is an

action role-playing An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing video game, role-playing genre. Definition The games emphasize Real-time ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

series developed by

Telenet Japan was a Japanese video game and software developer founded in October 1983 by Kazuyuki Fukushima. The company had several video game divisions including: Wolf Team, Laser Soft, Reno, Renovation Products, Riot, Commseed, and Telenet Jr. Telenet J ...

. The first two games in the series, ''XZR'' and ''XZR II'' were both released in Japan in 1988, with versions available for the

NEC PC-8801 The , commonly shortened to PC-88, are a brand of Zilog Z80-based 8-bit home computers released by Nippon Electric Company (NEC) in 1981 and primarily sold in Japan. The PC-8800 series sold extremely well and became one of the three major Japa ...

NEC PC-9801 The , commonly shortened to PC-98 or , is a lineup of Japanese 16-bit and 32-bit personal computers manufactured by NEC from 1982 to 2000. The platform established NEC's dominance in the Japanese personal computer market, and, by 1999, more ...

MSX2 MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by Microsoft and ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, then vice- ...

and the X1 turbo (for the first game only). In

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the ...

, a remake of ''XZR II'' simply titled ''Exile'' was released for the

PC Engine The TurboGrafx-16, known as the outside North America, is a home video game console designed by Hudson Soft and sold by NEC Home Electronics. It was the first console marketed in the fourth generation, commonly known as the 16-bit era, thoug ...

and

Mega Drive The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master System. Sega released it in 1988 in Japan as ...

. These versions were both released in North America the following year, with

Working Designs Working Designs was an American video game publisher that specialized in the localization of Japanese role-playing video games, strategy video games and top-down shooters for various platforms. Though the company had published many cult hits, it ...

handling the localization for the

TurboGrafx-CD The TurboGrafx-16, known as the outside North America, is a home video game console designed by Hudson Soft and sold by NEC Home Electronics. It was the first console marketed in the fourth generation, commonly known as the 16-bit era, thoug ...

version, while

Renovation Products was a Japanese video game and software developer founded in October 1983 by Kazuyuki Fukushima. The company had several video game divisions including: Wolf Team, Laser Soft, Reno, Renovation Products, Riot, Commseed, and Telenet Jr. Telenet ...

published the

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book o ...

version. A sequel exclusive to the Super CD-ROM² format, titled ''Exile: Wicked Phenomenon'', was released in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engines ...

, which was also localized by Working Designs for the North American market. The ''Exile'' series centers on Sadler, a Syrian

Assassin Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

, who is the main character of each game. The original computer versions were notorious for featuring various references to religious historical figures, modern political leaders, iconography, drugs, and

time-traveling Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...

assassins An assassin is a person who commits targeted murder. Assassin may also refer to: Origin of term * Someone belonging to the medieval Persian Ismaili order of Assassins Animals and insects * Assassin bugs, a genus in the family ''Reduviid ...

, although some of these aspects were considerably toned down or omitted in the later console games, with the English versions rewriting all the historical religious organizations into fictional groups.

Games

''XZR: Hakai no Gūzō''

, the first game in the series, was originally released for the

in July 1988. It was subsequently released for the

and

on August and for the X1 turbo on September. The gameplay included action-platform elements, switching between an

overhead perspective A variety of computer graphic techniques have been used to display video game content throughout the history of video games. The predominance of individual techniques have evolved over time, primarily due to hardware advances and restrictions ...

and side-scrolling sections. The plot of the original ''XZR'' has been compared to the later ''

Assassin's Creed ''Assassin's Creed'' is an open-world, action-adventure, and stealth game franchise published by Ubisoft and developed mainly by its studio Ubisoft Montreal using the game engine Anvil and its more advanced derivatives. Created by Patric ...

'' video game series. The

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

for the PC-8801 version was composed by Yujiroh, Shinobu Ogawa and

Tenpei Sato is a video game composer and voice actor. His most notable works are his soundtracks for Nippon Ichi Software games, such as ''Disgaea'' and ''Phantom Brave''. He also provides voice-over for games and movies. Biography Sato was born in 1975 in ...

. The game centers on Sadler, a Syrian

Shia Islam Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Prophets in Islam ( ar, الأنبياء في الإسلام, translit=al-ʾAnbiyāʾ fī al-ʾIslām) are individuals in Islam who are ...

ic sect) who is on a journey to kill the

Caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

. The intro sequence briefly covers the

history of the Middle East The Middle East, interchangeable with the Near East, is home to one of the Cradles of Civilization and has seen many of the world's oldest cultures and civilizations. The region's history started from the earliest human settlements and continue ...

from 622 CE, the first year of the

Islamic calendar The Hijri calendar ( ar, ٱلتَّقْوِيم ٱلْهِجْرِيّ, translit=al-taqwīm al-hijrī), also known in English as the Muslim calendar and Islamic calendar, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 ...

