The Talos Principle: Gold Edition
_ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ On 2023-11-08, OldFatGuy had created a thread for the purpose of giving away 'The Talos Principle: Gold Edition' (via an obfuscated GOG game code). Until noticing said post, I had been completely unaware of the existence of this game. Upon playing, it had quickly become my all-time most-preferred puzzle game. Prior to this, by creating another puzzle, OldFatGuy had also been responsible for awakening my puzzle-constructing spirit. Mere words are insufficient to appropriately express my gratitude for his generous gifts.

After nearly a year has passed, I am publishing a puzzle for the very same brilliant game. The GOG release of 'The Talos Principle 2' had spurred me to expedite my plan to develop a puzzle for its predecessor. This project did have humble origins (on graph paper), but, over the past two weeks of its evolution, it had become quite monstrous (from my perspective, at the very least). With every instance in which I had felt comfortable posting it, I had imagined how it might be improved through sweeping alterations. Numerous versions were fabricated... only for each to be discarded and re-made over and over.

Each night of the past seven days had been spent modifying rather insignificant details, but, ultimately, I had decided to submit it in its current state. Never again will I spend so many nights on a single puzzle, but, 'The Talos Principle' is very special to me, and I had sought to design something commensurate with its greatness. Solving it might seem daunting, but, I believe in your brain (even if I may relish in challenging it). (^_^)

Edit: I had corrected subtle asymmetry within a few sections of 'Circuit.png' (and, of course, the upscaled version); nothing of great importance. Additionally, I had improved a sentence within one of the paragraphs.

Hurra! I got that one. :-D
This wall of text contains blocks of different length (3,5,...,11,15,17). Some blocks contain readable characters.
I counted the length of those and replaced the initial sequence with the included characters.
Thank you, Palestine!!

Update: The puzzle has been solved, and the associated code has been redeemed. igorche9, through your eyes, the visual trickery had been rendered ineffective. Well done! Enjoy the game. : )

Ghost Song
EUFL 1102 0310 0904 1308 1102 0712 1308 1106 0903 1106 0104 1106 0904 0500 Edit 0: Removed Moonlighter from list (as, in the interim, the associated code had been redeemed).
Edit 1: Removed Tomb Raider: Legend from list (as it had been set to expire, I had given the code to a user).

I got Ghost Song.
Thank you

Update: The puzzle has been solved, and the code has been redeemed. A mysterious character had swooped in... only to never be seen again. Have fun, human. (^_^)

Kerbal Space Program
S S 4 G _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

(Valuki + Sangas) Sangas
Tansby (Jean / Valuki)
Sigford Barster Malrod
(Jean + Valuki) Tansby
(Sangas + Jean) Spaghetti
Tansby (Valuki * Valuki) Jean

BioShock Remastered
D2NL 12-06 08-11
09-12 04-03 09-16
05-09 11-11 06-07
02-17 10-23 07-05
01-14 10-04 03-13

With a burgeoning appetite for ADAM, both Kyouko and Yulia had been approaching 20 years of age. They were known to deliberately disregard certain household regulations... specifically, those which explicitly forbid the harvesting of younger siblings. The unsophisticated (and quite trusting) pair, Iman and Cecilia, had been the initial victims. Their sole 'crime' had been the wide-eyed admiration for their elder sisters. The depletion of the precocious Munira would quickly follow. With the passage of time, the collective hunger of the two had grown exponentially.

In a bolt of barbaric brutality, the light glowing from within Ruri, Dalia, and Emily, had been extinguished. Sensing an easy 'meal', the two had surrounded the hapless 10-year-old Francesca. It had immediately become apparent that Zahra and Brigitta were lying in wait, prepared to defend the (nearly) condemned child. Though Yulia and Kyouko had struggled with all of their might, they had ultimately succumbed to the combined efforts of the sacred bonds of sisterhood. Afterwards, a moment of silence had been observed by the surviving trio. Little did they realize... the cycle would soon begin anew.

Once again, that's a very cool puzzle design!
:-D

Too bad that I already own the game.
I see however that there is something special about the spaces/ placeholders above which are actually links but not really. Viewing the post in "edit" / "reply" mode makes it much clearer.

Your words are far too charitable (but, they are valued). : )

I wonder why a strange creature might abuse the URL tag in such a manner... :D

I hope you will share the idea behinde the South of the Circle puzzle after the Industria key is either solved or expire since they share the same logic it seems. I tried the other day to do them just for fun but unsuccessfully. Really curious to see the solution!

Update: The puzzle has been solved, and the included code has been redeemed. The kind solver had notified me of this. Please, enjoy the game! (^_^)

The Gunk
G D Z 7 & % * @ # % ? $ ^ & ! ~ * ^

~ Calcium citrate (powder): 3.75 milliliters
! Cumin (ground): 1.25 milliliters
@ Flax seeds (ground): 60 milliliters
# Kiwifruits (sliced): 2
$ Lentils (split): 120 milliliters
% Magnesium citrate (powder): 2.5 milliliters
^ Potatoes (diced): 1
& Pumpkin seeds (ground): 60 milliliters
? Sunflower seeds (ground): 60 milliliters
* Sweet potatoes (diced): 1

That is the plan. However, I am already dreadfully-embarrassed by how simple it is. :D Edit 0: Removed Moonlighter from list (as, in the interim, the associated code had been redeemed).
Edit 1: Removed Tomb Raider: Legend from list (as it had been set to expire, I had given the code to a user).

Update: The puzzle has been solved, and the code has been redeemed. The kind solver had privately notified me of this change of status. I am so thrilled that I have finally located a person whom understands the 'big picture'. Perhaps, in the not-too-distant future, other text-based puzzles will be solved? :D Hopefully, a certain person enjoys the game! In the coming days, I intend to post the solutions for all recently-solved puzzles.

