The Talos Principle: Road To Gehenna

 PC
User Score
8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 71 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 57 out of 71
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 71
  3. Negative: 7 out of 71

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  1. sinadoom
    Jan 16, 2016
    7
    This DLC is worth getting if you enjoyed the main game, but found the puzzles to be a bit trivial. It has 5 worlds (to see the last, you have to get all the stars and the puzzles are significantly more difficult than any other puzzles in the game) with plenty of interesting puzzles. It's not just "more of the same" because although there are no new additions to your puzzle-solving arsenal,This DLC is worth getting if you enjoyed the main game, but found the puzzles to be a bit trivial. It has 5 worlds (to see the last, you have to get all the stars and the puzzles are significantly more difficult than any other puzzles in the game) with plenty of interesting puzzles. It's not just "more of the same" because although there are no new additions to your puzzle-solving arsenal, there is a deeper exploration of the mechanics. The story is even more text-based though, to the point where if you aren't interacting with the terminal then there really is no story at all. It's based around a community forum and is really well-implemented; though a bit too dry on the story front - everything's disconnected and there's not much interaction with other "characters".

    If you want more story, look elsewhere. If you just want a DLC that really brings out the best in the game's mechanics, this is a must-have. Also has a decent soundtrack as with the main game, and a few secrets.    … Expand
  2. raorian
    Oct 20, 2015
    7
    gameplay is really great. some puzzles took me 30 min. (i might be stupid).
    the story concept is cool but the execution isn't as good as the original.
    it is missing the voice tapes which was the best part for me from ttp. crucial to immersion. overall if u like the game u should definitely get this for the challenge. it's much harder and very worth the price for content. just don't    gameplay is really great. some puzzles took me 30 min. (i might be stupid).
    the story concept is cool but the execution isn't as good as the original.
    it is missing the voice tapes which was the best part for me from ttp. crucial to immersion.
    overall if u like the game u should definitely get this for the challenge. it's much harder and very worth the price for content. just don't expect great story and you will enjoy what story there is.
    i suspect a few things in this dlc are a teaser for the next game.

    PS: to have extra fun google easter eggs XD    … Expand
  3. P0optra1n
    Aug 3, 2015
    10
    If any DLC ever had worth it's price, it's The Talos Principle's Road to Gehenna. Not only is it full of puzzles that force you to put your gears in motion so that you get great satisfaction after you solve one, but it has a narrative strong enough to provide classy entertainment, way above that "more of the same" feeling the DLC market is filled with these days... Overall, a greatIf any DLC ever had worth it's price, it's The Talos Principle's Road to Gehenna. Not only is it full of puzzles that force you to put your gears in motion so that you get great satisfaction after you solve one, but it has a narrative strong enough to provide classy entertainment, way above that "more of the same" feeling the DLC market is filled with these days... Overall, a great experience I'd greatly recommend.… Expand
  4. Esett
    Aug 5, 2015
    10
    A great expansion to an already almost perfect game. The brilliance of the game design is mind boggling, the quality of the graphics is eye watering. Its the type of game i want to see come out.
  5. Gnawer
    Sep 3, 2015
    10
    Excellent expansion. Adds more puzzles with same elements, plus they clearly considered feedback from the main game and built accordingly. Background story (things you read in the computers) is way lighter and funnier, which I appreciated.
  6. Zatharel
    Aug 27, 2015
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Coming from someone that loved The Talos Principle, Road to Gehenna is definitely worthy, but it feels rather...off. Unlike the main game, there isn't much room for your own thoughts. Let me clarify. (possible spoilers from main game and DLC included)

    Putting it simple, in the main game you had a choice, an opinion, you were truly *human*. You could follow Elohim's guidance and be stuck in an infinite loop, you could defy him and find out the truth of your existence or you could search for the hidden lands. Whatever you did, it is fair to say *you* were the one who decided what was going to happen. Yet I didn't feel that in Gehenna. We're given one simple quest - to free the prisoners of Gehenna. Sure, we've got minor decisions to make such as how we talk to the people there via the message boards and even one bigger decision where we either sacrifice ourselves or sacrifice the Admin or both, however it still all comes down to that, freeing the messengers.

