Exodus on PS5 Could Be the Mass Effect Replacement I've Been Waiting For

Up until I went hands-on with Exodus at Gamescom, I thought it looked fine.

Another sci-fi RPG trying to capture the magic of the Mass Effect series, citing the experience of former BioWare, Naughty Dog, and EA developers — and somehow, Matthew McConaughey is also involved.

However, after about an hour playing the game on PC, I walked away feeling like a fool for ever having written it off. It's still got a lot to prove, but this could be the Mass Effect replacement I've been waiting for.

The game is much more polished and immersive than I ever expected, but the biggest surprise was the fun factor. Across its visuals, world, and combat, I experienced an entertaining and frankly enchanting sci-fi world that's bumped its way up my PS5 watchlist.

You play as Jun, a scrappy lad turned Traveller who, along with his crew, takes to the stars to save his home planet. There’s some wild sci-fi shenanigans going on with time dilation, but for now, I’m tasked with infiltrating Khonsu, an enormous orbital space platform above the planet of Lidon, with the goal of saving a sentient species of frog called the Kay.

Scale is definitely on developer Archetype Entertainment's mind. Exodus features some high-quality cinematics, with some gorgeous shots that showcase the enormity of the vessel I’m about to board.

In fact, the whole game is a looker, somehow managing to capture a sci-fi book cover aesthetic. I spend a moment watching my ship disappear into the stars, with the vast planet of Lidon taking up most of my horizon.

Entering the vessel, Jun and his companions, Suliman and Elise, are immediately attacked by enemies called Ghosts. Sliding behind a handy barricade, Exodus quickly showcases its smooth cover-based system, along with weapons that have a nice punch to them.

I can instantly see those Mass Effect comparisons, as I fire from a selection of weapons, accompanied by not just my own abilities, but abilities I can call upon from my squad. I command Elise, in her large mech-suit, to fire her knockdown missiles, which take out the last of the Ghosts.

Jun’s abilities are good fun, enabled by Celestial tech on his left arm called Orion’s Gauntlet – and I’m sure I’m not the first person who thought of Commander Shepard’s Omni-Blade.

During combat, I can send a rift towards enemies, which deals massive damage and stuns them, but during exploration, I also use the gauntlet to clear blocked pathways and even raise platforms to reach new ledges.

This mission on Khonsu is fairly linear, but there are hidden pathways that are home to loot boxes filled with things like grenades or materials used for crafting.

Crafting doesn’t feel like a huge need in this mission outside of healing supplies, but you can pummel through ammo at a dangerous rate.

Eventually I come across a Zealot that’s injured and bleeding out. He claims he’s not committed to the Lieutenant that we’re hunting down, and if we give him some healing supplies, he’ll head back home. My companion Suliman argues that we can’t waste the supplies, and I’m faced with my first choice: leave the Zealot to die, or save him.

I choose to save him, a choice that depletes my relationship with Suliman. Annoyingly, I'm not going to see the consequences in this demo — maybe there aren't any — but it poses an interesting moral dilemma that I hope to see more of in the full game.

Then we find our first rescue target, a boisterous young Kay who listens to rock music. It’s the first time I’ve seen the more humorous side to Exodus, which I’m in two minds about.

Part of it does play into this out-there sci-fi world that’s being set up – we’re talking about the game that has a sentient octopus as one of its main characters. But it also teeters on the brink of being whimsical for the sake of it. I need to see more to really judge it.

I then take a quick detour to the outside of the ship into a micro-gravity environment, which kicked off my favourite moment of the demo. Not only does this section look incredible, as your ship lights up the passage, with floating debris cast all around, but it sounds incredible.

There’s a dynamic, dreamlike score that plays a little motif each time I grapple up to a new ledge or use an ability, and my weapons now take on a new, muted sound.

It’s hard to encapsulate what it was about this section of the game that won me over, but it just feels magical. It’s here that I feel that wondrous enchantment that I felt all those years ago playing the Mass Effect series.

Returning inside, I have one last foe to take down: an armoured bear by the name of Captain Irina Bruin. This fight is where the combat clicks for me. I’m sliding around, utilising my rechargeable abilities and my allies’, while cycling through various weapons to take on the bear. I even punch the bear in the face. It’s good stuff.

That wraps up my demo with the game, and as I pack up, I’m really struck by how much it all impressed me.

Combat is usually the first thing to falter in games like this, at least for me, so it was nice to actually have fun with it. It’s not the best third-person combat out there, for sure, but it manages to take squad, ability, and cover-based systems to create something fun, exciting, and thrilling.

My big takeaway, though, is how much the story is at the forefront, and with that, there’s still so much I want to see. I was surprised by the whimsical, silly side of its universe. The writing had its wobbles for me despite brilliant voice acting, but I want to know more about how it all gels together.

I still feel like I only saw a small, contained portion of the wider story at play in Exodus, but so far, I enjoyed the expansive and enchanting world it has created and those brilliant moments of sci-fi magic it captures. There is some serious potential with this one.

What do you think of Exodus? Are you planning to pick it up when it launches on PS5 on April 7th, 2027? Engage your gravity boots and let me know in the comments.