Case #2: The Talos Principle – An excursion to the past with ruinous contexts

[Godofhellfire]

My second contribution covers some aspects of another “old” game, the six years old The Talos Principle (TTP). I want to make my concerns accessible, how this game deals with the random use of archaeological remains as some sort of “spolia” (i.e. architectural or sculptural remains of an older age, being used for new purposes); on the other side, I enjoyed going for a virtual walk in this Roman/Egyptian/Medieval scenery, being able to recognize some noteworthy oddities.

Background information about The Talos Principle
In December 2014, the Croatian developers of Croteam (Serious Sam series) launched the First-Person-Puzzler The Talos Principle with great and ongoing success on Steam. Two things are important to note: Firstly, the game was not planned. It emerged from new gameplay mechanics Croteam wanted to implement into the 4th part of the upcoming Serious Sam; consequently, the team used lots of assets from that existing series, especially the Egyptian ones. After having prepared nearly most of the world building the developers hired the writers Jonas Kyratzes and Tom Jubert for the philosophical-mythical background story. This constitutes the second point: The story is separated from the graphical world because of the development process (Read for example Gamasutra interview[www.gamasutra.com] or interview with Kyratzes[archaeogaming.com]). Therefore, I will not engage with the themes of transhumanism and artificial intelligence built on a fictive ancient philosopher (see below), but only with the ruins, sculptures, mosaics, and wall paintings in world A, the Roman world hub. An effort to connect those ruins with the narrative are not planned and therefore invalid, in my opinion.

One impulse for writing this essay was a discussion thread on the Steam forum of the game, where people have been demonstrating their smattering and confusion, if this world A was recreated with the Roman or Greek culture in mind, or even some mixture of Greco-Roman: Forum discussion.

From Pompeii to Ostia, from the Etruscans to the Romans: Archaeological remains and their fate in The Talos Principle
At my first visit ingame I was stunned: Playing a game inside Roman ruins is what I have never experienced before (in a First-Person game). It was fun looking at ancient statues and walls and it felt so familiar, that one thought came to my mind: Was this a precise reproduction of an existing place somewhere in Italy? After a superficial search on the internet I saw my initial assumption confirmed: Some talked about Rome, some about Ostia, some about Pompeii; the latter location actually was part of an ingame audiolog by the protagonist Alexandra mentioning being impressed (and frightened) by the Pompeian ruins as a kid. Later in the game I realized that there were always the same two or three brick and plaster walls, mosaics and statues implemented in the environment and arranged differently – one point I want to emphasize later.
In the interviews mentioned before Croteam describes their method of capturing these ancient remains using photogrammetry: The PC calculates a 3D-representation out of hundreds of 2D-photographs, they made of one object/wall/statue from all sides. For a good explanation with an example from TTP, see Photogrammetry[medium.com].

With this example from Ostia, the ancient port city of Rome, and some background monuments being familiar to me I started my search for the origins of ancient remains:

• Ruins: At first you have to know, that all walls and buildings in world A date to Roman times, typically made out of brick and opus caementicium (like modern cement). Lots of architectural remains are spread around the fields in Ostia and ingame.
  Spectacular buildings arise in the background, one of them clearly modelled after the Trajan’s market in Rome: Wikipedia[en.wikipedia.org].
  https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2183130187
  In the game they restored the uppermost storey and blocked the player’s view to the ground floor by walls. Similarly, you can recognize the basilica of Maxentius in Rome, a restored theatre, that could be from everywhere (Pompeii), etc.
  Interesting is the case, where around a water basin there are several columns with Roman numbers on it: The only place I know, where archaeological remains of such nature were recovered, is Portus, the much larger and later Roman port of Rome. There, around a hexagonal port basin the columns indicated with numbers, where a ship must moor: Portus Traiani[www.ostia-antica.org].
  https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2183139009
  
• Sculptures: Let’s look at some sculptures found in TTP. What stands out regarding the female statue mentioned above is, that one can find her standing in a pool of a house, standing in an exedra of a public building, standing in an embayment along the street.
  Let’s make it clearer: A statue one encounters regularly in TTP is a winged Minerva-Victoria (Roman goddess) on a pedestal standing in front of entrances, theatres, etc.
  https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2186337164
  This statue was copied from Ostia again, where it was part of the upper decoration of the Porta Romana, one of the city gates. Whereas the original Roman statue is now in the museum, a copy of it stands as a reminder in isolation at the findspot (Info here[www.ostia-antica.org]). Thus, it seems, that Croteam copied the copy and copied the wrong context with it, seeing the statue as an object, that can be implemented everywhere, but not as a part of a monument.
  
