XSEED Games just provided us with a bunch of information and a trailer for Exile’s End which is a retro sci-fi platformer that seems to be hiding a lot of mysteries. The developer behind the entire project is Matt Fielding who has been living and working in Tokyo for awhile now by making games. He’s being helped by publisher Marvelous and some serious Japanese talent such as Keiji Yamagishi (Dynasty Warriors) doing sound and a team of artists who have worked on such games as Guilty Gear and Sword of Mana. Interestingly enough, Exile’s End is actually a remake of one of Matt’s earlier games Inescapable. Lucky for us he dusted it off and added new features like cutscenes and a deeper story.
In the future the Ravenwood Corporation basically controls the world. In a remote mining planet on the edge of the galaxy a man goes missing. Since this is the son of the president of Ravenwood, no expense is spared to remedy the situation immediately. You play as Jameson, a haunted soldier who is on the team of mercenaries sent to find the president’s son. But as your team reaches the planet something goes horribly wrong and you find yourself stranded on a hostile planet. It’s up to you to look for survivors, look for the target, and look for answers.
While Fielding’s main inspiration for the game is the original Flashback, I get a Metroid vibe; you are running through isolated caves and through atmospheric forests. But Jameson isn’t as agile as Samus and his limited movement fits the gameplay nicely. I see flashes of the underrated The Fall here as you have a robotic guide in your suit and you’ll face ‘ancient riddles’ and ‘adventure-style puzzles’. What’s more interesting is that your entire journey will be to answer the question, “What is the nature of true heroism?” The way you find your answer will affect one of the two endings you can unlock.
While Jameson comes across as stiff, the graphical stars of the trailer are the monster designs and the cutscenes. They both are suitably retro and oozing with personality. The theme provided by Keiji Yamagishi is suitably dark and brooding matching the isolation found all around.
All in all Exile’s End is one of those games that you see and that you need to play. I want to uncover more of the narrative and mysteries surrounding this infested mining planet. Luckily I don’t have to wait long to see what really happened to the Ravenwood Corporation’s missing person. XSEED Games are releasing the game this summer digitally for the PS4, PS Vita and Wii U. I’m going to give Matt Fielding’s Inescapable a whirl to get me into the mood until then.
