Today, Archetype Entertainment has published a new cinematic trailer for its upcoming debut game, the sci-fi RPG EXODUS. The trailer is narrated by famous actor Matthew McConaughey, who appeared on the stage of The Game Awards 2023 when the game was first announced.
McConaughey introduces one of the most ominous enemies players will find in the game, the Celestials humans call Mara-Yama:
Do you know what fear is? The Mara-Yama do. They thrive on it. These monstrous Celestials haunt the darkest corners of the cluster, hunting for isolated targets. Unfortunately for their victims, the Mara-Yama are interested in more than just stealing cargo. They want minds, memories, emotions. The more twisted and tortured, the better. Captured prey will be subjected to intense psychological torment before being neurologically drained. Those rare few who the Mara-Yama allow to survive and escape often never return to space, for they know too well the terror that lurks out there, in the dark, between the stars.
We also learn the name of McConaughey’s character in EXODUS: C.C. Orlev. According to the press release, he’s a rather infamous citizen of Centauri, an outsider who knows many secrets and may be willing to share them, although his true motivations remain unclear.
EXODUS takes place in a sci-fi setting where humanity left a dying Earth in the 23rd century, looking to resettle in the Centauri cluster, where hundreds of habitable worlds had been found through probes and long-range scans. While some of the ark ships did reach the cluster and set up a beacon signal, many others were lost in space for a long time. By the time they finally found their way to Centauri, tens of thousands of years had passed for the original settlers, who had, by that point, evolved into a wholly different species (with the help of genetic engineering) called Celestials. The Celestials have come to see humans as primitives, and some of them, like the Mara-Yama, hunt humanity outright.
The only ones to effectively fight back are the Travelers. These brave explorers journey across the stars, unearthing ancient technologies on extinct Celestial civilizations in the hope of using them in the war. However, Travelers are subject to the so-called Time Dilation during their interstellar journeys. Since their spaceships run at the edge of lightspeed, mere hours or days for them can equate to years or even decades for those left behind.
With each journey in EXODUS, players will be confronted not only by the dangers across the inhospitable Centauri cluster but also by the emotional toll of your absence on those you love. Each choice made during those travels will be magnified by the inescapable reality of Time Dilation, and the cost and consequences may be paid by your entire civilization and the friends and family you left behind.
It’s an intriguing concept that sits at the foundation of the extensive lore created by accomplished writer Drew Karpyshyn (known mostly for the original Mass Effect trilogy). Archetype Entertainment, owned by Wizards of the Coast, was founded in early 2020 by fellow Karpyshyn colleague James Ohlen, a 20-year BioWare veteran who worked on Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect.
EXODUS has no release date yet, but you can start exploring its sci-fi IP with the newly released book Exodus: The Archimedes Engine, written by Peter F. Hamilton.
