This month’s Game Informer cover story is all about Exodus, a sci-fi RPG from Archetype Entertainment, a studio founded by former BioWare developers. While visiting the studio in Austin, Texas, my coworker Eric and I played about four hours of the game, and while I enjoyed shooting robots, bonding with companions, and exploring the world, my absolute favorite element of the game was a society of giant, chill talking frogs.
In the second half of our demo, we went to a space station called Khonsu. It generates a shield to deflect space debris from crashing into Lidon, our homeworld. The only ones capable of maintaining the station are the Kay, a community of giant frogs who traverse the facility in massive tubes of water. They’re Awakened animals, a staple of the Exodus universe, which makes them larger, smarter, and longer-living than normal frogs. They also all have translation devices on their bodies, so humans hear them speak English, even though the Kay’s mouths don’t move.
“Most of the Awakened communication is through technology,” Exodus narrative director Drew Karpyshyn told me. “They have […] little translators. So it is sort of a translation on the fly. You know, they’re not actually speaking in human words as such.”
Most of the Awakened I encounter speak with a simplified cadence (Salt, Jun’s Octo companion, is a good example), and the Kay are the same. That said, it does very little to keep their huge personalities from shining through. The first one we meet, 42C, is enthusiastic to the core. When we show up and fight off some Ghosts, a sick electronic soundtrack starts playing, but once the enemies are dead, the music doesn’t stop. It turns out, 42C was the one playing the soundtrack.
We ask him to turn the music down, and he says, “Hey, the what? You know, you don’t look like the other humans, either. Way nicer outfits. Wearing clothes must be weird. What did you want again?” He “speaks” with a breathless cadence, barely pausing between sentences like a young child with a lot to say.
42C, the Awakened frog looks through the glass at Suliman and Jun.
He’s downright thrilled to meet Jun, whom he knows “from the radio,” because he can get news broadcasts from Jun’s homeworld that often report on Jun’s exploits. 42C agrees to help us repel Gideon’s forces (the reason for our mission to Khonsu), though he’s not all that stressed about the invaders – he says they’ve basically been there “forever.” It’s an odd statement, because we know for a fact the soldiers have only been here for a few years. We ask 42C how old he is.
“Me? I’m two,” he replies. “I’m basically already an adult.”
42C accompanies you on and off through most of the level, giving you updates on enemy forces (and even accidentally giving your location away at one point). But he’s only one of the Kay I met on this mission.
While 42C is more similar to a tree frog, 13A looks decidedly more toad-like, resembling a Surinam horned frog. He is larger, has an older-sounding voice actor, and isn’t submerged in water; he just sits in a pond that comes up to his ankles (or whatever the amphibian equivalent of ankles are). 13A also has a job title: senior engineer.
Later in this mission, Jun comes face to face with another Awakened: a war bear named Irina Bruin.
“Big Boots trapped me in here. Wants me to show them how Khonsu works. Fat chance,” 13A laughs. “Your tiny human brains aren’t wired to understand Celestial tech,” he boasts. To his credit, the Kay do seem pretty smart, and Gideon’s men probably wouldn’t understand how Khonsu works, but it’s still very funny to see such condescension from a giant frog. 13A doesn’t get as attached to “Jun Two-Legs” as 42C, but I enjoy his chunky vibes all the same.
In hidden areas, I encounter two more Kay. 62D is a devout believer of a frankly indecipherable religion, speaking with an off-putting passion that sort of reminds me of the Luma from The Super Mario Bros. Movie. She calls me a heretic until I free her from her tank, at which point she decides that I must actually be devout and thanks me for my help.
Meanwhile, 13C says being trapped is “such a drag.” Once I free her, she calls the whole experience “an exhausting ordeal,” despite the fact that she didn’t move an inch the whole time. “I really want a nap, but I guess the least I can do is open shop,” she says, and then allows me to buy mods and upgrades for my weapon. It feels accurate, in that every person I’ve ever met who works retail would usually rather be napping.
Most of the Awakened animals on Jun’s homeworld, like this elephant shopkeeper, aren’t aquatic.
Khonsu is the only time I go offworld in my hands-on time, but I appreciate how efficiently Archetype makes the station feel like a foreign culture. It gives me hope that when I eventually go on an Exodus to a far-off planet in my playthrough, it will evoke a similar “alien” feeling.
For more of our exclusive Exodus coverage, or to read my 14-page cover story, you can check out our hub right here, which includes more details about another aquatic Awakened: Salt, an octopus in a mech suit. Exodus launches on April 7, 2027 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.