Exogenesis: Perils of Rebirth first impressions

Exogenesis: Perils of Rebirth, or simply Exogenesis, is an adventure game, visual novel hybrid by Philippine game developers, Team Kwan and Quickfire Games. Inspired by Ace Attorney and Zero Escape games, Exogenesis: Perils of Rebirth relies on point-and-click gameplay to solve puzzles and navigate around a world with a heavy focus on storytelling. The game isn’t out yet, but I was able to play a demo version of most of the game’s first chapter.

And let me tell you this: the demo was cruel. After all the hard work I put into socializing with imaginary characters, the demo ended just as everything was getting interesting and I have no idea what happens next.

Improving the introduction

Exogenesis begins by dropping you in the middle of a girl’s death throes. Everyone is panicking. You’re not really sure what’s going on or who’s around, but you’re sure you’re not saving that dying girl.

That’s not you, though. In Exogenesis, you play the role of Yuudai Sayashi (also known as Yu), the leader of a team of treasure hunters known as Durchhalten. In one of their expeditions involving high-value treasure, Yu’s sister Miho lost her life—a tragedy that caused Durchhalten to disband. This is the scenario you’re first dropped into when you start the game.

(See: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies review: Your honor, I have no objections)

Exogenesis is set in Novus Tokyo, the only city in 2071’s post-apocalyptic Japan, 50 years after a nuclear war. Two years after his sister’s death, Yu and one of his former teammates confirm the existence of Noah’s Ark, a legendary treasure with the power to recreate anything from the past. And so Yu sets out to reform Durchhalten in order to find and use Noah’s Ark to bring Miho back to life. It’s a lot of information to take in before the game even starts, but the introduction felt lacking.

The developers mentioned that the introduction was their way of making players care more about Miho, and though I have no qualms with how the story started, I believe this could’ve been achieved with better storytelling. For instance, Yu kept repeating what had just happened in the introduction. What was the point of that? I would have connected better if the events had been played out with the other characters instead of just being narrated by Yu. Exogenesis has a good introduction in theory, but is lacking in the actual storytelling. Nicolo Sanchez, who wrote the story, told me that that the storytelling was one of the things the development team was looking to improve.

Getting into the story

After the rather lacking part about Miho’s death, the talk about Noah’s Ark felt longer than it should have. This kind of word play isn’t prevalent in the whole game, though, and got better after the story’s introduction. I hope it’s not something the developers will overdo as they work on the game.