Get ready for more gigantic statues and sparkling vistas because that’s what we’re exploring as we make our way through the Anthropic Hills region of The Talos Principle 2.
01.12.2023 - 10:59 / thesixthaxis.com
Making a good puzzle game is hard. After all, solving a puzzle is an incredibly subjective pursuit; for every person who might find a specific brain-tickler a doddle, there could be a dozen others who end up bashing their bonce against the monitor trying to solve it. Bearing that developmental challenge in mind, it’s quite the feat indeed that Croteam has been able to craft one of the most satisfying, challenging, accessible, and ultimately doable puzzle games Ive had the pleasure to play. I’m no puzzling expert – heck, Sudoku remains a mystery to me – but Talos Principle 2 gripped me and held my attention from beginning to end.
Don’t worry if you’ve never played the original Talos Principle, as it is not required to thoroughly enjoy this sequel. Organic humanity is dead and gone – likely polished off by Climate Change/War/Plague/Zombies, delete as appropriate – and in our place is a race of sentient robots, a new humanity if you will, who are doing their utmost to avoid making the mistakes of their fleshy ancestors. This means living cautiously and within their means.
All that changes when a mysterious entity visits their city, prompting the newly born bot 1K – that’s you – and a team of charmingly endearing fellow adventurers, to explore a mysterious island that just so happens to be filled from coast to coast with puzzles. The plot that accompanies these puzzles veers too often into philosophical pontificating for my liking, but the dialogue is delivered with such panache by the talented cast that I can forgive the excessive navel-gazing. There’s no need to forgive the gameplay though, as it is exceptional.
As you explore the landscape – in either third or first person, with both perspectives superbly implemented – you’ll encounter enclosed arenas where a puzzle is located. The objective for each puzzle is delightfully straightforward; you simply need to activate the button on a console, but how you reach that console is anything but straightforward. Most puzzles involve the transfer of energy from one point to another, to open a door or activate a fan, say. With perfect pacing, Croteam drip-feeds in new items and gameplay mechanics from puzzle to puzzle, gradually ratcheting up the challenge and difficulty on the way. Soon you’ll be converting energy from one colour laser beam to another, controlling a multitude of robotic clones, drilling holes – definitely not portals, honest, – in walls, and carrying energy in little glowing balls like an Ood from Doctor Who.
The masterstroke is that each new gameplay element is given enough room to breathe, enabling the player to explore and innovate on each possible application of the device. Then, later in the game, every mechanic returns in gloriously
Get ready for more gigantic statues and sparkling vistas because that’s what we’re exploring as we make our way through the Anthropic Hills region of The Talos Principle 2.
We’ve already said goodbye to the Sphinx as we wrapped up the previous region, but now we’re also saying our farewells to Pandora as we finish the Anthropic Hills region in The Talos Principle 2.
We hope that you’re ready to say goodbye to the Sphinx because this is her last set of puzzles in The Talos Principle 2.
We hope you like platform puzzles because that’s more of what we’re in for as we make our way through Part 2 of the Western Delta in The Talos Principle 2.
Surprise, surprise. It’s time for us to master a new mechanic as we enter the Western Delta area in The Talos Principle 2.
It’s time for us to get back to the Megastructure and see how Byron is doing as we wrap up the Circular Oasis region in The Talos Principle 2.
You may notice that we’re using a bit of circular logic as we make our way through Part 2 of the Circular Oasis in The Talos Principle 2.
We have to learn to think two steps ahead even more as we reach the Circular Oasis area in The Talos Principle 2.
Can you solve the toughest gravity-defying puzzles yet in The Talos Principle 2? Don’t worry if you can’t because we’re going to provide the remaining answers to the Verdant Canyon challenges below.
You’re going to really need to stretch your brain out as we head into the next round of Verdant Canyon puzzles in The Talos Principle 2.
We hope you’ve gotten good and comfortable with the gravity mechanics in The Talos Principle 2, as that’s the main focus of the Verdant Canyon region in the game’s southern environment.
We move onto a new area as we pass the halfway point of The Talos Principle 2, and as usual, we’ve got some new skills to learn as we come to terms with our colorful new coastal location.