Exodus: An Exploration for the Dedicated Science Fiction Enthusiast.

For a particular breed of science-fiction enthusiast, the unveiling of Exodus stood as the most significant news from a recent gaming awards ceremony. Curiously, those very fans could have missed grasped its full importance during the initial showcase.

Exodus, the debut title from a freshly formed studio populated with veteran talent from a renowned RPG developer, was originally teased a couple of years prior. At the latest event, the development team provided an projected release window of 2027, accompanied by a spectacle-filled trailer. Prior to this reveal, the studio's leadership discussed some of the authentic scientific ideas that form the foundation for the game's universe: relativistic time effects, biological engineering, and interstellar colonization. These are all inherently complex ideas, which are notoriously challenging to convey in a brief, marketing-driven trailer.

“I wish some of those innovative and new ideas were shown in the trailer. My takeaway was ‘stereotypical man in space,’” wrote one viewer. Another quipped, “All I got was ‘this is like a well-known space opera RPG at home.’” Feedback in online forums were similarly mixed.

The trailer's approach certainly is understandable from a commercial angle. When attempting to capture attention during a lengthy deluge of game announcements, what sells better: A team discussing the complexities of Einsteinian physics? Or giant robots blowing up while other giant robots fire lasers from their armor? However, in prioritizing visual bombast, the developers omitted to include the subtler details that make Exodus one of the more intriguing concept-driven games in development. Let's explore further.

The Question of Humanity

Does Exodus contain aliens? No. The answer is nuanced. Look at that image near the beginning of the trailer, showing a humanoid with gray-blue skin and technological components fused into their body. That was surely an alien, correct? Ultimately hinges on your perspective regarding one of the game's core philosophical questions: If you applied gradual replacement reasoning to the human biology, is what results still human?

“We want the Celestials... for a player who isn't invest considerable amounts of time into absorbing the IP, to still understand the core concept that they're transhuman descendants, understand that they’re an opposing force you have to deal with... But also, at the end of the day, make sure it's engaging and that they're compelling and that they are satisfying to encounter,” explained the studio's lead executive.

Understanding how these alien-seeming beings aren't technically aliens requires wrestling with immense expanses of both the galaxy and temporal progression. Time dilation — the Einsteinian theory that time moves differently for rapidly traveling objects — is an key hard line of Exodus’ narrative setting. Here are the essentials: Humanity evacuates a depleted Earth in the 23rd century for a distant corner of the Milky Way. Due to time dilation, some human voyagers arrive ages before others. Those pioneers radically altered their DNA and took on the “Celestial” moniker.

“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 primitive, inferior, not really fit for the dominant positions of society,” stated the game's story head.

Exodus is set approximately 40,000 years in the future. Consider that timeframe — that's the equivalent of all of our documented past multiplied ten times over. Now contemplate what humans would evolve into if they spent ten entire human histories mastering the frontiers of biological science. You would not possibly perceive the result as human. You might even believe you're seeing an alien. The most fearsome lineage of Celestial, known as the Mara-Yama, can assume various forms. Some possess sharp teeth and blades and stand nine feet 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.

Building a Sci-Fi Canon

Amidst the explosions, beam attacks, and war beasts, you might have glimpsed snippets of advanced technology in the trailer. The protagonist, Jun Aslan, interacts with a metallic machine that emanates a etherial glow. A spaceship jets into a portal and is gone at incredible speed. This all seems beyond human understanding, the kind of tech attributed to a highly advanced civilization. Yet, these are further examples of wonders that seem alien but are ultimately derived in our species' 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 celebrated author has already published a lengthy novel set in the universe, with another planned, while another prolific writer has written a series of short stories. Incorporating such respected science-fiction writers into the world years before the game's release has allowed the studio to develop a layered fictional universe as a backdrop for the game.

“It was really a collaborative effort. We had set some parameters, and working with him, he would have ideas... and we would work to see how they all fit together... With someone as established, you don't want to constrain him. You want to give him creative freedom,” the narrative director said of the collaboration.

One key scene shows Jun appearing to mold the ground beneath him, creating stone into a instant bridge. This material, called livestone, is controlled by neural commands from Celestials or a specific human subclass — descendants of later human arrivals who were given specific technologies by the Celestials. Since Jun exhibits this ability, questions are raised about his nature.

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

The vast scale of the Exodus setting — both in the galaxy and the timeline — means there is ample room for various stories to coexist, using the same universe without causing overlap.

Tales of Time and Loss

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 explores the connection between a Uranic human and a woman whose ship arrived many millennia later than planned, making Celestials totally alien to her experience. An episode of a streaming show recounts a tragic 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 decades.

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