Exodus: The Ultimate Guide for the Dedicated Science Fiction Enthusiast.

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

Exodus, the inaugural game from a recently established studio populated with ex- talent from a famous RPG developer, was first teased a couple of years prior. At the latest event, the development team provided an targeted release window of 2027, accompanied by a fast-paced trailer. Prior to this showcase, the studio's leadership detailed some of the real scientific theories that serve as the basis for the game's universe: time dilation, biological engineering, and galactic expansion. These are all suitably complex ideas, which are notoriously tough to convey in a brief, showy trailer.

“I would have preferred some of those innovative and new ideas were highlighted in the trailer. All I saw was ‘standard man in space,’” wrote one commenter. Another quipped, “My impression was ‘this is like a well-known space opera RPG at home.’” Feedback in community spaces were similarly mixed.

The trailer's focus certainly is logical from a business angle. When trying to capture attention during a hours-long onslaught of game announcements, what has broader appeal: A group debating the complexities of theoretical science? Or massive robots exploding while more giant robots fire lasers from their visors? However, in prioritizing visual bombast, the developers failed to include the quieter details that make Exodus one of the more intriguing concept-driven games coming soon. Let's explore further.

The Question of Humanity

Does Exodus feature aliens? Yes. That's complicated. Look at that scene near the beginning of the trailer, featuring a humanoid with gray-blue skin and technological components merged into their form. That was certainly an alien, correct? Ultimately hinges on your interpretation regarding one of the game's major thematic dilemmas: If you applied Ship of Theseus philosophy to the human genome, is what results still human?

“We want the Celestials... for a player not intending to spend significant amounts of time into learning the IP, to still comprehend the core concept that they're advanced humans, recognize that they’re an antagonist you have to deal with... But also, at the end of the day, make sure it's enjoyable and that they're impressive and that they are satisfying to challenge,” explained the studio's lead executive.

Comprehending how these non-human beings aren't by definition aliens requires understanding immense expanses of both space and time. Time dilation — the Einsteinian theory that time moves slower for high-velocity objects — is an operative core tenet of Exodus’ science-fiction trappings. 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 colonists arrive centuries before others. Those early arrivals extensively engineered their genetic sequences and assumed the “Celestial” moniker.

“There’s various stages of evolution. The people who arrived at the Centauri cluster first... had tens of thousands of years of evolution into the Celestials... They really see standard humans as sort of 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. Consider that timeframe — that's the equivalent of all of our documented past repeated ten times over. Now contemplate what humans would evolve into if they spent ten entire human histories mastering the frontiers of biotech. You would not possibly identify the result as human. You might very well believe you're observing an alien. The most vicious lineage of Celestial, known as the Mara-Yama, can assume multiple forms. Some possess talons and claws and stand enormously tall. Others are covered in exoskeletons. According to supplementary lore, when Mara-Yama travel between stars, their physical forms can atrophy into little more than a collection of organs attached to a head.

Building a Sci-Fi Canon

Amidst the detonations, beam attacks, and battle bears, you might have caught snippets of otherworldly technology in the trailer. The protagonist, Jun Aslan, interacts with a shiny machine that radiates a violet glow. A spaceship accelerates into a portal and disappears at relativistic velocity. This all seems beyond human achievement, the kind of tech ascribed to a Kardashev Scale-topping civilization. Yet, these are further examples of concepts that look alien but are deeply rooted in humanity's own ascension.

Beyond the core development team, the Exodus canon is being expanded by what the narrative lead called a duo of “renowned authors.” One celebrated author has already published a lengthy novel set in the universe, with another planned, while another prolific writer has penned a series of short stories. Incorporating such legendary science-fiction minds into the fold years before the game's release has allowed the studio to develop a rich fictional universe as a backdrop for the game.

“It was really a joint venture. We had set some basics, 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 latitude,” the narrative director said of the collaboration.

One interesting scene shows Jun seemingly manipulate the ground beneath him, creating stone into a makeshift bridge. This material, called livestone, reacts to brainwaves from Celestials or a specific human subclass — descendants of later human arrivals who were given limited technologies by the Celestials. Since Jun exhibits this ability, questions are raised 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, stating that the ability to interact with Celestial technology is a “key part of the game.”

The sheer scale of the Exodus setting — both in the galaxy and temporal scope — means there is plenty of room for various stories to exist, using the same universe without creating contradiction.

A Broad Narrative Canvas

Although Exodus has been in development for a couple of years and won't arrive, several stories have already begun to be told within its universe. The first major novel examines 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 sci-fi anthology depicts a tragic story about a father pursuing his daughter across star systems, with time dilation imparting 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 primarily left by Celestials that has become a refuge. A corrupting influence known as “the Rot” has begun destroying everything, including vital life support systems, and Jun must use his unusual powers to {find a solution|stop