Exodus: The Ultimate Guide for the Hardcore Science Fiction Enthusiast.
For a distinct breed of science-fiction enthusiast, the announcement of Exodus stood as the most impactful news from a major gaming awards ceremony. It's worth noting, those very fans could have missed grasped its full importance during the initial showcase.
Exodus, the inaugural game from a recently established studio filled with veteran talent from a renowned RPG developer, was first teased a couple of years prior. At the latest event, the development team provided an early release window of 2027, accompanied by a spectacle-filled trailer. Prior to this reveal, the studio's leadership detailed some of the authentic scientific theories that underpin for the game's universe: relativistic time effects, biological engineering, and interstellar colonization. These are all inherently dense ideas, which are notoriously difficult to communicate in a brief, cinematic trailer.
“I would have preferred some of those innovative and novel ideas were shown in the trailer. My takeaway was ‘stereotypical man in space,’” wrote one observer. Another replied, “The vibe I got was ‘this is like a well-known space opera RPG at home.’” Responses in online forums were correspondingly varied.
The trailer's strategy certainly is logical from a commercial standpoint. When striving to stand out during a hours-long barrage of game announcements, what sells better: A group debating the intricacies of relativity? Or giant robots blowing up while other giant robots shoot lasers from their visors? However, in opting for loud action, the developers omitted to include the subtler details that make Exodus one of the more exciting hard sci-fi games in development. Let's break it down.
The Celestial Conundrum
Does Exodus contain aliens? Perhaps. That's complicated. Consider that shot near the opening of the trailer, featuring a being with ashen skin and metal components merged into their flesh. That was surely an alien, correct? The truth hinges on your interpretation regarding one of the game's core existential inquiries: If you applied gradual replacement philosophy to the human biology, is what is left still a human being?
“We want the Celestials... for a player who isn't dedicate large amounts of time into learning the backstory, to still comprehend the basic premise that they're transhuman descendants, understand that they’re an antagonist you have to confront... But also, importantly, make sure it's fun and that they're cool and that they play well to challenge,” explained the studio's lead executive.
Grasping how these non-human beings aren't by definition aliens requires grappling with immense expanses of both the galaxy and time. Time dilation — the Einsteinian theory that time moves slower for faster-moving objects — is an fundamental scientific basis of Exodus’ science-fiction trappings. Here are the essentials: Humanity evacuates a dying Earth in the 23rd century for a far-off corner of the Milky Way. Due to time dilation, some human colonists arrive centuries before others. Those early arrivals heavily modified their genetic sequences and took on the “Celestial” name.
“There’s various stages of evolution. The people who got to the Centauri cluster first... had tens of thousands of years of evolution into the Celestials... They really see baseline humans as essentially unevolved, inferior, not really fit for the upper echelons of society,” stated the game's narrative director.
Exodus is set about 40,000 years in the future. Consider that timeframe — that's effectively all of our documented past multiplied ten times over. Now imagine what humans would look like if they spent ten entire human histories advancing the frontiers of biotech. You would not possibly identify the result as human. You might certainly believe you're seeing an alien. The most fearsome branch of Celestial, known as the Mara-Yama, can assume multiple forms. Some possess talons and claws and stand nine feet tall. Others are covered in chitinous shells. According to companion lore, when Mara-Yama travel between stars, their physical forms can atrophy into little more than a mass of tissue attached to a head.
A Universe of Ideas
Amidst the pyrotechnics, lasers, and war beasts, you might have noticed snippets of seemingly magical technology in the trailer. The protagonist, Jun Aslan, operates a shiny machine that radiates a violet glow. A spaceship flies into a portal and is gone at relativistic velocity. This all seems beyond human understanding, the kind of tech ascribed to a highly advanced civilization. Yet, these are further examples of wonders that look alien but are deeply rooted 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 “literary legends.” One bestselling author has already published a lengthy novel set in the universe, with another planned, while another esteemed writer has contributed a series of short stories. Bringing such established science-fiction minds into the fold years before the game's release has permitted the studio to develop a rich fictional universe as a backdrop for the game.
“It was really a partnership. We had set some parameters, and working with him, he would have ideas... and we would work to see how they all meshed... With someone of that caliber, you don't want to constrain him. You want to give him room to explore,” the narrative director said of the collaboration.
One key scene shows Jun seemingly shape the ground beneath him, fashioning stone into a instant bridge. This material, called livestone, responds to mental impulses from Celestials or augmented enforcers — descendants of later human arrivals who were allowed specific technologies by the Celestials. Since Jun shows this ability, questions are raised about his origins.
“Jun's not specifically a Uranic human... Jun is sort of a hacked version, for want of a better term,” clarified the writer, stating 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 temporal scope — means there is ample room for diverse stories to coexist, using the same core lore without causing interference.
A Broad Narrative Canvas
Although Exodus has been publicly known for a couple of years and isn't releasing, several stories have already told within its universe. The first major novel explores the connection between a Uranic human and a woman whose ship arrived an aeon later than planned, making Celestials totally alien to her experience. An episode of a streaming show tells a tragic story about a father pursuing his daughter across star systems, with time dilation resulting in life-altering effects on their family; by the time he finds her, she has experienced a lifetime.
The game itself is centered on “Jun’s story,” set on the planet Lidon — a world largely abdicated by Celestials that has become a bastion. A technological virus known as “the Rot” has begun corroding everything, including vital life support systems, and Jun must use his unusual powers to {find a solution|stop