Time gets weird when you move fast enough. Imagine reaching a new planet only to learn that your children back on earth have died of old age. There’s a reason most sci-fi stories use warp drives and wormholes to cheat their way around the FTL problem. The side effects are more than most plots can handle. It’s rare for a game to tackle time dilation, but that’s what Exodus plans to do. Archetype Entertainment‘s upcoming RPG may look like Starfield and Mass Effect, but it’s attempting to do something neither of those giants did. Here’s how Exodus‘s use of time dilation shapes the game.
In Exodus, humans sent ark ships on a journey to the stars, hoping that through colonization the species might endure despite the death of earth. Though humanity’s plan succeeded, it also created its own worst enemy: the Celestials. These beings were once human, but have been warped beyond recognition by the relentless passage of time. Distance + Speed + Time = terrifying alien monsters is an equation for dramatic sci-fi stories, but few blockbuster games have attempted anything like Exodus. If it manages to use time dilation the way Archetype intends, we’re in for something special.
The developer has stressed the importance of time dilation and choices in Exodus‘s gameplay, but it’s unclear what that will look like. Still, new info does offer a tantalizing hint. To combat the Celestials, humanity has harnessed the power of the Silicates, using this symbiotic lifeform to transform into Daemons. Pro: turn into a living weapon and borderline superhero capable of taking on your time-dilated enemies. Con: wrestle with the intrusive, violent thoughts that threaten to eclipse your mind as the Daemon state takes hold. From both a worldbuilding and gameplay perspective, it’s enticing.
For worldbuilding and gameplay, time dilation points Exodus in a promising direction. Starfield played with timelines and consequences in its innovative New Game Plus, but it never drilled into anything deep, either in theme or gameplay mechanics. As for Mass Effect, the implications of time dilation are such a giant problem that it devoted a huge part of its lore (mass effect fields themselves) to sidestepping the issue. I’m not arguing that Exodus will surpass these games, simply that it has an opportunity to do something that neither Starfield nor Mass Effect attempted.
How many video games have made brilliant use of time? Chrono Trigger, Majora’s Mask, and The Older Wilds come to mind. When I think of Exodus, however, I think of Ocarina of Time. Link’s abrupt coming-of-age (and Hyrule changing beyond recognition in an instant) feels similar to me. How much control will players have over the consequences of time dilation? Can Archetype integrate the Silicates in a fun way? Exodus has left the big questions for now. Still, the prospect of a new game pushing the sci-fi envelope should have gamers priming their jump drives for release day.
Exodus will be available for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S at a date TBA.
