Online conference, 23–25 October 2026.

The ArchaeoGaming Conference (AGCon) is an annual virtual conference hosted by the ArchaeoGaming Collective (AGC), bringing together researchers, students, game developers, heritage professionals, and gaming enthusiasts to explore the intersections of archaeology and games. Through presentations, panels, discussions, and community events, AGCon provides an accessible space to share research, examine how archaeology is represented and interpreted through gaming, and foster connections between academic and public audiences. The conference is free to attend and welcomes participants from around the world!
The theme for this year’s conference is Remastering Archaeology. In an era bursting with fresh takes on classic games, remakes and remasters invite us to reconsider questions of preservation, authenticity, memory, and change. What is gained, lost, or transformed when games are revisited for new audiences? Together, the papers will explore new research, gather for group shenanigans, and showcase dynamic panels exploring the intersection between games and archaeology.

At this year’s event, Game Centre member Jenny Cromwell will present her work on The Talos Principle (abstract below).

Ancient Egypt as represented in The Talos Principle (2014)

Abstract

Reconstruction, Reuse, and Remastering: Talos Principle’s Ancient Egypt, by Jenny Cromwell

Croteam’s The Talos Principle (2014) is, at its narrative core, a philosophical game about free will, consciousness, and what it means to be human. Its principal gameplay mechanic, however, involves solving three-dimensional puzzles. The spaces within which these puzzles are contained are reimagined worlds based on ancient Rome, Egypt, and medieval Europe. This talk will focus on how Egypt is reconstructed in the game, through the means of photogrammetry and the creation of new digital assets, to reconfigure Egypt’s monumental landscape repeatedly across its game space. The Talos Principle does not, though, exist in isolation. A remastered version of the game, Reawakened, was released in 2025, while the sequel came out in 2023, and a third game in the series has been announced. Additionally, the photogrammetric assets were not created specifically for this game, but are reused from another Croteam series, Serious Sam. As a result, these games allow multiple archaeograming questions to be asked: how are ancient monumental landscapes reimagined; what is the impact of the re-use of assets across unrelated games (what I’ve elsewhere referred to as digital spolia); what are the implications of the changes to the architecture and landscape in the remastered game and the sequels? Overall, how is the Egypt of The Talos Principle not only created, but recreated and reimagined repeatedly across individual and multiple games, and what is the impact on popular understandings of ancient Egypt.