is an

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

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game 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 generate visual fe ...

series developed by

Telenet Japan was a Japanese Video game developer, video game and software developer founded in October 1983 by Kazuyuki Fukushima. The company had several video game divisions including: Wolf Team, Laser Soft, Renovation Game (Japanese publishing division), ...

. 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 four major Japane ...

NEC PC-9801 The , commonly shortened to PC-98 or simply , is a lineup of Japanese 16-bit and 32-bit Personal computer, personal computers manufactured by NEC from 1982 to 2003. While based on Intel processors, it uses an in-house architecture making it inc ...

MSX2 MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by 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, the director at ASCII Cor ...

and the X1 turbo (for the first game only). In 1991, a remake of ''XZR II'' simply titled ''Exile'' was released for the

PC Engine The TurboGrafx-16, known in Japan as the , is a home video game console developed by Hudson Soft and manufactured by NEC. It was released in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1989. The first console of the fourth generation, it launched ...

and

Mega Drive The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Sys ...

. These versions were both released in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

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 in Japan as the , is a home video game console developed by Hudson Soft and manufactured by NEC. It was released in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1989. The first console of the fourth generation of video game con ...

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, Renovation Game (Japanese publishing division), Renovation Products ( ...

published the

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

version. A sequel exclusive to the Super CD-ROM² format, titled ''Exile: Wicked Phenomenon'', was released in 1992, which was also localized by Working Designs for the North American market. The ''Exile'' series centers on Sadler, a

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

Assassin Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

, 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 assassins, 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 graphics, 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 Graphics hardware ...

and

side-scrolling A side-scrolling video game (alternatively side-scroller) is a video game viewed from a side-view camera angle where the screen follows the player as they move left or right. The jump from single-screen or flip-screen graphics to scrolling grap ...

sections. The plot of the original ''XZR'' has been compared to the later ''

Assassin's Creed ''Assassin's Creed'' is a historical fiction, historical action-adventure video game series and media franchise published by Ubisoft and developed mainly by its studio Ubisoft Montreal using the game engine Anvil (game engine), Anvil and its m ...

'' video game series. The

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

for the PC-8801 version was composed by Yujiroh, Shinobu Ogawa and Tenpei Sato. The game centers on Sadler, a Syrian

Shia Islam Shia Islam is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political Succession to Muhammad, successor (caliph) and as the spiritual le ...

ic sect) who is on a journey to kill the

Caliph A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

. The intro sequence briefly covers the

history of the Middle East The Middle East, or the Near East, was one of the cradles of civilization: after the Neolithic Revolution and the adoption of agriculture, many of the world's oldest cultures and civilizations were created there. Since ancient times, the Middle ...

from 622 CE, the first year of the

Islamic calendar The Hijri calendar (), also known in English as the Islamic calendar, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to determine the proper days of Islamic holidays and rituals, such as the Ramad ...

, including a brief description of the

Hijra Hijra, Hijrah, Hegira, Hejira, Hijrat or Hijri may refer to: Islam * Hijrah (also ''Hejira'' or ''Hegira''), the migration of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE * Migration to Abyssinia or First Hegira, of Muhammad's followers in 615 CE * L ...

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

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

, where Sadler rescues Rumi, and follows Sadler to

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and then

Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...

, where he must defend the

Euphrates River The Euphrates ( ; see below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originating in Turkey, the Euphrates flows through S ...

from pollution by an oil magnate, encounter the

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

n queen

Semiramis Semiramis (; ''Šammīrām'', ''Šamiram'', , ''Samīrāmīs'') was the legendary Lydian- Babylonian wife of Onnes and of Ninus, who succeeded the latter on the throne of Assyria, according to Movses Khorenatsi. Legends narrated by Diodorus ...

and

Babylonia Babylonia (; , ) was an Ancient history, ancient Akkadian language, Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran). It emerged as a ...

n goddess

Ishtar Inanna is the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, love, and fertility. She is also associated with political power, divine law, sensuality, and procreation. Originally worshipped in Sumer, she was known by the Akk ...

