Story: Before 1K awoke, a terrible accident occurred and ended with an explosion and the loss of life. But today, that loss will is about to undone. Sarabhai has been recovered and the tech found in the monolith from the main game has brought forth some real possibilities... death may not be permanent anymore, at least if her memories can be found and collected. This is where 1K comes in. Their mission is to connect to Sarabhai's head and collect her memories to be reconstructed... and bring an old friend of the community back.
This basic story is just about all the writing this episode is going to offer you, but considering the length of this little slice of game, it's enough to work with. Add to this a little bit of smart writing for your friends who are waiting for you on the outside and it all comes together to make that little extra slice pretty sweet.
7/10
Graphics: What can I say about the graphics besides gorgeous? This is not a hyperbolical question. I don't think there is much more I can say. After all this is one of three campaigns in this DLC content for what is still arguably the absolutely most breathtakingly gorgeous games I have ever played. And if anything, time has allowed the developers to patch and improve the performance of the game, letting it shine that much more!
In this case, you will play the roll of 1K as they wander the broken mind of Sarabhai. This mind will be represented by a landscape of rocks and desert with ancient Egyptian ruins to house the puzzles you will be asked to complete. There are no other biomes this time, so expect to spend a lot of time around the yellow rocks and ruins time forgot, lit brilliantly by a blazing sun (which I am not honestly sure I ever saw). But the game will also on occasion remind you the place you are in is not real. You are in the memories of a long-deactivated companion, so you will find relics of this, usually in the form of a distortional glitch or a terminal that has no business in an ancient world... but knowing the world of The Talos Principle, they make perfect sense here and just add to the look of the game.
9/10
Sound: This is not going to be a game with a lot to listen to in the world, unfortunately, but that is due to both the nature and limitations of it being such a small slice. In essence the only real sound effects you wilk hear are around you picking up and putting down the tools you will use for puzzles, and around the lasers that generally make up the involvement of them: be it the sizzle they make when something interrupts them the hum of energy, or the power up/click as they hit their targets.
Nor is the music going to offer a lot of variety... which is a lot more of a pity because the gorgeousness of the graphics ofverlows into this as well with a general feel of wonder and hope permeating it's tones. It's just basically a single song while playing, however and flows into the background: truly great mood music. There is a little more during the opening and ending scene, but it once again takes a back seat, blending with the rest.
No the real star for the audio side of things is the voice acting. You will this time hear your old buddies Melville and Cornelius talking to you from time to time, who play their rolls perfectly from the main game: Melville with a little bit of what I can only describe as sarcastic optimism that only an engineer can truly understand and the dramatic and serious, but genuinely heartfelt performance Cornelius often carried in the main game.
But there is a third voice that steals the show this time... Sarabhai herself. As you unlock her memories, clips of her thoughts play back, letting this new voice spread it's wings in the lore of Talos Principle. In essence you get to take snapshots of her journey in the life she thought was over, even as you seek to make this no longer be the case.
The overall result of this is subdued, but but fitting of what you are doing and every bit as gorgeous as the visuals you will be treated to while you do it.
9/10
Gameplay: If you've played the original game (and this being DLC, I don't see how you didn't first) you know exactly what to expect here. You will be dropped into an ancient Egyptian land with signs that will guide you in the general direction of 4 pockets of puzzles, 4 puzzles in each. Your goal will be to complete thise 16 puzzles in order to unlock the memory fragment at the end of each as well as the final 17th puzzle and the last piece Melville and Cornelius need untangled to bring Sarabhai back to the land of the living. The theme of these puzzles this time around is "lasers" and will absolutely require you to think and rethink how they interact and how to manipulate them in ways the main game never asked to complete them.
I'm not sure I can call any puzzle here particularly difficult, however that does not mean you won't get hung up on them. They vary from methodical and step-by-step, to devious and any detail you miss will ruin your attempt to solve it. Even your goal can be deceptive sometimes, so you can expect to feel dumb on the occasions you either FINALLY get it or give up and look for a solution, only to think "well damn."
However the game is not without a heart or mercy. If something just escapes you beyond reason, the fires of Prometheus also make their return: pixelated fires you can collect which if used on a puzzle auto-solves it.
