For players who like puzzle games, the most famous work of the twenty-first century should be the "Portal" launched by V Society, which can be said to subvert the structure of the entire traditional "puzzle work". So after so long, has there been a work beyond "Portal"? The answer is yes.
The talos principle is a puzzle game made by Croteam, the team that developed the well-known first-person shooter Sam heroes, and although this work pays tribute to the older portal in some ways, it is not too much to say that "blue is better than blue".
Works that have been overwhelmingly acclaimed
This game is really very eye-catching, in the Steam store page can see countless awards, the major game sites have given extremely high scores of evaluation, and even some websites give full scores of affirmation, Steam player reviews are also overwhelming praise, in the hearts of some players even surpassed the "Portal" masterpiece, what is the unique charm of this game? This article will take you to explore this very unique puzzle game.
The game's signature promotional image: The robot holds a kitten in its arms, pointing to the core meaning of this game: "What is the difference between inorganic artificial intelligence and organic life?" Do these differences matter?" "When artificial intelligence can almost compare to real people, how will we look at it?" Can it be treated as a human being? How will artificial intelligence see itself?"
The game is very deep, in addition to using the brain to solve puzzles, the game will lead the player step by step to think about some philosophical issues such as the above, the game quotes the ideas and myths of many philosophers, and integrates these ordinary people's elements into the game in an approachable way.
Players will take on the role of the most advanced artificial intelligence robot, which has almost the same thinking ability as humans, with intelligence, emotions, personality, preferences, values, self-awareness, etc., the only difference from humans is that it is composed of machinery. In addition to guiding the robot to overcome one puzzle after another, the player also follows the robot to explore itself and explore this mysterious world full of puzzles.
Stunning picture quality
This game was released in 2015, and at that time, the picture was still very stunning. Using the Serious engine of the Heroes Sam series, Serious engine 3.5 doesn't stand out in Heroes Sam: BFE. However, this upgrade of the Serious 4.0 engine brings a breakthrough performance, the light and shadow performance of this game is very outstanding, many scenes are extremely realistic, it is really difficult to imagine that this is a game engine based on "Hero Sam".
The outstanding light and shadow effects and the beautiful and quiet heritage environment and natural scenery are really a perfect match, and the beautiful environment illuminated by Serious 4.0 is very fascinating.
The puzzle levels of this game are rich and interesting, up to 130 puzzles and other player challenges, but also rich in changes, and the later the more challenging, and the use of non-linear design, players do not necessarily need to follow the order of the level, difficult puzzles can be temporarily abandoned, first challenge other puzzles. The main purpose of the game is to collect the "magic runes" scattered everywhere, and the goal of each puzzle level is to successfully get the magic runes, collect the magic runes to unlock the items, open other worlds, and open the unknown future.
The difficulty of the puzzles is gradual, and many props will be required to overcome the puzzles in the process. For example, the jammer can make any electronic device lose its effect, so it can be used to make the force field wall disappear, make the machine gun tower stop working, paralyze the moving mines, etc., the connector can be used to connect the beam, guide the laser light to the specified destination to open the mechanism, the hexahedron can be used to press the switch, or used as a stepping stone, the fan can be suspended or itself, or even blow itself into the distance, and other portable platforms, green markers, etc., and the combination of these tools will appear in the later stage, the difficulty is constantly increasing, and it is more and more complex , very challenging.
It is full of approachable "philosophical" thinking
In addition to understanding the puzzle, this game also added interesting philosophical discussion, but the player does not have to be afraid to see the two words of philosophy to stay away, the philosophical thinking of this work is not a necessary element of the puzzle level, completely ignored and does not hinder the pass, but it is a pity to abandon this piece, the philosophical issues presented in the game will not be too abstract or difficult to understand, but quite approachable, as the game progresses will gradually guide the player to think about some interesting philosophical issues. For example, "You're a robot, you can think, you have memories, you have emotions, you have values, so are you human?" Do you have a soul? Are you conscious?"
Talos is a bronze giant in Greek mythology, with a bloodline, like a human blood will die, like a human with free will, with desires and emotions, with the basic nature of being a human being, then Taros can be regarded as a "human"? From this, it is further deduced that if machines have free will, have desires and emotions, and have basic properties that are owned by human beings, can machines also be regarded as "people"? The game revolves around this theme all the time, because this issue has a lot to do with the purpose for which the robot was created.
The game's plot performance is also quite eye-catching, combined with the aforementioned philosophical discussion, the robot played by the player is solving the puzzle at the same time, but also exploring itself and exploring the world, "Why was I created?" For what purpose was I created?" "Why am I doing these puzzles over here?" "What is my relationship with humanity?" "Where have all the human beings gone?" "This beautiful world is not quite right, what secrets are hidden behind it?" Wait a minute.
As players explore the world, collecting information in the terminal, clues left by predecessors through QRcode, interaction with terminal AI, and voice recordings scattered around the world, some puzzles will be solved, and some will always be free mental evidence.
Overall
After personally experiencing the "Law of Taros", you can understand that this game has received praise and high scores from all walks of life, it is definitely not accidental, beautiful and moving scenery, just the right background music, challenging puzzles, evocative philosophical discussions, and enlightening world construction, this game has achieved great success on many levels, if you like the "Portal" type of puzzle game, you should also like this.
The biggest drawback of this game is that the most difficult third ending is not very satisfactory, and other aspects are almost impeccable, even if it is called "the peak of the puzzle game".