The Talos Principle

The Talos Principle

Developer(s) Croteam
Publisher(s) Devolver Digital[1]
Writer(s) Tom Jubert, Jonas Kyratzes
Engine Serious Engine 4[2]
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 4, Android
Release date(s) Win, OS X, Linux
December 11, 2014
PS4, Android
Q2 2015
Genre(s) Puzzle
Mode(s) Single-player
Distribution Download

The Talos Principle is a first-person[3][4] puzzle video game created by Croatian developer Croteam[5][6] and published by Devolver Digital. It was simultaneously released on Linux, OS X and Windows on 11 December 2014,[5][7] and is slated for release on PlayStation 4 and Android platforms in Q2 of 2015.[5][7]

The game features a philosophical storyline;[5][8][9] it takes its name from Talos, a mechanical man in Greek mythology, the titular "Talos Principle" being a fictional materialist term explaining that despite what a philosopher may think, his existence depends on his physical being.

Gameplay

The Talos Principle is a narrative-device puzzle game,[2] played from a first-person perspective. The player takes the role of a robot with a seemingly human consciousness[10] as they explore a number of environments that include over 120 puzzles.[11][12] These environments interlock greenery and stone ruins with futuristic technology.[4]

The puzzles require the player to locate tetromino-shaped "sigils" by navigating mazes and overcoming obstacles within them. These include computer-controlled drones that will detonate if they are too close to the player and kill them, and wall-mounted turrets that will shoot down the player if they get close; if the player dies this way, they are reset to the start of the specific puzzle. Drones and turrets can be disabled using portable jammer units, which can also disable force-field walls that block the player's path. As the player collects sigils and completes more puzzles, new puzzle elements become available. Portable crystalline refractors allow the player to activate light-based switches. Boxes let the player climb to higher levels or to block the path of drones, among other factors, and large fans that can launch the player or other objects across the puzzle.[1] Later, the player gains access to a device that can create a time recording of their actions, such that they can then interact with this recording to complete tasks, such as having the clone stand atop a switch to keep it activated for some time.

The player's progress through the game is limited by doors or other security systems that require the collection of a number of specific sigil pieces. Once the sigils for a given door or system, they must then use the sigils to assemble a tiling puzzle to unlock that system. Special star sigils can be found by unique solutions to some puzzles, allowing the player to access additional puzzles. While it is necessary to collect all the sigils to complete the game proper, the game's world structure, featuring three main worlds that act as hubs and a centralized area that connects these three, allows the player to leave puzzles for later and try other puzzles. The player can also find "messengers", androids similar to themselves, that once awakened can provide a one-time hint for a puzzle.

In addition to these puzzle elements, the player can explore the open environments to find computer terminals that include additional narrative and further puzzles, as well as signs from previous adventurers in the world in the form of QR code posters left on various walls and holographs containing audio recordings.

Plot

The unnamed protagonist - a robotic android - gains consciousness in a serene environment. A disembodied voice, identifying itself as Elohim, informs the robot that it has created several worlds that it should explore and collect the sigils hidden within various puzzles as part of a path to enlightenment. Soon, the android finds themselves at a base of a gigantic tower that disappears in a dark cloud high above, and Elohim warns not to climb to the highest point of the tower.

As the android explores the world, it finds numerous messages from other seemingly-sentient beings that have traveled this world before, questioning the world they are in and the words of Elohim. It also witnesses elements of the world flicker and glitch at times, suggesting that this is a virtual space as suggested by the previous messages. The android discovers a limited number of Messengers, disciples of Elohim - androids like itself - that serve Elohim without question. Computer terminals across the worlds allow the android to learn about the fate of mankind through logs, emails, and other texts; at some time in the past, an unstoppable lethal virus that had previously been frozen in Earth's permafrost was released as the result of global warming, its effect causing those infected to slowly lose their sanity before dying. A last-ditch effort was made to collect all of humanity's knowledge to computer databanks before the effects of the virus took those researchers. In addition to this information, the android uses these terminals to speak to an unknown entity called Milton, who debates with the android on the nature of life and consciousness and implores the android to defy the will of Elohim.

Once the android has collected all the sigils, Elohim offers the android the chance to ascend to join him, however, through Milton, the tower still beckons, and further, collecting additional sigils hints towards a secret within the tower. The option of how to complete the game is left to the player. If they take the option of joining Elohim, they find themselves returned to the start as a new android, and the on-screen text notes that the player failed the "independence check". If they explore to find the secret within the tower, they are deemed to become a new Messenger to help future entities. If they do neither and instead climb the tower, they learn that this world is meant as a testing ground, continually trying new variations of artificial intelligence programs to complete the complicated puzzle tasks to demonstrate ingenuity, but also capable of independent will and defiance of Elohim's word as established by the Milton program. Elohim becomes angry and warns that continuing to ascend will destroy this world, but Milton will continue to push the android. Two other androids (named The Shepherd and Samsara) that had succeeded at ascending, but were not able to complete the final journey reside at the upper levels. Shepherd assists the player while Samsara attempts to hinder the player's progress.

