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Upcoming Mass Effect-like RPG Exodus takes romance seriously, which means you'll need to get comfortable with the idea that serious romance requires sacrifice, and, sometimes, a pig pen of mess. You'll be able to date around, but not without consequence.

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Exodus narrative director – and Mass Effect's lead writer – Drew Karpyshyn tells Game Informer that romance was mandatory for the sci-fi drama because "it would feel almost hollow" without it. "Romance is a huge part of the real world," Karpyshyn adds, and Exodus encourages you to be reasonable when you feel a familiar spark in-game.

So while "you can have multiple romances going at the same time," Karpyshyn says, "eventually, there might be some issues with that, depending on which companions [you choose]."

It's like any other situation where one partner wants to discuss non-monogamy and the other wants to throw their copy of The Ethical Slut into a funeral pyre. Basically, "Not everybody is comfortable with that," Karpyshyn says, "and as the story develops, your romance might go from something like a casual relationship, more of a fling, to something much deeper."

"In that case," the writer says, "most of the companions would not want you to have a very deep emotional connection with somebody else as well." You may choose to ignore your lovers' wishes if you'd like to live your life in space as an evil bachelorette, but keep in mind that Exodus' romance is connected to its affinity system. So, the more you risk your tires getting slashed – or whatever the intergalactic equivalent of that is. Your rocketship will get keyed.

Even mission scenarios can risk pissing off your partner. Karpyshyn explains, "You might get into a situation where you think, 'Well, for this mission, I actually agree with this character, but I've been romancing this character. Should I just back them anyway?"

"If you do," the writer continues, "that'll obviously get you more affinity with that character." But "if you decide not to back the character," he warns, "you might get yourself into a situation where they are not very happy with you. I'm sure anyone who's been in a relationship has experienced that."

Karpyshyn explained to GamesRadar+ in February that playing as the main character doesn't give you magic heartthrob status. Its approach to relationships, as I'm sure you've been starting to pick up on, is more realistic than that. The narrative lead said at the time, "There are some games where, literally, you can just romance anyone, because you're the hero, and you just get it." Exodus doesn't waste its time with something so easy.

"We want it to be a little bit more than that. We want these relationships to feel real, which means there's sometimes conflict, there's sometimes push and pull. Sometimes you've got to earn it" – something you should keep in mind for your time both in space and on Earth.

Exodus steps out of Mass Effect's shadow with combat that builds on BioWare's RPG and a galaxy that I'm itching to explore.

While the ranks of the best GameCube games are dominated by the family-friendly titles Nintendo is best known for, Nintendo's purple square was also quietly a killer horror machine. Sure, that's mostly down to the mostly exclusive Resident Evil games Capcom was pumping out for the system, but there's one other horror titan on the system, and it was published by Nintendo itself. That is Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem.

But unlike those classic Resident Evil games, Eternal Darkness never got a second chance on another platform, and it's never been remastered or made available on modern machines. 24 years after launch, however, there's finally reason to hope. Stephen Kick, studio head for the remaster specialists at Nightdive Studios, was recently asked by a fan if the horror game could make a comeback.

"Eternal Darkness is one of my all-time favorites and it deserves the treatment I know Nightdive Studio is capable of," Kick says on Twitter (via IGN). "Keep your eye on our Deep Dives," he adds, pointing to the studio's YouTube channel.

That's obviously several steps shy of actually confirming an Eternal Darkness remaster, but it's the biggest sign of life the game's had in years. Originally released in 2002, Eternal Darkness was developed by Silicon Knights, a company that went bankrupt a decade ago, and published by Nintendo, a company that's notoriously protective of even its most neglected properties. The rights situation around Eternal Darkness has never been entirely clear, but it's been murky enough that no one's been willing or able to navigate it yet.

That's despite the game's monumental reputation among horror aficionados. Eternal Darkness takes place across four different time periods with various protagonists, telling a Lovecraftian tale that spans centuries. Arguably the game's biggest claim to fame are its Sanity effects. There's a meter that shows your character's mental stability, and as it empties, things start getting weird – the game world might start suddenly bleeding, or you might see the fourth wall break with faux CRT TV glitches and similar effects.

There's still little else like Eternal Darkness, despite an ultimately failed attempt from many of the original developers to Kickstart a spiritual successor in 2013. Here's hoping we can at least get a fresh taste of the original soon enough.

Over 27 years later, Thief: The Dark Project is getting a remaster from retro revival specialist Nightdive Studios this winter.