It’s been a while since we’ve seen much from Wizards of the Coast and Archetype Entertainment’s Exodusthe upcoming sci-fi role-playing game from former BioWare developers. Sure, the studio has been dropping lore and concept art since the reveal Exodus during last year’s The Game Awards, but a new trailer for the game released Wednesday provides a much-needed reminder of Archetype’s upcoming project.
Archetype’s latest reveal for Exodus is timed to Spooky Season – and so is suitably terrifying. The game’s new cinematic trailer introduces the Mara-Yama, an alien menace that travels in fleshy ships and ruthlessly pursues and overwhelms its victims. Think of Star Trek as the Borg, but instead of traveling through space in black cubes, Exodus‘ ruthless predator species move around in ships that use grotesque limbs, like a physical tractor beam.
According to a moody story, courtesy of actor Matthew McConaughey (Interstellar), ‘the Mara-Yama feed on fear, revel in cruelty, and delight in the pain of their prey. They are not just hunters; they are sadistic predators who enjoy every moment of psychological torment they inflict.” The name Mara-Yama is a reference to the gods Mara and Yama, representations of death and the underworld in the Dharmic religions.
While these cosmic horrors may not be appealing, they have piqued my interest Exodus. I’m working on the thing about the coldness and cruelty of space demons that McConaughey is quivering about here.
Apparently we’ll be hearing a lot more from McConaughey; he plays a character named CC Orlev Exodus. The developer describes him as a “self-appointed spokesperson”. Exodusand an infamous character in the game’s fiction.
Exodus has no release date. The game is currently being developed for PlayStation 5, Windows PC and Xbox Series X and is just the beginning of a new universe, according to executive creative director James Ohlen.
Archetype’s debut title is part of a billion dollars invested in internal game development at parent company Hasbro. In addition to Archetype Entertainment, Hasbro has Atomic Arcade, which is working on a GI Joe game starring Snake Eyes; Invoke Studios, which is developing a Dungeons & Dragons game; and Skeleton Key, which is working on “something creepy.”