“The Talos Principle” brings puzzle platforming to a new existential level with its constant questioning of consciousness and purpose. Croteam, makers of the infamous “Serious Sam,” recently released their latest game, “The Talos Principle.” In it you are dropped into a world of ancient architecture and hyper-futuristic technology and instructed to complete a series of puzzles by the omnipotent Elohim (literally “God” in Hebrew). Along the way you meet the Milton Library Assistant (whom Elohim will refer to as the snake) who will challenge you to question your purpose at every turn and force you to think about the why of what you are doing. Who’s ready to question their existence?

“The Talos Principle” is an existentialist’s puzzle platformer. You don’t just solve puzzles mindlessly, each one serves as a stepping stone to discover more about yourself and your world. Individually the puzzles are pretty repetitive but Croteam has used them as a way of narrating an overarching storyline. Each puzzle you solve rewards you with sigils (basically Tetris pieces) that allow you access to new areas and new puzzles and with new areas comes more information on who and what you are.

The really difficult puzzles are the ones that happen outside of the puzzles. That’s right meta-puzzles. Each new area will contain four to six self-contained puzzles. Several of these puzzles have secret ways to get out of them with some important piece of tech (fans, boxes, laser beams). Get the right stuff outside of their respective puzzles and you can reach secret areas with easter eggs and hidden storyline info. “Yo dawg I heard you like puzzles, so we put some puzzles in your puzzles so you can solve puzzles while you solve puzzles” says Croteam.

One of the bigger elements in the story, both physically and metaphorically, is the massive tower that exists in the game’s hub world. Elohim warns that the tower contains only death and that you should never set foot inside. Elohim also says that you shouldn’t question anything and that if you have faith in him everything will work out and in the end you will join him in everlasting life. If none of this sounds familiar to you then don’t bother playing the game because you probably won’t get any of the references. Seriously though, this game drips with biblical references.

As far as visuals go the graphics are nice. Nothing that gamers haven’t seen before but definitely satisfying. The real aesthetic appeal comes from the art style. “The Talos Principle” blends beautiful scenic ruins from ancient Greek, Egyptian and Medieval European civilizations with ultra-fancy technology and makes a setting that almost demands to be appreciated.

Overall “The Talos Principle” is the kind of game that philosophy majors or students of religion will get a lot of enjoyment out of. If you are just in it for the puzzles then you should look elsewhere. That’s not what this game is about. Final verdict: do the work around, it’s not worth the 40 dollar price tag.

Speaking of pirating, Croteam is infamous for screwing with people who illegally download their games. In “The Talos Principle” they have implemented a feature that will trap people with illegal copies in an elevator, unable to escape or do anything.