The Talos Principle on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
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The Talos Principle is a first-person puzzle game in the tradition of philosophical science fiction. Made by Croteam and written by Tom Jubert (FTL, The Swapper) and Jonas Kyratzes (The Sea Will Claim Everything).
The Talos Principle is a puzzle, philosophical and first-person game
developed by Croteam
and published by Croteam and Devolver Digital.
Released on December 11th 2014 is available on Windows, MacOS and Linux
in 13 languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese - Brazil, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Czech.
It has received 31,861 reviews of which 30,399 were positive and 1,462 were negative resulting in an impressive rating of 9.3 out of 10. 😍
The game is currently priced at 4.34€ on Steam with a 85% discount, but you can find it for less on Instant Gaming.
The Steam community has classified The Talos Principle into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
Get an in-depth look at The Talos Principle through various videos and screenshots.
System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- OS *: Windows 7
- Processor: Dual-core 2.0 GHz
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: DirectX 11 class GPU with 1GB VRAM (nVidia GeForce 480 GTX, AMD Radeon HD 5870)
- DirectX: Version 9.0c
- Storage: 5 GB available space
MacOS
- OS: OSX version Lion 10.7
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: nVidia GeForce GT 9600M/320M 512MB VRAM, AMD Radeon HD 4670 512MB VRAM (Intel integrated GPUs are not supported!)
- Storage: 5 GB available space
- Additional Notes: OSX 10.5.8 and 10.6.3 can run the legacy version of the game, but it is no longer being updated.
Linux
- OS: Ubuntu 14.04
- Processor: Dual-core 2.2 GHz
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: nVidia GeForce 8600/9600GT 512MB VRAM, ATI/AMD Radeon HD2600/3600 512MB VRAM
- Storage: 5 GB available space
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
So I finally finished this game, well technically I did. What can I say about it? well The Talos Principle is a really engaging puzzle game and has some neat things to offer for anyone who likes these sorts of puzzle games. Although I would recommend you.. GET THIS GAME ON SALE! This is a good game worth playing if you're into puzzle solving, however I didn't rush to buy it until it was obviously below 30 bucks. I think I got it at 10 dollars? maybe in 2014 it was worth that much, but the sale is what got me to play it. Besides that, onto the review! the graphics This wont be a long section, but the graphics in this game are beautiful. Alot might say its "outdated", I would insist that it looks way better than most games now a days. plus for something that came out in 2014, It holds up really well! Honestly I looked at the remaster and didn't get blown away by the "comparison" anything from this era looked fine. The landscapes are great to look at and there is a variety to the overall world design. ex. snow, desert, forest, etc. The gameplay did slow on me a couple times, but I think that has to do more with how many things are loaded and running throughout the level while playing which brings me to.. the gameplay When I got the game I sort of already figured out what kind of game it was gonna be, Looked alot like portal. Well its actually sort of similar; a simulation, no real worry about dying, puzzles that make you think. It was basically portal without the portal gun and a philosophy book added to it. There isn't much of a variety in terms of what the game throws at you, however it flowed with the game fine and each had its own purpose in the puzzle usage. the puzzles themselves were good, basic but also challenging at times. I had fun figuring them out and it was satisfying once you complete one. Some took longer than others, although I never actually used a guide for any of them, usually if its unsolvable you try another time and later on it clicks what you're suppose to do. I was able to solve every puzzle without aggravation or frustration, no puzzle in this game was BS imo . Most puzzles took 5-20 minutes again depending on the player and knowledge of the game, now that I've played it, the game might be much shorter now that every puzzle is easy. It took me at least more than 15 hours to complete the base game, not counting star collecting, and thats with all the taking my time, thinking, and walking around in mind. the story not really gonna spoil a more than decade old game, however there are some different endings depending on how you interact with the terminal and game. something so 2010s with the decision making, It was a fun throwback. It was pretty interesting on how the game structured itself with the terminal and player, nothing earth shattering once you remind yourself its just a puzzle game, nonetheless it flowed with the gameplay and kept you wondering what might happen in the end. kind of anticlimactic, however I haven't played the second game so perhaps more "lore" is added. Although it was interesting, I didn't really engage with the story as much as I did with the puzzles. MINI SPOILER I don't know if I would even call it that, but with the game being this sort of "simulation" type, I really was expecting something spooky to pop up during gameplay Not really anything, however that one moment where the other robot is screaming and running scared tf out of me, plus the computer head dude freaked me out when he popped up nothing is gonna jump at you, nor is there any real need to be on edge. Theres my stamp of approval closing thoughts This game was short, didn't expect it to be really long, but it was enjoyable. I will say though that there isn't really that much to explore. I'm one of those people who will free roam every inch of the area to see if theres anything interesting to interact with and really nothing. AND NO IM NOT COUNTING EASTER EGGS. it was honestly a bit bare bones IMHO, especially for a game from the 2010s, however with the small dev team I didnt expect it to be anything like that. I really thought there would be some sort of replayability to the game, but I guess the DLC and squeakuel do that? I don't think I will play it anytime soon unless im wanting to collect all stars and speedrun the game. now that looks pretty cool to do a few times! The controls were fine, obviously puzzle games dont neeed a whole lot of control. I felt the movement and mechanics to be satisfactory, nothing mind blowing, but good and easy to pick up and play. Oooh the music, I actually turned off the music early on as a choice I usually do with games because I put background sound or videos to accompany my puzzle solving. So I don't really have any say in the music, however Im pretty sure its fine, It has that puzzle-like music that comes with the atmosphere. This game Is a good puzzle brain teaser, you really feel on top of the world once you complete all these puzzles knowing each their own nic and nac to it! Now I don't think its a 10/10 game by any stretchh of the meanns not even close. It's a fun puzzle solving game with some mechanics that keep it interesting and create a satisfying feeling once completing a piece. TLDR; I would say this is a game worth playing once you get a good deal on it, sometimes its even more than 50% off! Don't expect anything "game of the year" type of expectations, however I would rate this game to be a simulating 7/10 and maybe even a 7.5/10 on a good day. Thanks for reading!
