THE TALOS PRINCIPLE 2 - Forget GOTY... it’s a GOAT | Review After 50 Hours

[@cloakedgerbil]

30 hours in and im so happy this game exists. Talos Principle 1 is a hidden gem that, to me, isn't more talked about as it deserves and the fact that this game EXPANDS in everyway on the original just makes me super thrilled

[@MEGAthemicro]

Nice! Glad you're enjoying it as much as I did :)

[@jasonpace4891]

I think this might be my all-time favorite gaming experience... it just checks *every single one* of my boxes. I'm so happy Croteam made this sequel.

[@davidmthorley]

I absolutely loved the first game. Hearing that this game is better than the first makes me very hyped.

[@Black2005Lotus]

Played this first then went back and played Talos 1 for the first time. 1 is great, 2 is next level.

[@ReidemptionArc]

I really enjoyed this quick review, I'm glad I came across your comment on steam reviews. I might just have to buy this instead of watching a full playthrough! I'm feeling lucky, let's get that key.

[@MEGAthemicro]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the review, and welcome to the channel :) I'll be announcing the key raffle winner on November 9th. Good luck!

[@Black2005Lotus]

This game has shot up to my personal GOAT list. The graphics at 4K ultra on PC are breathtaking, the story and puzzles are excellent. Never used one hint, so puzzles took anywhere from a few minutes to way over an hour or maybe even 2. Always rewarding when you finally get it. Really think this should have gotten a reward for 2023. Amazing stuff!

[@MEGAthemicro]

Completely agreed! Such a great game that sadly went under the radar. Then again, its prequel had a quiet launch and slowly turned into a cult classic, so there's hope!

[@roywennekes8548]

Man, that was a really pleasurable video to watch. I believe you really deserve to grow, hopefully that's in the cards for you!

[@MEGAthemicro]

So glad you liked it! And thank you for the kind words of encouragement :)

[@eeleye733]

Talos Principle and the Council are two games that my mind keeps floating back to, years and years later. Truly intriguing, engaging, and thought-provoking-some of my favorite games of all time. The added feature of text-based adventure games in TP2 might just send me over the edge...💘

[@MEGAthemicro]

Oh, if TP1 is one of your favorites you pretty much have to give TP2 a try! On of my favorite sequels of all time :)

[@icedtea894]

Hiya man just subscribed I have no idea how you dont have a 200k channel , Keep growing !!!!

[@MEGAthemicro]

Welcome to the channel and thanks for the encouragement! It's much appreciated :)

[@HistoryTeacherSteve]

Sorry to hear about your wife getting ill! Hope she feels better soon. Also good for you both for quarantining and canceling plans 👏🏼 very responsible ❤

[@MEGAthemicro]

Thank you for the kind words! Wife officially tested negative yesterday, so we're all done quarantining :) hope you and everyone out there stays healthy this season!

[@antaylor222]

Finally, a review! Seriously, it launches today and there is just radio silence out there, zero reviews anywhere! Anyway, thanks for this review, it touches on everything I wanted to know and I'm so glad it seems to be a real winner, the first is my fav puzzler of all time. Now just need to wait for Steam to unlock it....😐

[@MEGAthemicro]

Glad you found the review helpful! Devolver put a review embargo on the game until this morning, which surprised me because usually games this good have an embargo that lifts much earlier to help build hype. Speaking of, I'm actually a little worried that I haven't seen more TP2 hype, and it doesn't have many Steam wishlists (~10k)... hope it sells well for Croteam, because they deserve it.

[@bbrainstormer2036]

Your rating scale is really great! I'm not a huge puzzle game fan, but this definitely speaks to me

[@MEGAthemicro]

Thank you! I'm glad you like it :) TP2 is awesome on many levels, but if you actively dislike puzzles, well... there sure are a lot of 'em here 😅

[@bbrainstormer2036]

@@MEGAthemicro It's not so much that I actively dislike them, and more so that they just don't appeal to me as much

[@zombiejaska1475]

TP2 is phenomenal, to think this has been put up by 42 people team is just mind blowing. I can't even comprehend how fucking beautiful this game is. Croteam, GO! Make us a new masterpiece like this and i'll happily go on living! :)

[@MEGAthemicro]

Agreed! TP2 was such a seismic leap from TP1 that the mere idea of a TP3 fills me with glee 🤪

[@Jacob-2796]

Please seek fulfillment in other things too. Having a game be a reason to live is kinda tragic, and I love TP1&2.

