Developer Archetype Entertainment has revealed details about one of the alien species that players will get to meet in sci-fi game Exodus. Dubbed Arkavir, the species was detailed in a post on the studio’s official blog.
According to the post, the Arkavir were designed in-universe as the primary workforce for the Celestials to be able to properly run things in the Centauri Cluster while also being able to handle harsh and hostile environments.
Biongineered Changelings, the Arkavir can survive in environments that would prove hostile to other species, and are able to withstand things like flesh-melting acid rain, intense heat, and unfathomable cold. since they’re Changelings, their physical form can also be altered to make them more suited to specific tasks.
“To most, the Arkavir remain a mystery,” wrote the studio. “Are they to be feared? Pitied? Few Travelers have seen them up close, and fewer still without the buffer of heavy protective gear. Towering and powerful, their forms vary with their environment – biochemistry, size, and structure all molded by the brutal worlds that shape them. But despite their differences, there’s no mistaking them for anything else.”
Going by the description of the Arkavir, the species will likely be an antagonist force that players will have to take on. The studio describes the Arkavir as being created especially to outlast humans, while also talking about the spirit of the Travelers that “fight to outlast what was created to outlast us.”
In a Q&A earlier this year, creative director James Ohlen and executive producer Chad Robertson spoke about Exodus, revealing that the nature of the game’s narrative will mean that players will have to deal with long-term consequences for their relationships.
One of the examples of this provided by Ohlen was the player not meeting characters for several decades, and how meeting them again after that will have changed them quite a bit.
“Not everyone has to come on an Exodus with you,” he explained. “You might leave some behind, and when you come back, it could be a decade later, it could be four decades later, and those choices will have impacted your relationships with people that are now a decade older or three or four decades older.”
Robertson spoke about the primary antagonists of Exodus – the Mara Yama. According to him, the Mara Yama are going to be a strange and creepy force throughout the game. The decision to make them creepy came about because the studio wanted the game’s primary enemies to be an evil civilization that was also strange and creepy.
Exodus was originally unveiled back in 2023. The game, under development for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, will have its narrative handled by sci-fi writer Drew Karpysyhn. Archetype Entertainment’s parent company Hasbro also recently revealed that Exodus will be released some time in 2026.
For more details about what kind of gameplay you can expect from Exodus, check out the gameplay trailer that was released back in December. Also check out the creepiness of the Mara-Yama in a cinematic trailer from back in October.
