Exodus: The Ultimate Guide for the Dedicated Futurism Fanatic.

For a distinct breed of science-fiction enthusiast, the revelation of Exodus stood as the biggest reveal from a major gaming awards ceremony. It's worth noting, those very fans may not have grasped its full significance during the initial showcase.

Exodus, the inaugural game from a new studio populated with veteran talent from a famous RPG developer, was first announced 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 reveal, the studio's leadership discussed some of the real scientific ideas that underpin for the game's universe: time dilation, biological engineering, and galactic expansion. These are all appropriately dense ideas, which are notoriously challenging to communicate in a brief, cinematic trailer.

“I wish some of those innovative and fresh ideas were highlighted in the trailer. What I perceived was ‘standard man in space,’” wrote one observer. Another responded, “The vibe I got was ‘this is like a well-known space opera RPG at home.’” Feedback in fan hubs were equally divided.

The trailer's focus clearly is logical from a marketing angle. When trying to capture attention during a marathon deluge of game announcements, what sells better: Scientists contemplating the intricacies of Einsteinian physics? Or giant robots blowing up while additional giant robots fire energy beams from their armor? However, in choosing spectacle, the developers neglected to include the subtler details that make Exodus one of the more promising concept-driven games on the horizon. Let's delve deeper.

Evolved or Alien?

Does Exodus contain aliens? No. It depends. Recall that image near the opening of the trailer, depicting a bipedal figure with ashen skin and cybernetic components fused into their flesh. That was certainly an alien, yes? In the end hinges on your stance regarding one of the game's central existential inquiries: If you applied incremental change logic to the human biology, is what results still human?

“We want the Celestials... for a player not intending to spend significant amounts of time into learning the lore, to still comprehend the fundamental idea that they're evolved humans, recognize that they’re an foe you have to confront... But also, at the end of the day, make sure it's fun and that they're cool and that they function effectively to challenge,” explained the studio's head.

Understanding how these non-human beings aren't strictly aliens requires understanding vast expanses of both the cosmos and history. Time dilation — the scientific principle that time moves slower for faster-moving objects — is an operative scientific basis of Exodus’ narrative setting. Here are the fundamentals: Humanity evacuates a dying Earth in the 23rd century for a remote corner of the Milky Way. Due to time dilation, some human colonists arrive millennia before others. Those pioneers radically altered their biology and assumed the “Celestial” title.

“There’s multiple tiers of evolution. The people who got to the Centauri cluster first... had many thousands of years of evolution into the Celestials... They really see baseline humans as sort of unevolved, lesser, not really suitable for the upper echelons of society,” stated the game's lead writer.

Exodus is set about 40,000 years in the future. Ponder that timeframe — that's effectively all of human civilization repeated ten times over. Now contemplate what humans would evolve into if they spent ten entire human histories advancing the boundaries of genetic manipulation. You would not possibly recognize the result as human. You might certainly believe you're observing an alien. The scariest strain of Celestial, known as the Mara-Yama, can adopt diverse forms. Some possess talons and appendages and stand towering tall. Others are covered in chitinous shells. According to supplementary 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, energy weapons, and war beasts, you might have caught snippets of otherworldly technology in the trailer. The protagonist, Jun Aslan, interacts with a shiny machine that emanates a violet glow. A spaceship accelerates into a portal and disappears at near-light speed. This all seems outside human understanding, the kind of tech linked to a Type 3 civilization. Yet, these are further examples of elements that appear alien but are firmly grounded in our species' own ascension.

Beyond the core development team, the Exodus universe is being expanded by what the narrative lead called a duo of “sci-fi giants.” One acclaimed author has already published a massive novel set in the universe, with another planned, while another award-winning writer has penned a series of short stories. Incorporating such established science-fiction minds into the fold years before the game's release has enabled the studio to develop a layered 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 limit him. You want to give him creative freedom,” the narrative director said of the collaboration.

One key scene shows Jun seemingly mold the ground beneath him, forming stone into a temporary bridge. This material, called livestone, is controlled by neural commands from Celestials or Uranic humans — descendants of later human arrivals who were given certain technologies by the Celestials. Since Jun demonstrates this ability, one might wonder about his status.

“Jun's not exactly a Uranic human... Jun is sort of a modified version, for want of a better term,” clarified the writer, adding that the ability to use Celestial technology is a “central mechanic of the game.”

The vast scale of the Exodus setting — both in the galaxy and historical time — means there is abundant room for multiple stories to coexist, using the same core lore without creating interference.

Tales of Time and Loss

Although Exodus has been publicly known for a couple of years and won't arrive, several stories have already been 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 utterly alien to her experience. An episode of a streaming show depicts a tragic story about a father pursuing his daughter across star systems, with time dilation causing devastating effects on their family; by the time he finds her, she has aged decades.

The game itself is centered on “Jun’s story,” set on the planet Lidon — a world mostly left by Celestials that has become a human stronghold. A consuming plague 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