It seems like the developers at Archetype Entertainment either have the devil’s own timing or they’ve decided to take advantage of the news that BioWare is no more. Earlier this week the studio, founded by ex-BioWare devs, released a 40-minute gameplay video of Exodus, a third person sci-fi action shooter, and all I can say is damn. If you’re hurt by the fact that Mass Effect 5 has been dumpstered because of corporate malfeasance, you’re gonna want to take a look at this.
In Exodus, you play as Jun Aslan, the heir of a Traveller dynasty—leaders who shepherded humanity through the galaxy to find new homes amongst the stars after the ecological collapse of Earth. The gameplay video features a mission in which Jun and his team work to liberate an orbital platform’s caretakers—a sentient species of frogs known as the Kay—from an evil faction of humans. In addition to aliens, the galaxies of Exodus are home to oversized sentient animals known as the Awakened who live and work alongside humans. In fact, one of the game’s companions is an octopus piloting a mech which is absolutely giving “You all wanted a Hanar companion in Mass Effect so here you go” vibes.
The 40 minutes of Exodus gameplay ooze with similar little touches (and some really big ones) that seem meant to evoke Mass Effect. Within the video’s opening moments, you’re treated to an excellent space vista where they put a frickin’ mass relay right in your face. It’s the orbital platform you’re meant to liberate, but look at that thing and tell me it’s not the same structure we saw shooting the Normandy into the farthest reaches of space. It’s about as subtle as a brick to the face.
Other less-than-subtle references in Exodus include the game’s entire combat presentation, from enemies, to health bars, right down to your companion UI. You can issue commands to your companions or change Jun’s weapons via a familiar-looking combat wheel. Enemies display their health bars with Mass Effect‘s same color semiotics—red for health, yellow for armor, and blue for shields—and you and your team have different abilities meant to tackle the different kinds of protection. Is this a case of game UI evolving to its most convenient and understandable form? Yes. Is watching it like wrapping yourself in the game UI equivalent of a weighted blanket? Also yes.
©Archetype GamesAnd of course, no Mass Effect-like would be complete without little UI pips letting you know when you’ve done something your crew has thoughts about. Throughout the mission, Jun can make decisions that influence the disposition of his team. The demo is also kind enough to show both sides of a dialogue choice, with one ending in a gnarly bullet to the head for a potential enemy. At the end of the gameplay video Jun is faced with a much more significant choice that’ll determine the fate of an entire species. One choice will make your companion Suliman and his benefactors happy, the other won’t. You need Suliman’s help to acquire parts to upgrade your ship so making him happy is ideal. But just like in Mass Effect, no matter which choice you pick, some aspects of the outcome remain the same.
Whether it was planned or not, it’s good that the devs at Archetype Entertainment shared this with us now. Rather than spending money on billboards or time organizing change.org petitions, I think it’s a better use of our energy to support the new things ex-BioWare devs are working on. The things we loved about those games were made by people, and while the studio is no more, those people are still out there making things very much like the things we loved in the past.
