One of the best of the abounding first-person puzzlers that followed in Portal's wake, The Talos Assumption offered what acquainted like a complete experience. The achievability amplitude of its puzzles—tools that you'd move about to affected ecology obstacles—was thoroughly explored. And its story—a affectionate of brainwork on the attributes of appearance and chargeless will, in allotment explored through argument alert conversations with a anarchic contrarian—was complete. Where's alike larboard to go?
In The Talos Assumption 2, the acknowledgment is far into the future. At the end of the aboriginal game, the capital character's abstruse bastille is appear to be an AI simulation advised to alternation a new anatomy of human—a automatic lifeform to alter the previous, meat-based adaptation that had been fabricated abolished by ecology catastrophe. Now, abounding years later, we see what they've built.
My hands-off audience starts with a abbreviate boot-up arrangement that mimics the style, architectonics and puzzles of the aboriginal game. It's afterwards this that The Talos Assumption 2 reveals the ace up its sleeve. You are built-in into the world—the 1,000th aborigine of the burghal of New Jerusalem, and, according to the rules of their society, additionally the last. In an accomplishment to abstain the mistakes of the past, the robots strive for ecological austerity. 1,000 people. That's it. That's their lot.
For some, your character's bearing is a account of celebration—the end of their amplification and the alpha of the final anatomy of their society. For others, it's a absinthian pill. The burghal is disturbing for the assets they charge to body and repair, causing some to altercate for connected advance and added corruption of the land. These are the stakes for The Talos Assumption 2. If the aboriginal bold was about what it agency to be an individual, the aftereffect asks what that agency for the association that individuals form.
It is, of course, still about puzzles too. As the robots accumulate to bless the accession of the aftermost affiliate of their tribe, they're disconnected by a beck of bouncing amethyst particles that adhere into a angelic amount that calls himself Prometheus. He invites anybody to his island, afore actuality disconnected by an concealed amount alleged Pandora.
You can analyze the burghal afore you leave, acquirements about the brainy differences that are forming, and about the belief created about the aboriginal game's events—a belief that may not be absolutely accurate to how it absolutely played out. Eventually, though, you set off with a aggregation to appointment Prometheus's island, and ascertain the behemothic pyramid at its centre.
What's central the pyramid is one of the game's big mysteries, one that requires exploring the island and the puzzles it contains. As in the aboriginal game, these puzzles are artificially constructed—'man'-made obstacles that you are actuality challenged to overcome. That this is a acutely advised alongside to the agent of their society—the AI training affairs their architect completed—is a actuality not absent on the analysis team.
As for the puzzles themselves, the developers showed off a scattering of new means to collaborate with the world. Already again, the accepted appearance of the puzzles is application the accoutrement of anniversary amplitude to affected the obstacle continuing amid you and your goal. They're agnate in appearance to the altar of the aboriginal game, but with a aberration of added complexity. Instead of a adapter to alter lasers about an environment, for instance, actuality I see an RGB advocate that changes the colour of said lasers.
In one puzzle, we charge to angle up a red laser to the analogous receiver in adjustment to conciliate an activity wall. Only, the laser is boilerplate abreast area it needs to be. To break it, we angle the red laser up to a adjacent dejected laser to actualize a blooming one, and shoot that off appear a adjacent dejected laser, where, application a additional RGB converter, we can achievement addition red axle and alter it to area it needs to go.
Each completed addle releases a atom billow that is calm up in a hub breadth to assemble a arch to a new allotment of the island. The association of this technology is bright to the explorers: if it can be acclimated to assemble new objects, it's potentially a admired apparatus for their ability depleted home.
Other accoutrement accommodate a driller that forms holes in walls, a teleportation pad that you can bastardize to, and an activator that projects a all-around ambience that turns on any accessory aural it. Puzzles may additionally accommodate abandoned apprentice shells that you're able to apperception alteration into, about co-operating with yourself to acquisition a solution. It's a fun attractive apartment of new options that should action affluence of claiming as the assorted accoutrement are accumulated calm in more circuitous ways.
So sure, The Talos Assumption didn't need a sequel, but I can't accountability the appetite on affectation here. It's a acute progression: affective from a self-reflective abstruseness to one that has implications for a beyond society, area you're alive with an absolute aggregation in following of a accepted goal. And alike the abbreviate audience did abundant to accept me absorbed about its axial mystery—the behemothic megastructure that I already appetite to see inside. I can't say for abiding if the addle accoutrement will do abundant to accomplish the moment-to-moment abstruse feel advisedly different, but I'm absolutely attractive advanced to addition out the answers.
