The talos principle locked from the inside

вЂњTerminal? What, like the one with the Tetris puzzle?вЂќ A light comes across their eyes as they realize now, apparently, is the time. There was also a small tetromino puzzle that could afford you an extra redirector, but it proved unnecessary.ДЄs I head across the bridge to the final puzzle, the team members murmur something about a terminal. The key was to utilize the holes in the wall and reducing your redirector count as you move them to the blue line from the red. Redirecting lasers is quite tricky, as the puzzle itself is physically laid out to require placement optimization, and laser beams stop once they intersect another laser. The problem was that there was a bunch of red laser connections via gem redirectors needed to be made to get to the blue laser generator. In it, the tetromino was locked behind a gate, and it could only be opened by a blue laser. But then the third puzzle turned out to be quite the challenge. But proceed I do to the second puzzle, which is similarly quite simple, involving additionally an automated turret and a locked door and keys. The godlike narrator compels you to solve more and more but with little reason to do so. ItвЂ™s a simple puzzle, though itвЂ™s at least satisfying to solve while the ominous voice that speaks you to after each solution unsettles you just a bit. Using another jammer, I have to disable the first barrier, bring the second jammer across, point it at the same barrier, and bring the first jammer across to take down the second barrier. I pick it up and jam the first barrier, but the problem becomes quite apparent: those devices canвЂ™t jam and move at the same time. Luckily for me, however, there is a jammer nearby, which looks an awful lot like a more high tech surveying tripod. Leading to the stairs that lead to the prize is a path, but along it are two impassable blue light barriers. The tetromino floats at the top of a platform that, as it stands, is unreachable. ItвЂ™s a rudimentary puzzle with the goal in plain sight. This one in particular is a more difficult one, so I move on to another, the easiest of the bunch. Each puzzle is entirely self-contained and immediately discloses its difficulty. I approach one hazily digitized wall and enter it. Apparently each puzzle gains me a needed tetromino, some of which IвЂ™ve already acquired. As I look at each pointed sign, parts of my HUD light up. But I embark nonetheless, approaching a crossroads with posted signage directing me to several puzzles. While the narrative pedigree certainly is there, this was the team that created (and subsequently and righty milked) the Serious Sam franchise. In fact, as narrative/philosophy designer Tom Jubert of The Swapper and Penumbra writing fame says, the experience of uncovering the gameвЂ™s offerings will be crucial to any revelatory turn you take after finishing the last puzzle.ДЄs the other Croteam members in the cramped trailer nod along knowingly, I have my doubts. ThereвЂ™s a lot of unknowns going into the game, especially going into a mildly humid Airstream trailer in a Hooters parking lot at E3, but finding out how it all works is part of the experience. You take the reins of a robot (something mostly revealed when you press X to restart and you press a button on your own mechanical arm) and go about the world exploring old ruins and solving seemingly artificially constructed puzzles, working your way towardsвЂ¦something. Much like Jonathan BlowвЂ™s upcoming The Witness, The Talos Principle is a first-person puzzle game that takes place on an island. But The Talos Principle from Croteam centers itself around the existential. Braid, for instance, harbors a twist that begs the question of what defines a hero, whether perspective matters. Of course, many games evoke philosophical quandaries. This is perhaps the first game IвЂ™ve encountered where there was someone that could even potentially hold the title of lead philosophy designer.

The talos principle locked from the inside