Exodus Won't Let You Bang the Octopus

Narrative director Drew Karpyshyn explains the RPG's romance system

Like any narrative RPG worth its salt, Exodus will let you start romantic relationships with your party members. In fact, like many of its genre contemporaries, developer Archetype Entertainment’s debut game seems to actively encourage it. But you nevertheless can’t start a romance with Salt the octopus, the game’s narrative director confirmed to Polygon.

Salt has become somewhat of a fan favorite among Exodus fans following her starring turn in the Exodus release date trailer that aired during Gamescom 2026’s Opening Night Live showcase. The trailer dove into Salt’s background as an Awakened — a creature from Old Earth who has had their consciousness heightened through genetic manipulation and technological advancement. Because Salt is an octopus who can’t survive for long periods out of the water, she travels the Centauri Cluster (where Exodus is set) in a tricked-out mech suit, wreaking havoc wherever she goes.

Salt is one of six combat companions in Exodus, and while you can date most of them, she’s completely off the table.

“Salt just thinks humans are gross,” Exodus narrative director Drew Karpyshyn told Polygon in an interview at a recent preview event in Austin, Texas. “It’s, like, ‘They have four legs? That’s weird. That’s not enough legs. Yeah, no, not enough.’”

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Exodus will feature intricate romances

Beyond Salt, though, you can romance “many” of your companions, Karpyshyn said, though he didn’t detail exactly which ones were available. Your party also includes Tom Vargas, an interstellar explorer known as a Traveler; Elise Charroux, a cryogenically frozen mercenary from the 23rd century; Phaedra Nath, a blind archaeologist who sees the world through the use of drones; Suliman, another Traveler, though he happens to be absolutely loaded; and Emrys, a Celestial, a type of post-human who’s elevated far beyond the bounds of the human genome thanks to thousands of years of evolution. (Exodus is set 40,000 years in the future.)

“Our romances, they’re not gender-locked at all,” Karpyshyn said. This is a notable distinction from some other futuristic narrative RPGs, like BioWare’s Mass Effect trilogy, which infamously limited some romance options depending on the gender of your main character, Commander Shepherd. For instance, the prolific Turian body pillow model Garrus was only available as a romantic partner to female Shepherds, while male Shepherds could start relationships with the sarcastic Quarian Tali.

Romance in Exodus is something you’ll need to actively pursue. Exodus features a morality system, where generally kind actions increase your Paladin rating (that’s a blue scale) and generally dick-ish actions increase your Immortal rating (that’s a red one). Depending on your choices throughout the game, whether at critical junctions during missions or even just in regular conversations, you can build or lose affinity with party members. To enter a relationship with another character, you’ll need to build your affinity with them.

“You’re not gonna accidentally get into a romance,” Karpyshyn said. “Unless you’re trying.”

It's also impossible to make everyone happy. If you start a romance with one character, you might be permanently closed off from starting relationships with other characters. You might even find, as you go through the game, that a character you're drawn to at the start exhibits some moral repugnance that pushes you away from them. Or, hey, maybe that's part of the allure.

“We want these relationships to feel real,” Karpyshyn said. “We want players to be faced with choices and have these fun, agonizing moments where they’re, like, ‘Oh, what do I do here?’”

Exodus will be released April 7, 2027, for PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X(odus). You can read our hands-on Exodus preview here and our interview with its creators here.

Archetype Entertainment provided Polygon's flight and hotel for purposes of attending this preview. Read more about Polygon's travel and ethics policy here.