Archetype's Exodus: An Exploration for the Hardcore Futurism Fanatic.

For a distinct breed of science-fiction enthusiast, the unveiling of Exodus stood as the most significant news from a prestigious gaming awards ceremony. It's worth noting, those very fans may not have grasped its full importance during the initial showcase.

Exodus, the first project from a freshly formed studio staffed with former talent from a famous RPG developer, was first teased a couple of years prior. At the latest event, the development team provided an projected release window of 2027, accompanied by a action-packed trailer. Before this reveal, the studio's leadership elaborated on some of the real scientific theories that serve as the basis for the game's universe: relativistic time effects, genetic alteration, and interstellar colonization. These are all appropriately complex ideas, which are notoriously difficult to communicate in a brief, showy trailer.

“I would have preferred some of those intriguing and novel ideas were featured in the trailer. My takeaway was ‘generic man in space,’” wrote one viewer. Another replied, “My impression was ‘this is like a well-known space opera RPG at home.’” Feedback in online forums were equally mixed.

The trailer's focus certainly is logical from a marketing perspective. When trying to make an impact during a marathon deluge of game announcements, what has broader appeal: Scientists contemplating the complexities of relativity? Or giant robots combusting while other mechs fire lasers from their faces? However, in prioritizing loud action, the developers failed to include the quieter elements that make Exodus one of the more promising hard sci-fi games on the horizon. Let's delve deeper.

The Question of Humanity

Does Exodus contain aliens? Perhaps. It depends. Consider that image near the opening of the trailer, featuring a humanoid with gray-blue skin and cybernetic components merged into their flesh. That was definitely an alien, right? In the end hinges on your stance regarding one of the game's central existential inquiries: If you applied incremental change philosophy to the human genome, is what remains still human?

“We want the Celestials... for a player who isn't spend considerable amounts of time into absorbing the backstory, to still comprehend the fundamental idea that they're transhuman descendants, understand that they’re an antagonist you have to confront... But also, importantly, make sure it's engaging and that they're impressive and that they are satisfying to encounter,” explained the studio's head.

Understanding how these alien-seeming beings aren't strictly aliens requires grappling with vast expanses of both the cosmos and time. Time dilation — the Einsteinian theory that time moves differently for rapidly traveling objects — is an operative scientific basis of Exodus’ narrative setting. Here are the essentials: Humanity evacuates a dying Earth in the 23rd century for a distant corner of the Milky Way. Due to time dilation, some human voyagers arrive centuries before others. Those pioneers heavily modified their genetic sequences and took on the “Celestial” name.

“There’s various stages of evolution. The people who reached the Centauri cluster first... had many thousands of years of evolution into the Celestials... They really see baseline humans as essentially backwards, lesser, not really suitable for the upper echelons of society,” stated the game's story head.

Exodus is set about 40,000 years in the future. Reflect on that scale — that's essentially all of our documented past repeated ten times over. Now think about what humans would become if they spent ten entire human histories mastering the boundaries of genetic manipulation. You would not possibly identify the result as human. You might even believe you're looking at an alien. The most fearsome strain of Celestial, known as the Mara-Yama, can assume multiple forms. Some possess talons and claws and stand nine feet tall. Others are protected in armored plating. According to expanded universe lore, when Mara-Yama travel between stars, their physical forms can break down into little more than a collection of organs attached to a head.

Building a Sci-Fi Canon

Amidst the pyrotechnics, lasers, and war beasts, you might have glimpsed snippets of advanced technology in the trailer. The protagonist, Jun Aslan, operates a metallic machine that produces a etherial glow. A spaceship flies into a portal and is gone at incredible speed. This all seems outside human comprehension, the kind of tech linked to a highly advanced civilization. Yet, these are further examples of elements that seem alien but are ultimately derived in mankind's own ascension.

Beyond the core development team, the Exodus canon is being authored by what the narrative lead called a duo of “renowned authors.” One acclaimed author has already published a massive novel set in the universe, with another planned, while another prolific writer has written a series of short stories. Bringing such legendary science-fiction writers into the fold years before the game's release has enabled the studio to develop a layered fictional universe as a backdrop for the game.

“It was really a joint venture. We had set some parameters, and working with him, he would have ideas... and we would work to see how they all integrated... With someone so talented, you don't want to handcuff him. You want to give him creative freedom,” the narrative director said of the collaboration.

One notable scene shows Jun seemingly mold the ground beneath him, creating stone into a temporary bridge. This material, called livestone, reacts to mental impulses from Celestials or augmented enforcers — descendants of later human arrivals who were allowed limited technologies by the Celestials. Since Jun shows this ability, speculation arises about his nature.

“Jun's not technically a Uranic human... Jun is sort of a unique version, for want of a better term,” clarified the writer, noting that the ability to interact with Celestial technology is a “central mechanic of the game.”

The sheer scale of the Exodus setting — both in physical space and the timeline — means there is ample room for various stories to coexist, using the same established rules without risking contradiction.

Stories Within the Void

Although Exodus has been on the radar for a couple of years and won't arrive, several stories have already been told within its universe. The first major novel examines the connection between a Uranic human and a woman whose ship arrived tens of thousands later than planned, making Celestials totally alien to her experience. An episode of a streaming show tells a poignant story about a father pursuing his daughter across star systems, with time dilation causing profound effects on their family; by the time he finds her, she has lived many years.

The game itself is centered on “Jun’s story,” set on the planet Lidon — a world mostly abdicated by Celestials that has become a bastion. A corrupting influence known as “the Rot” has begun eating away at everything, including critical life support systems, and Jun must master his Celestial-like powers to {find a solution|stop