Talos Principle 2: Every ending & how to get them

The Talos Principle 2 is now out, and unless you’re part of a small number of unlucky people, it will positively blow your mind. TP2 follows the footsteps of the original game by featuring different endings that will play out depending on the choices of players. Let’s help you reach every single one of them.

How to get each Talos Principle 2 ending

The good news is that even though this is both a thematically and mechanically complex game, there’s a black-and-white pathway to get each of the game’s three endings. There is no need to solve a special overarching puzzle or collect any assortment of rare MacGuffins — the main ending you get will depend solely on a simple dialogue choice.

Once we finally beat every puzzle in the megastructure, the game’s end dungeon, we’ll have a brief chat with a very important NPC named Athena. She’s bound to something called “the machine,” an unimaginably advanced piece of tech, and she’ll ask players to make the most important choice in the game:

Each dialogue option will lead directly to one of the game’s three main endings.

Choosing “I want to know the truth” will lead players to the “Leap of Faith” ending.

In this ending, the main character decides to trust the machine and use it to “ascend.” If you want a spoiler-free version of this ending, just think of what Neo experiences once he takes the red pill in the original Matrix.

This is the most cryptic and scariest of all endings, as it throws the main character into a bleak and uncertain reality, but not without imbuing him with a certain sense of hope. There’s no confirmation that the machine was bad after all.

Choosing “I had hoped we could use this technology safely, but we’re not ready. Shut it down” will play the “Momentum Deferred” ending.

This ending leads to our character merely turning off the machine that was causing all the turmoil in this world. We don’t go with it, but we don’t destroy it either. This is what I’d like to call a fence-sitter ending.

Picking this ending will get the game to do what strikes me as a passive-aggressive diss. It tells players they’ve picked “an ending without an ending.” This is by far the ending that will bring the least amount of closure.

Choosing “I’ve changed my mind. The risk is too great. We must destroy the Machine.” will unleash the “Certain Fathoms In The Earth” ending.

In this ending, the main character decides to destroy the machine as he believes that it will always do more harm than good. It’s a bold decision, but unlike the decision that takes you to the previous ending, one that leads to a direct result.

But there’s one more ending

I’m sure that the fans of this series are used to lies and misdirection by now, so this shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise. There’s one secret joke ending to the game, so yeah, I was lying when I said there were only three endings, but I was still saying the truth when I said that the way to get it is as straightforward as it gets

Right after you finish the tutorial, say you’re not interested in joining the expedition. This will lead players to the “Chicken” ending, a joke ending reminiscent of the many hilarious endings found in Nier: Automata. This is a great way of remembering that despite all of its philosophical depth, this is still a game by the people behind the Serious Sam series.

Loose ends

While the main ending that you get depends only on a specific dialogue choice, there are a few ways in which you can impact the fate of singular characters in the game.

A final note for completionists and lore hunters

Once again, even though this will not affect the endings per se, completing all of the game’s extra (and extra hard) puzzles will present players with much more insight into the game’s world. To learn everything there is to know about the world of The Talos Principle 2, you must complete all of the game’s golden gate puzzles and star puzzles. You’ll also need to find every audio log left behind by Trevor.

You can now finish The Talos Principle 2 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, Linux, Xbox Series X|S, and MacOS.