Exodus has been relentlessly compared to Mass Effect since the moment it was revealed, and it’s not hard to see why. After all, Archetype Entertainment’s upcoming sci-fi RPG is being made by a team with deep BioWare roots, its story follows a customizable hero traveling across dangerous corners of space with a crew of companions, and its premise involves ancient alien technology, humanity’s survival, and major choices that can change the world and the events that occur within it. Add Matthew McConaughey as the mysterious C.C. Orlev and some time dilation mechanics, and Exodus even becomes the ultimate video game homage to Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. Now, during the Future Games Show, Exodus has finally moved beyond the broad idea of what it is with an extended gameplay reveal that gave players the clearest look yet at its combat, companions, choices, and overall RPG structure.
Ahead of that public showing, GameRant was able to get a sneak peek at the gameplay reveal during a showcase briefing with Archetype Entertainment and Wizards of the Coast. The reveal follows Jun Aslan, a customizable Traveler with a mysterious genetic connection to ancient Celestial technology, as he moves from a salvage mission with companions like Elise Charroux and Tom Vargas to a dangerous expedition on the planet Psang with Phaedra and Salt. Across the footage, Exodus brings its combat tools, companion dynamics, moral choices, time dilation, and dying home world into unprecedented focus, giving the game’s followers 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 has shown before now, it has still been a little difficult to picture what actually playing it would feel like. The premise has always been clear enough, with Jun Aslan leaving his dying home world behind to search dangerous planets, derelict ships, and ancient ruins for anything that might help humanity survive. However, a premise can only carry a game so far, especially one that is clearly trying to be a choice-driven RPG, a squad-based action game, and a big sci-fi story all at once.
But Exodus‘ Future Games Show gameplay reveal makes a big difference. In the past, the game has shown some exceedingly brief highlight reels, but nothing nearly as extensive as this. Here, Jun is shown preparing for missions, choosing who to bring along with him, heading into dangerous territory, dealing with enemies using a mix of gadgets and abilities, making choices under pressure, and then returning to Persepolis, where those decisions really start showing how much they matter. It’s a familiar enough RPG structure, but the reveal helps show how Exodus is putting its own spin on it.
Exodus’ Extended Gameplay Reveal Shows Off Companions, Choices, and Combat
Early on, Jun heads into a salvage mission with Elise and Tom, and the two Exodus companions almost immediately show their true colors. Elise is impatient, aggressive, and clearly more comfortable solving problems with force, while Tom has more experience and a stronger moral compass. That difference comes through before the mission even gets moving, but it becomes more important once Jun reaches a control room and has to decide whether to vent an airlock full of mercenaries. Elise sees it as the fastest way through a dangerous situation, while Tom points out that there could be dockworkers and maintenance crew inside.
That’s the kind of choice Exodus seems especially interested in, though it’s likely not every single decision players make in the game will have them questioning their moral integrity. It gives the companions an active role in the choice system as well, since 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 combat has been shown before, but the extended reveal spends far more time letting an encounter play out. During the Fire Eaters sequence, Jun receives a recycler upgrade from C.C. Orlev and uses it to thin out enemies before the rest of the room is alerted. He then uses a scramble cloak to get closer without being seen, with Elise and Tom ready to push in if the situation falls apart. The footage eventually escalates into heavier resistance, including an armored turret that Jun handles with a thruster grenade, but the value of this longer look is in how it presents the encounter from setup to escalation. Players have already seen pieces of Exodus‘ combat, sure, but this reveal gives a better sense of how stealth, upgrades, companion backup, and heavier threats all come together inside a single fight.
After returning to Persepolis in the reveal, Jun meets Phaedra Nath, a scientist and technician whose interest in the Rot is deeply personal. Her grandfather, Elijah Nath, was a legendary Traveler who disappeared decades earlier while investigating it, and the reveal follows Jun, Phaedra, and Salt to Psang in search of whatever he may have found. That mission quickly opens up Exodus beyond its hub and salvage setup, moving through a volatile planet, Celestial ruins, strange enemies, and a new gauntlet ability called Glance that lets Jun destroy bramble created by the Rot. By the time Elijah is revealed to still be alive, the mission has already tied Phaedra’s family history, Leiden’s possible extinction, Jun’s inherited connection to Celestial technology, and Exodus‘ larger mystery together.
Exodus’ Time Dilation Makes Its Choices Cost More
In a lot of modern RPGs, returning to a hub after a mission can feel like hitting a reset point. Players leave, complete whatever objective they might have, and come back to see what has changed because of what they did. Exodus‘ time dilation mechanic, however, complicates that by making the act of leaving costly on its own. Jun may return with new information, a new ability, or even a possible answer to Lydon’s extinction, but home isn’t waiting in place for him. People keep aging, problems keep growing, and whatever choices he makes in the cluster may already be settling into the world by the time he gets back.
Elijah Nath, is probably the best current example of what time dilation can do to someone in Exodus. He left Lydon decades earlier to investigate the Rot, and when Jun finds him alive on Psang, he is no longer just a missing grandfather or a legendary Traveler but someone who has spent years with a secret that may be tied to Lydon’s survival, and by the time Phaedra reaches him, whatever he discovered has clearly changed him. This is a concept that fans of Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar have already seen play out in a deeply emotional way, but experiencing it on the sticks could potentially produce an even deeper response.
Of course, the full game still has to prove how much time dilation will actually change. It needs to affect what Jun comes home to, who is still there when he returns, and how the world responds to choices made years earlier from Lydon’s perspective. After this extended gameplay reveal, though, it’s clear that Exodus‘ time dilation mechanics will make choices cost more. Jun is risking his life every time he leaves, and he may be giving up time he can never get back.
- Released
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2027
- Developer(s)
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Archetype Entertainment
- Publisher(s)
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Wizards of the Coast
- Number of Players
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Single-player
- Steam Deck Compatibility
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Unknown