[@Boss_Fight_Index_muki]

i'm amazed Portal didn't inspire more games like Talos Principle series.

[@MEGAthemicro]

I'm amazed Portal didn't inspire more PORTAL games! Seriously, we've been waiting ~10 years for Portal 3 :(

[@ladaas9528]

There have plenty of attempts, but none of them were close so you don't hear about them.

[@horriblequestions]

Viewfinder & Superliminal.

[@benfaircloth5453]

I'm on ps5 and the puzzle named alternative option won't play out. The vids on here show you picking up the connectors and putting it down, then replacing it on top of a box. However the connections are lost when you go pick it up. I really hate to give up on this game. Anyone got some advice out there?

[@53Strat]

Currently playing 1 due the fact 2 looked so good and I have to say. 1 is great, can't wait to 100% it.

[@ctjpierce]

The first game was a joy. REALLY hope this one pops off! For $30 I may just buy a new game for once. We need more brainy puzzle adventures (shout out to TheWitness too!)

[@MEGAthemicro]

I still cannot believe this game is selling on Day 1 for $30. For context, The Witness came out in 2016 and is currently going for $40. Hope TP2 sells well, cause Croteam deserves it!

[@sinom]

Before launch they had a bundle going where you could get both TTP1 and TTP2 for the price of just TTP2. And if you already owned TTP1 they just gave you a further discount on TTP2 instead. With black Friday coming up they might repeat something like that soon

[@ladaas9528]

​@@MEGAthemicroIs that the same Croteam that made the Serious Sam games? A bit of a genre shift, but those were quality games as well.

[@yorkipudd1728]

@@ladaas9528 He's there, if you search enough! lol, and I agree, this gem is 100% worth the price. Puzzle lovers may have paid more, but keeping it 5-10 lower hopefully brings in new fans for the Devs.

[@richardday3136]

@@MEGAthemicro I got if for $26 by selecting the Talos 1 bundle which I already had. probably a glitch. Anyway It's a superb puzzle game with a surreal story line. Can we get behind robots as the long term future of sentient awareness? The only thing I missed was the replay puzzles which I loved in the original. Also I'm at 98%, but I still can't find Athena's tlts, does anyone know where to look?

[@tristanwegner]

Instant buy for me. Great First part, generous demo, great review and bug free, and only 26Euros right now.

[@MEGAthemicro]

Awesome! Thanks for watching, and I hope you enjoy the heck out of TP2 :D

[@pianokid103]

Wow, new record Mega-score! High praise indeed. I feel like it's possibly been a while since we've had a truly great puzzle game, at least with this scope (no pun intended). Also, I appreciate that more generally on the channel, you keep it real by declaring most games about average so that when something like this comes along, we know you mean it and don't just give every game 9/10 haha.

[@MEGAthemicro]

For a long time, I thought I'd never be able to give a game a 9/10 or better because the scoring system is (arguably) too rigorous. You really have to nail EVERY little thing to perform exceptionally well on it, and even most all-time greats have a glaring flaw or two. So happy TP2 proved me wrong :)

[@Panzer0]

Damn, I'm so glad they did it again. Fingers crossed the game sells well enough to warrant another sequel.

[@MEGAthemicro]

I'm a little worried about TP2's sales 😬 it didn't have many wishlists pre-launch and doesn't have a lot of Steam reviews right now (which is typically how I gauge sales before the actual sales numbers are available).

[@Panzer0]

Yeah, it's very odd too. The first one was a cult classic, yet it doesn't appear on steam's front page for me. 300 reviews a day after release is not what I expected for sure.@@MEGAthemicro​

[@HEYITZTHAT1GUY-c5x]

Came from steam to see the review and loved the delivery and style,definitely earned that subscribe from me.keep up the good work and looking forward to seeing more.Sorry the wife got sick,covid aint fun or a joke

[@MEGAthemicro]

Thank you so much and welcome to the channel! Wife is all better now, and thanks for the kind words :)

[@Boiler88]

Thanks for the great review. Excited to pick this one up.

