Playing A Game The Talos Principle II PC

It was hard for me to imagine how a sequel to The Talos Principle would work, but The Talos Principle II's demo did a great job of clarifying its intent.

First, with some reminders of how the last game worked: flipping switches and connecting lasers in Egypt-themed puzzle rooms. These felt less like "real puzzles" than like a gentle reintroduction to Croteam's methods, although I did have to remember a few old tricks, like avoiding intersecting laser beams and fan-lifting tools with a stabilizing hexahedron.

Then Talos 2 reveals its narrative ambition, which is surprising because -- well, because of how clear that ambition is. The first game's (excellent) Horizon-like plot was told very unconventionally, intertwined with philosophical musings in static data recordings. This time, there are NPCs you have conversations with, and they have faces, even lipsynced speaking animations.

It's a big change from detached, asynchronous recordings, and from Road to Gehenna's BBS text chats. But Talos 2 keeps those techniques too (including a PDA for texts and recordings), and it applies all of its storytelling tools to a fascinating combination of old-world history, new-world lore following Talos 1's ending, and present-day twisty-and-turny events.

As for Talos 2's new world and puzzles, well, I'm cautiously optimistic.

I love the variety of environments here, especially the Mediterranean-esque cliffs and shores, which reminded me of The Witness (2016)'s beautiful geography. New mechanics, on the other hand, are off-putting from their introductions: the RGB connector didn't work at all like I expected, and the rules of when teleporters can't teleport (or when drillers can't drill) are simularly counterintuitive.

Hopefully the full game's puzzles fill in the confusing blanks of those rules, and do better at teaching the player how to find solutions. I'd love to avoid leaning on interweb guides like I did for Road to Gehenna's brain-meltingly nuanced mazes.

Progress: "Finished" the demo (pretty certain I missed a bunch of hidden secrets).