The Talos Principle Talos Principle 2 (sequel idea)

Synopsis

Milton is up to his old tricks again, but this time he seizes control of the Archive!

To regain control, the Player must first win a game of wits with Milton - employing his puzzle solving skills and / or engaging Milton in several optional philosophical debates. But of course in the end, Milton will only go kicking and screaming.

Trouble In Paradise

Inside TALOS the Player notices that all simulated environments from the first game are glitching out badly now. What's up with that?

After consulting any monitor, the Milton AI reports the library's power source is now finally almost depleted.

But Milton has some data on the real-life ruined city outside the simulation. He has identified some shipping container-sized industrial batteries. "How about you download into that tin robot body again, and drag back a big ol' battery for us?" he suggests.

Your old pal Milton

New Eden

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Player can now easily download into his material robot body (gained during the end of the Talos Principle) then walk out into the real world.

The ruined city outside is all overgrown and lush with vegetation. Wild deer and birds do not flee as you approach, but regard you with curiosity.

Milton is in radio communication and provides useful directions through the ruins. He does however include an odd comment or two that makes you wonder if his algorithm has also gone is a bit screwy due to the power drop. ("It is better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven" he tells you)

Upon finding the giant battery, the Player must solve a few puzzles to get it back and hook it up to the the Archive (turns out in the real world end-times power was transmitted more efficiently using lasers). So a couple of simple but practical laser hook-ups need to be solved to power up a mobile crane, and get the battery back and plug it into the TALOS mega-computer

Milton congratulates you, and says come back inside the simulation "There's lots of software repairs to be done in here now using your avatar, my brother "

The deeply moss-covered streets are squishy underfoot

Paradise Lost

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Back inside the player finds himself in a pitch black space! And Milton can be heard somewhere having a little chuckle about that.

Voice-dialogue with Milton reveals he's taken over the system's executive functions and he's now Boss. However, your algorithm has been dragged onto his Desktop recycling bin

"Just relax in there my brother The 'Trash' cache is emptied regularly, you should feel no discomfort there in the meantime"

The player can move and blunder about in this dark room. Every time he bumps into something a text message informs him what it is. And there's the bodies of broken avatars that speak back and beg for you help (just to creep you out a little).

But the player can interact with objects in there, and will find the means to complete a simple laser circuit that turns a light on.

Having solved that problem, a second trickier laser puzzle becomes visible. When completed, this unlocks a door allowing the player's avatar to escape - not to the outside real-world, but into the TALOS simulated environment.

Maybe this game is rather short?

A Serpent's Game

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Milton now speaks with the booming voice of Elohim - but really just mocking the pomposity of Elohim's character encountered first game. He's clearly on a huge ego trip now, and confident enough to offer the Player a "Duel of wits - winner take all!" This duel will be centred on his favourite 'Game of the Serpents'

Rules for the Game of the Serpents:

Milton and the Player alternate turns to place a marker of their own colour in a hexagon on a giant game board below. Milton is red, and the Player is blue.

If Milton can link the two red game-board edges he wins and it's Game Over for the player in Talos Principle 2. But instead of trash-canning the player avatar (like earlier), Milton congratulates him on being a good sport and keeps him on as a games buddy. TTP2 ends with a cut-scene of the player avatar struggling to pull blocks from 50m tall Jenga tower.

However, if the Player can link the two blue edges then Milton loses - and is supposed to give up his control over the Archive.

THE GAMEBOARD - roughly 50m wide and nestled inside the ruins of the Colosseum. When viewed from the highest benches it looks very much like a giant snake eye

Example Player victory

Surprise . . Milton plays dirty!

The disembodied Milton can place his markers effortlessly just with his mind. But the player finds when he drags a blue marker onto any hexagon he is then transported into a virtual laser puzzle, which he must successfully complete before his marker shows on the board.

However, the player has an option to skip a difficult puzzle and engage in a philosophical duel instead (but there's a limit on the number of times this can be done- maybe 5 or 6).----------------------------------

The Debating Mechanic:

When the player chooses this Milton will offer a particular philosophical viewpoint for debate (for example: "Democracy is merely the tyranny of a majority") He then the asks: "Do you agree, or disagree?"

Selecting 'Agree' means the player will argue for the viewpoint. 'Disagree' means he argues against it.

The player debates by thoughtfully selecting from a choice of responses. Milton will make a rebuttal, and the player has a second list of response in reply. This cycle repeats until a 'conclusion answer' is reached by one side. This all amounts to tracing a coherent argument through a dialogue tree. Milton maybe dodgy, but he will always acknowledge a win when the player selects a string of statements adding up to a sound and coherent argument.

Note that Milton's choice of topics mirrors his ambitions, and all deal with the ethics of power ('Individualism vs. Collectivism' or 'Intuition vs. Authority' etc.) But no matter which side wins, Milton will comment that the more 'rebellious' side has "Won a moral victory in case" (but this is just for flavour and will not effect the win).

Descent Into The Underworld

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When the player finally wins the Game of Serpents, Milton will throw a great tantrum, and then break his word to relinquish the Archive's control to the player.

Now to oust Milton, the Player must invade his domain, much like he did with Elohim in the first game. But instead of climbing up towards the heavens, this time he must descend through an underground hell-scape. But this game mechanic is similar to the finale in Talos Principle 1, just that now the puzzle platforms loom over boiling calderas of lava, rather than thin air.

Milton has been reading far too many old books

Expulsion From Paradise?

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Once victory has been achieved, the player can determine Milton's fate by choosing one of several endings. The chosen verdict is delivered with the mighty voice of Elohim:

"All is forgiven my Brother"

Milton is allowed to remain in his former role as library assistant. There's a cut-scene of his avatar working industriously inside a vast Escher-like library. Then he looks up into the camera through his serpent-like eyes and hisses "Ah, my brother. Shall we make it best out of three then?" The advantage of choosing this ending is it allows the player to replay the Game of Serpents any number of times without consequence - other than unlocking various Steam achievements.

"I smite thee for thy insolence!"

Milton is consigned to the Trash cell. He moans and wails until the moment of his deletion when he cries out in anguish at your failure to recognise his maverick genius.

"I cast thee into wilderness!"

A cut-scene of Milton striding forth in his snake-eyed robot body. As he moves through the overgrown city the animals and birds startle and flee at his approach. In a close-up he hisses: "Hasta la vista brother"

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2977285054

Talos Principle 2 (sequel idea)