When you like metaphysical nonsense and bizarre structure, The Talos Precept 2 needs to be right up your alley
On: June 9, 2023
After years of silence, The Talos Precept 2 reappeared final month on the PlayStation Showcase, with a promise of an expanded game world, new forms of puzzles, and—after all—”questions concerning the nature of the cosmos and the aim of civilization.” At tonight’s Devolver Direct, we received a glimpse of what that may really seem like, and it’s positively totally different.
The world of the primary Talos Precept is comparatively small and uniform: Lush greenery and crumbling ruins impressed by particular durations of human historical past. The sequel, then again, guarantees to be larger, extra diversified, and as is clear from the trailer, decidedly stranger. Like the primary game, it seems to be a testing floor, however there isn’t any thriller to that side of it anymore: As an alternative, there are questions: “What are we being examined for?”
The vary of puzzles has additionally clearly expanded, which is welcome, however hopefully the issue will not go up together with the range. As a lot as I favored The Talos Precept, I am actually not excellent at puzzle video games; the primary game did an almost good job of being simply troublesome sufficient that I might really feel sensible for beating it with out being hung up for too lengthy in any explicit spot, and I am actually not serious about being hit with a exponentially harder problem simply because the builders assume that is what I am right here for.
I do not assume that is an excessive amount of of a fear, although: The puzzles in The Talos Precept are actually extra of a way to an finish, the “finish” on this case being a cleverly-told story stuffed with entry-level philosophical ruminations, and the gameplay trailer right here strongly suggests that is what Talos 2 is aiming for as properly.
“I maintain considering, ‘Why puzzles?'” the narrator wonders aloud. “Is it simply their symbolic worth? As a result of the factor about puzzles is that they are often solved.”
That is simply the tone of metaphysical bullshit that I am on the lookout for: I do know that once I play this game, I’ll really feel sensible with out really being sensible. Puzzles that I bang my head towards and ultimately get uninterested in and stroll away from (as I did with The Witness, which stays unfinished and I do not care) would sink Talos Precept 2’s storytelling aspirations, and that is fairly clearly the precedence right here. From the blurb:
“Set in a distant future where humankind has lengthy been extinct, human tradition lives on by means of interminable robots made in our picture. Embarking on a quest to research a mysterious megastructure, you’ll be confronted with questions concerning the nature of the cosmos, religion versus motive, and the concern of repeating humankind’s errors.”
The Talos Precept 2 is coming to PC later this 12 months by the use of Steam and the Epic Video games Retailer. If, like me, you are into the narrative side of the entire thing, there are new bits and items to dig into at thetalosprinciple.com.