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For over half a decade The Talos Principle sat in my library unplayed. A cult classic I knew I should play but never did, until recently. I won't dive deep into spoilers because it's best played blindly. It is a puzzle game with a thought provoking story and world to back it up. Puzzles are in theory simple but in practice complex, the game has a strict toolbox of items yet constantly pushes you to creatively break the rules. While most puzzles are excellent it is the incredible story and world that will stick with you after you finish this game. The Talos Principle is gaming’s best kept secret and this is your sign to finally play it!
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What I did: completed the game and the DLC, only thing I didn't do was gathering the stars. I'm going to start the review writing the conclusion of it: The Talos Principle feels like a true classic of the puzzle genre. After playing Lorelei and the Laser Eyes and The Witness (clearly two games which took inspiration from Talos), the puzzle game itch in me was still strong so I decided to finally pick up a game I was actually planning to play since release, which to my surprise was 10 (!) years ago. I'm talking subjectively here but I think the most important aspects in a puzzle game are probably the puzzles quality (having a solid and fun puzzle concept), the puzzle variety (to keep things fresh as much as possible) and finally a mysterious setting that keeps you going. After all, when the difficulty level rises up lategame it's not rare finding yourself stuck for more than 1 hour on a single puzzle and having that extra incentive to see what's next really helps. If you enjoy doing the puzzles regardless you're the type of player who can like things like the aforementioned The Witness (which has a mysterious setting, yeah, but does not give the players much info to get invested in it) but I'm not one of them and I'm glad The Talos Principle gave me a enigmatic setting to dive myself in. You'll explore a couple of fairly big maps and, as long as you're interested in reading terminals with philosophical texts, ancient logs and... QR codes scattered outside, there's plenty of things to read and think about. The story itself is very peculiar and I think it does a good job for the most part, including the ending. I think the game clears the puzzle quality and variety matters as well. The puzzles utilize a couple of different tools, which will play a part together with the environment, and are set in somewhat big open rooms. Position and timing will be key in most of them so if you fear puzzle games because there may be math or a need for external knowledge you can rest assured there will be none here. The difficulty felt especially balanced to me (though the puzzles using the "double" feature really damaged my brain multiple times), it goes up nicely as you proceed forward and doesn't really get impossible or too cryptic at any point. The puzzles are also mostly "short", meaning that can be completed within 1-2 minutes at most, you don't have to do lots of complicated maneuvers for like 5 or 10 minutes. Being a somewhat old game there are some QoL problems. To mention the biggest issue, you'll likely get stuck (like literally, not for the solution) in a puzzle sometime and to get out your only option is to reset the room entirely (they're addressing this in the soon to be released remake). Another issue is the hint system, because the hints aren't really helpful at all. Speaking about difficulty again, I didn't bother with them because i'm too stupid but trying to get the stars seems like a big challenge and will appeal to those players who find the regular puzzles a tad too easy. If you want more content the dlc is as good as the base game, just be careful because all the puzzles you find there are hard.
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from puzzles easy enough to insult your intellect, to puzzles hard enough, you feel embarassed to feel that dumb. great game. can't wait to play the sequel to feel like an idiot, like a genius, like an idiot and like a genius again, in the same rythm you took to read this.
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The story is great. The majority of the puzzles are really fun to work. Sometimes just shutting the game down and sleeping on it will genuinely help you solve some of the trickier ones. Some puzzles however. Are quite literally the spawn of Lucifer and deserve no place in this world for others to suffer through. 10/10. - Turned my hair grey from frustration and had some really nice scenery.
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Frequently Asked Questions
The Talos Principle is currently priced at 4.34€ on Steam.
The Talos Principle is currently available at a 85% discount. You can purchase it for 4.34€ on Steam.
The Talos Principle received 30,399 positive votes out of a total of 31,861 achieving an impressive rating of 9.34.
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The Talos Principle was developed by Croteam and published by Croteam and Devolver Digital.
The Talos Principle is playable and fully supported on Windows.
The Talos Principle is playable and fully supported on MacOS.
The Talos Principle is playable and fully supported on Linux.
The Talos Principle is a single-player game.
There are 4 DLCs available for The Talos Principle. Explore additional content available for The Talos Principle on Steam.
The Talos Principle is fully integrated with Steam Workshop. Visit Steam Workshop.
The Talos Principle supports Remote Play on TV. Discover more about Steam Remote Play.
The Talos Principle is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for The Talos Principle.
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Last Updates| Steam data | 17 October 2025 14:10 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 19 October 2025 08:17 |
| Steam price | 29 October 2025 04:44 |
| Steam reviews | 27 October 2025 12:02 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about The Talos Principle, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about The Talos Principle
- SteamCharts - Analysis of The Talos Principle concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck The Talos Principle compatibility
Game modes
Features
Online players
88
Developer
Croteam
Publisher
Croteam,
Devolver Digital
Release
11 Dec 2014
Platforms
Remote Play
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