Video Games

First Exodus gameplay trailer has Mass Effect vibes and bear punching

No surprise there, given Archetype Entertainment’s crew

Marco Wutz

Archetype Entertainment

Baldur’s Gate 3 had success with bear-based marketing and it seems like sci-fi RPG Exodus is looking to repeat a similar feat – but with a different direction: Instead of loving a bear very much, the characters of Archetype Entertainment’s debut game are punching it. Oh, the bear wears an armored space suit as well. Yeah, we can’t really tell you what’s up with that.

Anyway, if the music, the characters, and pretty much everything about the first gameplay trailer of Exodus remind you of Mass Effect, then that is not a coincidence – developer Archetype is a team consisting of many former BioWare employees with a history of working on the trilogy as well as Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic.

Exodus heavily dips into the concept of time dilation and its consequences when playing out over decades and centuries. In this universe, humankind has already left Earth behind and formed a variety of advanced civilizations across the galaxy, which grew apart even on a genetic level – not to mention competing with each other for resources.

Players will take on the role of frontier explorers on the hunt for ancient technologies, leading planetary missions with two companions from their crew. Exodus features a material called livestone, which can be controlled by select humans to be used in exploration and combat. Companions in Exodus can be romanced with player decisions affecting how relationships go.

Gameplay is described as being inspired by exploration games and action adventure RPGs.

Former BioWare lead designer James Ohlen is helming Archetype Entertainment and Exodus’ development with another BioWare veteran, Chad Robertson, serving as studio manager. The lead writer for Exodus is Drew Karpyshyn, who authored KOTOR and Mass Effect’s stories.

Archetype Entertainment is backed by Wizards of the Coast and revealed Exodus, which will be starring Matthew McConaughey, at The Game Awards 2023. The title is set to come to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.

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Marco Wutz
MARCO WUTZ

Marco Wutz is a writer from Parkstetten, Germany. He has a degree in Ancient History and a particular love for real-time and turn-based strategy games like StarCraft, Age of Empires, Total War, Age of Wonders, Crusader Kings, and Civilization as well as a soft spot for Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. He began covering StarCraft 2 as a writer in 2011 for the largest German community around the game and hosted a live tournament on a stage at gamescom 2014 before he went on to work for Bonjwa, one of the country's biggest Twitch channels. He branched out to write in English in 2015 by joining tl.net, the global center of the StarCraft scene run by Team Liquid, which was nominated as the Best Coverage Website of the Year at the Esports Industry Awards in 2017. He worked as a translator on The Crusader Stands Watch, a biography in memory of Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka, and provided live coverage of many StarCraft 2 events on the social channels of tl.net as well as DreamHack, the world's largest gaming festival. From there, he transitioned into writing about the games industry in general after his graduation, joining GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage for media partners across the globe, in 2021. He has also written for NGL.ONE, kicker, ComputerBild, USA Today's ForTheWin, The Sun, Men's Journal, and Parade. Email: marco.wutz@glhf.gg

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