The Talos Principle 2

Steam cover art

The Talos Principle 2 is a videogame developed by Croteam and published by Devolver Digital; it was released on 2nd November 2023. It is a sequel to the first game, The Talos Principle. It is described as “a thought-provoking first-person puzzle experience that greatly expands on the first game's philosophical themes and stunning environments with increasingly mind-bending challenges”. [1]

Setting

Set at least a millennium after the first game, The Talos Principle 2 takes place primarily in two locations: the city of New Jerusalem (populated by new humans), and a mysterious island from which strange energy readings have been detected. An in-game map labels the 13 areas of the island.

Characters

The player takes the role of "1k", so named as the one thousandth person born after the conclusion of the original game. Joining 1k on the main expedition to the island are Byron, Melville, Alcatraz, and Yaqut. Other notable characters include Hermanubis (mayor of New Jerusalem), Athena (its founder), Cornelius, and Miranda.

See also: New human

Story

Prologue: Brave New World
Act I: A Voice in the Wilderness
Act II: The Human Form Divine
Act III: Prometheus Bound
Act IV: Gates of Horn and Ivory
Act V: Full Fathom Five
Epilogue: Leap of Faith / Momentum Deferred / Certain Fathoms in the Earth

Puzzles

Most of the main areas introduce a new mechanic, beginning with simple puzzles that function as a tutorial and escalating to more challenging applications of the mechanic. The puzzles, ordered as they appear in the story, are shown in the table below. For an alphabetized list, see the Puzzles category.

The Talos Principle 2 Puzzles

Boot

East 1	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
East 2	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
East 3	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Megastructure East

North 1	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
North 2	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
North 3	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Megastructure North

South 1	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
South 2	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
South 3	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Megastructure South

West 1	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
West 2	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
West 3	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Megastructure West

The jammer, pressure plate, hexahedron, connector, fan, platform, and switch all return from the first game. New puzzle elements include

• RGB converters,
• Drillers,
• Inverters,
• Clones,
• Accumulators,
• Swappers,
• Teleporters,
• Gravshifters,
• Movers,
• Activators.

Collectibles

The 12 main areas each contain

• 10 puzzle sparks rewarded for completing puzzles (these are similar to sigils from the first game). Progressing to the next part of the story requires collecting at least 8 of these.
• 2 Prometheus sparks, which can be substituted for the puzzle sparks to progress the story faster.
• 2 stars, each one connected to a monument. These come in three varieties throughout the game: Pandora monuments, Sphinx monuments, and Prometheus monuments.

Scattered throughout the maps are several audio logs and ancient human artifacts. Accessing terminals also provides numerous documents, some of which come in collectible sequences.