[@MEGAthemicro]

You're very welcome! I hope you have an awesome time with it :)

[@frankcastlefan]

I own the game, but I wish the person who wins the key enjoys it. THIS (The Talos Principle" is THE GAME that convinced me to upgrade my GPU, and started a very lively hobby and money consumptive project(s). :D

[@Black2005Lotus]

This game "encouraged" me to move from a rtx 3070 up to a 4080 so I could run 4K Ultra at a good frame rate - so glad I did to enjoy the full experience of this game!

[@nellisnelslon8210]

forget game of the year... it's a game of all time

[@AbbreviatedReviews]

But I've already filled my requisite "one cool puzzle game" for the year and I don't know if I can do another one without risking additional brain damage.

[@MEGAthemicro]

Don't worry, I played TP2 and The Entropee Centr an didn get aanee bwain damag! 🤜🧠🤛

[@ron88303]

Enjoyed it. Honestly thought Talos 1 was more challenging, but I finished 2 without doing the gold puzzles. I'll go back and try them. The final Talos 2 puzzle was incredible.

[@MEGAthemicro]

Glad you liked it! IMO the gold puzzles are so, so much harder in TP2 than were the standard puzzles, so hopefully you find good challenge in them :)

[@Jungbeck]

The sequel I wanted but never thought I’d get.

[@audian666]

thx for no spoilers! can't wait till downloading starts !!

[@MEGAthemicro]

You bet! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did :D

[@audian666]

@@MEGAthemicro loved the first one and the demo of the 2nd, pretty sure i'll love the full game too ;)

[@59spadesofalife52]

I can confirm completed the entire thing the other day and I was invested in the story and characters pretty much the entire way through. Soundtrack is phenomenal game has great ambience. Cast of characters who are attentive to the players actions and ask questions on interesting philosophical topics. The game has a unique way of making the player think all while understanding the balance of gameplay and story. Seems to borrow heavily from religious Roman and other philosophical ideas.

[@MEGAthemicro]

Nice mini-review :) I think about this game often... might be time for another playthrough!

[@Robfnord]

I just finished this today having done every puzzle, I really enjoyed it , my only disappointment was that pretty much everything was signposted , I’d hoped for a bit more than there is on the surface , which I appreciate has been made more accessible for a reason, but then it was only £20 so I can’t expect them to put a lot of effort into content some people might never find, it just feels like with games like this the stuff that isn’t mentioned is the coolest stuff to discover, like when you first discover the hidden patterns in the witness

[@MEGAthemicro]

Solid critique. Each area does end up feeling a bit like an assembly line, doesn't it? I guess I didn't mind this design choice because it makes sense from a narrative perspective, and my itch to discover new things was mostly satisfied by the puzzles themselves.

[@potapotapotapotapotapota]

Finished the game and all the achievements at exactly 60 hours. Boy I have so many questions now.

[@neonmushroom1]

THE SPHINX: Prometheus ate glue and had to suffer for eternity. Was this punishment justified? 1) Yes 2) No 3) Justice means nothing 4) Eternity means nothing 5) I ate glue too

[@varunprakash1797]

Great review, seems like a good game to flex my brain muscles! Your insights and presentation style are on point. Keep up the good work.

[@MEGAthemicro]

Thank you very much! Will do :)

[@Retostl]

Happy 2 year anniversary!

[@MEGAthemicro]

Many thanks, my dude!

[@davitsk1]

I played talos principle when it came out. Loved it, including the dlc. Thougt about replaying it before tp2, but didnt have the time unfortunately. Might go straifht into tp2 😅 since i pre ordered it a few days ago, knowing it wouod be good.

[@MEGAthemicro]

There's no wrong way to do it! TP1 is great, but TP2 does a great (and creative!) job of summarizing and then building upon the first. You'll miss out on some subtleties, but nothing essential.

[@FoxSilverFox1]

Good review 👍

[@MEGAthemicro]

Thank you very much! Glad you liked it.

