Background
In the past, far before either games’ events take place, humans were going extinct due to a plague that they started to try to cure too late, resulting in their extinction. Before that, however, a group of scientists built an AI model, Elohim, that simulated different AI until they were deemed worthy of making a new world, without any of the mistakes of their ancestors.
In The Talos Principle, we play as an AI robot within this simulation, and eventually by making the correct decisions, we become the one to go into the real world and start a new civilization. In the sequel, we play as a new “human”, born into this blooming civilization as the last of 1000 robots and fulfilling the Goal that the Founder set. The Founder is the first robot to be reborn onto Earth, but disappeared a while back.
Right after you are born, you are seen both as a newborn and a leader. This is likely why you are able to join the mayor’s debriefing and consequently join the expedition. And with all this expectation to do something great, you are sent on a journey in a world where you know nothing. In fact, it's ironic that you are able to listen to others’ opinions much more than you can give your own opinion - you are more defined from outside influence than from your own thoughts.
At your birthing ceremony in the city of New Jerusalem, you encounter this particle being who tells you about a flame that has appeared. Although sounding cryptic, you soon realize that Prometheus was talking about an island with unknown structures on it, and you are enlisted to go find out what it is.
A big part of The Talos Principle 2’s plot is to find out who you truly are, underneath all the purpose you have been burdened with. You solve puzzles, interact with expedition members, and slowly, bit by bit, uncover this mystery that is called the Megastructure. And thus comes the duality of the theme of discovery: while you are slowly exploring and discovering the outside world, you are also slowly discovering who you want to be and who you are in the first place.
