Good puzzle games are all about mind-bending puzzles, but good puzzle games provide a compelling context to move the player forward. The first "Talos Principle" balanced Portal-style first-person puzzles with philosophical introspection, examining what defines humanity and quizzing the player as well. Its sequel, while confident in its puzzle mechanics, turns the narrative outward and asks both the player and his or her own world, "What is civilization?" The answer, in my opinion, is "something beautiful."

For those who skipped the first "Talos Principle" (still a great game, especially in VR), humanity was wiped out by a deadly virus and became the Donezo. Before that curtain was cut, scientists created a simulation to train new synthetic humans through philosophical and puzzle-like tests. Think "Portal," but with less malicious AI and more quizzes on the fundamentals of humanity. The first game ended with you emerging from this simulation as the first Human 2.0. This sequel begins with your "birth" into the real world.

Whereas the first game focused primarily on puzzle solving and used multiple-choice philosophical quizzes for framing, Talos 2 puts the story front and center and is almost evenly divided; whereas the first game was a solitary, self-indulgent adventure that struggled to hold up, this one has a robot civilizations roam the streets, and they enjoy quaint forum discussions and face-to-face debates.

They may have metal bodies, but the performers are just as dour, contradictory, and charming as flesh-and-blood humans, and they like cats, and they are all well voiced and written. Their philosophical quandaries tend to be rooted in real-world problems. Is it ethical for a civilization to progress when humans have so badly damaged the world before? Is the pursuit of progress an inherently positive goal? There is no easy right answer, but the game wants to hear your thoughts anyway.

However, this is a puzzle adventure game, not just a philosophical discussion. A mysterious giant structure discovered on a remote island presents a pressing question. Previously, the mechanical tribe believed that they were the only sentient creatures, and they had devoted themselves to building a puzzle museum and a sobering memorial to all the cats they had loved and lost, supposedly filled with photos and thoughts of the development team's former feline friends.

Following in the footsteps of its predecessor, investigating this mysterious cyber-pyramid requires puzzles, mythological allegories, and gorgeous scenery Talos 2 is divided into 12 zones. Broadly divided into four climates (temperate, Nordic, desert, etc.), each region is unique and offers a photogenic environment in which to roam freely. Some are densely forested plains, while others have misty mountain peaks.

But you'll mainly be tackling self-contained spatial puzzles (8 required, 2 optional, and a few secret puzzles per area) as you see fit; it's the same studio as Serious Sam, so it's no surprise that secrets and bonuses are hidden under every rock in the form of puzzle-skipping tokens and and the exploration is rewarding both materially and aesthetically.

The puzzles themselves feel perfectly tailored for squishy-brained creatures like myself. It is similar to the Portal's exam room, but the puzzle pieces are more varied. Rather than relying on a single tool like a portal gun, each chamber has a variety of devices that can be picked up and moved around. Some are as simple as standing on a block or holding down a button, but most involve redirecting a color-coded laser to a matching receiver, bypassing a force field, or bypassing a bounce pad.

Talos 2 builds on that format, stripping away the less interesting aspects of its predecessor (mines, turrets, etc.) in favor of more complex interactions between gadgets. What was previously a simple laser connection puzzle has been fleshed out with new tools such as beam inverters, prism converters (input blue and red to make green), and an "accumulator" that lets you build your own portable beam light source. There is also a tunneling device that allows items and beams to pass through a temporary hole in a special metal wall. There are many more, including alternative bodies that can be replaced as long as they have line of sight, teleporters, and platforms that can be used to carry items and alternative bodies.

It sounds like a lot (and it is), but each device is introduced gradually (assuming you play the puzzles in numbered order) and there is a good tutorial. There are interesting synergies in almost every combination of items, and few concepts are directly repeated, only repetitive enough to make for very satisfying puzzles. The Talos Principle 2 seems to explore almost every permutation of the puzzle that the many mechanics allow, with each zone adding its own twist, over the course of a long playing time. It will probably take you 30 hours if you explore to some degree, but more if you want to uncover all the secrets.

Unlike the puzzle-solving spaces of previous titles (which sometimes felt like they were built with the surplus prefab assets of "Serious Sam"), almost every room feels like a custom-built luxury space, many of which are interestingly integrated into the natural landscape of the world, all beautifully illuminated and elaborately decorated. The separation between the wandering, conversational, philosophical and puzzle aspects has almost disappeared, and the first film sometimes felt like two different experiences.

The only complaint I have with The Talos Principle 2 is that the secondary puzzle mechanics (assembling Tetris-like blocks to build bridges in the middle of each zone), while an improvement over the previous Tetromino Doorlock, are still not that interesting. But it is also a very small percentage of the runtime, so it is trivial.

Aside from the slightly boring bridge-building (and even that is an improvement over one of the first film's few weaknesses), "The Talos Principle 2" delivers in a way that few sequels do. On the surface, the film is a technical and artistic leap forward, but behind the scenes is a more complex and layered narrative that can be examined from a variety of angles.

I am already excited to return to the scenic world of "Talos Principle 2" with my photo mode ready and my eyes glued to the hidden puzzles and mysteries. It has also made me more optimistic in my thought process, although philosophical questions are frequently directed at accepting that sapience is the one and only wonderful thing to be preserved. Humanity can make the world a better place. If nothing else, for the cats.