And for those of you who want an additional challenge, the game also features 3 "golden" puzzles you can do after completing the main goal. These are, as expected, more challenging with an added reward of an additional cutscene should you choose to take them on and prevail.
All together it is a highly enjoyable physics puzzle collection and well worth playing... I really can't complain about anything in this package.
8/10
Story: For the first time, we are on a light hearted adventure! Needing time to relax, Cornelius and Athena put together a family vacation for them, their daughter Miranda, and her boyfriend Yaqut. Together, they are fly off to Barzai's private island, a playground of puzzles to solve, beaches relax on, and natural landscapes to explore to your heart's content. Yaqut, however, has ambition. He never claimed to be great at puzzles, but he sure as hell is going to try. After all Miranda is here, and if there is anything he wants to do, it's impress her.
Literally this is the main story of the game: the simple quest of Yaqut to impress his girlfriend. It is simple, and yet relatable to any guy out there who remembers their teenage years. And yet through that simple mindset (and even the cheeky way the game will make sure you see this is your goal despite Miranda telling you otherwise), you will watch Yaqut grow more confident in himself through the process, which is satisfying in itself. Even in the original I was always routing for this guy.
And as always, no storyline in this series happens in a vacuum, for you will find all your old friends on the island as well, from the dynamic duo (who have their own sorting out to do) of Byron and Alcatraz, to even 1K himself! Everyone is there for their own reasons and talking to them will give you insight into each of them. Plus you have also have the social network the robots keep among their own where conversations about new technical breakthroughs and what it could mean will conspire, giving you even a glimps into the happenings back at New Jerusalem.
But this time, perhaps the most interesting story happens with the artist himself who created this wonderland: Barzai. Throughout his exhibition you will find memories as written by him, explaining his views of things as vast as the universe and the Creator to as intricate and fascinating as just what makes art a worthwhile endeavor (or not). It's actually a fascinating look into his mind and hints at some depth that just is seems worth it.
Overall, this becomes an example of a simple story hiding some deeper themes if you wish to fish them out... or ignore if you choose. To quote the man behind the puzzles himself: "There is no purpose to any of this other then you want to be here."
8/10
Graphics: Much like everything else around this game, this section of the DLC is absolutely gorgeous, if going back to looking more like the base game. This time around you landed on the island Barzai where he has setup three distinct sections to explore each around powering up a "lighthouse" to earn the right to challenge a giant cube-maze at the center. Everything you find looks brilliant, still carrying the torch of to date the best looking game I have ever played. The only downside is I really can't say much about the graphics that I haven't said between the base game or the Orpheus Ascending part of the DLC. There just isn't anything here that speaks of any new type of world or location you haven't seen the likes of before. It's just remixed into a new location that uses it to look every bit as magnificent as the rest of before... so while I may not say much here, rest assured, it's every bit as pretty and amazing looking as what came before.
9/10
Sound: Much like the graphics, there is a lot of retread in the sound for this extra slice. As with the last, there will be a lot of time where the only sounds you hear will be Yaqut walking around and splashing through puddles or the devices he applies to the puzzles to complete them. But unlike Orpheus Rising, you do not inhabit this island alone. A lot the cast from the original game are and not only will everyone talk from time to time after you finish a puzzle, they are findable on the island itself to talk to... even 1K giving him a voice for the first time.
All of these voice actors bring their A game and everyone feels exactly like they did along the way. If you enjoyed the conversations in the original game (and I do not blame you for doing just that) you are going to absolutely love what you hear this time.
9/10
Gameplay: If you know Talos Principle 2, you know the gameplay you are walking into here. Your mission (regardless of the reason you choose to want to do it) is to enter the various puzzles about the island. You can do this from a 1st or 3rd person view as Yaqut this time, and all the usual tricks are here. However, unlike the last DLC campaign, this one is relatively expansive opting for 3 full sized areas of 10 puzzles (9 numbered and 1 hidden) of which you will need to finish at least 8 before you can activate the bridge to open the lighthouse.
Also unlike the previous expansion, we are no longer working with only puzzles based on lasers and how to manipulate them. Yes, they are part of most puzzles you face, but this goes back to the style of the base game, using all the elements to create situations of various difficulty. It really doesn't do a lot new, choosing instead to wear it's identity of an expansion on it's sleeve. But hey, if you enjoyed the original game, getting more of it is far from a bad thing. Even the megastructure's style of puzzle gets a second helping in the final act.
