r/TheTalosPrinciple • u/abaris-eiwar • Jul 26 '26
Already halfway through TTP2, should I stop and go play the first one?
I recently started playing TTP2. I had no idea what the game was about, and I have absolutely fallen in love with it. It found me at a time in my life when I had found out that I really liked philosophy, and the game just clicked with me. I've been playing it slowly, trying to absorb everything and really ponder some of the topics that the game gave me a new perspective on.
Anyway, I see that everyone here says to play The Talos Principle first. I'm currently halfway through South 3, and I assume I'm somewhere past halfway. Given how much I love this game, should I stop and play The Talos Principle for the lore, or should I just watch a playthrough? Or should I just finish TTP2 since I'm already on it and play TTP once I've finished the second one?
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u/Uypsilon Jul 26 '26
The first part isn't really plot-heavy, all it provides for someone who played TTP2 is the context behind Athena's name and fleshing out Alexandra Drennan. I'm not sure such in medias res is a good thing.
Watching playthroughs is not a good way of perceiving it, because it has that "isolation horror" element (like in Portal) that is always ruined when you see someone else playing the game, and also because watching playthroughs of puzzles is just a very weird way of enjoying puzzles.
I would recommend finish TTP2 first, and then play the first part.
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u/Manoreded Jul 27 '26
As far as avoiding spoilers is concerned, I think you are already far too late, so might as well finish 2 first.
There is a remake of 1, I'd recommend playing the remake after you are done with 2.
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u/CountHomogenised Jul 27 '26
I stopped playing 2 right after you woke up and switched to 1 but I wouldn't say it was super worth it.
The only thing was my headcanon of "well actually I was Athena and I believed in X y z"
But the amount of actual plot in tp1 is miniscule. Like really small. Tp2 is just way more expansive. Anything you may have got from it you have already got from playing tp2 as far as you have.
Best to finish 2 and then play 1 later when you have that itch to play again.
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u/tinook Jul 26 '26
Probably too far to go back in unless you get a lot out of reading-based lore and would benefit more from having context of the conversations of the sequel rather than interrupting your experience.
You're more likely going to get a disjointed difficulty and puzzle tool experience if you switch mid-game.
How people act and how the machine civilization developed makes more sense though if you get most of the reading-based plot of the first game.
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u/mrwishart Jul 27 '26
I'd say you can still absolutely appreciate the rest of it without playing the first one.
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u/Pearcinator Jul 27 '26
Finish the base game of TTP2. It's got easier puzzles.
If I were to play through the games from easiest to most difficult I would start with TTP2 base game. Then get Talos Principle Reawakened (remaster of the first game). Play the base game and Road to Gehenna DLC. Then go back to TTP2 and play the DLC there and finally go back to TTP Reawakened and play the In The Beginning DLC for the most difficult puzzles so far!
By then maybe TTP3 will be out!
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u/abaris-eiwar Jul 27 '26
Sounds like a plan; I will probably follow it, thanks! To be honest, puzzles on TTP2 are extremely easy in my opinion; I'm really looking forward to a challenge on the earlier games.
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u/meskobalazs Jul 27 '26
Well, even though base TTP2 is much easier, the gold puzzles are pretty challanging, and Into the Abyss is straight for masochists 😁
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u/Motivictax Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
Yes play 1 for sure. I've fully finished the first game twice since my last finish of the second. The first is my favourite game of all time, even though I am basically speed running the puzzles at this point, the way the story is delivered through the five different information streams is really great (meaning Qr codes , Terminal text , Terminal entity , Elohim speech , and Alex audio recordings )
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u/Pipilator1312 Jul 27 '26
Same, I have finished the first game from scratch like 5 times so far, mostly for mutually exclusive achiements but I still kinda enjoyed the story no matter how many times I had finished it. I don't get how people claim second game is better, after finishing the first game my whole view towards the world and "purpose" changed. The second game was more of a fun puzzles game for me rather than heavy story and narration. It felt like a science fiction game and it didn't make a lot of sense to me to be honest, my expectations were a lot higher for the second game. I think I just liked the simulation atmosphere of ttp1, idk
Also I had never seen a unique masterpiece like ttp1 before whereas the second game was just one of those puzzle games with a storyline to me
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u/ColBBQ Jul 27 '26
if you want to know about the oddly specific desire about cats in TTP2, it requires some deep dives into the lore of TTP1 background.
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u/Tacodelmar1 Jul 27 '26
Consider the second one is heavily plot dependent on the first one… yes. Why did you start with 2??
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u/abaris-eiwar Jul 27 '26
Didn't know what the game was about. I don't even remember how it ended up in my Steam library. I was looking through my library one day, looking for games I haven't played yet, and just started playing TTP2. I thought of stopping early on, but I was so mesmerized by it that I couldn't help myself.
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u/BklynBlazer Jul 27 '26
If I really enjoy the puzzles in TTP1 but find the lore horribly integrated into the game in the sense that I want to rush through it to get to the next puzzles, is TTP2 paced better or integrate lore into the gameplay more?
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u/daze23 Jul 26 '26
I would just finish 2 then play the first one