GamesRPGMatthew McConaughey is dropping daily Exodus trailers like some kind of deep space David Attenborough, and they have 100% convinced me to pay attention to this gameWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

GamesRPGMatthew McConaughey is dropping daily Exodus trailers like some kind of deep space David Attenborough, and they have 100% convinced me to pay attention to this gameWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: Archetype Entertainment)

Awakened Bears in Exodus - image of two bears wearing futuristic headsets

Exodus didn’t really do much for me when it wasannouncedat the 2023 Game Awards: Cinematics are a dime a dozen, and the little bit of gameplay in the second part of the reveal trailer looked like something out of a very conventional Mass Effect knockoff. “Kinda neat,” as compatriot Harvey Randall put it, “but nothing to write home about.”

Two weeks later, Archetype and McConaughey appear to be in full infodump mode, dropping four new trailers over the past four days, each a sort of David Attenborough-esque examination of the creatures that inhabit the Exodus universe.

The Awakened Bear:

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YouTube

YouTube

YouTube

The Arkavir:

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YouTube

YouTube

YouTube

The Awakened Raven:

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YouTube

YouTube

YouTube

The Koven:

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YouTube

YouTube

YouTube

I think the back-and-forth between Awakened—animals genetically engineered to be stronger, smarter, or otherwise more useful—and the creations of the post-human Celestials is interesting. Maybe I’m reading too much into it but I feel like the juxtaposition is intentional: Is our subjugation of more primitive life forms really any different from the cruelties of the Celestials? Or is it simply that, even across many millennia of evolution, the essential callousness and selfishness of human nature will endure? No matter what we become, is this who we really are?

I don’t know—I really don’t know what’s going on here at all, except that McConaughey’s slow, gravelly narration may have lulled me into a state of meandering contemplation that inevitably ends with me spending 20 minutes looking at my hand. He has that effect on people.

More seriously, I suddenly find myself very curious about whatever it is that Exodus has cooking. The gameplay in that 2023 reveal trailer didn’t impress me much—if I want Mass Effect, I’ll play Mass Effect—but the setting looks genuinely interesting, and McConaughey is really selling it as a guy who hasseen some shit.

Whether all of that will come together in a game that lives up to the hype I am now affording it will depend largely on how much time is spent crouching behind cover and figuring out the optimal dialog path to get into your shipmate’s bed, and the pessimist in me definitely has some concerns on that front. For now, though, I like what I see, and I’m eager to keep up with what happens next.

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

There’s no release target for Exodus at this point, but if you want to get the lay of the land there’s a mountain of guides and lore to dive into atexodusgame.com.

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