One of 2023’s most anticipated puzzle games is finally out. We don’t mean a blocky set of jigsaws, but the grand, philosophy-driven adventure that is The Talos Principle 2. Picking up from 2014’s storyline, it follows your travels as a sentient robot — the 1000th off an assembly line — as you navigate a futuristic society where humans are extinct. Machines are the pall-bearers of culture in this gorgeous world, full of mystery and questions about life, death, love and consciousness. As you explore new cities, your choices shape the storyline — will you hold onto reason, or renounce humanity once and for all? Like the critically acclaimed original, The Talos Principle 2 has a wide array of spatial puzzles that’ll remind you of Portal or The Turing Test, and you can choose to finish the game without completing them or pursue the rewards of complete mastery. As a sci-fi game, snazzy mechanics like mind transference or gravity manipulation are also part of the puzzles package. The thought-provoking story has multiple endings, and continually harks back to the central conflict of what it really means to be human. The ‘Talos’ in question does not appear in the game, but is a figure from Greek mythology — the bronze automaton that guarded Princess Europa on the island of Crete. Ancient texts in the game argue that as Talos was a conscious but mechanical man, humanity could have also been a race of biological machines. Would robots not be perfectly acceptable then, as Earth’s inheritors? Much like cult indie game The Stanley Parable, 2014’s storyline had you solve puzzles—and finally rebel, as a sign of free will—to show your worthiness as a successor. But it’s not yet clear what the narrative goal of 2023’s puzzles will be. Perhaps the demo has hints? Try if you like: Films like The Matrix, HER, Ex Machina and Blade Runner, theology and metaphysics, artificial intelligence tools. If the apocalypse isn’t your cup of tea, there are plenty of other immersive puzzle games whose free demos are up for grabs, such as: The Master’s Pupil Hop, skip and jump through Claude Monet’s eyeball in this nostalgic video game by artist Pat Naoum. Great for beginners, it follows the actual contours of Monet’s life—such as the loss of his wife Camille, or the cataracts that progressively hurt his vision. As the puzzle solver, your goal is to wisely use colour, space and timing to help the father of Impressionism finish his masterpieces. Naoum spent seven years hand-painting every detail on The Master’s Pupil, so make sure you slow down and savour those moody landscapes. Try if you like: Vincent Van Gogh, Pride & Prejudice, moody photography, true crime podcasts (for the slow burn!). We Were Here We Were Here is the first in a series of co-operative puzzlers that tests your friendship in tricky situations. Inspired by Antarctica’s Castle Rock (and real-life escape rooms), the pilot is a thriller where you and your friend are lost in a castle on an icy wasteland, armed with only walkie-talkies. Relying on voices, each must find the other before time runs out. But wait — are you both actually going through the same experience? Try if you like: The Shining (film), Minute to Win It (show) or games like A Way Out and Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. The gameplay is entirely comms-based. American Arcadia Releasing November 15, American Arcadia is a cinematic puzzle game where people’s everyday lives are secretly part of a reality show. In this retro-futuristic world, you play as Trevor, a clerk whose dwindling ratings means certain death — unless he escapes execution. Helped by stage tech Angela, you get two different POVs to choose from: Trevor in a 2.5D platformer, and Angela as his ‘woman in the chair’ hacking the way forward. Explore more on the free demo. Try if you like: The Truman Show or Nightcrawler (films), Black Mirror or Severance (shows), The Hunger Games trilogy (books) or are intrigued by China’s social credit system. Paper Trail Bagging 25+ awards and nominations before release is no mean feat. Yet with a single demo, Paper Trail has grabbed glowing reviews for its sentimentality, print-like look and crafty puzzles. A top-down adventure, you play as Paige, a young academic leaving for university. In the process, Paige imbibes an origami-like philosophy “to fold the world”, learning resourcefulness by contorting, spinning, rotating and twisting her way across enchanting locales. If you ask us, learning to manipulate this paper world seems to be a metaphor for the importance of shifting perspectives, crucial in a coming-of-age story. Paper Trail releases in 2024. Try if you like: Limbo (game), Wes Anderson or Studio Ghibli films, or literature by Roald Dahl and Ralph Waldo Emerson. For more news on puzzles and brainy games, follow @iepuzzles on Instagram.
