Exile (1988 video game)

Exile
Original BBC/Electron cover art
Publisher(s)	Superior Software, Audiogenic
Designer(s)	Peter Irvin Jeremy Smith
Platform(s)	Acorn Electron, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST, CD32
Release	1988
Genre(s)	Arcade adventure
Mode(s)	Single player

Exile is a single-player action-adventure video game originally published for the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro in 1988 by Superior Software and later ported to the Commodore 64, Amiga, CD32 and Atari ST, all published by Audiogenic. Exile's game physics engine qualifies it to be the first game to have a complete Newtonian motion model. At the time of its release it was considered to push the boundaries of what was possible on home computers, particularly on the 8-bit platforms. It remains probably the most complex game available for the BBC Micro. The game was designed and programmed by Peter Irvin (author of Starship Command, a space shoot-em-up with an innovative control system) and Jeremy Smith (author of Thrust, a game based on cave exploration with a simpler physics model). It is also an early example of a Metroidvania.

The player takes the role of Mike Finn, a leading member of a space-exploration organisation called Columbus Force, who have been ordered to the planet Phoebus as part of a rescue mission. Finn is tasked with abetting Commander David Sprake and the surviving crew of the disabled Pericles ship from a psychotic renegade genetic engineer, Triax (the titular Exile), who appears briefly at the very start of the game removing a vital piece of equipment called a Destinator from Mike's ship, the Perseus. As with Elite, a novella (written by Mark Cullen, with input from the game's authors) was included to set up the story, and to provide some clues as to the nature of the planet Phoebus' environment. The novella implies the events take place some time in the 22nd century.