The Talos Principle 2, Croteam’s sequel to the original brain-bending puzzle game, was a long time in the making. Arriving close to a decade after the first game in the series, TTP2 immediately one-upped its predecessor by simultaneously releasing on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S alongside PC.
Promising “more mind-bending puzzles to solve, new puzzle mechanics, a richer storyline, more secrets to uncover, and the biggest, weirdest world Croteam has ever built”, The Talos Principle 2 had potential to be one of the best puzzle games of this generation, and it certainly delivered. Here’s a full overview of the game.
The Talos Principle 2 release date
The Talos Principle 2 released on Thursday, November 2, 2023 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
The game launched to critical acclaim with plenty of positive reviews – on Metacritic, it achieved an average review score of 85/100 on Xbox and 90/100 on PlayStation. Within the first couple of weeks of launching, it had also racked up an impressive 100,000 sales.
The Talos Principle 2 gameplay
The Talos Principle 2 is a first-person puzzle game with an overarching narrative communicated to you through both the puzzles themselves and by NPCs.
The objective is to solve eight puzzles in each of the game’s 12 areas. Puzzles mainly revolve around unlocking doors and pathways by rerouting laser beams from their emitters to the locks. While that sounds fairly basic and repetitive, each of the 12 areas presents slightly different challenges and gives you new tools to complete puzzles.
Once the eighth puzzle in an area is complete, you will always then have to construct a bridge to the finishing point using a different puzzle type involving tetromino shapes – any Tetris players out there, this will be right up your street.
The Talos Principle 2 story and protagonist
The Talos Principle series revolves around a post-humanity species of androids. In TTP2, you are known as 1K, as you are the thousandth android to have been created after the fall of humanity.
Away from the androids’ home city of New Jerusalem, a mysterious energy surge has been detected, and 1K is sent to investigate. As you complete puzzles in this new location, you encounter projections of three mythological figures who each have different interpretations of humanity and agendas – Prometheus, Pandora, and The Sphinx.
While we’ll try to avoid spoilers here, there is also an ongoing narrative beat that involves the playable protagonist from the first game, who was the very first android to awaken after humanity’s demise.
Even if you’re not a puzzle game enthusiast, The Talos Principle is one of the best PS5 games and best Xbox games for those that love an intriguing storyline. Definitely give it a go, especially if you see it discounted as part of a sale.