We played Exodus, and it looks like Mass Effect fans will be eating well next year
We’re living in a golden age of role-playing games at the moment.
Baldur’s Gate 3, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and Cyberpunk 2077 have proven just how far these types of games can go, blending strong storytelling with robust character-building mechanics and adaptable combat.
Next year, you may also have to prepare to add Exodus to this list, as a recent hands-on demo has really swayed my opinion on the game.
Exodus is developed by Archetype Entertainment, a studio founded by former BioWare developers James Ohlen, Chad Robertson, and Drew Karpyshyn, and the game is very much giving us Mass Effect flashbacks.
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This sounded too good to be true at first, especially considering Mass Effect has left behind big shoes to fill, but with backing by Wizards of the Coast and some incredible talent at the wheel, I’m feeling really confident this will be a solid RPG come 2027.
After playing about an hour of the game, I came away from the Gamescom demo very impressed. Similar to Mass Effect, you control a squad of soldiers who are tasked with various missions across the most dangerous reaches of space.
In the mission that I played, I had to rescue an enslaved prisoner and eliminate the commander who sanctioned the prisoner’s capture. Slipping onboarding the enemy ship Khonsu undetected, which hovers above a planet called Galarus, I was first shown the basics of controlling the squad.
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Exodus' character development and squad gameplay has us excited
Like Mass Effect, you control the main player character Jun Aslan (who is completely customisable), while your squadmates’ actions are done through a separate menu which allows them to carry out their unique abilities, which can be performed at any time during combat as long as you have them charged.
One squadmate, a character inside a heavy mech suit, had the ability to fire a powerful missile at enemies, while another, sneakier comrade was able to use the ability “Shadow Step” to sneak up on enemies and catch them unawares. As I carried on, I discovered more abilities which allowed the squad to enact different attacks during combat.
Meanwhile, Jun has a few abilities that are exclusive to themselves that only you can perform during fights. This includes an ability where he can tunnel a powerful force through the ground to hit enemies from underneath, and another which slows down enemy movement allowing you to place more purposeful shots on them.
There’s also a crafting system, something I’m starting to get a little tired of in modern RPGs, but it didn’t seem to be too overwhelming during my session. I was able to craft health kits, along with other tools and ammunition which are useful during play. These items require several collectable resources to craft, but it felt like they were in abundance as I kept on playing.
Lore aficionados will feel right at home here
With such a lore-rich universe like Exodus’, instead of dropping a load of different lore bombs onto you all at once, you’re able to scan different parts of the environment, whether that’s planets, objects, or people, to gain a bit more insight into the world itself. It’s like having a personal encyclopedia which you can reference when you need to, and is a lot more interesting than consulting a database or being fed information in an unskippable cutscene.
What shouldn’t be understated though is that Exodus is actually quite funny. It might be easy to write off the dialogue as being quite serious without any sign of levity, but there were a few scenarios my squad were thrown in where it made sense for characters to crack jokes or make light of the situation.
And once we reached the prisoner that we needed to rescue, it’s revealed that he is actually a giant toad, which led to a humorous exchange in which he pondered that “wearing clothes must be weird”.
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Just like Mass Effect, different exchanges you have with the various characters and factions across the game will have you making choices. These choices can be simple dialogue variations, or can be more severe decisions which have larger stakes and lasting consequences. As you make these decisions, characters in your squad will also have their own opinions, which can alter their perception of Jun and may affect their relationship with them across the entire game.
For sci-fi fans, Exodus should scratch that itch that was left in the wake of Mass Effect, System Shock, and Dead Space which have not seen new entries in years. However, for those who also enjoy RPGs with stronger character interactions like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, you’ll also feel right at home based on what I’ve seen so far.
Exodus will release on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S on April 7, 2027.
Topics: Mass Effect, Preview, Features