    It isn't bad, it isn't even "meh", but I feel the aspect that made you think about things got removed.    … Expand
  7. curzon_dax
    Nov 14, 2016
    5
    This is NOT Talos 2. It's the same game with extra levels. Those levels are much harder. Basically, if you were looking for a refreshed game run away. The difficulty is not progressive at all. You start like you are at the final level of the base game in terms of difficulty. Basically it's good if you wanted just that, to continue at the hardest level of the base game. Run away if you areThis is NOT Talos 2. It's the same game with extra levels. Those levels are much harder. Basically, if you were looking for a refreshed game run away. The difficulty is not progressive at all. You start like you are at the final level of the base game in terms of difficulty. Basically it's good if you wanted just that, to continue at the hardest level of the base game. Run away if you are looking for Talos 2, a progressive experience. This is just "extra hard levels".… Expand
  8. TitaniumDragon
    Aug 10, 2016
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. As the expansion to The Talos Principle, my review on that game is worth referencing before you even consider the DLC; this DLC, while it is independent of the main game, assumes that the player has played the original game.

    The events of the game take place after the end of the original game. Uriel, one of Elohim’s messengers, is tasked to go to Gehenna, a place where Elohim banished all the AI processes who didn’t follow his orders. This is the total sum of your interaction with Elohim; he speaks a few lines at the beginning and a few lines at the very, very end, but he receives no real additional characterization or focus.

    Instead, this game focuses on the AI processes who are banished to Gehenna. The only way to interact with them is via their message boards, which they’ve set up on the terminals in Gehenna. As you free the various AI processes, you get more messages to read and possibly respond to on the boards, and uncover the secret of Gehenna.

    Except that the secret is pretty obvious from the get-go – Gehenna is like any other internet community, and the game sort of centers around the situational irony/humor of reading a bunch of people in a community talking to each other on a messageboard, with its own internal rivalries and characters and such.

    The problem is, this just isn’t very engrossing – your interactions with most of the characters is fairly sporadic, and there are 17 AI processes (plus Uriel himself) whom you interact with. The result is that none of them are particularly well-characterized, and while it works okay, I was not left caring about almost any of the characters. Honestly, only MrMulciber ended up seeming all that interesting, and while Admin was in principle interesting, in practice he is simply not developed well enough over the course of the game, nor does he exhibit the sort of personality you saw out of the Milton Library Assistant in the first game.

    Moreover, because it is extremely obvious from early on what is going on, the game is basically entirely lacking in any sort of mystery or discovery. In the first game, you gradually uncover what is going on, as well as what your purpose is and why you are doing the things you’re doing, and what the purpose of the world is. Here, you hold all the answers from the beginning of the game, and over the course of the game you can comfort others as you free them (via the messageboard terminals; you cannot directly interact with anyone).

    As a result of this, the game does not feel like it has anywhere near the same weight as the original game; the frame story is only mildly interesting and lacks the same sense of discovery or accomplishment, and there’s no mystery how it is all going to end. Indeed, the ending is extremely bare bones and weightless; there’s no final set of interactions with the NPCs before ascension to sum everything up, nor is there a particularly interesting or in-depth discussion with Admin in the same vein as what you got out of Milton. You don’t really care about Admin, who is the only character you have any meaningful choice with, and even that choice feels weightless because you just don’t care about him, and the whole ending only barely changes, with a few different words being spoken.

    That being said, while this game’s story is weak, the puzzles here are actually quite good. As noted in my review of the original game, The Talos Principle seems like it runs out of ideas halfway through, then actually starts doing interesting things with puzzles again at the end. The Road to Gehenna proves that they actually had lots more interesting ideas for puzzles, as all of the puzzles in Road to Gehenna are fresh and interesting uses of the pieces from the original game. The puzzles in this are pretty thinky, and most of them don’t actually take that long to complete, unlike the long marathon puzzles which appeared at some points in the first game. Instead, they require you to use a few parts in a clever way. It is all about thinking about the puzzle pieces in new ways, and coming up with clever ways to solve puzzles which seemingly give you one fewer piece than they should. They also encourage you to abuse the level design in order to succeed, in ways that the original game mostly reserved for star puzzles.

