When a remaster or a remake of a game gets announced, gamers often fall into one of two camps: 1. They are excited for the game to come back with better visuals and gameplay, or 2. They view it as a cash grab by a developer/publisher based on the name of the franchise and fan nostalgia; in most instances, when it is the second option, the remastering/remake is the price of a modern game (Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition).
If that occurs, this often angers the community, resulting in the game selling poorly at first, with many waiting for the game to go on sale. Lately, though, developers are bringing back beloved games with major quality-of-life improvements affecting the gameplay, graphics, and controls. So what category does Croteam’s The Talos Principle: Reawakened fall in? Find out in our review down below.
The Talos Principle: Reawakened
Developer: Croteam
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Platforms: PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S
Release Date: April 10th, 2025
Players: 1
Price: $39.99
Before the release of The Talos Principle: Reawakened, The Talos Principle was considered one of the best puzzle games in modern gaming history; it is often in many top 5/10 puzzle lists alongside The Witness, Portal 1&2, Myst, and Celeste.
Before playing The Talos Principle: Reawakened, I had yet to experience the puzzle phenomena that many of my colleagues talked about. Rather than going in completely blind, I decided to pick up the game while it was on sale and give it a try. Although the game was a little bit older, it had aged like a fine wine, and we could still see/experience what the developers were trying to show us.
The Talos Principle: Reawakened is a loving remastering of The Talos Principle and Road to Gehenna while also introducing a new story called In the Beginning. The game has received a massive visual update haul, with each level being beautifully redesigned in Unreal Engine 5.
The core gameplay still remains the same, with the puzzles redesigned with the newer textures. If you still remember the solutions to the original game’s puzzles, then you should be able to run through the Reawakened version quite easily. But rushing through the game will make you miss how much love and care has been put into this version of the game.
While exploring each area, the amount of detail that was put into the level design was captivating and made us want to explore every inch of the level’s environment and grounds. The game has a decent number of secrets that you can find throughout the levels by exploring.
By finding these secrets and by interacting with the terminals, you will question what makes someone human. Could AI develop the ability to rationalize, understand, and even create their own ideas/theories without previous input? These are just some of the concepts that the game tackles while providing thought-provoking puzzles.
Puzzles within The Talos Principle: Reawakened sometimes require that you take a look at the environment as a whole to understand the puzzle rather than trying to get from point A to point B. Yes, you can brute force some of the puzzles, but the more difficult puzzles will take multiple tries to complete, and you will need to rearrange some of the pieces in order to find the right angle and combination to complete the puzzle. Some bonus puzzles extend beyond the base area and overlap into other areas in order to complete them, so you will need to think outside of the box to solve them.
Between a new story and updated graphics, The Talos Principle: Reawakened can either reinvigorate one’s love of the franchise or potentially ignite a spark, creating a deep love for it.
Yes, solving a puzzle is fine and dandy, but being able to look around and take in everything the developer is trying to show you is even more important. If you can not understand or comprehend the levels’ intricacies or beauty, then you can easily miss a hidden gem or a portion of a secret puzzle.
After you have completed the different stories, PC players can create their own puzzles and submit them to the community to try and solve. Can you create the ultimate puzzle and stump your friends and fellow community members? Some of the creation tools go beyond the base puzzles in the game, so you can create difficult puzzles that push the limits of your imagination.
The Talos Principle: Awakened offers a decent amount of customization options to make your gameplay experience unique. You can adjust the view bobbing, third-person camera, motion blur, player speed, rewind time, and color-blind modes.
The game also features twelve languages: English, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish (Spain), Chinese (Simplified & Traditional), & French.
The Talos Principle: Awakened gives players the option to play with either a controller or a mouse and keyboard. The key bindings can be rearranged if needed, however, the movement controls on the controller cannot be remapped. The ability to adjust slightly, though, is helpful.
This year has been an interesting year for video game releases, and the release of The Talos Principle: Awakened only adds to the amazing list of games that have been released in 2025.
If you are a fan of puzzle games, then you will enjoy The Talos Principle: Awakened and all of its different puzzles. The game’s calming and relaxing soundtrack can put you at ease even when facing challenging puzzles.
The variety of game settings allows players to create the game experience that they desire by modifying the game’s settings; these settings have a wide variety of options that make it accessible to most players. With the right settings, the game is absolutely breathtaking and will make you want to explore every last inch of each level to potentially find hidden secrets.
As someone who is coming into the franchise a decade after its original release, I definitely feel like I missed out on something so beautiful. Between the complex puzzles, soothing soundtrack, and multiple endings, you can spend hours on the game and get lost in the world.
If you are looking for a good puzzle game, then you should pick up The Talos Principle: Awakened. If you do not have the current funds, you should definitely add it to your wishlist.
The Talos Principle: Reawakened was reviewed on PC using a code provided by Devolver Digital. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. The Talos Principle: Reawakened is now available on PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