, including a brief description of the

Hijra Hijra, Hijrah, Hegira, Hejira, Hijrat or Hijri may refer to: Islam * Hijrah (often written as ''Hejira'' in older texts), the migration of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE * Migration to Abyssinia or First Hegira, of Muhammad's followers ...

, up until 1104 CE, the year of Sadler's birth. The game then starts in

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesipho ...

, where Sadler rescues Rumi, and follows Sadler to

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkme ...

and then Babylon, where he must defend the

Euphrates River The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers''). Originating in Turkey, the Eup ...

from pollution by an oil magnate, encounter the

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the As ...

n queen

Semiramis ''Samīrāmīs'', hy, Շամիրամ ''Šamiram'') was the semi-legendary Lydian-Babylonian wife of Onnes and Ninus, who succeeded the latter to the throne of Assyria, according to Movses Khorenatsi. Legends narrated by Diodorus Siculus, who dr ...

and

Babylonia Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state ...

n goddess

Ishtar Inanna, also sux, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾, nin-an-na, label=none is an ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, divine justice, and political power. She was originally worshiped in S ...

, and visit the

Tower of Babel The Tower of Babel ( he, , ''Mīgdal Bāḇel'') narrative in Genesis 11:1–9 is an origin myth meant to explain why the world's peoples speak different languages. According to the story, a united human race speaking a single language and mi ...

in search of

unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since Classical antiquity, antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn (anatomy), horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unicor ...

s, before heading to

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandr ...

, becoming baptised in a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish village, and searching for

Ouroboros The ouroboros or uroboros () is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail. The ouroboros entered Western tradition via ancient Egyptian iconography and the Greek magical tradition. It was adopted as a symbol in Gno ...

. Eventually, Sadler makes his way back to Baghdad and murders the Caliph. It is then revealed that the Caliph was his father and they were separated when Sadler was kidnapped as a baby by the Assassins. The game then switches focus and enters a subplot about a

Mongol invasion The Mongol invasions and conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating history's largest contiguous empire: the Mongol Empire (1206-1368), which by 1300 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the Mongol devastation ...

before Sadler is warped to the 20th century, where he must assassinate Russia's General Secretary and America's President, ending the game. Likely because of its controversial ending, Telenet chose not to port the original ''XZR'' when they decided to bring the series to home consoles three years later, opting to remake the sequel instead.

''XZR II: Kanketsuhen''

was released on December 17, 1988 for the

, and

. The

for the PC-8801 version was once again composed by Shinobu Ogawa and

. ''XZR II'' depicts the further adventures of Sadler after the events of the previous game. Now living in the time of the

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

, Sadler makes an attempt to unite the world under one

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

and achieve world peace. Along the way, he performs a

Masonic ritual Masonic ritual is the scripted words and actions that are spoken or performed during the degree work in a Masonic lodge. Masonic symbolism is that which is used to illustrate the principles which Freemasonry espouses. Masonic ritual has appeared ...

in an attempt to revive

Mani Mani may refer to: Geography * Maní, Casanare, a town and municipality in Casanare Department, Colombia * Mani, Chad, a town and sub-prefecture in Chad * Mani, Evros, a village in northeastern Greece * Mani, Karnataka, a village in Dakshina K ...

, and slaughters many Hindu and

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

deities. Sadler meets the head of the

Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon ( la, Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Salomonici), also known as the Order of Solomon's Temple, the Knights Templar, or simply the Templars, was a Catholic military order, o ...

Hugues de Payens Hugues de Payens or Payns (9 February 1070 – 24 May 1136) was the co-founder and first Grand Master of the Knights Templar. In association with Bernard of Clairvaux, he created the ''Latin Rule'', the code of behavior for the Order. Name T ...

, and helps him search for the Holimax, a holy artefact. Sadler travels to several different countries, including

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

(where Rumi is kidnapped),

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

, and Japan. In a Cambodian temple, Sadler resurrects the

Manichaean Manichaeism (; in New Persian ; ) is a former major religionR. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian prophet Mani (A ...

prophet Mani. In Japan, Sadler rescues Ninkan, who in real life was head of Japanese sex cult Tachikawa-ryu. Afterwards, Sadler travels back in time to

Eden Eden may refer to: * Garden of Eden, the "garden of God" described in the Book of Genesis Places and jurisdictions Canada * Eden, Ontario * Eden High School Middle East * Eden, Lebanon, a city and former bishopric * Camp Eden, Iraq O ...

and meets

Bacchus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; grc, wikt:Διόνυσος, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstas ...

