Of all the companions in Exodus, I’m glad that Salt was the one who got the spotlight on the cover of this month’s Game Informer, because I find her to be the most interesting. It’s not only because Salt is an octopus who pilots a mech suit, while most other companions are humans, but I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t a big draw. That said, while the octopus of it all is the first thing you notice about Salt, she’s got a lot going on underneath the surface, which I got a glimpse of in our exclusive cover story demo.
Salt isn’t just an octopus – she’s one of the Awakened, a word for sentient animals in the world of Exodus. They’re larger and smarter than other animals, and thanks to translator chips on their heads, they can communicate with humans and live in society alongside them. Salt is originally from an aquatic world, as we saw in the most recent Exodus trailer that aired at Gamescom. Unfortunately, that’s a home she can never return to.
“Salt is a visitor to your world and has business back home, but time dilation is a big part of our game and our IP, and it affects the stories and characters in very profound ways,” Exodus narrative director Drew Karpyshyn told me. I spoke to him during our cover story trip to Archetype Entertainment, and it was clear he didn’t want to spoil too much of Salt’s backstory.
“Even though Salt hasn’t aged very much, it’s been decades since Salt has been back to her home world,” Karpyshyn continued. “So when she eventually does plan to go back, she knows things will be very different. So, she’s trying to deal with all that as she’s also trying to help you on your missions and, you know, form a partnership with you to get what she needs from the relationship while also helping you get what you need.”
Jun Aslan, Exodus’ protagonist, first meets Salt in a mission I got to play at Archetype, which has you infiltrate the Traveler Launch Center to reclaim some lost technology. Jun and their squad need some extra muscle, so they hire Salt, an infamous bounty hunter. While she might eventually stick around for personal reasons, it’s clear from the start that she’s in it for the money.
Before heading into the mission, our ally Tom says, “We got your back, Jun.” Then, he turns to Salt and says, “You too, Salt.”
“Not necessary,” Salt replies. “If you die, I leave. Contract void.”
As I play through the mission, I enjoy the contrast of Salt’s character. She’s serious and focused, but at the end of the day, she is also still an octopus piloting a robot. It would be easy to reduce her to a goofy voice and jokes about having eight arms, but instead, she’s a no-nonsense mercenary. The jokes she does make are witty and, ironically, pretty dry.
“One of the interesting things with Salt is your first impression is, ‘This is sort of ridiculous. It’s an awakened octopus in this giant mech suit walking around,'” game director Chris King said on our cover story trip. “But I think part of what makes Salt win you over is there’s sort of that quirkiness, and she’s kind of got a sharp tongue, and she’s joking all the time.”
For what it’s worth, Salt’s appearance also surprises Jun. He’s spent a lot of time with Awakened animals – he has a wolf named Houston as an (obviously adoptive) brother – but he’s much more used to them breathing air and walking on their own two legs.
When she’s not in her suit, Salt lives in an aquarium tank.
“[An] octopus is a little more rare, because they typically won’t be on land,” Karpyshyn said. “Salt has her giant mech suit, which allows her to sort of operate on land without having to, you know, go back to a tank every so often. […] Then also, again, Salt has forged this reputation, even before you team up with her, as one of the most ruthless and deadly mercenaries on the planet. So in that regard, she’s also quite unique.”
Her combat prowess is largely thanks to her custom mech suit. The armor is customized specifically for octopi, Karpyshyn told me, based on the human version of the suit worn by characters like Elise, another companion. Salt’s suit adds tentacle arms and a water tank, but retains the bipedal lower half. “It has to operate in a world that is, even with Awakened animals, still mostly dominated by humans,” Karpyshyn says. “So the mech suits are more effective if they’re more bipedal in nature.”
That said, the tentacle arms seem like a must-have for Salt. She uses hers for all sorts of problem-solving, like one sequence where she uses them as makeshift roller chains to rotate the gears on a broken elevator. As I fight alongside her, she constantly remarks on the inefficiency of my human limbs. At one point, Jun uses his Celestial gauntlet to craft a giant hand as a bridge, and Salt just says, “Shape… Human hand. Inferior choice.” Jun promises to make a tentacle next time.
Thinking about the earliest designs for Salt, King said, “I may be showing my age, but when we went through some of the concepts of how this would work, there’s a character from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles… I believe his name is [Krang].” Looking the character up later, I saw the resemblance. Krang is a large brain, maybe the size of a basketball, with tentacle arms who pilots a humanoid robot body. “That was kind of the thing that kicked off the inspiration originally,” King concluded.
We’ll have more on Salt, including her combat utility, in future articles, but if you’re hungry for more of this eight-armed and dangerous animal, you can read more about her in this month’s cover story. For more Exodus, stay tuned to our coverage hub, where we’ll be posting plenty of follow-up content in the weeks to come. Exodus launches next April on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.