Mass Effect veteran's new sci-fi RPG Exodus introduces an alien race, and they're so hardcore they put the Krogans to shame

Concept art of the Arkavir, a bulky alien race from Exodus with sharp and scaley skin.
(Image credit: Archetype Entertainment)

Exodus has just unveiled a new alien species who sound hardcore enough to go toe-to-toe with Mass Effect's Krogan.

If you've never heard of Exodus before, that comparison wasn't just my attempt at pitting two unrelated sci-fi worlds against each other to appease the SEO Gods. Exodus is the debut game from Archetype Entertainment, which was co-founded by some senior Mass Effect talent and former BioWare higher-ups James Ohlen and Chad Robertson, and the similarities aren't easy to ignore from there.

They're both action-RPGs with a big emphasis on choice, though this time your decisions will ripple across the decades and even centuries thanks to some time-dilating weirdness. Exodus also has a Normandy-type hub area, this time in the form of an entire city. And both have their on take on a super gruff, super tragic, super bulky alien life form.

In a new blog post, Archetype Entertainment introduced the Arkavir, a hulking "bioengineered" race with sharp and scaley skin. They were apparently designed by galactic overseers called the Celestials to extract rare materials from normally uninhabitable planets "wreathed in toxic storms, scorched by radiation, and crushed under relentless gravity." To that end, the Arkavir can withstand "acid rains that melt flesh, heat so searing it ignites air into fire, cold so deep it shatters bone." I told you: hardcore. So, they're just as frightening as they are tragic, also not unlike the Krogan.

The post features a few pieces of concept art of the Arkavir, who all vary in size and shape since all of those blistering winds and scorching deserts impact how they look. They're still unmistakably terrifying, though.

While we wait for a release date, why not play some of the best RPG games available right now, instead?

Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.

Read more
Exodus screenshot
Mass Effect veterans' new sci-fi RPG Exodus gets action-packed gameplay trailer featuring gunfights with aliens and, uh, a giant grizzly bear
Exodus
Former Mass Effect veterans' new RPG Exodus puts us in the shoes of an organization that has "inspiration from the Jedi"
A screenshot from Exodus' debut trailer
Mass Effect veterans have another Normandy-type "major hub" in their new space RPG Exodus, but this time it's an entire city
Big In 2025: Exodus
Former BioWare devs' new RPG Exodus will potentially age your loved ones while you're away: "Decisions a player makes will compound over a significant period"
Mass Effect 2 - Garrus
Games like Mass Effect to get swept up in
Screenshots of extraction shooter Arc Raiders
"With Arc Raiders, we wanted to lean into some of the contemporary conversations around robots and AI": Embark Studios talk creating an extraction shooter with bite
Latest in RPGs
Concept art of the Arkavir, a bulky alien race from Exodus with sharp and scaley skin.
Mass Effect veteran's new sci-fi RPG Exodus introduces an alien race, and they're so hardcore they put the Krogans to shame
Horizon Forbidden West
Horizon Zero Dawn star Ashly Burch responds to Sony's controversial AI Aloy by pushing for actor protections: "You have to compensate us fairly, and you have to tell us how you're using this AI"
The Elder Scrolls' Oblivion's most annoying fan holds a torch
Oblivion remake leaks suggest Skyrim's cooler sibling is making a comeback, but I'm worried a modern makeover could bulldoze over the weirdness that makes it great
A cropped screenshot from Undertale, showing Frisk and Sans standing in Grillby's in Snowdin.
As Deltarune Chapter 3 and 4 seem closer than ever, Toby Fox's unforgettable RPG Undertale is just $1 in the Steam Spring Sale 2025 and everyone should play it
The Dungeons & Dragons: Builders of Baldur's Gate board game logo on a D&D dragon image
WizKids to bring us D&D Baldur's Gate city builder board game in Summer 2025, and preorders are far cheaper than I expected
Assassin's Creed Shadows screenshot of Yasuke and Naoe
We're only 3 months into 2025, but this year has already been stellar for RPG sickos like me – and it's showing no signs of slowing down
Latest in News
Concept art of the Arkavir, a bulky alien race from Exodus with sharp and scaley skin.
Mass Effect veteran's new sci-fi RPG Exodus introduces an alien race, and they're so hardcore they put the Krogans to shame
Jurassic Park Survival
As Jurassic Park Survival, John Carpenter's Toxic Commando, and the Star Wars KOTOR remake remain MIA, Saber CEO promises "everything that we have talked about is still in development"
Horizon Forbidden West
Horizon Zero Dawn star Ashly Burch responds to Sony's controversial AI Aloy by pushing for actor protections: "You have to compensate us fairly, and you have to tell us how you're using this AI"
Silent Hill f
Silent Hill f's ESRB rating has zero chill: "Faces ripped apart," "a character burned alive inside a cage," and "entrails and sinew displayed on serving platters"
Silent Hill f
Silent Hill f writer says many of the franchise's female characters experience "a great deal of suffering," so he wants his protagonist "to be able to make her own decisions, for better or for worse"
Starship Troopers
District 9 filmmaker Neil Blomkamp is working on a Starship Troopers reboot that goes back to the original 1959 novel