Revision 1

The Guarding Maze is a collapsed underground Celestial facility beneath the surface of Lidon, showcased in a May 2026 gameplay clip. The clip frames it as a traversal-and-puzzle environment in which the ruins themselves are the primary threat: the architecture defies what should still be standing, passages collapse into massive chasms, and a single mistake on a livestone-shaped bridge ends in a fatal fall.

Setting

The Maze is built from livestone like the rest of the Celestial sites under Lidon, but it has 'didn't collapse gracefully', as the official caption puts it. The result is a vertical labyrinth of partial floors, hanging beams, and structurally improbable spans. Sequences in the clip show the squad gauging the integrity of a path before stepping onto it, then using Eruption to forge a new beam when nothing safe remains.

Companions in the demo

The Guarding Maze squad pairs Jun Aslan with Tom Vargas and Phaedra, a companion confirmed by this clip but not previously named in marketing materials. Phaedra's background, combat role, and full ability set have not been disclosed; the clip uses her as a third pair of hands for navigation rather than as the showcase character.

Player toolkit shown

• Eruption (gauntlet ability) is the traversal workhorse: it shapes livestone into beams across chasms. The clip notes that survival means building the path forward yourself, and a failed beam drops the Traveler to her death.

• Railclaw handles vertical movement between intact platforms and is the recovery option when an Eruption beam is too long to safely commit to.

• Environmental hazards take priority over enemies in this clip. As the official caption puts it: 'the ruins are dangerous enough without enemies.'

Enemies

A Gath appears in the background of one shot, identified by Archetype as a 'Celestial-made Changeling' rather than as a hostile encounter the player engages with directly. The Guarding Maze clip does not show a Gath fight, but the visual confirms that Changeling subspecies are present at this depth of the Celestial sites. For the broader Celestials and Factions picture, including the wider Changeling category, see the dedicated article.

Why the Guarding Maze matters

Of the three under-Lidon environments Archetype showed in April and May 2026, the Guarding Maze is the one most explicitly built around environmental problem-solving rather than combat. It establishes that Eruption is not just a combat ability and that EXODUS intends ruin traversal to be a meaningful gameplay layer alongside firefights. It also introduces Phaedra to the roster of confirmed companions, alongside Tom Vargas, Elise Charroux, Salt, and the stealth-mission partner Suliman.

Not yet confirmed

• Phaedra's full background, role, and romance availability.

• Whether the Maze is connected to Ghost City and the Foundations as a single below-Lidon network or as separate sites.

• Whether non-Gath hostile encounters exist deeper in the Maze.

• Whether livestone-beam traversal has stamina, durability, or other limits beyond timing and player judgement.