The Talos Principal: Reawakened Review – A Beautiful Challenge

The Talos Principal: Reawakened Review

Although developer Croteam is perhaps best known for the Serious Sam franchise, a decade ago they released a puzzle game called The Talos Principal. It looked great and had serious Myst vibes. Its puzzles were devious and sometimes fiendishly difficult. The Talos Principal was followed by a sequel in 2023. Now, Croteam has returned to the first game and given it a significant refresh, including new visuals and an entirely new prequel chapter with The Talos Principal: Reawakened.

Sci-Fi Mysticism

One of the best things about The Talos Principle is the narrative. Without going into too much detail, it explores a future world in which humanity has fallen prey to a global pandemic. Go figure. Before they went extinct, leading scientists and philosophers passed along the seeds of humanity to a race of androids. In addition to solving environmental puzzles, the android player-character confronts the thorny issue of what it means to be human. The game doesn’t shy away from the philosophical.

The Talos Principal: Reawakened includes the original game’s DLC — The Road to Gehenna — and a new chapter called In the Beginning. This prequel sounds like a great intro to the base game. Ironically, though, it assumes a great deal of familiarity with the original’s puzzle mechanics. It’s the deep end of a very deep pool.

That said, In the Beginning is an engaging look at the last human survivors at their most desperate as they prepare the androids and troubleshoot their vision. It allows the player to connect to the pathos, humor, and conflicts of the creators and their humanity. But for newbie players, it’s not the best training ground. The base game is definitely the place to start.

It Looks Unreal

The Talos Principal looked impressive in 2014, but the new Reawakened version uses Unreal Engine 5 to carry the visuals to the next level. It looks sharp and detailed, with beautiful natural environments, complex structures, and evocative lighting. The puzzles themselves remain largely the same, starting with some very simple object manipulation puzzles before developing into multi-part challenges that require a sharp eye for objects. Not to mention a brain attuned to creative solutions.

The game’s audio landscape is overall excellent. Damjan Mravunac’s score is an understated and deeply melancholic collection of electronic, orchestral, and vocal textures. The contrast between synthesized and acoustic instruments helps reinforce the game’s central theme of humanity interwoven with technology.

One of the most exciting bonuses included in The Talos Principal: Reawakened is a Puzzle Editor. This tool allows players to create their own levels and complex puzzles apart from the story and share them over the Steam Workshop. Level editors used to be an almost expected feature in some genres, and it’s great to see one included here.

The One to Get

For any player interested in The Talos Principal, Reawakened is, hands down, the version to pick up. It’s visually impressive, the story is intriguing, and the puzzles feel timeless. For players with the original already tucked in the library, the new level editor and prequel chapter are possibly enough to make re-buying the game. For a short period after the game’s April 10 release, Croteam is offering the new game to players of the original or sequel at a 40% discount. Unfortunately, the new DLC is not available separately.

Like Myst or Riven, The Talos Principal: Reawakened combines a thoughtful narrative premise with clever and often extremely challenging puzzles. The new version adds some quality-of-life features, new content, and an editor in concert with beautifully updated graphics. Enough time has passed to firmly assert that The Talos Principal is a genre classic, and The Talos Principal: Reawakened is simply the definitive version to own.

***PC code provided by the publisher for review***