To warm you up for playing The Talos Principle 2 soon and the incoming piece of news, we thought we'd warm you up with some reading/watching - 'in case you missed it' style.
First up, why don't you take a look at this great interview from a few months back? Jonas and Verena Kyratzes, gameplay designer Davor Tomicic, and game designer Davor Hunski sat down with Thinky Games during the latest Cerebral Puzzle Showcase and talked what led to TTP2, how it's structured, and what it even is in the first place.
GAMESCOM 2023
We had a great time showing The Talos Principle 2 to press behind closed doors at Gamescom, which led to some really cool previews. Read some cool previews below.
"This optimistic, human-first approach makes The Talos Principle 2 subversive as a work of contemporary sci-fi." - Engadget
"If the first game was about what it means to be an individual, the sequel asks what that means for the society that individuals form." - PC Gamer
"Talos II aims to continue and deepen the mythology set out in the first game." - COG Connected
"The Talos Principle 2 is shaping up to be 2023’s can’t-miss puzzle game" - DigitalTrends
“I'm Ready For The Talos Principle 2 To Put My Brain In A Vice” - The Gamer
CAST REVEAL
The Talos Principle 2 is a character-driven exploration of philosophical ideas about faith, technology, history, and the future. We could not have made a game about what it means to be human without these remarkable people.
Erin Fitzgerald as Alexandra Drennan was the heart and soul of the first game. She returns as Athena, the Founder of New Jerusalem. Because whose voice would she have taken if not Alexandra Drennan's?
Byron is an optimist, a believer in the humanist ideals of Alexandra Drennan, frustrated by the direction his civilization has been taking. He needed the charm and conviction that the amazing Peter Wingfield brought to the part, which was written for him.
Yaqut is a young explorer still figuring out his place in the world and struggling with some of the more difficult sides of humanity. We needed someone who could bring real heart, humor and vulnerability to the part, so we wrote it for Adam Green - and got him!
New Jerusalem's Chief Engineer Melville is a fascinating character, rough around the edges but with a lot going on underneath. She has to grapple with the implications of what you will discover in the Megastructure and Rachel Atkins brought that process to life beautifully.
Byron's best friend Alcatraz does not share his ideas and worries that humanity will repeat the mistakes of the past. We needed someone who could play this less optimistic perspective with warmth and honesty. It was hard to find the right actor, but Ian Porter blew us away.
Cornelius is a pivotal figure in the history of New Jerusalem, a figure of great wisdom and emotional depth, and we approached Sean Branney for this part because we were certain he could deliver. He did, in spades.
Miranda is a mysterious and important character tied to the history of the Megastructure. She sees a great deal of beauty in the world, and we needed someone who could really convey her sense of wonder. Grace Hogg-Robinson was absolutely perfect.
Trevor was a coworker of Alexandra Drennan's. His recordings give us a different perspective of the events at the Institute for Applied Noematics. Who could play this lovable working-class guy? Only the one it was written for: Joe Lynch.
The man who defined the Talos Principle itself also makes an appearance, and casting Straton of Stageira was not easy! Until we heard Howard Ward, who captured the voice of a brilliant, complex man who didn't get along terribly well with the philosophers of his own time.
Lifthrasir is a mysterious, eccentric explorer with a uniquely harsh philosophical perspective. He seems to have preceded you on the island - if you can find them, his recordings may challenge your views on Nature and humanity. David Annen really grasped the character's voice.
And of course it wouldn't be a Talos game without Tim Watson's flawless performance of ELOHIM, whose role in the story is much gentler this time.
This is just a selection of the lovely people who helped us bring robotic humanity alive. We are thankful to all of them and can't wait for you to enjoy their performances when the game launches later this year.
Added 2 new Spec Ops levels! Spec Ops 3 & 4 Hard versions (Dinosaur levels).
Fixed a bug where beating the final boss on Hard Campaign didn't award the achievement. Fixed a bug where Leaderboard Achievements didn't get awarded. They will now be awarded when you enter the level that you have 20+ score on. Space Invader's boost audio was increased.
