Games and Loneliness

The puzzle genre is one of my favorites and The Talos Principle is no exception. I first played The Talos Principle in 2020 a few months after quarantine began. Aspects of the game remind me of being under quarantine. The Talos Principle is a lonely game. The player exists within a world where the only way to talk to NPCs is through messages that you leave for one another. The only true conversation you can have is with a computer program on the many terminals found throughout the game, but those conversations are digital, you never truly speak to one another. The only voices you hear are from a voice in the sky and pre-recorded messages left by the designer of the simulation the game takes place in. Perhaps that is why I was drawn to the game so much, it mimicked my experience, and I’m sure many others’, during COVID.

The game is intentionally designed to be lonely, it wants the player to want to escape the simulation. It’s not only great game design, it also lends itself to the genre. Puzzle games are peaceful, just as being lonely can be peaceful. I think more games would benefit from having peaceful moments and sections. It would, at the very least, amplify the moments that are not. I’m reminded of this feeling because of what I am working on now. I want to make sure there are those moments of peace, and possibly loneliness, to accentuate the moments that are not.

Thanks for reading!

Ryan