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 made by a team with deep BioWare roots, its story follows an adaptable hero traveling across dangerous corners of space with a crew of companions, and its premise involves ancient alien technology, human survival, and big choices that can change the world and the events that occur within it. Add Matthew McConaughey as the mysterious CC 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 expanded gameplay concept that gave players the clearest insight yet into its combat, companions, choices, and overall RPG structure.
Ahead of the public preview, GameRant was able to get a sneak peek at the gameplay 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 on the planet Psang with Phaedra and Salt. Across the film, Exodus brings its combat tools, companion dynamics, moral choices, time dilation and dying homeworld into unprecedented focus, giving both the game's followers and RPG fans 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, it was still a bit difficult to imagine what it would actually feel like to play. The premise has always been clear enough, with Jun Aslan leaving his dying homeworld behind 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 clearly tries 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 incredibly short highlights, but nothing nearly as extensive as this. Here, Jun is shown preparing for missions, choosing who to bring with him, venturing into dangerous territory, dealing with enemies with a mix of gadgets and abilities, making choices 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 puts his own spin on it.
Exodus' expanded gameplay showcases companions, choices, and combat
Early on, Jun embarks on a rescue mission with Elise and Tom, and the two of them Exodus companions show their true colors almost immediately. Elise is impatient, aggressive and clearly more comfortable solving problems with violence, while Tom has more experience and a stronger moral compass. That difference comes through before the mission even gets into motion, but it becomes more important when Jun reaches a control room and must decide whether to ventilate an airlock full of mercenaries. Elise sees it as the fastest way through a dangerous situation, while Tom points out that there may be dock workers and maintenance personnel inside.
It's that kind of choice Exodus seems particularly interested in, although it's likely that not every single decision players make in the game will cause them to question their moral integrity. It gives the companions an active role in the selection system as well, as Elise and Tom are both present in the pressure of the moment, each revealing something different about what kind of Traveler Jun might become.
Exodus battle has been shown before, but the extended reveal spends much more time letting an encounter play out. During the Fire Eaters sequence, Jun receives a recovery upgrade from CC 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 to heavier resistance, including an armored turret that Jun deals with a prop grenade, but the value of this longer look is in how it presents the encounter from setup to escalation. Players have already seen bits of Exodus' combat, sure, but this reveal gives a better sense of how stealth, upgrades, companion backup, and heavier threats come together in a single fight.
After returning to Persepolis in the reveal, 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 earlier while investigating, and the revelation follows Jun, Phaedra, and Salt to Psang in search of whatever he may have found. That quest opens up quickly Exodus beyond its hub and rescue scheme, moving through a volatile planet, celestial ruins, strange enemies and a new gauntlet ability called Glance that allows Jun to destroy towers created by the rot. When Elijah is revealed to still be alive, the mission has already tied in Phaedra's family history, Leiden's possible extinction, Jun's inherited connection to Celestial technology, and Exodus' greater mystery together.
Exodus' time dilation makes its choice cost more
In many modern RPGs, returning to a hub after a mission can feel like reaching a reset point. Players leave, complete whatever objective they have, and come back to see what has changed because of what they did. Exodus' time dilation mechanic, however, complicates it 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 for him. People continue to age, problems continue to grow, and whatever choices he makes in the cluster may already be establishing themselves in the world when he returns.
Elijah Nath, is probably the best current example of what time dilation can do to someone i Exodus. He left Lydon decades earlier to investigate the rot, and when Jun finds him alive on Psang, he's 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, everything he's 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 can potentially produce an even deeper response.
Of course, the full game still needs to prove how much time dilation will actually change. It must affect what Jun comes home to, who is still there when he returns, and how the world reacts to choices made years earlier from Lydon's perspective. However, after this extended gameplay reveal, it is clear that Exodus' time dilation mechanics will make elections cost more. Jun risks his life every time he walks, and he may be giving up time he can never get back.
- Released
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2027
- Developer
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Archetype Entertainment
- Publisher
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Wizards of the Coast
- Number of players
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Single player
- Compatibility with Steam Deck
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Unknown
