Revision 6

Jun Aslan does not run missions alone. EXODUS is a party-based RPG: a permanent crew lives aboard the Traveler's ship between missions, joins Jun on the ground, and develops personal storylines that play out across the campaign. The crew is small, deliberately drawn from very different backgrounds, and intentionally shaped to react to the deep-time consequences of Time Dilation.

Confirmed companions

Tom Vargas

Tom Vargas is a former Traveler. He retired after losing his wife and spent years drifting between systems before settling on Lidon to rebuild as a salvager. By the time Jun is inducted into the Traveler caste, Tom is sharp, resourceful, and visibly carrying the weight of more dead friends than is healthy. He brings field experience the rest of the crew lacks and, importantly, an institutional memory that survives time-dilation jumps better than most.

Tactically, Tom is presented as a marksman and squad anchor. He is a logical first companion for a player who values steady, reliable combat support.

Elise Charroux

Elise is a "Sleeper": she was launched from 23rd-century Earth and only recently revived in the Aslan Dynasty's era. Decades of cryosleep mean she is biologically young, but culturally she is from a world that has been dust for tens of thousands of years. The result is a blunt, no-nonsense mercenary's outlook, with a guarded streak of optimism underneath. Elise's resume includes weapons expertise, gang work, and salvager runs.

Tactically, Elise is heavy-hitting and aggressive: a frontline option who pairs well with Recycler configurations like the Shredder.

Salt

Salt is an Awakened octopus mercenary who pilots a mech suit. Awakened are uplifted animals with full sapience, and Salt's species in particular has a long history with the cluster's older powers. She joins Jun's crew on her own terms, brings tools and tactical options that none of the human companions can match, and is canonically not romanceable. Lead writer Drew Karpyshyn was explicit on that point: "humans aren't her type".

Phaedra

Phaedra is a confirmed companion introduced in the May 2026 Guarding Maze gameplay clip and re-confirmed on a second mission later that month: the reveal of Tsang, a volcanic world in the Malakbel system. She accompanies Jun and Tom through the collapsed Celestial facility beneath Lidon and then Jun and Elise into the Tsang crater on the second mission, which makes her one of the few crew members to feature in more than one gameplay reveal. A May 2026 mission-briefing update gives Phaedra a personal stake in the Tsang mission, marking her as a story companion rather than a one-off escort. The June 2026 extended gameplay showcase confirmed her as Phaedra Nath, a renowned xeno-archaeologist whose interest in the Rot, the Celestial virus killing the homeworld, is deeply personal. Her full ability set, romance availability, and tactical archetype have not been disclosed; the clips use her as a third pair of hands for navigation and survival rather than as the showcase character. This article will be expanded once Archetype publishes more about her.

Suliman

Suliman is a confirmed companion introduced in the April 2026 stealth demonstration. He accompanies Jun and Tom on the infiltration of a Celestial chamber held by Zealot forces. Like Phaedra, Suliman's background and ability set have not been formally disclosed, though his presence on a high-stakes stealth mission suggests a quiet-approach role compatible with the rest of the toolkit. This article will be expanded once Archetype publishes more about him.

Confirmed archetypes (additional crew)

Archetype Entertainment has previewed that the wider crew includes more than the three named above. The phrasing they use in interviews emphasises diversity of origin rather than fixed names:

• A genetically engineered savant: a human descendant whose brain and body have been tuned for a single role.

• A punk mech pilot: a younger character at home in the cluster's frontier subcultures, comfortable in heavy hardware.

• A geneticist cursed by an alien virus: a scientific mind paying a slow biological price for past experiments.

• Additional Awakened crew beyond Salt, drawn from species the Celestials uplifted for purposes other than service.

Specific names beyond Tom, Elise, and Salt are not officially confirmed in the live build at the time of writing.

Companion abilities and synergy

In combat, companions are not passive followers. They have ability slots that the player can trigger directly, and several abilities are designed to combo with Jun's gauntlet powers. The Combat and Gameplay article describes the moment-to-moment shape of these interactions. Outside combat, companions chime in during conversations, can lock or unlock dialogue options based on their relationship with Jun, and gate certain story branches entirely.

Two companion-specific abilities were named on-screen in the May 2026 Ghost City demonstration:

• Elise's Knockdown Missile: fired from her mech suit. A heavy area-of-effect ordnance that smashes through livestone walls and is the squad's reliable opener for tightly packed groups.

• Salt's Ink Mortar: an indirect-fire ability that disrupts enemies holding higher ground; ideal for vertical encounters where direct fire would be blocked by cover.

Additional confirmed-but-unnamed-on-screen abilities, plus the player-side abilities they combo with, are described on Gauntlet Abilities and Combat and Gameplay.

Romance system

EXODUS includes companion romance. Multiple companions are romanceable, with their own personal questlines and emotional payoffs. The relationships are intended to interact heavily with Time Dilation: a romance entered into before a long mission is not safe by default, and a relationship the player neglects can recover or rupture across the gap. Karpyshyn has described the romanceable cast in interviews as "pretty thirsty", which the audience took as confirmation that romance is not a token feature.

Crew table

Additional companions and their canonical names will be added to this article once Archetype confirms them in the shipped build.

Further Companions

Two more Awakened companions have been confirmed to join the Traveler, though little has been disclosed about them so far. Houston is an Awakened companion whose background has not yet been detailed, and Emrys is likewise confirmed as part of the crew with specifics still held back. Both are expected to be expanded on as more of the game is shown.