[@clinteastwood14896]

I would love a key for The Talos Principle, these games look so interesting. Hope your wife is okay with the covid =)

[@dhanssolo]

just got ttp 1 recently. im stupid good at riddle/puzzle games. like portal 2 was not that hard to 100%. ttp was rough. a couple levels i had to look up at least a hint because it was, quite literally, way out of the box methods to solve. will get ttp2 when i am ready to fry my noggin again

[@MEGAthemicro]

Nice! I'll say this-many comments I've received have said TTP2 is easier than TTP1. But, IMO, the optional "Gold" puzzles in TTP2 are on par with some of the hardest TTP1 puzzles. Enjoy :)

[@Eyedunno]

Just finished it this morning and enjoyed it, but it overall wasn't as good as the first game or Road to Gehenna. Some things were improved, sure: the Prometheus flame system was a vast improvement over the messenger hints in the first game (though I never used any of the flames for fear of maybe missing out on some achievement that didn't end up existing), as was the fact that you can reset puzzles to try something different (or try speedrunning them, or just marvel at the ingenuity of a particular puzzle). And there were no absolute bullshit stars like the fountain star in the first game (but some of the pixel hunts in TTP2 were still pretty gross IMO). Anyway, puzzles were mostly easier than the first game and WAY easier than Gehenna, aside from the golden puzzles, which were fantastic (I wish there were more like that, and maybe modders will make some good stuff in the coming years). There are no more big, sprawling puzzles like the first game sometimes had (see Windows into a Labyrinth, or Circumlocution, or Prison Break), instead it's the landscapes themselves that are now (excessively) big and Zelda-like. And they're boring now too. The areas had a lot of personality in the first game, not just in terms of their assets, but in terms of the map design itself. You don't really get many breathtaking puzzle areas in the sequel until you get to West 2 and 3, and even those are still a hassle to navigate even with the compass and signs. There also were no puzzle stars, unless you count "get laser and redirect it to monument". The story was good, it certainly tugged on my heartstrings, but the first game was absolute genius. The story in TTP was almost entirely optional and divorced from the puzzles, and yet at the same time it was brilliantly integrated with the game. Glitches are explained by the lore. So is revival from death and resetting puzzles. TTP2 is just another video game. If you die, you pretend it didn't happen and go again. Resetting a puzzle is something the player does, not something 1K himself does, and you just get a loading screen and restart. And TTP2 had some incredibly tedious stuff if you wanted to experience the whole story. Sure, responding to Milton's questions could be time-consuming in the first game, but TTP2 arguably has even more of that in that you now have long dialogue trees with many characters, and New Jerusalem was such a slog (which would have been forgivable if you could go back more easily and explore it piecemeal, but you can only go back a couple times in the whole game!). TTP's story was also hard science fiction (no really wild departures from currently understood science and technology), which is rare in popular media, and they managed to write a story where literally all humans die and yet the story manages not to be depressing. TTP2 is much, much more conventional popular science fiction (the Theory of Everything lets you do just about anything without having to explain the tech further) with a much more conventional narrative, even if the people are all robots. Anyway, thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[@Zirus_Blackheart]

So, if you like Portal1/2 then you'll like this then :-D still haven't got the first but yeah I'll be playing the first first as I always do with games :-)

[@MEGAthemicro]

I certainly think so! It's not nearly as funny (though that's not to say TP2 is humorless), and the level design isn't quite as genius, but there's SO much more here than in Portal 1 (~4 hours) and Portal 2 (~10 hours) combined. It's a beautiful sight for narrative puzzle fans :)

[@stevenclubb7718]

Be prepared for a pretty pretentious experience. This isn't a knock as the story fully supports the narrative disappearing up its philosophical ass, but it's a very different vibe than Portal. Comparisons to Portal are more about it being a high quality first person puzzle game. Even the nature of the puzzles are different enough as Portal played more toward physics and movement, while this is like constructing elaborate cat's cradles... while robots talk about their pet cats. But there really isn't much to compare it with. It's most like a better Turing Test, but that's not popular enough to be a touchstone.

[@ergohash2517]

i pre ordered this anyway but it is good to hear that the game turned out great

[@MEGAthemicro]

Indeed! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did :)

[@fixxer47]

great to see that the game broke a record. I know how my November will go now :D

[@MEGAthemicro]

Indeed! Enjoy it, my friend, and thanks for watching :)

[@ladaas9528]

Hmm, I think he likes this one. I have not played through the first one. Sounds like fun.

