The Talos Principle: Reawakened adds new engine, looks, and content to a classic

Are humans just squishy machines? Can an artificially intelligent robot create a true moral compass for itself? Is there a best time to play The Talos Principle again?

The answer to at least one of these questions is now somewhat answered. The Talos Principle: Reawakened, due in “Early 2025,” will bundle the original critically acclaimed 2014 game, its Road to Gehenna DLC, and a new chapter, “In the Beginning,” into an effectively definitive edition. Developer commentary and a level editor will also be packed in. But most of all, the whole game has been rebuilt from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5, bringing “vastly improved visuals” and quality-of-life boosts to the game, according to publisher Devolver Digital.

Playing Reawakened, according to its Steam page requires a minimum of 8 GB of RAM, 75 GB of storage space, and something more than an Intel integrated GPU. It also recommends 16 GB RAM, something close to a GeForce 3070, and a 6–8-core CPU.

The Talos Principle, from the developers of the Serious Sam series, takes its name from the bronze-made protector of Crete in Greek mythology. The gameplay has you solve a huge assortment of puzzles as a robot avatar and answer the serious philosophical questions that it ponders. You don’t shoot things or become a stealth archer, but you deal with drones, turrets, and other obstacles that require some navigation, tool use, and deeper thinking. As you progress, you learn more about what happened to the world, why you’re being challenged with these puzzles, and what choices an artificial intelligence can really make. It’s certainly not bad timing for this game to arrive once more.

If you can’t wait until the remaster, the original game and its also well-regarded sequel, The Talos Principle II, are on deep sale at the moment, both on Steam (I and II) and GOG (I and II).