. Sadler also murders Hiram Abiff, a

Masonic Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

figure. After defeating Jubelum of the Three Ruffians, Sadler receives the Holimax.

''Exile''

, the first console installment of the series, was first released for the PC Engine CD-ROM² System on March 29, 1991. A

version was released during the same year on December 6. Both versions of the game were released in North America the following year, with the Genesis version published by

and the TurboGrafx-CD version published by

. ''Exile'' is a remake of ''XZR II'' which rewrites most of the story, cutting one portion of the final act in which Sadler time travels to the present day (as it referenced the ending to the original ''XZR''), and removes the character of Sufrawaldhi, Sadler's fourth traveling companion. The Genesis version removed scenes deemed inappropriate, such as a burning village and instances of naked women in the later areas. Working Designs was asked by

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...

to change some of the names in the TurboGrafx-CD version, concerned about the religious and drug-related elements. "Hence, the Christian Crusaders became the Klispin Crusaders. Given the rules from NEC, it was a pretty sensitive subject, so direct references had to be changed", explained Vic Ireland, who worked closely with the game's localization. A town of crucified heretics being burned alive was left in the TurboGrafx-CD release, but removed from the Genesis version.

''Exile: Wicked Phenomenon''

, the final game in the series, was released in Japan for the Super CD-ROM² add-on on September 22, 1992. It was released in North America on July 31, 1993, once again published by Working Designs. While the previous games featured heavy religious elements, Sadler is now striving to defeat chaos and solve the mystery of an ancient tower. The game's cover art featured a photograph, a rarity for North America, of the game's final boss, handcrafted. Vic Ireland commented on it, saying that "The Exile 2 cover is polarizing. People love it or hate it. It's basically aping a style of diorama that was really popular to advertise games in Japan. NCS/MASAYA did quite a bit of it, and I wanted to bring that to the US as well. So, I chose Exile 2 as the game to try this on. The practical effects guy who did the little models on the set in the ad, had done FX work for movies like '' Tremors'' and has since done work for WETA in Australia. The smoke was a time exposure to give it a thickness and glow. When we ran the ad, EGM or Gamepro (I can't remember) sent us a survey they did months later with their readers that had that ad listed as the 'most remembered' ad from the whole magazine, which, I think, justified the experiment. We tried it again for ''Vasteel'', but the results weren't that great, so we only used part of one of the space scenes on the back cover of the jewel case."

Common elements

Characters

The protagonist of the series is Sadler (voiced by

Kaneto Shiozawa Toshikazu Shiozawa ( ja, 塩沢敏一, Shiozawa Toshikazu, January 28, 1954 – May 10, 2000), better known by the stage name Kaneto Shiozawa ( ja, 塩沢兼人, Shiozawa Kaneto), was a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator from Tokyo. At the ...

in the Japanese CD-ROM version and by Blake Dorsey in English), a young warrior from the village of Assassi who excels in swordsmanship and martial arts. His companions include Rumi (voiced by

Yūko Minaguchi is a Japanese actress, voice actress and narrator from Bunkyō, Tokyo. She is affiliated with Aoni Production. In 2012, Minaguchi took a nineteen-month-long hiatus from acting in order to study abroad in the United States. This resulted in Shi ...

in Japanese and Rhonda Gibson in English), a female fellow warrior from Assassi skilled in acrobatics and espionage; Fakhyle (voiced by

Kōji Yada was a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator who was represented by Aoni Production. Kōji Yada was also his birth name, but was written with different kanji . He died in Tokyo due to chronic kidney disease on May 1, 2014. Notable voice roles ...

in Japanese and Keith Lack in English), an elderly magician who lends his powers to Sadler; and Kindhy (voiced by

Hirohiko Kakegawa is a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator from Saitama Prefecture, Japan. Biography Kakegawa was born on October 11, 1959, in Saitama Prefecture. He graduated from Waseda University.''Talent Who's Who in Japan'', Section 92, VIP Times Inc., ...

in Japanese and by an unknown actor in English), a silent giant with unmatched superhuman strength.