Been working all night and day to create a new type of level, mainly need to do the boss/enemy part of the level now (might create new models/bosses for it). It's not finished yet (been experimenting a lot and learning new stuff), but should be ready by Tuesday, then the next update should be on Friday with all new levels!
Daily RT Double Boost - Daily RT x2 event for membership will start on Oct 10.
October Halloween Login Challenge
Updates
Japanese and Thai language options added (Beta version) - Japanese and Thai language partial functionalities have been added, and players must relaunch the game after changing the language settings. - (Planned) It will take time, but we plan to proceed with localization in more diverse languages.
New Functions on the Official Website - Added personal ranking system - Added game information bulletin board
Capsule Shop - Removed previous season products (Magical Volts) - Added new season products (Halloween, traditional Japanese clothing) - Added permanent products (Hunter of the Night, God's Drop)
Shop - Added new items - After the Halloween event, Halloween-related items will not be available at Shop for a while.
Item Information UI - Added wearable figure information at inventory, capsule shop, limited capsule
Weapon Aiming Reticle added in replay mode - Added rifle weapon aiming reticle for all weapons in replay mode. - Deactivate weapon aiming reticle when clicking the FreeCam button. - (Planned) Zoom functionality for rifles and snipers will also be added in the future.
Renewed client icon
Bug Fixes
Occasionally not granted Level-Up Rewards - Fixed a bug where Level-Up Rewards were occasionally not being granted at levels 20, 40, 50, 60, 80, 100. - Unreceived items are under internal investigation, and they will be distributed in batches during maintenance after the investigation is completed.
Zombie mode - Fixed so that players who turn into zombies during a round will not respawn as humans again. Disconnection issue during MAX channel status - Fixed the issue where the client was closing when attempting to enter the channel at MAX status. Replay bugs - Fixed an issue where users were not disappearing from the list when playing a replay. - Fixed a problem with incorrect recording of stats in FFA mode.
Replay and Observer Mode zombie perspective UI - Fixed a bug where the HP UI was not displayed when switching from the zombie perspective (bottom left) to the character’s perspective. - Fixed an issue where the rank UI (top left) was not displayed. - Fixed a bug where the current character’s weapon icon UI (bottom right) was not displayed.
Achievement - Fixed a bug where the ‘Swapping Technique’ achievement was not being completed.
Kill Count bug - Fixed an issue where kill counts were not appearing in replay mode and observer mode.
We've updated the Live2D SDK in Animaze to the new 5.0! Details below:
Desktop & Editor Changelog
upgraded Live2D Cubism SDK to 5.0 - models exported from Cubism Editor 5.0 for the 5.0 runtime now work with Animaze.
added 6 new three-point light presets.
fixed shoulders offset issue for generic animations (mannequin animations).
Known issues
the switch between generic Mannequin and Mixamo animations is snappy.
As always, we love hearing what you think about the new content and Animaze! Let us know what you’d like to see added to Animaze on our Discord server, email us at support[@]animaze[.]us, or message us on Twitter!
Thank you everyone for being a part of our journey so far. We’ve just reached a huge milestone with over 7000 demo installs, far beyond what we expected when we set out on our voyage. To celebrate we are joining Steam in presenting the demo of Sea of Survivors as a part of SHMUP fest.
Keep your eyes peeled! There's a massive content update just over the horizon, follow the game so you don't miss it.
We’ll be announcing the Early Access Release date for Sea of Survivors in the next couple of weeks. If you’d like to get notified when Sea of Survivors enters Early Access, wishlist the game, it helps us A LOT. We also have a Discord community where you can become part of the crew and talk with the developers!
Haven’t had a chance to try the demo? Watch Retromation defeat the Kraken!
