EXODUS Side Content Will Stay Companion Driven and Theme Aligned, Says Ex BioWare Writer Drew Karpyshyn
Archetype Entertainment is starting to lift the curtain further on EXODUS, its Mass Effect inspired sci fi action RPG, as the game moves closer to its planned launch window roughly 1 year from now. In a new interview with GamesRadar, Narrative Director Drew Karpyshyn, best known for his work on the first 3 Mass Effect games during his BioWare era, laid out a clear design philosophy that should resonate with story first RPG players: side content in EXODUS is being built to feel essential to the game’s companions and central themes, not like disposable checklist padding.
Karpyshyn’s framing is direct. The team does not want players to feel like side quests exist only because the game needs more content, more experience points, or more hours on the playtime counter. The objective is the opposite: make optional content compelling enough that you would still want to do it even if rewards did not exist, because it deepens your relationship with your companions and explores meaningful angles of the world that the main critical path cannot always cover. That is a very specific promise in a genre where side activities can sometimes feel like generic errands, disconnected from the emotional core of the narrative.
The bigger context here is that EXODUS is not being positioned as a one off game, but as the first step into a broader universe. The interview reinforces that the setting already has a meaningful lore foundation, and that Archetype is intentionally choosing scope discipline for the first entry. Karpyshyn notes the team cannot put everything into one game, even if the idea of thousands of hours sounds great in theory, because shipping a focused RPG requires hard decisions about what themes and story beats make the cut.
What makes that approach more credible is that the IP is already expanding through multiple formats. EXODUS has a published novel, The Archimedes Engine, an upcoming novel, The Helium Sea, and a Traveler’s Handbook tabletop RPG, which together signal that the universe is being built with long term leverage in mind. A tightly scoped first game that prioritizes companion connected side content is also a smart way to build player attachment, because attachment is what turns a new IP into a franchise.
From a player experience perspective, this design stance also has a practical upside. When side content is thematically aligned, it tends to avoid the fatigue loop that hits even the best open world and hub based RPGs, where optional tasks start feeling repetitive. If EXODUS can consistently connect optional missions to character arcs and the game’s philosophical stakes, it can deliver the sort of replay friendly narrative density that RPG fans associate with the best of the genre, especially when player choice is a key pillar.
The big test will be execution. Promising that every side activity feels intentional is easy to say and hard to ship at scale. But if Archetype delivers on this, EXODUS could land in a strong position as a story driven sci fi RPG that respects player time while still rewarding exploration and curiosity.
In RPGs, do you prefer fewer side quests with heavier companion story value, or a larger volume of optional content even if some of it is more lightweight?