Gameplay

The ''XZR''/''Exile'' series are

action role-playing game An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Definition The games emphasize real-time combat where the playe ...

s consisting of three types of play modes: the hideout screens, the RPG screens, and the action screens. The hideout screen consists of a menu in which the player can plan out Sadler's next course of actions by viewing his current companions, belongings, and stats, before choosing the next location to visit. The game switches to RPG mode when the player visits a town, which consists of an overhead map that the player must explore in order to gather clues and proceed through the story. This usually consists of talking to supporting characters to fulfill any tasks they give in order to gain access to new locations. The player can also visit various types of shops to buy new equipment and items. When the player enters a dungeon, the game switches to a side-scrolling action stage in which Sadler must fight his way through enemies, finding treasure chests along the way, until achieving an objective or finding an exit. While Sadler fights primarily with his sword, he can also use magic spells once he acquires the ability to do so. Like in most action RPGs, Sadler gains a certain amount of cash and experience points for every enemy he kills. In addition to HP (

hit point Health is an attribute in a video game or tabletop game that determines the maximum amount of damage or loss of stamina that a character or object can take before dying or losing consciousness. In role-playing games, this typically takes the for ...

s) and MP (

magic point Magic or mana is an attribute assigned to characters within a role-playing or video game that indicates their power to use special magical abilities or "spells". Magic is usually measured in magic points or mana points, shortened as MP. Different ...

s), two more statistics are represented on screen: AP (attack power, the player's offensive capabilities) and AC (armor class, the player's defensive capabilities), which are determined by Sadler's current level and equipment. One notable aspect in the original computer versions are the presence of illicit drugs. In addition to conventional items such as a potions and medical herbs, Sadler also uses narcotics such as

hashish Hashish ( ar, حشيش, ()), also known as hash, "dry herb, hay" is a cannabis (drug), drug made by compressing and processing parts of the cannabis plant, typically focusing on flowering buds (female flowers) containing the most trichomes. Eu ...

coca Coca is any of the four cultivated plants in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. Coca is known worldwide for its psychoactive alkaloid, cocaine. The plant is grown as a cash crop in the Argentine Northwest, Bolivia, ...

opiate An opiate, in classical pharmacology, is a substance derived from opium. In more modern usage, the term ''opioid'' is used to designate all substances, both natural and synthetic, that bind to opioid receptors in the brain (including antagonist ...

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in variou ...

and

peyote The peyote (; ''Lophophora williamsii'' ) is a small, spineless cactus which contains psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline. ''Peyote'' is a Spanish word derived from the Nahuatl (), meaning "caterpillar cocoon", from a root , "to g ...

to heal himself or increase other attributes. The player's AP and AC statistics (represented by a heart-rate graph in the computer versions and green bars in the console version) are affected by the drugs Sadlers uses. Overusing certain drugs would result in side effects, including death. ''Exile'', the console version of ''XRZ II'', replaced most of the illicit drugs with fictionalized equivalents (e.g. Opiates became Heartpoisons), that lack the negative side effects of their original counterparts. ''Exile: Wicked Phenomenon'' revamps several aspects of the previous games, ditching the hideout screens and adding the option to switch between Sadler or any of his companions (Rumi, Kindi and Fakhyle) during action segments, using each of their unique abilities. ''Wicked Phenomenon'' also brings back all the illicit narcotics missing in the original ''Exile'', with the English version of the game using altered spellings for their names (e.g.

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternativel ...

became "cananavis"). While the AP and AC gauges are no longer present on the

HUD Hud or HUD may refer to: Entertainment * Hud (1963 film), ''Hud'' (1963 film), a 1963 film starring Paul Newman * Hud (1986 film), ''Hud'' (1986 film), a 1986 Norwegian film * HUD (TV program), ''HUD'' (TV program), or ''Heads Up Daily'', a Canadi ...

(which instead shows the player's health, experience points and cash), the player can still use drugs to temporarily enhance their offensive and defensive stats.

Reception

''Exile'' was rated 24.23 out of 30 by Japanese magazine ''

PC Engine Fan PC Engine Fan was a Japanese magazine dedicated to the PC Engine, published by Tokuma Shoten. It ran from 1988 to 1996. History The first issue of ''PC Engine Fan'' was published in late 1988. The magazine originated as a section in ''Family Comp ...

''. It was later named one of "Renovation's Top 10 Games" on ''

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa dist ...

''. Levi Buchanan of ''IGN'' stated that "the translation in the Genesis edition is pretty bad, but that has little effect on the breadth of the adventure itself." The game was also featured in a positive light in the book ''The 8-Bit Book – 1981 to 199x'' by Jerry Ellis. ''Exile: Wicked Phenomenon'' was given a decent review from John Huxley at defunctgames.com. He wrote that "Exile is a solid game that successfully marries action and role-playing", but said that it was not as deep of an adventure as

Ys I & II is an action role-playing game compilation released by Hudson Soft and NEC for the PC Engine CD-ROM² in 1989 and TurboGrafx-CD in 1990. It consists of enhanced remakes of the first two ''Ys'' games by Nihon Falcom for the PC-8801 home compute ...

. He also mentioned that the

voiceovers Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non-diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations. ...

are "terrific", only complaining that the graphics in the cutscenes are "a little thin."

References

External links