[This blog dives a bit into philosophy. If that sort of thing bugs you then I would just skip this one over.]
I have recently been playing the video game "The Talos Principle: Reawakened," which is the remaster of the original game. I did not really have any plans to review it or anything, but I realized something kind of strange as I was playing through it: I was cheating a whole lot.
"The Talos Principle" is a puzzle-based video game from way back in 2014. It has an outright atheistic message about turning away from God and faith and entirely embracing the universe as a random occurrence. It does not hide this fact, and it even pushes it even heavier in the sequel. Despite my disagreements with the message that they trying to tell, I have always applauded the presentation and puzzle designs of the game. I will probably play every new version of the series that they make.
But I am not here to discuss the message of the game.
The puzzles in "The Talos Principle" all happen within an open world structure. That is to say that multiple puzzles can be found integrated into one map. Some of the tools that are used to solve these puzzles come in the form of a jammer device that can disable certain things like force fields and certain enemies, crystal platforms that can redirect light beams, and weighted cubes such as what one might find in a "Portal" game. And where these items are all intended to be used in their respective puzzle area, their ability to "do what they do" has infinite range.
What I am saying is... although you cannot take these items out of their respective puzzle area, they can still affect the environment of another puzzle if you can perhaps get a good angle on it. Yes, I know this all sounds confusing, but let me give you an example.
Since multiple puzzles take place on one map, you can sometimes see aspects of another puzzle from inside the one you are in. And if you happen to have a jamming device on you, you can sometimes aim it over at the other puzzle and disable something from there. The other puzzle might not even have a jammer as one of its intended tools. In one case, doing this actually unlocked the ending of the puzzle out right, making it unnecessary to even complete the puzzle as intended. It felt as if I had broken that part of the game. Sometimes, it feels like this may have been an intended alternate solution, but in the latter example, I got the feeling like I had done something illegal.
The reason it felt illegal was that, in order to get the angle needed to jam that force field, I had to get the positioning down to the pixel. It was really hard to do with a controller, and I just kept at it until I found the precise spot and then activated the jammer. I ran over and found that the force field blocking the sigil (the things you are trying to collect in the game) had been entirely removed, and I just strolled in and grabbed it for free. I never solved that puzzle correctly, and the game just let me do it.
There are other times where I have been able to "jailbreak" puzzle tools out of the puzzle area entirely. Sometimes this is entirely intended. You have to do this to get to certain secrets. There have been a few times I have made attempts to do this even when I felt that the game did not really want me to do it. At times, I have even been able to jump out of a puzzle the wrong way, ending me up in an area that I am not supposed to be with no way out of it. Other times, I used it to get to a secret area the wrong way. Once again, the game let me do it, oblivious that I had done anything wrong. It just worked.
From a philosophical point-of-view, this got me thinking. Was I cheating? And if I was cheating... was I really doing anything wrong? I still got the sigils, and I still found those secrets. And honestly, I made some of those areas a little bit easier by doing it this way. In fact, I can barely play this game anymore without at least trying to see if I can find new exploits.
Historically, we tend to frown and shake our heads at the idea of cheating, especially where games are concerned. If someone cheats in a competitive sport, we point our fingers and accuse them of misdeeds. But what about puzzles? If you gave me a maze where I had to start at one opening and then make my way to the exit, what is to stop me from just drawing a line around the outside of the maze to where the exit point is? Is doing so wrong? Did I really fail? Do I deserve rebuke for not adhering to the guidelines? After all, a simple solution for the maze-maker would be to close in the starting and exit areas, right? Then I would have no choice. Right?
I look back on human society, and I feel like all the smart people of the world were just glorified puzzle-solvers. They had a rough idea about how the world worked, and they would try and work within its boundaries to come up with solutions to problems. The result would often be an invention of some sort. These inventions were usually rather big and complicated... but they worked. They followed the rules of the universe perfectly, producing a result.
Over time, those same smart people tried to make these inventions smaller and more efficient, but in order to do that, they would have to find ways to work around the structure that had already been invented. They would have to cheat at the rules a little in order to do that, and later on they would have to cheat again to push it even further. There's no point in resolving a maze if you can just draw around it.. or possibly even right through it.
It was here that I began to wonder if the whole of human progress was just a bunch of cheating. It was people tired of solving the puzzle the same way, and so they looked for a way to skip over it entirely. Like the maps in "The Talos Principle," we tend to live in a world with an open structure. Everything is out there and usable. We just need to figure out the ways to connect them. Progress might just be based on cheating.
Here is another example, pertaining to war. One of the problems of war is that everyone is trying to find a way to best the opposing side. Since war tends to be more of an open structure puzzle, people are constantly looking for ways to cheat in order to win. This often comes in the form of new weapons and technology to turn the tide. The advantage never comes to the side who is trying to play fair; it comes to the side that is trying to cheat. And there are a few examples of situations where one side was trying to play fair with the expectation that the other side would do likewise. Never a good idea in war.
In science and technology, sticking only with a system that works and never trying to improve it would not seem very advantageous for progress. At some point, we have got to find a way to cheat the system in order to find a better one. Once we find that better system, making it the new standard, we won't really need to go back to the old one since it has been entirely circumvented.
But still... the idea of cheating is incredibly frowned upon. Someone might look at me after reading this and feel distrustful of me. Am I a cheater? Can I be trusted to play games with you now that I have proposed this strange philosophy? Of course, you can! I'm not advocating cheating in games. What I am advocating is that people keep an open mind as to what they can and cannot do in this world. Sometimes the rules are assumed, but they are not actually real. You may not be as bound to them as you think.
In your own life, if you happen to be dealing with some sort of puzzle or problem, question whether or not there is a way to draw around the maze rather than solving it correctly. You might not be able to. It might be something you legitimately have to solve as intended. But if there is a way to go around it, you might find that there is a bigger, more ultimate, puzzle that was staring at you all along, and then you can get working on that one. The point is, try not to get stuck on something that can be easily side-stepped.
One last thing: This is not about morals. That is a separate conversation. I expect people to be moral and not to be selfish and hurt other people. This essay is more about trying to find more efficient ways of doing things. If skipping over a puzzle means that you don't learn anything then nothing was really accomplished. I am more talking about when a puzzle has already been solved over and over, it doesn't hurt to find a way to cheat past it in the name of self-improvement. If you can do that, then there may actually be some virtues in cheating after all.
This blog was written on July 12, 2026.
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