Recent reviews by Atom

Real logic puzzles. The solution is always deducible even if it doesn't seem that way at first (or for a long while...). Sometimes I only realized I could have deduced the solution logically after getting frustrated and choosing a random option. My only complaint would be that sometimes you have to think too many steps ahead.

With the added Developer Commentary (for both the base game and Road To Gehenna expansion) and the new In The Beginning expansion (18 new puzzles), it was worth it for me, especially since owning the original Talos 1 and 2 gives a nice discount.

Playing through the base game to listen to the developer commentary, the puzzles felt too easy, but I know they weren't when I first played through the original game. Talos 2 also felt too easy to me, but in retrospect it was probably similar in difficulty to the base Talos 1 puzzles.

The recording device has been altered to add pause points, which makes it WAY less frustrating to use. I do feel like it trivializes a couple of the puzzles though, which relied on precise timing (or waiting) to solve. In The Beginning also has a puzzle that relies on this pause feature in a unique way, which was neat. Edit: Apparently you can solve this puzzle without the pause feature, but the easier solution is by using the pause.
There is also the addition of a rewind mechanic to the whole game, where you can rewind the game to a few seconds ago if you make a mistake, which also makes some of the puzzles less frustrating. A nice QOL addition.

I wish there was more developer commentary about puzzle design and technical things. Currently most of the commentary is from the writers, which I did really enjoy, but it would have been nice to hear more about the other aspects of the game too.

In The Beginning brings 18 new community-made puzzles, and pretty much all of them are really good. Several of these are the hardest puzzles I've encountered in the series, and were really satisfying to finally crack. In The Beginning was probably the highlight of this remaster for me.

The new UE5 visuals are pretty, but performance is not. This runs worse than Talos 2, which was also made with UE5 and had larger maps.
I was able to run this game well (~120fps) at 1440p high settings + DLAA with a 9800X3D and 5090, so for me it was fine. But you should not need to have literally the best gaming PC available in the world today just to be able to run this game smoothly at 1440p.

A true sequel both in puzzle mechanics and story. It is nice to see a story that has a very optimistic take on the future (and present) of humanity, and builds upon the themes of the first game.

The new mechanics are great. Inverters and RGB converters especially lead to some fun puzzles. I am glad they replaced the recording device from the first game with controllable clones instead, those are a lot easier to reason about for me.

That said, the puzzles are too easy. Maybe, because of all the new mechanics, Croteam played it safe. The gold puzzles were the only ones I really had fun with, and you can't do those until you've done all the other puzzles in the game and there aren't many of them. Luckily, the Road to Elysium DLC brings the good stuff. It has amazing puzzles that make up for the easier puzzles in the base game.

I am mixed on the open design of the areas. The visuals are spectacular, but I can't say I enjoyed running so much in between puzzles. The statues you complete to get stars in the open areas were mostly not enjoyable. There were some cool solutions for the Pandora statues, but apart from a couple of the Prometheus statues (that required doing something different in a couple of puzzles to get to the orb), the rest were not very fun to complete.

Overall, I enjoyed this game a lot, and the DLC is amazing. I hope Croteam keeps making games like this in the future.

Croteam yet again delivers an amazing DLC with the best and most difficult (but in a good way) puzzles in the game.

The first part (Orpheus Ascending) is all about a mechanic with the lasers that has never been explored before. Very creative, I really enjoyed this one.

The second part (Isle of the Blessed) feels like a new area from the base game. Good, but the puzzles are not very difficult. It fits the mood of that area as being more laid back and relaxing.

Croteam saved the best for last. The puzzles in the third part (Into the Abyss) are the best in the game. They are extremely creative and clever, and feel amazing to solve. The base game doesn't come close to Into the Abyss in terms of quality, creativity, and difficulty of the puzzles. I wish more of the game was like this. There are a good number of puzzles here, and I still want more!

Overall, amazing DLC. Thank you Croteam!

A masterclass in puzzle design.

This game really squeezes everything it can from its mechanics. Every level has an idea it wants to communicate, and requires a mini-epiphany to solve. The vast majority of levels are simple, involving no more than 2 or 3 sausages - the difficulty comes from the particular layout of a level and how it affects getting the sausages on the grills (and back). Some levels might look initially overwhelming, but you soon realize there is a very limited number of moves you actually need to make. The puzzles are excellent from the beginning of the game all the way through to the end.

Playing through this game was a treat. Thank you Stephen.

This game is really great.

The puzzles are mostly great. They start out simple, and grow in complexity as the game progresses with both more complicated uses of existing items as well as the addition of new items to play with.
Puzzles involving the recording device in particular made my brain work very hard.

The game does a good job of exploring the possibility space of a given set of items. I was often surprised by how many different ways a small number of items could interact and be used, and the puzzles demonstrate this.

I did find that especially later on, some puzzles didn't really appear to bring anything new to the table, but rather just rehashed previously-explored ideas. I sometimes felt like I was just doing "another puzzle" rather than having to figure out something new, kind of like when you have 10 math problems to do that are all technically different, but also all the same.

The story, which is experienced in parallel to the puzzle solving, really resonated with me. There is a moment early on in one of the terminals that I don't want to spoil, but it was something I was not expecting and really enjoyed. If you allow yourself to be humble, the game will meet you there, and I enjoyed interacting with the computer and reading all of the terminal entries, which is something I don't normally do.

Road to Gehenna has the best puzzles in the game.

Most of the puzzles have a trick to them, which once you figure out is really satisfying and made me smile at the cleverness of their design.

I enjoyed my time solving almost all of the puzzles. I found the base game to have numerous puzzles that felt like they didn't bring any new ideas, rather rehashing concepts that you already know. This DLC has almost none of this, it's pretty much all great stuff.
There are also only a few that involve the recording device, which I am grateful for since those were my least favourite kind in the base game.

The story is also good, different from the base game and great in its own way.

If you liked the base game, you will like Road to Gehenna even more.

Not only is this the greatest puzzle game ever made, but out of the 787 games currently in my library, this is far and away the best*.

it's ok

Fantastic mind-bending puzzle game that doesn't overstay its welcome