[@MEGAthemicro]

Really? What gave you that impression 😉 I recommend the first and highly recommend the second!

[@IndridCold00]

Hey this is my first review I've seen of yours. Just wanted to say I dig your style, really like your scoring structure, and I'll be back for more!

[@MEGAthemicro]

Yay! Thank you so much, and I'm glad you like the review style :) more to come.

[@grodius]

dude you sold me on this game

[@MEGAthemicro]

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

[@gabor-toth]

It would really be great to know about console performance. The developers being mum about it and no reviews are a red flag for me as a console player. Hopefully I'll be proven wrong.

[@MEGAthemicro]

I, too, was surprised by the lack of reviews prior to launch day, as I usually associate that with a dud release. Not the case here! Hope it runs well on console for you.

[@Zack-ti1lj]

I dont need a key i just agree with u , thanks for video

[@MEGAthemicro]

You're very welcome! Thanks for watching :)

[@uranuseuler9713]

High praise! I got tired of TP1 about 85% through so I wasn't too pumped for this sequel. You changed my mind.

[@MEGAthemicro]

I understand getting a little burned out on TP1-it's a lot! TP2 isn't any easier, but the story is so interesting and mysterious that I just had to keep going.

[@jbmurphy4]

I was the same with TP1. In fact I used to get motion sickness from it too when I reinstalled it on my ps5. I was too curious to see what tp2 was going to be like & so I was very pleasantly surprised.

[@Ghaalix]

The game is fun but the puzzles are way too easy in my opinion

[@MEGAthemicro]

I got wrecked by a few of 'em, but I have heard a number of folks complaining about the difficulty. Did you try any of the endgame gold puzzles?

[@Ghaalix]

@@MEGAthemicro not yet, I have about 80% of the base game completed

[@johnmullins1154]

What is goat

[@MEGAthemicro]

It stands for Greatest Of All Time! 🙌🐐🙌

[@johnmullins1154]

@@MEGAthemicro im so hyped after the talos 1 cant wait for the release sadly no german voiceiver

[@FuchsDanin]

Too much spoiler, not gonna finish this one.

[@MEGAthemicro]

Sorry if it felt too spoilery to you! To anyone else reading this comment, know that in this review I only discussed essential, foundational plot points that had already appeared in the trailers and demo for this game. Trust me, there's WAY more to TP2 than what this review shows.

[@junkoe3808]

the game is too easy, I'm in west 1 and I have yet to spend more than 10 minutes on a puzzle with a 100% puzzle completion so far. I think you're severely overrating this game.

[@MEGAthemicro]

That's impressive. Do you play a lot of puzzle games? I was able to blitz through a decent number of puzzles, but some REALLY stumped me and took 20+ minutes. The majority fell into the Goldilocks zone for me of challenging yet satisfying. As for overrating the game, puzzles are only one micrometric in my rating system. Did you feel equally underwhelmed by the Story and Style elements? I thought they were stellar.

[@junkoe3808]

@@MEGAthemicro I play many puzzle games and outside of puzzle games I solved many different kinds of puzzles. The story was surprisingly good given how complete the first talos principle felt. I have to commend the devs for finding a way to continue what was already perfect. It is not as novel and interesting as the first game, but it doesn't need to be. As for the philosophy, while presented in a very simplistic way with fairly one dimensional characters, it still bring attention to ideas that need to be heard by people in our society. One that stands out in particular is the perversion of the word wisdom. It's the people that cling to idealized version of things that never existed ( such as the "golden past") or whether they retreat in small and nearly inert bubbles ( such as spirituality ), refusing to come up with answers and calling it wisdom. Yes, wisdom is just another word for "i'll say vague enough shit that's beyond the scope of criticism" sometimes. There are more things that stand out, but i'd have to write several comments to cover everything. Philsophically, it isn't weaker than talos 1, it's a side grade. but it didn't feel as impactful to me. Visually speaking it's breathtaking. Anthropic hills is one of the most memorable areas in my gaming experience. It goes beyond Talos 1 when it comes to creating a sense of adventure and stimulating curiosity through visual elements. The music is as good which already makes it one of the greatest in gaming, no point in discussing it. I have some problems with the writing and characters at times. I only have the golden gate puzzles left and I still didn't get the Persistent achievement. I hate the star puzzles, I spent a huge amount of time looking for them. Overall, it's a solid game. Maybe 8.8/10 and the original would be 9.6/10 ( still suffering from it being too easy, but compensates with the DLC). My game of the year for 2023 is Baldur's gate 3 and my favourite puzzle game is probably "Baba is you" with "Bean and nothingness" coming 2nd. As for a narrative experience with puzzles, it must be "Outer Wilds". I definitely recommend you looking into them.

