The Talos Principle
Give it 4 hours
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours 1 in 4 reviews are negative (26%); after 20h it's 1 in 75 (1%).
- Fully opens up by hour 15.
- Most players drop off before “Halls of His Temple” (Enter Elohim's temple): only 89% of starters get there.
- 92% of owners got the first achievement.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 33,299 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 300 reviews: 22.2h for positive, 6.6h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (92.2% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- Halls of His Temple Enter Elohim's temple. Most players quit here 89% −11
story milestone ending biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (40)
story milestone ending side
- Logic check... OK Pass the initial checks. 100%
- Halls of His Temple Enter Elohim's temple. 89%
- Sigils Are Not Enough Pick up a star. 75%
- Into The Unknown Search for other lands. 70%
- Make Connections Use the connectors to win a prize! 69%
- Not a Cube ...but let's be honest, it works the same. 66%
- The Land of Death Run the sand through your robot hands. 57%
- Uplifted Use the power of air to your advantage. 51%
- Off The Radar A little curiosity never killed the cat. 47%
- See Double Successfully engage in co-op mode with yourself. 47%
- Extreme Persistence Detected Try, fail, try again, fail again, eventually succeed. 41%
- Leave Your Mark Tell the others what you think. 41%
- The Land of Faith Enter the Land of Faith. 41%
- Break Down Barriers That's what axes are for! 39%
- Sacred Grounds Find a Messenger's abode. 37%
- Transgression Don't just peek. Do it. 35%
- On Top of Things Stand on your own two shoulders. 34%
- Know Your Limits Accept Elohim's wisdom. 31%
- QR Reader See what the others have to say. 26%
- On The Edge Reach the top. 24%
- Free Will Bring the end of your generations. 23%
- Last Stable Version Restore a backup version of yourself. 22%
- Eternal Life It's not for everyone! 20%
- Solipsist Get everything on your own. 19%
- Press The Serpent Expose the flaws in the code. 17%
- Help From Above Receive guidance from Elohim's messengers. 15%
- Welcome to Gehenna Get your user profile. 13%
- Hedging My Bets Do as you're told (for now). 13%
- Blessed Messenger Solve every mystery in every land, that you might aid those who walk in your footsteps. 12%
- First! Free Garrett. 11%
- A Good Listener Listen to all she has to say. 11%
- Deal With The Deceiver Strike a deal. 8.0%
- Take It With You Internalise the voice of doubt. 7.5%
- LOL Laugh at the pointlessness of existence. 6.9%
- Changed My Mind. It is never too late to accept Elohim's forgiveness. 6.8%
- Ascension Initiate the ascension process. 6.7%
- Silence The Serpent Do not allow the serpent to fill you with doubt. 6.4%
- Thorough Researcher Collect all pieces of written information. 5.5%
- Free Admin Rescue Admin from his prison cell. 5.1%
- Split Personality Communicate with your double. 4.8%