The Talos Principle: Reawakened Review (cptnCat)
Having completed the new content I feel I'm in a position to provide a review at this point. Since 'remakes' are put out SO often nowadays I'll attempt to provide a level-headed review of this product, from someone who's played all previous games and spent probably 150+ hours in the Talos universe.
First, what does TLP Reawakened give? The primary selling point is of course Talos Principle 1 with updated graphics. Beside that, there's two other new additions in this new remake provides not found in any other Talos game: (1) a level editor allowing you to create your own puzzle levels and share them easily (2) a new episode with 18 new puzzles.
I'll start with the remastered Campaign. This is literally just the original Talos 1 game with improved graphics. However, compared to the original, there's a lot of small quality of life changes that make it stand out vs the original. The original Talos 1 had some finicky mechanics that made it a little awkward at spots: the hint system didn't work that well and the recorder, an essential gameplay mechanic in the late game, was really easy to screw up. Both these have been improved (the hint system is now a lot more feasible and the recorder has a new 'pause' function which make it way more streamlined to use). There's actually ton of these little differences that give the Remake an edge over the original which aren't immediately visible, but overall just provide a better gameplaying experience. I'll definitely state here that, for me, this is the definitive version of the game and how it's best played and enjoyed at this point, since every change made here just make it feel more smooth.
About the graphics: I've seen some criticism about stuttering etc. but to be honest I didn't really encounter any issues during my playthrough (mostly focused on ItB). Everything looked gorgeous and some of views especially really were improved on. Worth to mention that the graphical changes compliment the style and feel of the original and feel really organic with the lore and atmosphere.
The second inclusion: level editor. I'll be brief here: in the short while I've tinkered around with it it feels really nice to use and navigate. You can do A LOT with puzzle elements, especially in the movement and placement of objects. I think it's a great tool as it stands and not just a mere afterthought added for promoting purposes, and will probably be used by the community a lot going forward.
The third content point of TP:R is Into the Beginning, which is a self-contained episode with a series of puzzles alongside a prequel story of the original. Compared to other puzzles, the difficulty of these puzzles is HIGH but the quality, overall, is outstanding. The puzzles are larger in scale and have way more specific, sometimes lateral concepts attached, requiring more complex multi-step solutions that can really wreck your brain. The only caveat here is that, since the puzzles feel more open ended and large, at some points I found myself solving puzzles not fully knowing if I stumbled upon the technical correct solution or not. However by and large these provide a different new experience that is exciting and should be fun to explore for anyone looking for a challenge.
As it stands, I'm really pleased about the remake. There's only one real caveat at the point of writing for me: the price. Currently, it's listed at 40$ which is steep for a remake of a 10 year old game, especially when the original is still available for a fraction. Is it worth that? Personally, I think this definitely delivers the best overall version of Talos 1, especially given the added level editor and new puzzles. However, I know that a majority of the people that want to play Talos 1 will not likely notice a huge difference in the gameplay since the changes to the original game are, realistically, more quality of life oriented. Therefore my recommendation would be: if you have the money, this is definitely the best version to get, for the gameplay quality of life improvements, graphics, level editor and new content. However for anyone wanting to play it can also safely just go for the original which more than holds up.
Final verdict: great remake, very faithful to the original. Recommended.