    There are 16 main puzzles, plus 16 star puzzles and 8 bonus puzzles, all of which are decent enough.

    That being said, the puzzles aren’t perfect; while most of the star puzzles are better than the ones in the original game insofar that you can see the stars and the trick is figuring out how to get there, there still are a few hidden stars which basically constitute “run around searching for someplace that might have a star hidden in it.” There are, however, fewer such puzzles.

    In the end, if you liked the puzzles in The Talos Principle, and want more of them, this DLC is for you.

    If it was the plot/setting that attracted you, however, this expansion is lacking.    … Expand
  9. gracjanski
    Feb 26, 2018
    8
    It is a good DLC with few hours of play time, so I can recommend it to play it.
    The puzzles starts already difficult, which is good in my view.
    The graphic is great, but there are only few new textures and models. So in the core you will see the same setting again, what is not enough for an expansion. The story is interesting, because a forum in a network is the center. And there are    It is a good DLC with few hours of play time, so I can recommend it to play it.
    The puzzles starts already difficult, which is good in my view.
    The graphic is great, but there are only few new textures and models. So in the core you will see the same setting again, what is not enough for an expansion.
    The story is interesting, because a forum in a network is the center. And there are not only some funny ideas but the atmosphere of the society is well written. But on the other side this presentation is too boring. There is no intro or outro like in the main game. So as a result, this is not enough for an expansion.
    Overall nice DLC.    … Expand
  10. indiocolifa
    Dec 31, 2017
    8
    It's a good puzzle game, however very similar to The Talos Principle, and a bit hard.
  11. pawq
    Jan 5, 2023
    8
    A perfect DLC, adding several hours of additional gameplay in puzzles that go beyond the original game in complexity. They're not just bigger or longer, but involve more creative exploitation of the mechanics already introduced while maintaining increasing complexity, making it an ideal continuation of The Talos Principle. This time the story/lore revolves around an online forum forA perfect DLC, adding several hours of additional gameplay in puzzles that go beyond the original game in complexity. They're not just bigger or longer, but involve more creative exploitation of the mechanics already introduced while maintaining increasing complexity, making it an ideal continuation of The Talos Principle. This time the story/lore revolves around an online forum for androids/AI, and while it's again a very interesting concept (and quite an amusing one), once again it fails to really engage me emotionally, which makes the experience just a little dry.… Expand
  12. NfeKteD
    Jun 20, 2020
    10
    This DLC takes place after a specific ending to the main game, and maintains the same form as the main game. If you liked the main game a lot, Road to Ghaena is super recommended for ending the story from a different perspective, after the main game character did what he did in the "canonical" ending. Since DLC is a good size, it is not short and does not extend to the point of being boring.

Awards & Rankings

41
#41 Best PC Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
82

Generally favorable reviews - based on 17 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 17
  3. Negative: 0 out of 17
  1. PC Gamer
    Sep 15, 2015
    85
    Brilliant writing and puzzle design make this first expansion a success, although it's a little familiar in places. [Nov 2015, p.72]
  2. Pelit (Finland)
    Sep 9, 2015
    92
    Takes the puzzle mechanics of the base game to a whole new level and offers an intriguing side story to boot. With Road to Gehenna, The Talos Principle may just have become the best of its genre. [Sept 2015]
  3. GameCritics
    Aug 24, 2015
    85
    For those satisfied with their Talos adventure, I'd say that there's nothing essential in this expansion, and it might be hard for forgetful players to get back up to speed. On the other hand, players who enjoyed the base game and want more will find Road To Gehenna to be beautiful, brilliant, brain-breaking, and heartily recommended as something that recaptures (and builds upon) much of what made The Talos Principle great.
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