9/10
Story: Now that we've spent a few campaigns after the events of the main title, we now revisit the events during it. At the time Byron had attempted to access data in the megastructure when his systems froze due to feedback loops. But while he was out, he wasn't inactive. Rather, he found himself floating through the partial download he had taken from the system. And while he explains these events to his friend Alcatraz, it will be you who plays the story he tells. (And for the record, Byron and Alcatraz might be my official favorite buddy-story characters of all time.)
As for what that story entails, the download essentially formed from the dreams of Athena, the founder of New Jerusalem, and her mind at the time was in a terrible state. It will be up to Byron to work with Elohim, the voice which acts as a guide, to complete enough of the "trials" to be able to escape the insanity and return to his friends so they can continue to explore, study and resolve how to handle the megastructure in the main campaign.
Like the others, there are variants in the ending depending on if you choose to take on every challenge it offers, but I am not too sure how worth it the extension is (even if it is cool as hell).
7/10
Graphics: Once again, I can say nothing against the graphics of this campaign. The same skill and even a number of the same assets used in everything prior is also at play here, keeping the game as gorgeous as ever, if in a different location. This time, the world you are playing through is fragmented. Floating islands on which some 30 or so puzzles are scattered, many containing mini-biomes from temples to chunks of frozen forest and anything in between. They are connected by what look like shattered glass pathways that form into stained glass to make a bridge you can cross, giving even the way you traverse a fragmented look that just fits the mood of this final outing. It's surreal, it's disconnected, and it is absolutely beautiful in it's impossible form and desolation.
9/10
Sound: Like the graphics the audio is every bit as impeccable as the other two campaigns, but here, this final chapter does distinguish itself a bit more. Where as the first relied on voice work so 1K could keep in contact during his rescue mission and two was literally "robots go on a holiday," this time the voice work tells of a much more personal and desperate tail. While Byron is in sleep-mode from his encounter with the megastructure's files, his mind is wandering a hellish dreamscape created by the trouble mind of Athena, the first and founder of the new humans. To help him figure it out, Elohim acts as a guide again, but even he is not full there as his voice glitches and distorts, sometimes replaced with a female version of the voice.
Nor will he and Byron be the only voices you hear. Ghosts from Athena's past can be found, speaking the "truths" she believes about herself, complete with her own haunted voice recoiling from the accusations. It is an entirely different feel then anything this game has offered so far.
As for music and sound, this pretty much matches everything we've heard before, making a complete picture for your ears of a sane mind trying to navigate around a rather insane situation.
9/10
Gameplay: THIS is where the game really separates out, as this is far and away the hardest campaign between the main game and it's expansions. You will be asked to complete at least 8 out of 30 or so puzzles to complete the game, but you should look at that minimum and understand just how hard a time you are about to have. There are no easy puzzles this time and you can expect to struggle the entire time you play.
If you are not a puzzle fan, you will absolutely hate what is coming, and even if you are you can prepare to feel stupid a lot, even just completing that minimum number to finish the game. This may be one of the most challenging puzzle games I have personally come across.
But is it any good? Well, yes. Everything still makes absolute sense and if you can take the heat there is serious joy in overcoming the challenge.
8/10
Bugs: Honestly I don't think I ran into a single bug while playing this expansion, which considering the main game had none either, this should be no surprise to anyone.
Digital Rights Management: The only DRM I ran into with this game is Steam itself. However, you can even avoid that now as the game is on gog, Source: PC Gaming Wiki
Score: Originally I knew I was getting this expansion because I wanted more of what I experienced with the base game. However it did not take me long to see that the game was going to offer a lot more then just a bunch of new puzzles. Enjoy everything this expansion offers, because this is DLC done right.
8/10
System Requirements:
- 4 core CPU running at 2.5 Ghz (AMD Ryzen 5, Intel Core i3/i5
- 8 GB RAM
- Radeon RX 470 or Nvidia Geforce 970 (4 GB VRAM)
- Windows 8.1 or 10 (64 Bit only)
- 26 GB of Hard Drive space
System Specs:
- Ryzen 7 (5700X) 3.4 Ghz
- 32 GB RAM
- AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT (8 GB VRAM)
- Windows 11 (64 Bit)
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