Exodus: The Ultimate Guide for the Dedicated Sci-Fi Aficionado.

For a particular breed of science-fiction enthusiast, the announcement of Exodus stood as the biggest moment from a major gaming awards ceremony. Interestingly, those very fans might not have grasped its full importance during the initial showcase.

Exodus, the debut title from a recently established studio populated with veteran 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 fast-paced trailer. Ahead of this reveal, the studio's leadership detailed some of the grounded scientific theories that serve as the basis for the game's universe: relativistic time effects, genetic alteration, and interstellar colonization. These are all appropriately dense ideas, which are particularly challenging to communicate in a brief, cinematic trailer.

“It's a shame some of those fascinating and fresh ideas were highlighted in the trailer. All I saw was ‘generic man in space,’” wrote one commenter. Another replied, “All I got was ‘this is like a well-known space opera RPG at home.’” Reactions in fan hubs were similarly varied.

The trailer's approach certainly makes sense from a marketing angle. When trying to stand out during a lengthy barrage of game announcements, what is more marketable: A group contemplating the intricacies of relativity? Or massive robots combusting while more giant robots emit energy beams from their faces? However, in opting for spectacle, the developers omitted to include the more nuanced details that make Exodus one of the more intriguing hard sci-fi games coming soon. Let's break it down.

The Celestial Conundrum

Does Exodus feature aliens? No. It depends. Consider that shot near the beginning of the trailer, showing a being with metallic skin and metal components fused into their body. That was definitely an alien, correct? Ultimately hinges on your perspective regarding one of the game's central philosophical questions: If you applied gradual replacement logic to the human DNA, is what results still human?

“We want the Celestials... for a player who isn't spend considerable amounts of time into absorbing the lore, to still grasp the core concept that they're transhuman descendants, understand that they’re an antagonist you have to confront... But also, ultimately, make sure it's engaging and that they're cool and that they play well to fight against,” explained the studio's lead executive.

Comprehending how these alien-seeming beings aren't technically aliens requires wrestling with vast expanses of both space and history. Time dilation — the scientific principle that time moves at a reduced rate for faster-moving objects — is an key scientific basis of Exodus’ fictional framework. Here are the basics: Humanity evacuates a depleted Earth in the 23rd century for a remote corner of the Milky Way. Due to time dilation, some human voyagers arrive centuries before others. Those firstcomers radically altered their genetic sequences and adopted the “Celestial” title.

“There’s different levels 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 standard humans as essentially unevolved, lesser, not really suitable for the dominant positions of society,” stated the game's lead writer.

Exodus is set approximately 40,000 years in the future. Ponder that immensity — that's the equivalent of all of recorded human history multiplied ten times over. Now contemplate what humans would evolve into if they spent ten entire human histories pushing the frontiers of biotech. You would never recognize the end product as human. You might certainly believe you're seeing an alien. The scariest branch of Celestial, known as the Mara-Yama, can adopt multiple forms. Some possess sharp teeth and claws and stand towering tall. Others are encased in exoskeletons. 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.

Technology and Lore

Amidst the detonations, lasers, and battle bears, you might have noticed snippets of otherworldly technology in the trailer. The protagonist, Jun Aslan, operates a metallic machine that emanates a purple glow. A spaceship flies into a portal and disappears at relativistic velocity. This all seems past human achievement, the kind of tech linked to a highly advanced civilization. Yet, these are further examples of wonders that look alien but are firmly grounded in mankind's own journey.

Beyond the core development team, the Exodus lore is being authored by what the narrative lead called a duo of “literary legends.” One acclaimed author has already published a massive novel set in the universe, with another planned, while another award-winning writer has contributed a series of short stories. Bringing such legendary science-fiction writers into the world years before the game's release has allowed the studio to develop a layered fictional universe as a framework for the game.

“It was really a collaborative effort. We had set some basics, and working with him, he would have ideas... and we would work to see how they all meshed... With someone so talented, you don't want to limit him. You want to give him latitude,” the narrative director said of the collaboration.

One notable scene shows Jun appearing to manipulate the ground beneath him, forming stone into a instant bridge. This material, called livestone, reacts to brainwaves from Celestials or a specific human subclass — descendants of later human arrivals who were given specific technologies by the Celestials. Since Jun demonstrates this ability, questions are raised about his nature.

“Jun's not exactly a Uranic human... Jun is sort of a hacked version, for want of a better term,” clarified the writer, stating that the ability to use Celestial technology is a “key part of the game.”

The immense scale of the Exodus setting — both in distance and historical time — means there is plenty of room for multiple stories to be told, drawing from the same core lore without creating overlap.

Stories Within the Void

Although Exodus has been publicly known for a couple of years and is still distant, several stories have already begun to be told within its universe. The first major novel delves into 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 sci-fi anthology tells a heartbreaking story about a father pursuing his daughter across star systems, with time dilation resulting in devastating effects on their family; by the time he finds her, she has experienced many years.

The game itself is centered on “Jun’s story,” set on the planet Lidon — a world primarily left by Celestials that has become a refuge. A consuming plague known as “the Rot” has begun eating away at everything, including essential life support systems, and Jun must use his unusual powers to {find a solution|stop