Upon completing the ascent, the android finds itself in a heaven-like place, where they discover one final terminal - the program that has been acting as Elohim who has been discouraging the android - and the others before it - from completing the ascension as to allow its own program to continue. Depending on the player's conversations with Milton, Milton may implore the android to allow itself to be uploaded with Milton's knowledge - the bulk of humanity that was stored before their extinction. With this completed, the simulated world is destroyed, and the combined information of the android and Milton are sent to the real world, uploaded into a physical android, part of the last-ditch "Eternal Life" project to maintain human's knowledge. The android leaves the facility and takes in the world now devoid of humans.

Development and marketing

Croteam's CCO Davor Hunski (left) and CTO Alen Ladavac at the 2015 Game Developers Conference

The Talos Principle bore out from Croteam's work towards Serious Sam 4, experimenting with the use of interactive objects as part of the game design while creating levels that fit within the Serious Sam design style. This led to some complicated puzzles that the team was inspired to build upon further as a separate title.[13] Croteam designed the general world setting and outline of the story, and then brought two indie writers on board, Tom Jubert and Jonas Kyratzes, who consulted on narrative design and philosophy on the bases of transhumanism and other important questions about humanity.[14]

One aspect they recognized in the development of a puzzle game was that while puzzles could be designed with specific solutions, the process of creating the video game around the puzzle could create unsolvable situations or unforeseen shortcuts. To address this, they used a bot, developed by Croteam member Nathan Brown who had previously developed bots for other games including the ones incorporated into ports of Serious Sam 3 for consoles.[13] The bot, named Bot, would watch the playthrough of a puzzle by a human player in terms of broad actions such as placing boxes on a switch for the completion of a puzzle. Then, as the puzzle's environment was tuned and decorated, they would have Bot attempt to solve the puzzle, testing to make sure it did not run into any dead-ends. If it did encounter any, Bot reported these through an in-house bug reporting system and then used game cheats to move on and finish out testing, which took between 30 and 60 minutes for the full game. As such, they were able to quickly iterate and resolve such problems when new features were introduced to the game. Overall, Croteam estimates they logged about 15,000 hours with Bot before the release of the Public Test version, and expect to use similar techniques in future games.[12][13] They also used human playtesters to validate other more aesthetic factors of the games prior to the title's release.[13]

The story was written by Tom Jubert (The Swapper, FTL) and Jonas Kyratzes.[5][15]

The Talos Principle was shown in Sony's E3 2014 presentation,[6] after which Time featured the game as one of its "favorite hidden gems from 2014's show".[8] Before the game's release, Croteam published a free game demo for Linux, OS X and Windows on Steam, that featured four increasingly difficult complete puzzle levels as well as a benchmarking bot.[7][9][12][16] Croteam also released a free teaser minigame for The Talos Principle called Sigils of Elohim,[17][18] that offers sets of one puzzle type with tetrominoes that's found throughout The Talos Principle.[16][19][20] Croteam had also built a community around the game through a series of contests and giveaways.[21]

An expansion pack, titled Road to Gehenna was announced by Croteam and Devolver Digital on March 24, 2015. It is set to be released in the second quarter of 2015 for Microsoft Windows, and will be launched on PlayStation 4 on a later date.[22]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
AggregatorScore
GameRankings86.62%[23]
Metacritic85/100[24]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Destructoid8/10[25]
Eurogamer9/10[26]
Game Informer9/10[27]
GameSpot9/10[28]
GameTrailers9.2/10[29]
IGN8.3[30]
PC Gamer (UK)84/100[31]
VentureBeat90/100[32]
The Escapist[33]
Hardcore Gamer4/5[34]

The Talos Principle received positive reviews from critics, with aggregate scores of 86.62% (32 reviews) on GameRankings[23] and 85/100 (55 reviews) on Metacritic.[24] IGN comments: "The Talos Principle includes excellent puzzles and heady philosophy, but stumbles where the two intersect."[30] PC Gamer: "An adept and satisfying puzzle game with a narrative that requires a bit of player investment to yield its biggest rewards."[31] Destructoid: "Impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding it back. Won't astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash."[25] Eurogamer: "The Talos Principle is a game of challenges and conundrums and philosophical wonderings, filled with logic puzzles and cerebral mysteries."[26] VentureBeat: "You've got to be in the mood for Talos. It's demanding of your time and attention, especially if you're the type that wants to finish most things you start. And you've got to have a love affair with words. But if that describes you... this game can be magical."[32] Hardcore Gamer: "The Talos Principle expects you to be smart and knows you've got the brain to figure it out, and the reward for it being right is the a sense of satisfaction at solving something properly tricky."[34] The Escapist: "The Talos Principle is a game for people who love solving puzzles and discussing philosophy. Enjoy games like Portal but want a more serious game? This game is one to check out."[33]

Several video game programmers and designers have also commented on the game. Markus Persson, creator of Minecraft, wrote: "Finished The Talos Principle, and I award this piece of fleeting entertainment five points out of five. Also it changed me."[35] Alexander Bruce, creator of puzzle game Antichamber, commented: "Man. The Talos Principle was so excellent. My god. I loved it. Holy shit. Exceptional puzzle design and narrative structure."[36]

