Exile
| Developer: Audiogenic | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Audiogenic | Sound: |
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| Year: 1991 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Unclassifiable | Lastability: |
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| Number of players: 1 | Rating: |
8/10 | |
While returning from some unknown mission in space, you receive a distress call from the planet Phœbus: a mad scientist named Triax has kidnapped a group of researchers. You must rescue them.
As soon as you land on the planet, Triax sneaks aboard your ship and steals the destinator, a device without which you can’t take off again…
Exile was designed as a pure exploration game: no lives, no levels. You freely roam an unknown world, flying with your jetpack. You also have a teleporter to return to previously marked locations (press “R”).
Great care was taken with what we’d now call the “physics engine”, meaning that all objects are subject to forces (gravity, inertia) and can be swept away by a gust of wind or the blast from a grenade.
You encounter various creatures, some friendly, some hostile, as well as puzzles of varying complexity. These unlock new paths leading to Triax’s laboratory.
Combat plays a secondary role. Different weapons are available, but sometimes it’s easier to use cunning to get out of a sticky situation.
The controls are, to say the least, original. Press the “Space” key to open a menu, move the joystick to select an icon, and confirm with the “fire” button. In the heat of the action, it’s not easy, especially if you want to pick up a live grenade to defuse it… You can also play with the keyboard, but the button layout is not at all convenient, and it can’t be changed. This is the game’s biggest flaw.
It was re-released in 1995, following a graphical overhaul.
I enjoy finding spiritual successors to my Amiga games. Here’s a serious candidate: Starbound (PC, 2016).
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