Not Since Mass Effect Has A Sci-Fi RPG’s Choices Broken My Heart Like Exodus

When I traveled to Archetype Entertainment's headquarters in Austin, Texas last month to preview the studio's debut title, a sci-fi RPG called Exodus, I had no idea what I was in for, although I did have an inkling that the game may not be quite to my taste. Prior to letting us get our hands on the game, Archetype co-founders (and former BioWare veterans) Chad Robertson and Drew Karpyshyn mentioned that Exodus featured talking animals. Internally, I groaned. I'm generally someone who can look past talking animals in a fantasy setting, but I draw the line at sci-fi. According to Robertson and Karpshyn, Exodus isn't just science fiction--it's hard science fiction, and its world follows the laws of physics and nature. Humanity cannot travel faster than the speed of light, they cannot traverse low-gravity environments without magboots, and yet, somehow, I'm supposed to believe that the game's protagonist, Jun Aslan, can communicate with certain animals. I'm also not supposed to find it painfully corny when he does so, or the animals talk back. For me, that's a pretty tall order. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqhWyPq5lcM So no one was more surprised than I was when, at the end of the…