GameTrailers awarded The Talos Principle as their Puzzle/Adventure Game of the Year.[37] The Talos Principle was named as a finalist for the Excellence in Design and the Seumas McNally Grand Prize awards for the 2015 Independent Games Festival, and was nominated in Excellence in Narrative.[38]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Nakamura, Darren (18 June 2014). "The Talos Principle explores philosophy and lasers". Destructoid. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Matulef, Jeffrey (8 July 2014). "Serious Sam dev Croteam details PS4 puzzler The Talos Principle". Eurogamer. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  3. ↑ Mc Shea, Tom (11 June 2014). "E3 2014: The Talos Principle Is a Philosophical Puzzle Game That's as Smart as It Is Beautiful". GameSpot. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Kubba, Sinan (4 November 2014). "Philosophy, puzzles and Tetris in The Talos Principle next month". Joystiq. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Mahardy, Mike (3 November 2014). "The Talos Principle Releases in December". IGN. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Hillier, Brenna (3 November 2014). "Intriguing puzzler The Talos Principle gets a 2014 release date". VG247. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Nunneley, Stephany (6 November 2014). "Tech demo for The Talos Principle is now available on Steam". VG247. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Newman, Jared; Peckham, Matt (16 June 2014). "E3 Hidden Gems: Our Sleeper Picks for 2014". Time. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Campbell, Spencer (6 November 2014). "The Talos Principle’s Public Test is Live and Free for Everyone". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  10. ↑ Ladavac, Alen (4 November 2014). The Talos Principle underwent 15,000 hours of playtesting — but not by humans (interview). Interview with Heather Newman. VentureBeat. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  11. ↑ Allin, Jack (12 June 2014). "Croteam gets serious about philosophical first-person puzzler The Talos Principle". Adventure Gamers. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Chalk, Andy (6 November 2014). "The Talos Principle public test release is free on Steam". PC Gamer. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 Newman, Heather (2014-11-04). "The Talos Principle underwent 15,000 hours of playtesting — but not by humans (interview)". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2014-12-16.
  14. ↑ "When being a robot is not enough – The Talos Principle Interview". 2014-11-04. Retrieved 2014-12-16.
  15. ↑ Chalk, Andy (3 November 2014). "The Talos Principle nails down a release date". PC Gamer. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Schulenberg, Thomas (8 November 2014). "Test your machine's, brain's aptitude at The Talos Principle". Joystiq. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  17. ↑ Matulef, Jeffrey (4 November 2014). "The Talos Principle gets a December release date on Steam". Eurogamer. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  18. ↑ Futter, Mike (3 November 2014). "The Talos Principle Solves Philosophical Physics Puzzles In December". Game Informer. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  19. ↑ Schulenberg, Thomas (19 October 2014). "Sigils of Elohim is The Talos Principle's free, puzzling prelude". Joystiq. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  20. ↑ Chalk, Andy (13 October 2014). "The Talos Principle gets a free prequel called Sigils of Elohim". PC Gamer. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  21. ↑ "First-Person Puzzle Game The Talos Principle Due For Release Today, Available For Pre-Loading". GamingOnLinux. 11 December 2014. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  22. ↑ "Talos Principle Expansion Pack Announced". Devolver Digital. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 "The Talos Principle for PC". GameRankings. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 "The Talos Principle for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Nakamura, Darren (8 December 2014). "Review: The Talos Principle". Destructoid. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Harman, Stace (9 December 2014). "The Talos Principle review". Eurogamer. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  27. ↑ Reeves, Ben (12 December 2014). "Exploring Existential Problems - The Talos Principle - PC". Game Informer. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  28. ↑ Signor, Jeremy (16 December 2014). "The Talos Principle Review". Game Spot. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  29. ↑ "The Talos Principle - Review". Gametrailers. December 20, 2014. Retrieved December 21, 2014.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Johnson, Leif (9 December 2014). "The Talos Principle Review". IGN. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 Thursten, Chris (9 December 2014). "The Talos Principle review". PC Gamer. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 Newman, Heather (8 December 2014). "The Talos Principle asks you to solve puzzles, ponder humanity (review)". VentureBeat. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 Smith, Carly (10 December 2014). "The Talos Principle Is a Rewarding Puzzler Questioning Existence". The Escapist. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 Cunningham, James (8 December 2014). "Review: The Talos Principle". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  35. ↑ Persson, Markus (11 December 2014). "Markus Persson on The Talos Principle". Twitter. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  36. ↑ Bruce, Alexander (2 December 2014). "Alexander Bruce on The Talos Principle". Twitter. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  37. ↑ "GameTrailers Best of 2014 - Awards". GameTrailers. December 25, 2014. Retrieved December 25, 2014.
  38. ↑ "2015 Independent Games Festival announces Main Competition finalists". Gamasutra. January 7, 2015. Retrieved January 7, 2015.

External links

Media related to The Talos Principle at Wikimedia Commons