As the sequel to a game that sought to explore if robots could be human and what it means for anyone to be human,The Talos Principle 2has a wealth of philosophical groundwork to draw from whenprotagonist 1K emerges into the physical world. The game wastes no time agonizing over if 1K is human, though.
Robots can definitively be humans, arguesThe Talos Principle 2. This is so true, in fact, that the AI denizens of New Jerusalem don’t think of themselves asdistinct from humanity, merely a redesign of the organic into the synthetic. They behave like humans. They obsess over cats. They use social media. More than calling themselves human, the game shows that these machines are human from the very beginning. This is an obvious and intentional decision by writers Jonas and Verena Kyratzes, they explained in a recent Game Rant interview
To ruminate more on what makes someone human would be treading old ground in the new sequel. While the game starts in a way reminiscent of the original, it quickly diverges into a new and grander narrative. But more importantly, Verena explained, with the step from Athena to 1K came a massive change in perspective.
The thing that I always like to say is that the first game dealt with these robot humans in their infancy, when their civilization was just newly born, essentially. Now, we’re looking at their adulthood. It seemed a logical progression.
That meant taking on larger-perspective questions. No longer is this mechanical human society concerned withwhat it means to be human, but instead with how these new humans interact with one another, with the broader structures both social and natural in their world, and with their place in the universe. The concerns of society have grown, so the philosophy of society has grown as well.
A central anxiety of society inTalos Principle 2is surrounding the Goal. Part religious principle, part conservationist philosophy, and part myth, the Goal is the idea posed by the first game’sprotagonist Athenathat there should be 1,000 new humans. Whether this is meant to be an aspiration, a limitation, a commandment, or an ambition is up for each of the 1,000 residents of New Jerusalem to determine, with the elevation of Athena to a messianic figure making that determination deeply spiritual and important to these new humans.
The Goal isn’t the core question of the game in the way that “can a robot be a human” was from the first game however, explained Jonas. He’s worked on a number of Croteam games including the originalTalos Principle, and he explained this time there’s a wide range of thorny thoughts the game wants to tackle. Questions of faith and ofa person’s place in the universeswirl through the game.
It’s a game that overall is concerned very, very much with faith, and it does touch on religion, both obviously in its imagery, but also in our relationship with the universe itself, with the cosmos, with beauty and a sense of the sublime. These robots are capable of experiencing this, they’re capable of seeing beauty and seeking some kind of greater meaning, experience, spirituality, or something in the universe. They’re looking for it and kind of trying to make sense of all that, just like we are.
The game pulls fromsources like Carl Sagan, the ecological philosopher Leigh Phillips, or the travel writer and anti-fascist thinker Robert Byron. Byron, in fact, has a major NPC named after him. The humanist science fiction writer Ian Banks was also a major inspirational factor for the world ofThe Talos Principle. The kinds of philosophical arguments of these inspirations form a framework for the game’s greater look at the cosmos and humanity’s place in it, permeating nearly every encounter in the game.
Of course, a central piece ofTheTalos Principleexperience is puzzles. The scientist who set in motion the artificial life found in the games, Alexandra Drennen, believed that puzzles were central to human experience, and that philosophical reflection gets more exploration in the sequel. In fact, a robot who is bad at puzzles and frustrated by them expresses exasperation at how instrumental they seem to be in the society of the mechanical humans in New Jerusalem.
But just becauseThe Talos Principle 2invites players to consider these larger questions andactively participate in conversations about faith, society, government, and cosmic mystery, it doesn’t expect 1K, or the player, to have all the answers. After all, 1K is hours old when confronted with some of the game’s great quandaries. This, too, mirrors humanity’s interaction with the world today, according to Jonas.
We’re born into a world that already has all this backstory, and we didn’t choose any of that. It’s very hard to see how the hell we can change any of it. But at the same time, you feel like you have to take a position on a lot of it because it seems kind of ethically important. I think it’s a desperately confusing situation for most people.
Like the player, 1K is given a second-hand account of a second-hand account of the history they’re born into. When writing, the couple apparently kept as a core design philosophy that 1K has never played the firstTalos Principle. All together this creates an idea of robotic life so deeply human that the distinction—organic or electrical—is barely noticeable let alone relevant to the questionsThe Talos Principle 2is hoping to inspire.
The Talos Principle 2
WHERE TO PLAY
The Talos Principle 2 is a thought-provoking first-person puzzle experience that greatly expands on the first game’s philosophical themes and stunning environments with increasingly mind-bending challenges.
