Exodus, the upcoming science-fiction RPG from Archetype Entertainment and Wizards of the Coast, has clear Mass Effect DNA. Archetype was founded by former BioWare developers, and its ambitious space adventure combines shooter action, a large-scale narrative and companion relationships.
Romance is returning as part of that formula, but Exodus is changing how players access its relationship options. Romanceable characters will not be restricted by the gender of Jun Aslan, the player character.
Romance choices are not gender-locked
In an interview with IGN, narrative director Drew Karpyshyn said that players will drive the romances and that they are not gender-locked. Whether Jun is played as male or female, every available relationship can be pursued.
That differs from the approach used across much of the Mass Effect series. Male Commander Shepard could not pursue same-sex relationships until Mass Effect 3, while some companions remained tied to particular pairings. Ashley Williams was available only to male Shepards, and Kaidan Alenko became a bisexual romance option in the third game.
Mass Effect: Andromeda continued to give certain characters specific restrictions. Engineer Gil Brodie, for example, could only be pursued by male Ryder, with his identity as a gay man forming part of his story.
A more open system with consequences
Role-playing games have taken different approaches to romance. Some give companions defined identities and preferences, while others use a “playersexual” model in which every romance option is available to the protagonist. Dragon Age: The Veilguard used the latter approach, while also establishing that its party members were pansexual rather than simply changing their preferences for the player.
Exodus will make all romance options available, but that does not mean relationships will be simple. Karpyshyn said the game will allow players to pursue more than one character, with the outcome depending on the people involved and the decisions made along the way.
“There’s no situation where a character is going to romance you if you didn’t take the initiative.”
The narrative team also intends to explore the complications of overlapping relationships. Trying to woo several characters could work, or it could damage one relationship while the player is pursuing another.
Those relationships will also respond to decisions made outside the romance system, making personal connections another consequence of the player’s wider choices. It is a structure designed to keep romance connected to the broader story rather than treating it as a separate sequence of optional scenes.
What to expect from the intimate scenes
Exodus will include sex scenes. Director Chris King has described them as more “reserved” than the explicit encounters found in Baldur’s Gate 3 or Cyberpunk 2077.
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Exodus is scheduled to launch on April 7. For players who have been waiting for another story-driven space RPG with companion romance, its gender-open system and potentially messy relationship consequences offer a notable variation on the familiar formula.
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