  
• Mosaic: Immediately at the beginning of TTP we are in a room with a black and white mosaic showing some mythical sea-creatures and an altar. Later, the same mosaic is seen as part of a temple and the afore mentioned pool.
  https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2186365257
  Here too, one finds the real mosaic in Ostia: It is located in one of the rooms of Roman thermae, in the caldarium of the Baths of Buticosus, and it shows the Greek sea god Triton as a merman and one of the Nereids (nymphs of the sea) surrounded by dolphins, hippocamps and some sort of sea-cows (Info here[www.ostia-antica.org]). Thus, it was part of public baths and it’s very strange to see an altar or a theatre connected with the mosaic.
  
  
• Wall painting: The last example is striking: Nearly everywhere on the walls of temples, porticoes, and common walls in TTP is the same set of two wall paintings merged together: A Roman styled one and another with a clearly distinct style.
  https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2186376698
  https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2186376132
  The first reminded me of the well-preserved wall paintings from Pompeii in Italy, and indeed it turned out, that it came from a caupona, i.e. a Roman tavern, the one of Lucius Placidus showing the gods Bacchus and Mercury alongside with the genius (the personal guarding god of the host), and the lares (guarding deities). The snakes below the panel also belong to this wall painting (Info here[www.pompeiiinpictures.com]).
  The second wall painting instead, completely belongs to another culture, time and context: it is taken from a Etruscan grave, the so-called Tomba François, near Vulci, dating to the 4th century BC, now being displayed in the museum at the Villa Albani in Rome: Info here[www.khanacademy.org]. The painting shows Achilles sacrificing Trojan prisoners in the presence of the shadow of Patroclus and the Etruscan gods Charon and Vanth. Three things caught my eyes: Firstly, Charun has no blue skin colour in TTP, although it is his attribute; secondly, the snakes below the panel belong to the Roman mosaic; thirdly and much more disturbing, the spalling of plaster on height of the genitals of the Trojan slave on the right doesn’t match with the Etruscan original, any preserved paintings of the grave or any restoration drawing. This spalling was implemented by Croteam to hide the genitals from the eyes of us, the players!

To conclude: I appreciate the effort of integrating ancient architecture and sculptures into TTP and I enjoyed my time inside world A very much … But I have problems with the use of these objects ingame: Objects got decontextualized and were put in completely distinct environments than in their primary purpose; furthermore, the developers mixed things not only of the times of the Roman Empire, but also from Etruscan times. What puzzled me most concerns the last case presented: Not only that Croteam merged two paintings from different cultures and used the Roman ornamental snakes for both, they even changed the Etruscan mosaic by erasing the genitals. As a consequence, we have the mentioned confusion among players, what period is presented in the game – and worse, a wrong picture of our past is created and transferred to us, the players.

Addendum: Sources and other remarkable ideas of TTP
As sources for this essay I can name the excellent site about Ostia antica[www.ostia-antica.org] and a site studying the reception of Classical themes and persons in modern media called Our mythological childhood[www.omc.obta.al.uw.edu.pl]. The latter site indeed covers some of the objects presented here, but it only identifies the Pompeian wall painting correctly. All other pieces are treated superficial or wrong. Here my background as classical archaeologist was more than helpful in order to identify the right location, art style or time period.

Lastly, I want to name few other things of TTP, that I found worth mentioning.

• Later in the game, one can find paint buckets to create messages placed onto the walls, that your Steam friends can see. This is a great idea and reminded me of ancient inscriptions and epigraphy. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to write what you want, but you must choose out of a pool of 11 verses. With a bit of more freedom and refinement, this feature will represent a modern use of epigraphy in future games.
  
• Along with Aristoteles, the bible, the Egyptian book of the dead, there is a fictual philosopher, invented by the writers of TTP: Straton of Stageira. He is a mixture from Strato of Lampsacus and Aristoteles, born in Stageira. Furthermore, Croteam created a Fake documentation about Straton featuring the real archaeological remains of Stageira on the Chalkidiki, Greece. This is really fun: Youtube-Link. Even more, there is a marketing webpage[talos-it.com] featuring a quotation of Straton. Did they realize, he never existed?
  
• The Gamasutra interview linked above mentioned a Level featuring Rome, but that seems to be taken out by the developers. Maybe people owning the Prototype DLC can confirm that.

[Keks]

You made a stunning essay about the historical relicts on TTP. Excellent.
I will look out for it (and maybe more) at my next visit in the game.
I have no problem about mixing different locations and times in one area of the game. It could be different, as they do try in Assassin's Creed, but it is not bad either. Your "task" might be, as a archaeologist in computer games, as you did, to investigate a research, what ist depicted in the game. That is much more exhausting and include possible mistakes, or failures, but is also very rewarding. And its the freedom of art to mix it like they did it. The game is really remarkable.

[Godofhellfire]

Thanks Keks for your commentary! You are absolutely right: artistic freedom of the medium game is important and can lead to something fascinating and rewarding. But to be clear: I've found the game and its environment a refreshing take. But as a medium transporting history to the players, there are some problems with mixing and merging different cultural outputs and especially with changing the appearance of real paintings without need/benefit for the gameplay.