Now that we're roughly one year away from the planned launch of EXODUS, the Mass Effect-inspired sci-fi action RPG in development at Archetype Entertainment, the developers are starting to share more about the game. Speaking with Gamesradar, Narrative Director Drew Karpyshyn (who wrote the first three Mass Effect games while at BioWare) stressed that side content in EXODUS will always feel tied to the companions and the game's overarching themes, rather than being tacked on as in some roleplaying games.
We don't want things to feel tacked-on. We definitely don't want you to feel like you're doing it because you're obligated, or you just need the experience points. We want side quests to be something you would do even if you weren't getting a reward. You're going to get rewards of course, but we want you to feel like 'this is something I'm interested in, this is something I want to explore'. Side content should always feel "tied to the themes of our game, tied to the companions you have, tied into the interesting aspects of our game that maybe don't get explored as much on the critical path.
In the Gamesradar interview, Karpyshyn also noted that EXODUS focuses on only a small portion of the overall lore the team has had to build for the science fiction franchise (which already has a published book, The Archimedes Engine, an upcoming book, The Helium Sea, and a Traveler's Handbook tabletop RPG).
You take a couple of core themes that you want to explore, and then you have to gauge reaction of the rest of the team and people as they experience the IP. We can't add everything into one game. The game would be thousands of hours, which sounds great in theory, but isn't realistic.
This bodes well for potential future installments, although Archetype Entertainment will have to ensure the first entry lands well before Wizards of the Coast provides the green light to make new titles.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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