Exodus, the upcoming sci-fi RPG from Archetype Entertainment, a studio founded by former BioWare developers, is set to feature romance options for players. Narrative director Drew Karpyshyn confirmed in an interview that these relationships will not be gender-locked, allowing players to pursue any romanceable character regardless of their protagonist's gender.
This approach diverges from some earlier titles in the Mass Effect series. While Mass Effect 3 introduced same-sex relationships for male Commander Shepards, certain romantic options remained exclusive to specific player-character genders. Mass Effect: Andromeda continued this trend, with characters like engineer Gil Brodie being exclusively available to male Ryder, with his identity as a gay man integrated into his narrative. BioWare has historically varied its approach, sometimes implementing gender-locked relationships and other times adopting a "playersexual" model where the protagonist can pursue any available companion.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard, for instance, recently opted for a playersexual approach but also made a point to establish its party members as pansexual. In contrast, Mass Effect companions were traditionally written with specific sexual orientations and preferences. Archetype Entertainment's decision for Exodus aims to ensure that players are not excluded from romance options based on their character's gender.
Karpyshyn elaborated that romance in Exodus will feature depth, potentially including polyamorous storylines and consequences for pursuing multiple characters simultaneously. "There’s no situation where a character is going to romance you if you didn’t take the initiative," he stated. "We want to put you in situations where you can potentially try to romance more than one character. Sometimes it’ll go well, sometimes it won’t depending on the character and depending on the choices you make. Like real life, it’s complicated, right? We want it to be complicated."
These relationships will be influenced by the player's overall choices within the game. While the game will include intimate scenes, director Chris King described them as more reserved compared to those found in titles like Baldur's Gate 3 or Cyberpunk 2077. Exodus is slated for release on April 7.