, and visit the

Tower of Babel The Tower of Babel is an origin myth and parable in the Book of Genesis (chapter 11) meant to explain the existence of different languages and cultures. According to the story, a united human race speaking a single language migrates to Shin ...

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 unico ...

s, before heading to

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

, becoming baptised in a

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish village, and searching for

Ouroboros The ouroboros or uroboros (; ) is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent symbolism, snake or European dragon, dragon Autocannibalism, eating its own tail. The ouroboros entered Western tradition via Egyptian mythology, ancient Egyptian iconogra ...

. 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 1260 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the Mongol devastati ...

before Sadler is warped to the 20th century, where he must assassinate the Soviet General Secretary and

the American President ''The American President'' is a 1995 American political romantic comedy drama film directed and produced by Rob Reiner and written by Aaron Sorkin. The film stars Michael Douglas as President Andrew Shepherd, a widower who pursues a romanti ...

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

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

, Sadler makes an attempt to unite the world under one

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

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: People * Mani (name), (), a given name and surname (including a list of people with the name) ** Mani (prophet) (c. 216–274), a 3rd century Iranian prophet who founded Manichaeism ** Mani (musician) (born 1962), an English ...

, and slaughters many

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

and

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

deities A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...

. Sadler meets the head of the

Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...

Hugues de Payens , commonly known in French as or ( – 24 May 1136), was the co-founder and first Grand Master of the Knights Templar. Origin and early life The Latin text of William of Tyre's ''History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea'', dated , calls him , ...

, 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 located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

(where Rumi is kidnapped),

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

, and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. In a Cambodian temple, Sadler resurrects the

Manichaean Manichaeism (; in ; ) is an endangered former major world religion currently only practiced in China around Cao'an,R. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''. SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 found ...

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 and meets

Bacchus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ) by the Gre ...

. Sadler also murders

Hiram Abiff Hiram Abiff (also Hiram Abif or the Widow's son) is the central character of an allegory presented to all candidates during the third Masonic degrees, degree in Freemasonry. Hiram is presented as the chief architect of Solomon's Temple, King So ...

, a

Masonic Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

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

in March and the TurboGrafx-CD version published by

in October. ''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 at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...

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 June 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 (, January 28, 1954 – May 10, 2000), better known by the stage name Kaneto Shiozawa (), was a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator from Tokyo. At the time of his death, he was attached to Aoni Production. He had a distinc ...

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 Sh ...

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. He died in Tokyo due to chronic kidney disease on May 1, 2014. Notable voice roles Anime television series *Star of the Giants (1969) (Jirō Masuda, Tsuneo H ...

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. 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., 2012, ...

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 video game genre that combines core elements from both the action game and Role-playing video game, role-playing game genres. Definition Action role-playing games empha ...

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 a video game or tabletop game quality that determines the maximum amount of damage or fatigue something takes before leaving the main game. In role-playing games, this typically takes the form of hit points (HP), a numerical attribute ...

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 (; ), usually abbreviated as hash, is a Compression (physics), compressed form of resin (trichomes) derived from the cannabis flowers. European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, Lisbon, As a Psychoactive drug, psychoactive ...

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. Coca leaves contain cocaine which acts as a mild stimulant when chewed or ...

opiate An opiate is an alkaloid substance derived from opium (or poppy straw). It differs from the similar term ''opioid'' in that the latter is used to designate all substances, both natural and synthetic, that bind to opioid receptors in the brain ( ...

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD (from German ; often referred to as acid or lucy), is a semisynthetic, hallucinogenic compound derived from ergot, known for its powerful psychological effects and serotonergic activity. I ...

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

and

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

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 that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

became "cananavis"). While the AP and AC gauges are no longer present on the HUD (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 TurboGrafx-16, 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 ...

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

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming 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 district and is headed by its former e ...

''. Levi Buchanan of ''IGN'' said 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 computer ...

''. He also mentioned that the voiceovers are "terrific", only complaining that the graphics in the cutscenes are "a little thin".

References

External links