The Talos Principle

Unless they’re extremely curious and love taking apart things to see how they work, younger kids will probably be bored by The Talos Principle. Those with much more patience will find it to be the perfect mix of challenging and rewarding -- although it won't have a lot of variety until late in the game. You'll spend your first few hours learning the basics of play: using jammers and other doohickeys to disable doors or turrets in convoluted ways. It’s later on that things get really interesting -- and potentially frustrating -- when you’ll have to deploy fans to send you flying, boxes to stand on when you need more height, and recording devices that "replay" what you've done in one area so you can simultaneously do more elsewhere. It gets complicated.

It’s also a steep, slow climb to those complications. Fortunately, the world itself is so fascinating and odd that it makes hanging in there worthwhile. It blends elements of sci-fi, religion, and philosophy very well; you can't help but be sucked in from the start when you're traversing columns and observing your robotic wrists, and an unseeing being referring to himself only as Elohim compels you to press on. It all makes for a great mystery that continues to grow as you try to investigate and understand it.