I've been looking forward to more Talos Principle ever since I wrapped up the original way back in 2014 (man, has it really been almost 10 years?) and soon, I will finally get some. The Talos Principle 2, a game about robots trying to figure out the meaning of life in a post-human world filled with puzzles and metaphysical ramblings, is set to arrive on November 2.
The Talos Principle 2 will follow the events of the original with a more expansive game world and story, in which a small society of robots—presumably all graduates of the first game—discover a strange "megastructure" and immediately embark on a quest to learn what it's all about. Familiar Talos Principle puzzles will return along with various new sorts of brain teasers to figure out, and of course there will be, as developer Croteam puts it, "questions about the nature of the cosmos, faith versus reason, and the fear of repeating humankind's mistakes."
And yes, that's Croteam as in the studio that also makes the Serious Sam games, some of the most wilfully anti-cerebral shooters I've ever played. That never stops being weird to me.
- Croteam 'never planned to make' its philosophical puzzler The Talos Principle, but it emerged as a 'happy accident' while working on Serious Sam
- Endless Legend 2, the sequel to Amplitude's sublime 4X, is finally coming, and it's fully leaning into the joy of exploration: 'It is a feeling that will stick with you until the end'
One interesting twist in The Talos Principle 2 is that you are not alone this time around. The first game was a solo journey, with nothing but records of memories and mistakes from the past to remind you that others came before, but the sequel features multiple robots with individual personalities, thoughts, and desires, and an attendant shift in narrative focus from the individual to society. And it's not an inexorable journey toward a specific goal: The Talos Principle 2 Steam page promises "a thought-provoking, character-driven interactive story with multiple endings."
I got an early look at The Talos Principle 2 a few months ago, and I was really impressed with what I saw. It struck me as a properly interesting sequel: It looks set to follow on the foundations of the first game in a way that makes sense, with a greater variety of puzzles to solve and mysteries to uncover. Which is really my favorite part: I'm honestly not a great head for puzzles, but I love banging around inside deep game worlds filled with secrets and places to poke my head into. (The soothing voice of EL-0:HIM telling me I'm doing a good job is great too, I hope he's back for the new game.)
The Talos Principle 2 is available for preorder now on Steam and the Epic Games Store. For a closer look at what it's all about, be sure to check out our preview.
