# The Talos Principle

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/talos-principle/

9 people recommended The Talos Principle in Hacker News comments, 3 had mixed feelings and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 12 months, in 7 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Puzzle game people praise for strong physics-based puzzles, immersive world and good sense of achievement; the UE5 re-release performs poorly for some, and a few find it contrived.

Summary written by Claude from 12 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- Strong physics-based puzzles (3 comments in the sample): "a lot more immersive and have an actual point and have better physics based puzzles and an actual story" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46322125)) "I find those superior in puzzle mechanics, sense of achievement and playing dynamics." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46311479)) "for me Talos Principle (both 1 and 2) is peak puzzle genre." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46317863))
- Beautiful environments (2 comments in the sample): "I found beautiful environments of TP2 really added another level of appreciation to the game" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47228678)) "Talos Principle (UE5) looks dramatically better than SS" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47223225))
- Favourite unusual budget puzzle game (2 comments in the sample): "more unusual games out there with reasonable budgets, like… The Talos Principle" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46410428)) "the Talos Principle games are some of my favourites" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46807029))

## Other puzzle games people recommend

- [Outer Wilds](https://hackerapproved.com/p/outer-wilds/): 56 recommend, 6 mixed, 7 criticize
- [enclose.horse](https://hackerapproved.com/p/enclose-horse/): 45 recommend, 15 mixed, 9 criticize
- [The Witness](https://hackerapproved.com/p/witness/): 41 recommend, 15 mixed, 16 criticize
- [Braid](https://hackerapproved.com/p/braid/): 30 recommend, 5 mixed, 5 criticize

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://www.croteam.com/)

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Talos Principle", https://hackerapproved.com/p/talos-principle/ (9 recommend, 3 mixed, 3 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.