While Game director of sci-fi RPG Exodus, Chris King, had previously spoken about how inspired the studio was by games like Mass Effect, narrative director Drew Karpyshyn has noted that there is an unfulfilled appetite for games like BioWare’s opus. In an interview with GamesRadar, the former Mass Effect writer spoke about how studio Archetype Entertainment is full of fans of those kinds of games, and how expectations are generally quite high for Exodus.
“We know there’s a hunger out there,” said Karpyshyn. “We’re fans as well. We know the kind of games we like, and we know the audience is waiting for the next big one of these to drop, and that gives us a huge opportunity to fill that need. But it’s an unbelievable amount of pressure, because their expectations are rightfully very high, and we’re working very hard to make sure we meet those expectations.”
“It’s an incredible opportunity,” he continued. “And we just have a very high bar we have to deliver on. That’s one of the reasons making games is so hard, because the bar keeps getting elevated by all the great games that came before. You need to take it to another level.”
King also chimed in with his thoughts about the modern state of gaming, noting that he has been quite bored in the current landscape aside from a few exceptions. Pointing to Blue Prince, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Ghost of Yōtei as examples, he spoke about being on the hunt for “fresh, crazy, new experiences”.
“As a gamer, more so than as a game developer, I find over the years I’ve gotten a little bored,” explained King. “Some of the franchises I used to play constantly have sort of bailed out. Thinking back on the games I’ve played [last] year, like Blue Prince, Clair Obscur, Ghost of Yōtei, I’m looking for fresh, crazy, new experiences. And I’m hoping that other people are looking for the same thing. We think we have a really interesting take on a sci-fi, open-world, space opera RPG. So that’s my hope, that people give us a chance and check something out that I think is interesting and different from what they played before.”
King had spoken about Mass Effect and Guerrilla Games’ Horizon series serving as major inspirations for the upcoming Exodus, pointing to aspects like the former’s space opera trappings and choices that carry over between games, and the latter’s combat system.
“Obviously one that comes up all the time is Mass Effect,” said King back in October. “We obviously share some DNA. The epic space opera, the mega choices that carry over from game to game. Combat, we have a lot of stuff come up. Mass Effect, Horizon is probably another one we’ve drawn some inspiration from.”
Archetype Entertainment co-founder and general manager Chad Robertson referred to the Horizon games’ combat systems revolving around making “decisions based on the construction of the things that you’re fighting.” This means that players have to “be smart about the tools that you use against it,” he explained. “There’s some cool things that we think we’ve pulled in from that.”
Exodus is being developed for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, and is slated for a 2027 launch.
