Exodus was announced as a fulsome narrative experiment with time dilation, aided and abetted by extremely non-AI-generated Matthew McConaughey – a story told over millennia-long time jumps, featuring super-evolved versions of human beings. But let’s face it, some of you are just here for the Mass Effect parallels raised by the presence of former BioWare devs on the ticket. The new sci-fi RPG’s latest footage, below, certainly leans into them.

Yes, this all seems very Mass Efficacious: snappy cover system, glittery orbital vistas, radial weapon select, three-person squads, curvaceous ship interiors of dense, patterned metal. It kindles fading memories of my first hour in Mass Effect 2 and that glorious moment when I realised that hang on, the combat actually feels balletic this time, rather than like operating a sniper rifle with your knees, and oh no, all my best friends have been slain.

It’s a wordless affair, this fresh slice of Exodusting, with an extended playthrough to follow this summer, presumably at Mama Keighley’s Big Geoffapalooza, but we do get a glimpse at one minor antagonist – Biggs “The Bolt” Keil. I feel like if you’re important enough to have a nickname including a definite article, you’re important enough to have a subplot with a romance option and oh blast, Biggs is dead. Killed while reloading out of cover at point blank range, even! They should have called him Biggs “The Dolt” Keil.

The second half of the video introduces a grappling hook, the kind that only grapples onto certain objects. Then it’s time for a “new area discovered” beat which indicates this’ll be more about exploration than the presence of a very selective grappling hook might suggest. Show us more of the space bears next, Archetype. Show us the cosmic blubber-spire again.