[@foobman]

​@@junkoe3808It must be amazing to be as intelligent as you are. I had serious trouble with some puzzles, especially in the Gehenna half of Talos 1. Haven't played Talos 2 yet though.

[@junkoe3808]

it's more nuanced than just being smart. So, it's not really amazing to be as smart as me as I'm not really out of the ordinary when it comes to smart people. I've been tested with professional full scale iq tests and my results are in the top 2% and top 1%: 131 fsiq on stanford binet 5, 134 fsiq on wechsler adult intelligence scales 4, 129 fsiq on Reynolds adult intelligence test. I do well on purely pattern recognition tests, but it's mainly because of exposure. I won't mention the scores i get there. I'm faster than many of my friends who are smarter than me on games like talos. I have good heuristics when it comes to approaching these types of puzzles. However, on games like baba is you, it took me 65 hours or so to 100% the game. while there were clinically dumber people who finished it faster. I would say for talos 2 that it doesn't discriminate well past 115-120 iq and that bean and nothingness and baba is you start failing at 125 maybe even 130. Heck, I've seen a gold medalist at the international math olympiad struggle with some baba puzzles I didn't. he surely is more intelligent than me so the conclusion is that there are more factors at play, at least part a certain threshold. Edit: all iq scores are reported here using standard deviation 15.

[@FLXEP]

@@foobman The problem with this game is they tried to introduce new mechanic for every zone but doesn't stack its difficulty with previous zone. So every time you enter a new zone it just feels like the game reset its difficulty back to zero. There are some harder puzzles there that can make you stumped, but maybe only 1-2 puzzle(s) per zone from the 10 puzzles in every zone (not counting the golden gate).

[@SuperZippyzippy]

Puzzles?? Sooo boring

[@MEGAthemicro]

If ever there was a puzzle game to prove you wrong, it's probably The Talos Principle 2 😛

[@rommel4205]

Covid 😂😂😂

[@LadyPashta]

WRONG!! POLITICS do NOT belong in video games! They ruined it!

[@MEGAthemicro]

Imagine saying that for T.V. or film. Your mentality is why many still don’t take gaming seriously as a medium, despite it being the world’s favorite pastime.

[@gkillmaster]

I love this review. The first TP made me nauseous for some reason. No other game has. Have you heard of anyone having this issue? Thank you for the great reivew.

[@MEGAthemicro]

Glad you enjoyed it! I found a few threads on motion sickness in TP: steamcommunity.com/app/257510/discussions/0/626329186959643345/?l=spanish www.reddit.com/r/puzzlevideogames/comments/an4u15/did_anyone_else_get_nauseous_playing_the_talos/ Sounds like increasing the FOV and turning off motion blur can help!

[@spirocorbett3839]

you still believe in covid? wow... lol that's just.. wow.

[@MEGAthemicro]

You still... you still DON'T believe in covid? It's killed almost seven million people :(

[@spirocorbett3839]

@@MEGAthemicro no sir. I happen to KNOW it's a scam, like most people at this point. Get your head checked.

[@DenaDarvish]

@@spirocorbett3839 They're all out to get you! Talk on the proper channels and in binary plus two code. Fight the system!!! You're super important and the government needs to know everything about you, because you're so important!!! CODE ONLY FROM HERE ON OUT

[@MrMarcusIndia]

Ah, we found the conspiridiot Q-Anoner.

[@CarlPanzram-pt6qu]

​​@@MEGAthemicroExactly!!!and great review,now I'm finished the first TP and I'm looking forward for the TP2.I think TP is not for people with low IQ people as the person who said that COVID is not true, conspiracy theoriests😂😂 maybe he is a flat earth theoriest too😂😂