When Devolver Digital announced new DLC for The Talos Principle 2 at its showcase during Game Fest weekend, I immediately took notice. Not only did it look fantastic, but also it reminded me that I needed to, y’know, actually play the actual game.  I had a fantastic time with the original game, tackling its “philosophical” approach to both puzzle-solving and human existence, and the sequel had been sitting on my PlayStation wishlist since its release in late 2023. During the onslaught of summer game sales, I scooped up The Talos Principle 2 at a nice price and wasn’t sure what awaited me as it downloaded. Though I knew of TP2, I had avoided learning anything of its gameplay. I figured there would be more puzzles, at least.

Well, I wasn’t wrong about that. The Talos Principle 2 opened with more puzzles; the same types of puzzles that were in the first game. I was again a voiceless android seeking to locate and gather Tetrominoes – sigils shaped like Tetris pieces – in various puzzles. Though it had been a few years since I played The Talos Principle, the mechanics were immediately familiar, using jammers, boxes, and other means to retrieve each puzzle’s sigil. Once I had obtains enough sigils to open gates, I could proceed onward. The ethereal figure in the driver’s seat, so to speak, from the first game, Elohim, joined me, too. He persisted in telling me again how great and special I was in forging ahead through his puzzles and finding meaning and purpose along the way.

Confused though I was – I thought I had overcome Elohim’s machinations in the first game, so why is he back? And why am I solving the same puzzles again?– I kept solving until I reached a familiar-looking portal that I thought would lead to the next stages.

Instead, I…woke up.

The picture above gives away the surprise, so I’ll avoid saying too much more, except, thank goodness! As much as I liked the first game, it was all I could to do hope that the second one wasn’t simply more of the same. Yes, there are absolutely puzzles in The Talos Principle 2, and yes, they contain mechanics from the first game, but they also contain new ones, new objects, and new objectives. Gone are Tetrominoes, gates, portals, and Elohim (I think?); in their places are, well…unusual places to discover, research, and explore. If The Talos Principle was about finding meaning as an individual, The Talos Principle 2 is about finding meaning as a civilization, for you are not alone.

From what I‘ve so far gathered of The Talos Principle 2’s story, humanity as we know it is literally ancient history, and your character, your android, is part of a new society that’s trying to figure things out. And if there’s one thing that drives any society, it’s knowledge. And what better way to gain knowledge than explore both internally and externally. Each of these tenets – the internal search for truth/meaning and the external search for whatever may be out there to find – rests at the heart of The Talos Principle 2. As far as I can tell, the puzzles the game offers are means to an end; what end, I don’t yet know. Guess I’ll just have to keep playing to find out.

All images and video, including lede, were captured by author during PS5 gameplay of The Talos Principle 2 (© Croteam, Devolver Digital.)