EXODUS Developers Want Players to Feel They're Doing Something Important Even When Completing Side Quests

Drew Karpyshyn doesn't want side missions to feel like they're just there to tick a box.

In a new interview, EXODUS narrative director Drew Karpyshyn, who previously worked at BioWare and wrote the scripts for the first three Mass Effect games, spoke about the team's approach to side content. According to him, the developers fundamentally do not want to make additional tasks "just for show."

Karpyshyn emphasized that side quests in EXODUS will be closely linked to companions and key themes of the game, rather than existing separately from the main narrative. The team's task is to ensure that players complete such missions not for the sake of mandatory experience or rewards, but out of genuine interest in the world and characters. There will, of course, be rewards, but the main thing is the feeling that the player is exploring something truly important and exciting.

Karpyshyn also noted that EXODUS touches on only a small part of the lore created for the new science fiction universe. The franchise already includes the published book The Archimedes Engine, the upcoming The Helium Sea, and the Traveler’s Handbook tabletop role-playing game.