Exodus is attempting to accomplish something completely new
James Ohlen is no stranger to intriguing RPG worlds, having worked for developer BioWare for over two decades on titles ranging from Baldur’s Gate to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. He’s now working at an entirely new studio, Archetype Entertainment, to create “the best possible science fiction universe,” but the team’s first game, Exodus, “isn’t trying to compete with Starfield.”
“Oh, we’re a different kind of game than [Starfield],” According to GamesRadar+, Ohlen says when asked about similarities. Exodus, on the other hand, is “more similar” to previous games developed by the team, which includes former Halo, Last Of Us, and Mass Effect developers.
“Which means we still want to create this horizon where you feel you can go where you want to,” Ohlen continues, “but at the same time, we want to have a story that’s cohesive, with characters that you can love or hate, and with arcs that are compelling.”
This sounds a lot leaner and smaller than Starfield with its insane number of planets, but perhaps it will result in a more focused experience.
“It’s all a balance,” Ohlen says of universe size and narrative ambitions. “If you look at the kinds of games we’ve made in the past, you can probably guess at where the balance is going to be. But I don’t think we’re trying to compete against Starfield.”
Exodus may be following in the footsteps of Mass Effect, but this new “unique” universe aims to stand out. “We wanted to make sure that it was the best possible science fiction universe we could build,” Ohlen continues, nodding to his newfound freedom “to make decisions both creatively and in building the studio and the people we work with.”
Wizards of the Coast, the owners of Dungeons & Dragons, is Exodus’ publisher, and Ohlen says the company has allowed them to do things we’ve always wanted to do, but often couldn’t, [and] now we’ve been given that opportunity.”