“At the time we were working on a poster for the The Talos Principle, the game still wasn’t finished and there was supposed to be a story of a cat, or even a game mechanic involving a cat”. This is how Denis Ivankovic begins to answer one of the most frequent questions in Croteam‘s inbox – “What’s with the cat?”

“Later on, the whole cat part of the story got scrapped, but we still wanted the poster to communicate the idea of an android with feelings, which is obviously a human trait, and hence hint at the whole premise of the game. The initial mock up of the poster looked very promising, but now we were one cat short, story wise, so we went on and tried to replace it with the rabbit.”

“The problem is there wasn’t a rabbit in the game as well, so the whole cat or rabbit dilemma was basically a chicken and the egg situation. At the end, we went with the cat as Helena (Level Designer) actually had one. Well, her mother did, his name was Rudolf.”

So, the poster features a cat, but the cat is not in the game? The whole thing is a lie!?

“No, not at all!” Denis reassures us. “The game features a secret level with a cat! I’m not saying anything more, as the cat’s location is carefully hidden in the game. And in about bazillion game guides available on the Internet.”

While the cat is not a lie, the part with nine lives sadly is. Rudolf had an accident and is no longer with us, but his memory lives on.

To finish this blog on a more positive vibe, we’re giving away free The Talos Principle merch! All you have to do is post a picture that involves The Talos Principle and a (live) cat. Check out our Facebook page for more.