The Talos Principle: Reawakened eliminates the last little beauty stain that bothered me on the original

I hope that I don't go against anyone with it, but my stomach always turns when I talk about a "good product" in meetings of video games. Unfortunately, it is logical that this happens on the investors' Excel tables. That's how the world works. As soon as it comes to the real creative work, I don't want to know anything about the product range. And it's nice that the developers ofApparently see it similarly.

When I hear one of the audio comments with which you get a very extensive insight into the history of the game and its ten -year -old original in this new edition, one of the sentences involved in the sub -line says: "This is not just a product, but art." In fact, The Taslos Principle is allowed to attribute this classification with full law.

In principle, very simple ...

The puzzle classic is initially what many others are: an excellently playable adventure that makes the gray cell ... forgiveness: the green circuit boards with tricky puzzles. After all, you play an android that pairs through a virtual world and deactivates dangerous mines and automatic rifles and opens the gates of small labyrinth by directing laser beams from the right output into the necessary input.

Sounds simple, it is at first, but eventually becomes pleasantly tricky and at the latest the brand new expansion in the starting demands even experienced principles of clever rethinking. In any case, I was delighted with what type you have to find new ways there. But let me take a close look at the new content of the new edition later.

Why is the old androidgo pounding through this strangely procedural world? This is part of the art that was previously mentioned. Because the Talos Principle raises questions about pretty much everything that concerns humanity - in a way that is so illuminating because the story is largely from what you do and observes when playing.

Stay away from the tower!

Art is also the skillful tour of the adventure, since you can move freely on several extensive islands almost from the start, but some head nuts have to crack so that others can be solved at all. After all, in each of the self-contained puzzle labyrinth you get a tetris stone, of which you need at least four to unlock further paths or tools. In what order you do what is up to you.

When exploring the islands, you will find records of those who have created this world. You read packed messages in QR codes. You follow a voice that urges against entering the large tower in the center. You can watch little glitches flicker in the area. And there are terminals that you communicate with a AI whose questions sometimes have it all. There is therefore a little hiking simulator in it. Even if you run much faster here than you are used to from similar games.

If you want to read more about the actual game and its narrative, I recommend at this point, because I will then concentrate on the local new publication.

Better, more beautiful, newly awakened

Incidentally, this is the aspect that developer Croteam has significantly improved with The Taslos Principle: Reawakened: If the control with gamepad in the original was always far too bulky for me (I can only be very slow and then not abruptly accelerating), moving via gamepad now feels much better. It's no wonder, since the new edition takes over a lot, which is now known from part two.

This also includes the help system. Because if you do not see the forest for the trees in one of the riddle, you don't have to decrypt any indication now. Instead, you use a previously found token and you hold the desired tetris stone in your hands. It goes without saying that the menus were also revised and are now much more convenient to use.

Of course, the new technical robe is very important, after all, the new old Talos principle is powered by Unreal Engine 5-and not just that! Croteam also donates additional plant growth, nicer lighting and other finesse to its backdrop. The original kept astonishingly well! Nevertheless, a corner looks better now.

By the way, it also offers current functions such as raytracing and frame generation. The latter increases the entry delay for my feeling, but this is manageable in a puzzle game, although I am quite sensitive in this regard. In return and different than withthe intermediate image calculation (just like the entire game) is very excellent on Steam Deck itself. A note only for raytracing: This affects general lighting, but has no influence on reflections.

For me, however, the real highlight is the innovations, including the previously mentioned new chapter, in which Croteam once again illuminates completely different aspects of which this world emerged. Quite apart from the fact that the puzzles represent very excellent head nuts there.

The many audio comments are also a great addition. To simply run over a corresponding symbol (you can of course deactivate) and one of the developers almost always tells very detailed about a certain part of the origin. You can find out where the idea of ​​such a puzzle game came from, how the riddle was designed and the characters were created and much more. Sometimes this is even accompanied by photos that can be enlarged and reduced at any time. I love this type of preparation!

Oh, and if you want, you can now create your own puzzle rooms - at least on the PC, where Croteam offers an editor, which, however, has to be operated with a mouse and keyboard. I haven't spent too much time with it yet, but after a short time it is getting used to it, you actually create your own puzzles. Just make sure that you do not excess too much to your hardware with dense forest and close buildings on large islands!

The Talos Principle: Reawakened im Test – Fazit

If the gray cells are not busy with clever bead nuts, they sink into interesting philosophical considerations: The Talos Principle is not for nothing that this is one of the formative puzzle games and this elaborate new edition becomes more than just. After all, she not only looks better and also feels more modern; In addition to a variety of background information, it also contains a completely new chapter and small improvements to the well -known process. I can therefore only recommend that you do not miss this fresh awakening - even if only the demo available on Steam.