Exodus was relentlessly compared to Mass Effect since it was revealed, and it's not hard to see why. After all, Archetype Entertainment's upcoming sci-fi RPG is created by a team with deep BioWare roots, its story follows a customizable hero traveling across the dangerous corners of space with a crew of companions, and its premise involves ancient alien technology, human survival, and major choices that can change the world and the events that take place within it. Add Matthew McConaughey as the mysterious CC Orlev and some time dilation mechanics and Exodus even becoming the ultimate video game tribute to Christopher Nolan Interstellar. Now, during the Future Games Show, Exodus finally moved beyond the broad idea of what it was, with expanded gameplay that gave players the clearest look yet at its combat, companions, choices, and overall RPG structure.
Ahead of this public unveiling, GameRant got a sneak peek at the game's reveal during a presentation with Archetype Entertainment and Wizards of the Coast. Revelations follows Jun Aslan, an adaptable traveler with a mysterious genetic link to ancient celestial technology, as he moves from a rescue mission with companions like Elise Charroux and Tom Vargas to a dangerous expedition to the planet Psang with Phaedra and Salt. Through the shots, Exodus brings its combat tools, companion dynamics, moral choices, time dilation, and dying homeworld into unprecedented focus, giving followers of the game and RPG fans alike something meaty to chew on ahead of its 2027 release.
Exodus' Gameplay Reveal Finally Shows Its RPG Loop in Motion
For as much as Exodus As shown earlier, it was still a bit difficult to imagine what it would actually look like in play. The premise was always clear enough, Jun Aslan left his dying home world to search dangerous planets, abandoned ships and ancient ruins for anything that might help humanity survive. However, a premise can only carry a game so far, especially one that's clearly trying to be a choice-based RPG, a team-based action game, and a big sci-fi story all at once.
But ExodusThe Future Games Show reveal makes a big difference. In the past, the game has shown some extremely short main roles, but nothing nearly as extensive as this. Here, Jun is shown preparing for missions, choosing who to take with him, heading into dangerous territory, dealing with enemies with various gadgets and abilities, making decisions under pressure, and then returning to Persepolis where those decisions really start to show how much they matter. It's a familiar enough RPG structure, but the reveal helps show how Exodus gives it its own spin.
Exodus's Extended Gameplay Reveal Shows Companions, Choices, and Combat
Soon after, Jun goes on a rescue mission with Elise and Tom and the two Exodus companions show their true colors almost immediately. Elise is impatient, aggressive and clearly more comfortable solving problems with force, while Tom has more experience and a stronger moral compass. This difference is apparent before the mission even gets going, but becomes more important once Jun reaches the control room and must decide whether to ventilate an airlock full of mercenaries. Elise sees this as the quickest way through a dangerous situation, while Tom points out that there could be dock workers and maintenance workers inside.
That's a kind of choice Exodus This seems particularly interesting, although it's likely that not every decision players make in the game will cause them to question their moral integrity. It also gives the companions an active role in the selection system, as Elise and Tom are both present in the pressure of the moment, each revealing something different about the kind of traveler Jun can become.
Exodus the fight has been shown before, but the extended reveal spends much more time letting the encounter play out. During the Fire Eaters sequence, Jun receives a recycler upgrade from CC Orlev and uses it to thin out the enemies before the rest of the room is alerted. He then uses a cloak to get closer without being seen, with Elise and Tom ready to intervene if the situation falls apart. The footage eventually escalates into heavier resistance, including an armored turret that Jun controls with a booster grenade, but the value of this longer view is how it presents the encounter from setup to escalation. The players have already seen the pieces Exodus“Combat, sure, but this reveal gives a better idea of how stealth, enhancements, companion backup, and heavier threats come together in a single fight.
Returning to Persepolis in Revelations, Jun meets Phaedra Nath, a scientist and technician whose interest in Rot is deeply personal. Her grandfather, Elijah Nath, was a legendary traveler who disappeared decades ago while investigating, and the revelation follows Jun, Phaedra, and Salt to Psang in search of anything he can find. This mission opens quickly Exodus behind its hub and rescue facility, moving through an unstable planet, celestial ruins, strange enemies, and a new gauntlet ability called Glance that allows Jun to destroy the brambles created by Rot. By the time it is revealed that Elijah is still alive, the mission has already combined Phaedra's family history, the possible extinction of Leiden, Jun's inherited connection to Celestial technology, and Exodus' greater mystery altogether.
Exodus's Time Dilation makes his choices more expensive
In many modern RPGs, returning to the hub after a mission can feel like hitting a reset point. Players leave, complete whatever objective they may have, and come back to see what has changed because of what they did. ExodusHowever, the time dilation mechanic complicates this by making the very act of leaving costly. Jun may return with new information, a new ability, or even a possible answer to Lydon's extinction, but home isn't waiting for him. People keep getting older, problems keep growing, and whatever decisions they make in the cluster, by the time they come back, they're already settled in the world.
Elijah Nath, is probably the best current example of what time dilation can do to someone Exodus. He left Lydon decades earlier to explore Rot, and when Jun finds him alive on Psang, he's no longer just a missing grandfather or a legendary traveler, but someone who's spent years with a secret that may be tied to Lydon's survival, and by the time Phaedra gets to him, whatever he discovers has clearly changed him. This is a concept that fans of Christopher Nolan Interstellar they've already seen the game in a deeply emotional way, but experiencing it on hockey sticks could potentially evoke an even deeper response.
Of course, the full game has yet to prove how much time dilation actually changes. It must affect what Jun returns to, who is there when he returns, and how the world reacts to decisions made years ago from Lydon's perspective. But after this extended reveal of the game, it's clear ExodusTime dilation mechanics will make choices more expensive. Jun risks his life every time he leaves, perhaps giving up time he can never get back.
- Released
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2027
- Developers
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The archetype of entertainment
- Publishers
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Wizards of the Coast
- Number of players
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For one player
- Steam Deck compatibility
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Unknown