We've heard your requests for the ability to relocate constructions and ways to restructure the town. It posed some interesting challenges and flabbergasted us for a while, given the game's setup, but we found a solution. Enter: The Architect! This specialist allows you to go into 'Architect Mode' and completely re-plan your entire town, re-think pipelines, or just move some buildings around.
We've also been working on improving performance, the game should run smoother now :)
What's next?
We are working on adding controller support to the game! We want to make sure it feels right to play on a controller and on the Steamdeck, and it’s also going to help us explore the possibility of bringing Flotsam to other platforms in the future. We'll start testing this on experimental soon.
Early Access 0.7.5: The Architect
The Architect! This specialist allows you to go into 'Architect Mode' and completely re-plan your entire town, re-think pipelines, or just move some buildings around.
The Architect
New Construction: Architect Station. The Architect station unlocks the 'Architect Mode'.
Added the 'Architect Mode', in this mode you can move or store buildings and thus re-structure the town.
Updated the tech tree to implement the Architect.
Added The Architect specialist.
Fixes
Fixed issue causing salvaged landmarks to no longer be greyed on the map.
Fixed issue where drifters could get stuck planting seeds after saving and loading.
Various small fixes to inventories.
Fixed issue where some seeds on landmarks would be null and not be salvaged nor shown.
Fixed issue where drifters would only haul 3 items when doing import projects.
Fixed issue where drying buildings would spawn audio errors.
Fixed material memory leaks caused by the resource visual setup.
Various small fixes to map movement.
Fixed issue where construction variations wouldn't show.
Fixed some items not showing the correct throwing visual.
Fixed issue where the Decoration preview would get stuck when it was active while a park was being deconstructed.
Fixed issue where birds would be destroyed when they were perching on an energy pole that was being deconstructed.
Performance
Adjusted underwater tiles to have simpler geometry.
Added LODs for Fish Sticks, Town Tugger and Solar Panels.
Reduced resolution of various textures.
Removed unnecessary foam underneath some constructions.
Texture updated for large storage yards.
Resource visuals no longer cast shadows.
Changes to the physics so it stays consistent when changing the game-speed.
Various other improvements to the physics.
Misc
Wind streaks no longer rotate with the camera.
Updated LODs for walkway pontons so they don't disappear on lowest settings.
Various changes to the UI to make it more consistent.
Changed the visuals of the Food Truck as the texturing style was outdated to the current game's visual style.
Changed the visuals of the Water Container to increase its readability.
Changed the visuals of the Solar Still to properly reflect it's boundary size.
Updated the Townheart's propeller build-blocking area to more properly show the blocked building area, also allowing for some leeway.
Properly tagged Goods, Mushrooms and Tools to sort in the top bar inventory.
It’s time for new surprises into the realm of kinkiness! Be sure to dive into this week’s hottest events and deals, because you won’t want to miss a single moment.
Events Prepare yourself for a naughty adventure with Goddess Yui in our latest event: Holy of Holies feat Goddess of Sun Hiyori period: September 25th, 05:00 ~ November 19th, 05:00 EDT
Wishes are set to come true, so keep your eyes peeled for these two fantastic events: Tekka Wishing Fountain period: September 24th, 05:00 ~ 29th, 05:00 EDT Genesis Wishing Fountain period: September 29th, 05:00 ~ October 4th, 05:00 EDT
Deals Craving a power boost? The shop is sizzling with deals you just can’t pass up: Diva Mikami Hero Pack: September 24th, 05:00 ~ 28th, 05:00 EDT Thea Hero Pack: September 26th, 05:00 ~ 30th, 05:00 EDT Rin's Costume Pack: September 27th, 05:00 ~ October 6th, 05:00 EDT
And that’s not all! Stay tuned for more special surprises heading your way. Keep a close watch on the latest news!
We just released a new hotfix. Changes and fixes are as follows:
EULA Changes We’ve made a few changes to our EULA related to mods, which should make the rules more clear for our modding community. We’ve removed “mods” from the “Cheating” section, and introduced a new paragraph in section 17. “User Generated Content”: