A space ship flying through a beautiful but menacing nebula. Cosmic horrors that feast on dreams and memories. That’s our latest look at Exodus, the sci-fi action RPG helmed by two ex-BioWare devs starring Matthew McConaughey, and it could very well be the most alluring and exciting this game is.
Exodus was revealed at last year’s Game Awards and the studio behind it, Archetype Entertainment, is building up to a proper gameplay reveal via additional cinematic trailers and Q&As with the studio founders, James Ohlen (Dragon Age: Origins) and Chad Robertson (Anthem). Maybe it’s all leading up to another big trailer at the next Game Awards this December. In the meantime we have 90 seconds of McConaughey reprising his energy from True Detective season 1 to describe the game’s main villains, The Mara Yama.
“Do you know what fear is?” the Interstellar astronaut asks. “The Mara Yama do. They thrive on it. These monstrous celestials haunt the darkest corners of the cluster hunting for isolated targets, and, unfortunately for their victims, the Mara Yama are interested in stealing more than just cargo. They want minds. Memories. Emotions. The more twisted and tortured, the better.”
Exodus, which is promising to let players engage with the consequences of their actions between the past and future through a unique time dilation mechanic, might end up being the next Mass Effect or Destiny. Or it could be another interesting but flawed AAA experiment from a new studio still finding its footing amid a grim video game industry landscape. Either way, I’m willing to bet that it never feels as full of violent, weird, and imaginative possibility as it does in this trailer.
Real games, the ones that survive a brutal series of trade-offs, compromises, and unexpected pitfalls to come out the other end a finished product on a store shelf or download queue, are almost never as good as the versions of them we dream up while we’re waiting for them to arrive. I don’t expect it to be any different with Exodus, which is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, but still doesn’t have any kind of release window. At least we’ll always have this incredible teaser.
