EXILE — rebuilt bit-identically, explained bit by bit
bit-identical to the 1988 game copyright Peter Irvin and Jeremy Smith
Play original<br>Play enhanced
Exile<br>The open world that fit in 32K — physics,<br>wind and creature AI — rebuilt to run natively in your browser.<br>Everything behind this text is the game itself.<br>How Exile works / Deep Dives
Reverse-engineered<br>TypeScript · bit-exact<br>No install · no download
About this project<br>Exile was written by Peter Irvin and Jeremy Smith and<br>published by Superior Software for the BBC Micro in 1988: a<br>physics-driven open world with gravity, wind, water, and a living<br>bestiary squeezed into 32K, years before the genre had a name.<br>It is widely considered one of the greatest technical achievements<br>of 8-bit gaming and having spent so much time with its code I think<br>it absolutely earns that.<br>This site runs a TypeScript reconstruction of that game,<br>rebuilt layer by layer from the enhanced version disassembly. It<br>is not an emulator, rather the landscape generator, physics kernel,<br>creature AI, renderer, particle and sound engines are all rewritten<br>in TypeScript but an emulator keeps it accurate as every layer is<br>validated bit-identical against the original 6502 machine code<br>executing in a small emulator. Whole game frames are compared<br>byte for byte — all object slots, the world tables, the<br>random number generator, and all 16K of screen memory — so what<br>you play here is provably the 1988 game, not an imitation of it.<br>Play original is the authentic experience in the classic<br>4:3 view. Play enhanced keeps the original simulation —<br>same bytes, same behaviour — and widens the view to your screen,<br>adds a Thrust-style status bar. Both versions feature quality-of-life<br>improvements: F1 pauses to a status page with named saves, F6/F9 quick<br>save and load (saved in your browser), F4 shows the controls any time.
Also by me<br>Annhexation<br>Early access<br>A turn-based 4X strategy game I built from scratch —<br>custom WebGPU engine, eight civilisations, no install. Play it in<br>your browser right now.<br>Play free in browser<br>☆ Wishlist on Steam
Exile © 1988 Peter Irvin and Jeremy Smith ·<br>published by Superior Software<br>Reconstructed by James Randall from the enhanced version disassembly created by level7<br>Presented as a tribute to its authors.