Exodus: Going Palms-on With This Wild Interactive Area Opera

As I assist free a speaking frog the dimensions of a small automobile – who additionally occurs to be an engineer – from imprisonment, I discover myself pondering, “Exodus is a lot… weirder than I expected.”

Simply the style of this sport had me excited – it is a true throwback to choice-based action-RPGs of the previous; full of morality techniques, crunchy, synergistic skills, mouthy companions and weighty fight. But it’s what I didn’t go in ready to play that leaves me most intrigued – there’s a critical, galactic-scale, hard-sci storyline right here, however it’s prepared to go full ’70s cosmic freakout amid all that.

Exodus presents a universe with celestial powers, science-indistinguishable-from-magic places and, sure, extremely developed, speaking animals. It was across the time that considered one of my companions was screaming “There’s still time to negotiate!” into the face of a charging war-bear (who we’d upset by killing her human good friend) that I spotted, regardless of drawing on a longtime style, fairly how totally different Exodus is aiming to be.

At gamescom 2026, I performed a mission set a number of hours into the sport – the sport’s hero, Jun units off on a rescue mission to avoid wasting an area station (manned by hyper-intelligent frogs) from an invading pressure, alongside two of the sport’s companions. Suliman is a reserved, barely spiky particular person, and Elise is a much more happy-go-lucky mercenary who tends to her fight duties in a combat-ready exosuit.

It’s an action-heavy slice of the sport, and what struck me first was the load and optionality of fight. Jun’s main weapon is definitely many weapons in a single – the Recycler can shift kind into something from a burst-fire battle rifle to a shield-annihilating power weapon, with the frequent thread being that it feels good to fireplace. This style isn’t notably recognized for its responsive gunplay, however the opening skirmishes – a decent combine of canopy taking pictures and flashy capability use – had been sufficient to persuade me that this was something however an afterthought on this sport.

But past that, Jun also can use crafted or scavenge gadgets like hovering, drone-like grenades, in addition to an array of Celestial powers that act like cooldown timer spells in fight – letting me ship eruptions of power beneath enemy toes from the opposite facet of the sector, or petrify enemies for my companions to take care of.

And talking of these companions, Elise and Suliman additionally gave me a style of how your chosen staff can basically alter the way you select to play. While your squad will combat autonomously, every comes with skills that may be simply accessed and unleashed mid-fight, in addition to “ultimate”-like assaults that may shift the course of a battle.

Suliman errs in the direction of stealth, with the power to section behind enemies and take them down with melee, or to take down a number of enemies in a single assault. Elise, alternatively, is way extra noticeable, firing rocket salvos that may do large space of impact injury.

It’s clear that these two companions have been chosen to supply a way of how one can tailor your squad to your wants. While each had been helpful in any given scenario, I discovered myself reflexively reaching for Suliman’s skills earlier than a full-scale combat broke out, letting me skinny the ranks, and Elise throughout fights that had gotten out of hand, letting me retreat and take a breather. With the variety of companions we all know are going to be on this sport, it’s clear that there’s as a lot a tactical motive to deliver somebody alongside as there may be the traditional “I want to be their friend!” component so acquainted from the likes of Mass Effect.

Another shift from the anticipated is that this sport’s tackle morality – different video games within the style had already moved away from “good or evil” into one thing could be higher termed as “individualist vs. egalitarian”, however Exodus goes even additional in the direction of letting you outline the precise sort of persona you need Jun to have. Traveler Oaths subdivide the often binary alternative – right here known as Paladin and Immortal – into much more honed takes in your character’s persona. Adding much more complexity, your companions will react in another way to totally different Oaths, which means you’ll have to go some option to hold them onside whereas ploughing your personal chosen path.

Everything from the above has clearly been chosen to deepen the action-adventure RPG style – fight is extra numerous and choice-oriented, companions are extra specialised, morality is extra wealthy and sophisticated. And surrounding all that is that sense that if we will take a near-FTL journey to avoid wasting a bunch of frogs, something might occur – it could be coming in a well-known bundle, however Exodus is promising one thing actually new.

Exodus arrives for XBOX Series X|S and XBOX on PC on April 7, 2027. Play it on each console and PC at no further value with XBOX Play Anywhere.