sometimes will have you stumped for half an hour or more, but when the sense of accomplishment is so great, it's got to be worth it. Buy this.