We recently got another look at Exodus, a sci-fi RPG made by former BioWare developers. 20 minutes of new gameplay footage was shown at the Future Game Show, giving us a look at everything from combat to conversation.
However, there is one feature worth honoring, as it will sound very familiar to Mass Effect veterans. In today's preview ahead of the showcase, the devs went into more detail on the Traveler's Oath system. This is part of character creation, and players choose the type of alignment their character will follow. Sort of like the Renegade and Paragon system in Mass Effect, you don't choose it from the start.
Exodus divides morality into two different “oaths” you can follow: Paladin and Immortal
During the preview, the devs gave us some details on how Traveler's Oaths will work. There are two paths, Paladin and Immortal, and they dictate how your version of the player character, Aslan, conducts himself – whether the ends justify the means, and what the ends look like to them. Since your mission is to find technology that can save your planet, part of the Traveler's Oath is how you use that technology.
“Oaths are a general vision of how you deal with your leadership, your power, your power, how you feel about celestial technology, and what people should ultimately evolve into,” says Exodus lead author Drew Karpisin. “It has a huge impact on the story and your friends.”
Like Mass Effect before it, you'll influence your Paladin and Immortal scores through the decisions you make in the story, or how you talk to people – whether you scare them or persuade them. However, it also bleeds into combat, as the skills you pick up in the skill tree will grant you paladin and immortal points. In that regard, it reminds me a bit of KOTOR, and how you had light side, dark side, and universal abilities.
Since you choose your oath in the character creator, I asked if it locks you into a particular path early. The devs tell me this is not the case.
“So, moment by moment, we want you to be able to react to the situation,” Karpisin continues. “Sometimes that means some players are going to say, hey, I want to react in this particular way in this moment, but other characters are going to say, I want to embrace a philosophy, I want to embrace an archetype, and down that road.”
Game director Chris King doubled down on this, saying that they don't want to railroad players down any specific routes too soon. “One of the things we've tried to do with these systems is let you immerse yourself in it a little bit, so you're not penalized, and you can get a feel for it,” he says. “Especially in the case of the morality system, though, you get to choose in the character creator at the beginning, but you can hop around. You're not committed to it, you're not punished if you want to go in a different direction.”
With that being said, you get rewards for going in one direction and sticking to it, which is how Mass Effect worked too. There will be some rewards for each decision as they come, at least, which we didn't get with Mass Effect. I'm sure many of us are haunted by memories of not achieving the optimal outcome in a situation because we didn't commit to either side.
Exodus is set to launch in 2027.
- developer(s)
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Archetype entertainment
- publisher(s)
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Wizards of the Coast
