In today’s world of microtransactions, games releasing before they’re finished, glitch-ridden open world engines, and games that overall fail to live up to their artistic vision, sometimes there will come a game that’s so perfect that it’s hard to believe it even got made.

The Talos Principle is a single-player puzzle game made with full triple-A production values, arguably leaving Portal 2 in the dust at what it does. I liken it to Dear Esther, but twenty times longer and filled with actual gameplay, while keeping the beauty of the world and the philosophical overtones intact.

The game consists of walking through majestic-looking outdoor areas to find closed-off puzzle areas, then solving puzzles using only a small handful of simple and easy-to-understand machines. The puzzles themselves are eloquent and very well-tested. There are over a hundred of them in all, but each puzzle introduces a new idea or uses old ideas in new ways, so they never feel repetitive or stale. The game’s environments are simply breathtaking with their huge draw distances and ridiculous detail, while the puzzle areas feel aptly like claustrophobic rat mazes while never losing the area’s sense of atmosphere. The puzzles get very challenging near the end, but expert level design makes them all very rewarding to solve. And if you’re particularly clever, the game’s third ending requires you to figure out how to break the level design and take items out of their designated areas to find secrets hidden in closed-away or out-of-bounds places. It’s rather mind-blowing and something that I’ve never seen incorporated into a game intentionally before.

The icing on the cake is the storytelling. The story is that you’re a robot who wakes up in a garden and follows the commands of a god-like figure constantly talking in your head. It quickly becomes apparent that the whole world may or may not be a virtual reality simulation, which may or may not have been programmed by humans for a specific yet unknown purpose, and you are given the choice of blindly following the god’s orders or trying to unravel the mystery of who exactly you are and what lies outside of the simulation. The game has three different endings, and you will find whatever answer you seek if you search hard enough.

The game poses a few difficult philosophical questions and studies them from countless different angles. I know that some people will find the philosophy pretentious and trite, and I know it’s completely up to personal preference, but for me it really, really worked. I was hooked on the story the whole way. I think that even if some of the game’s lines fail to impress you, there’s enough material here that you’ll find at least something that will strike a chord and challenge the way you think. Besides, if you don’t like the story, it’s easy enough to skip everything by ignoring the computers, but you might miss out on the brilliance of some of the game’s endings.

I give The Talos Principle a perfect score. It’s got sublime puzzle design, mind-blowing secret collectables, gorgeous environments that put Dear Esther to shame, above-average voice acting, a professionally-written and well-presented story, nearly zero glitches, and depths and depths of content. It’s truly one of the best games I’ve ever played. Go play it if you haven't already; you might come out feeling like a different person.

If you like Portal, you will like this game!
If you study philosophy, you will like this game!
If you study math, you will like this game!
If you study religion, you will like this game!
If you study physics, you will like this game!
....
If you play CoD, you will die. Slowly.

*a terminal in the game asks me to prove that i am a human or not*
*looks at bedroom mirror*
*closes laptop*
*lie down on the floor*
*thinking about my existence*

10/10 would mindf--ked again

A terminal kept making valid arguments against all my beliefs. 10/10 would question my own existence again.

Simply wonderful, one of the finest games I've ever played.

Puzzle mechanics are straightforward but brilliantly implemented and iterative, providing just enough challenge. An intruiging story is played out using text snippets and great narration.

If you enjoyed the Portal games even a little, there'll be something here for you to love.