At the Foundations of Digital Gaming 2026 conference, at the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen, centre member Jenny Cromwell will be presenting a paper on her work on the representation of ancient Egypt in The Talos Principle, as part of the ‘Games and Archaeological Play’ workshop. The conference schedule is available on the FDG’26 website.

(Re)Constructing and (Re)Imagining Archaeological Sites: The Talos Principle’s Egypt

For digital games involving ancient Egypt, archaeogaming approaches have to-date focused on the reception of Egyptian history and material culture. Taking as its case study The Talos Principle (Croteam, 2014), this paper explores how Egyptian landscapes have been created within the game. In so doing, it addresses the developer’s use of photogrammetry, the reuse of digital assets from other games from the same studio, and the ethical considerations pertaining to these points.