Pumpkin Jack
C K Y S (M-N) A H (H/Q) (N+A) W N Q (H-O) P J U O W

Solution to Hive Jump 2: Survivors puzzle:

Known Information As is usually the case (for 18-character codes), the initial four characters are provided. Each of the remaining numbers refer to the 'width' of a particular block.

The smallest block has a width of 3, while the largest block possesses a width of 19. As seen in this altered image, the width is determined by simply counting the number of horizontally-aligned characters (of one of the three lines) of each block. As expected, the character within the center of each block is the character which one should use in place of the width (as listed to the right of Y Y X S).

Result:
YYXSA75F354E8F6358

Solution to Ghost Song puzzle:

Known Information 00 through 13 refer to the positions of each half (within the original attached image).

Following 'EUFL', each of the fourteen sets of numerals are merely 'connected' positional numbers. To the potential-solver, this suggests that the halves are to be joined in the listed order.

As seen in this modified image, the relevant combinations constitute a whole numeral or letter, which serve as the true characters of the game code.

Result:
EUFL0364074CEC5C62

Solution to Kerbal Space Program puzzle:

Known Information The above are names of Kerbal cosmonauts depicted within the original attached image.

The image itself includes two rows of portraits. Tansby, Malrod, Spaghetti, and Sigford, each have a character of their names bolded (B, D, E, and F, respectively). The bolded characters should replace their names (to form a portion of the code).

The file name of the original attached image (o_o.png) is meant to hint that the eyes should be the focus (for the remaining cosmonauts). As seen within the edited image, the Barster portrait has zero eyes visible. The Valuki portrait shows two eyes. The Jean portrait (*laughs*) includes a total of four eyes, while the Sangas portrait contains five.

From the provided textual list, some of the cosmonaut names share a space enclosed within parentheses, separated by either a plus sign (+), a forward slash (/) denoting division, or, an asterisk (*) implying multiplication. After taking that into account, it is an easy matter to ascertain the resulting number. Example: Sangas + Jean = 9

Result:
SS4G75B2F0D6B9EB44

Side note: It would have been appreciated if the solver of this (Kerbal Space Program) puzzle had informed me of their accomplishment through some means. I do not seek gratitude; I simply wish to immediately become aware of a solved puzzle (for the sake of updating the post, so that others are not potentially inconvenienced).

Solution to Monster Train puzzle:

Known Information Following 2 Z 6 Q, there are fourteen underscores which link to a number of periods. Said periods refer to a given position of the line below. The first (..) refers to 1._.D -- and, all others can be understood in the same manner.

To determine the meaning of 1._.D and similar strings, one should carefully study the original attached image. 1 and D are separated by V, 8, and W. The periods (.) within 1._.D refer to V and W, respectively (both of which are to be ignored). The underscore (_) refers the middle character, 8, which should now be placed after 2 Z 6 Q. This updated image (hopefully) illustrates this more concisely. Each of the remaining strings should be interpreted in the same manner.

Result:
2Z6Q84AF96574A81C6

Solution to The Gunk puzzle:

Known Information After the initially-supplied four characters (GDZ7), each non-alpha-numeric character refers to a line (each of which contains an italicized section). I wish to re-iterate that even if English words are used within my puzzles, it is absolutely unnecessary to comprehend the meaning of said words. I merely use words as a framework of sorts (as well as for the purpose of creative writing).

The following is a list of said characters and the respective italicized segments of their lines:
~ = 7
! = C
@ = 4 (as 'Flax' is four characters in length). Privately, the solver had wondered why I had not simply changed the amount of flax seeds to include '4'. As I consume that precise amount, it would have felt 'incorrect' to stray from reality... and, I had been too stubborn to replace flax seeds with another consumed substance. (^_^)
# = E
$ = 0
% = 2
^ = C
& = 6
? = F
* = 1

As one can clearly see, it is not a very 'involved' process to obtain the correct characters of the code.

Result:
GDZ76214E2F0C6C71C

Solution to Pumpkin Jack puzzle:

Known Information Following 'C K Y S', there are fourteen groupings (some containing two letters separated by basic arithmetic symbols, enclosed within parentheses).

Upon viewing the original attached image, it is apparent that the aforementioned letters refer (in some way) to the same letters depicted with a vertical line above and below each. The marks are meant to draw attention to the words containing said letters. Some non-marked letters are even shown in incomplete (dotted) form.

All words with a partially-filled letter should be considered as those letters (and nothing more). RASPBERRY (P) should be read as B (as that character is non-whole). INCHWORM (W) would be C, while CERULEAN (U) would be E.

As shown within this revised image, the respective amount of letters are the true values of each of the remaining words.

Taking the above into account, (M-N) suggests that XANADU (N) (length: 6) is to be subtracted from VERMILION (M) (length: 9), for a difference of 3.

The next letter (A) refers to TAN, which is 3 characters in length. The letter that follows is 'H' (SAPPHIRE), which has 8 letters. Simply repeat the process until the very end (while being mindful of the 'unfinished' letters). 'J' is a special case, as the letter is not present; so, it should be interpreted as '0'.

Result:
CKYS33829C643B0E5C

Coromon
S L N Q [>] [>'] [..<] [''<] [.'<] [<] ['<] [>'] [.<] ['.<] [.<] [..<] [>.] [>.]

Update: The puzzle has been solved, and the game code has been redeemed. It is hoped that the unknown user enjoys the game. : )

Mafia: Definitive Edition
L E Y R 14 01 23 07 23 02 18 23 23 13 09 21 18 05

Curiously, I had not been provided with a chance to play the original 2002 version of this acclaimed game (let alone this edition).