With some gorgeous cinematic trailers, the backing of Wizards of the Coast, and some star power with Matthew McConaughey on the cast list, there was already a lot of interest and excitement about Exodus. The first game by Archetype Entertainment, which is spearheaded by some former BioWare veterans, Exodus just got its first full gameplay reveal, and this third-person RPG is one that Mass Effect fans are going to go wild for.
The first thing that will absolutely strike you about Exodus is its visuals – both in terms of its future sci-fi aesthetics, but also the graphical quality. Sometimes, though, that can be a bit of a red flag whenever I see a new big-budget game like this – is it all style over substance? Well, in both the gameplay trailer and a developer livestream hosted by Twitch streamer ‘CohhCarnage,’ I’ve just learned a lot of details that give me a bit more confidence than in its flashy cinematics have given me so far.
The single-player, third-person RPG was always going to have some BioWare DNA, but executive creative director James Ohlen and executive producer Chad Robertson make no bones about how Mass Effect fans will like Exodus “really hard.”
There will be choice-based dialog and core decisions will impact the direction of the story, leading to plenty of replayability. In Exodus, you play as a Traveler – a significant figure in this future human civilization that explores space in search of ancient technologies and treasures you can bring back to your home world. In that regard, it’s very “Indiana Jones,” according to Ohlen.
However, you’re not merely an explorer and relic looter – you are also powerful enough to make important “political” decisions as to what to do with the technology you recover. Some of this tech can also enhance your gameplay, but again, the choice is yours on how you apply it to your loadout and there are different upgrade paths depending on how you use it.
When exploring worlds, you’ll run into enemy “celestials” and creatures based on recognizable animals from Earth. The devs explain that there are technically no extra-terrestrial aliens, in the traditional sense, as all the enemies you encounter can trace their origins back to humanity. They may look different, but various periods of evolution and applications of technology have seen them splinter off into, essentially, different species or civilizations. In Ohlen’s words, humans managed to “turn wolves into chihuahuas” with a few thousand years of breeding and evolution, so imagine what could happen with future technologies and even longer periods of time.
On the decision to make animals the basis for a lot of the big boss enemies you’ll face, Ohlen cites movies like Planet of the Apes that give animals human-level intelligence to create interesting scenarios. Some of these creatures will also be allies and companions, so they’re not all hostile by any means.
That all sounds mighty interesting, but the kicker for me is the “time dilation” you’ll experience across Exodus, as Robertson puts it. While most RPGs play out either in real time or over a short period, Exodus may jump several years or decades ahead following some of your key decision-making moments, so you’ll see the long-lasting impact of your choices. Companions will also age accordingly, and some of the places you visit may appear different too. I am slightly worried that this sounds a bit gimmicky and I fear it could take the edge off of some of the relationships you make if it’s not focused around one smaller, intense period of time. But I’m more than happy to be proven wrong when Exodus does come out.
Speaking of, that was the one thing missing from today’s trailer drop was an update on the Exodus release date. Given that you can become a founder of the game before August 30, 2025 (according to Exodus’ official website) it certainly won’t be coming out before then.
However, if you want a more immediate fix, the Exodus-themed episode of Secret Level, the gaming anthology series on Amazon Prime Video, has just dropped today with the second batch of episodes. Other episodes dropping alongside it include those based on Sony’s dead and buried FPS Concord, The Outer Worlds, and Spelunky.
To also pass the time before Exodus comes out, why not try out some of the titles on our best space games and best single player games guides.
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