The Mass Effect trilogy was a huge success both in sales and critical acclaim. Bioware’s third person RPG formula works wonders for them and players can’t seem to ever get enough. The ending to the third game was a huge let down for many so many are looking to the newly announced Mass Effect Andromeda with a new hope.
Now EA and Bioware have given the new Mass Effect a release date, players should see the new game land in spring 2017. Andromeda is set to be a new lease of life to a series that ended with a hated finality. How will this work you ask? Here’s everything we know.
Setting
Bioware plans to negate Mass Effect 3’s ending, not retcon it however, meaning it totally still happened but won’t effect Andromeda’s story. Andromeda will start right after the events of Mass Effect 2, which means that the dreaded Reaper invasion has yet to begin.
You and your team are headed for the Andromeda galaxy and given the time it takes to travel between galaxies without a mass relays of the Milky Way, you’re in for a long ass journey. Thus the crew enters cryo sleep for roughly 600 hundred years which means when you awake the reaper invasion is long over but you won’t see or feel the consequences of the ending due to Andromeda having no Mass relays.
With Andromeda being a totally unexplored new galaxy expect to meet a host of new races and beings. Races like the Khet have been showcased in recent trailers and there are going to be some weird and wonderful things to see. Familiar races will also be making a return such as the Asari, Salarians, and Turians. Four ark ships carrying the expedition are sent to Andromeda with each of the races and in tow, a Citadel style ship known as the Nexus is also in two which will be used as a central hub.
Characters
The game will place you in the role of Ryder who is a pathfinder, the devs explain “You are a pathfinder, a combat trained but untested explorer leading an expedition into the Helius cluster [in the Andromeda galaxy] to establish a new home for humanity. As you explore this sprawling series of solar systems (over four times the size of Mass Effect 3), collecting resources and building colonies, you will encounter the savagery of untamed lands in the form of cut-throat outlaws and warring alien races.”
With Ryder you’ll once again be able to choose a male or female version but with a slight difference. This time you have a sibling in the game with you. If you choose female you’ll play as Sara, male and you’ll play as Scott. The two siblings are on the expedition together and you’ll also get to meet others in their family. As Ryder you’ll experience something quite different than what was experienced with Shepard in the original trilogy.
In the original Mass effect you started as an already decorated soldier who was accomplished enough to become a S.P.E.C.T.R.E. As Ryder however, you’ll start as a simple colonist and have to learn to fight and survive this new galaxy full of unknown danger and wonder.
Little is known about Ryder’s crew, we do have a few characters confirmed such as Liam, a human ex-cop. An Asari named Peebee. There were several leaks that named a couple of other squadmates including a biotic named Cora and Drack, a Krogan. Its still early days for information on any crewmates and most are just rumors and hearsay.
Gameplay
Expect to see familiar mechanics return for Andromeda, from what we can see in the limited gameplay footage, it seems that the core of the game remain the same. It’ll still be a third person shooter with dialogue wheels and powerful biotic abilities. What will be different is the complete removal of the Paragon/Renegade system which is replaced with a more broader morality system that will not have an overall viewable meter.
One big return in Andromeda is the addition of exploration gameplay in the form of the long-awaited return of the Mako vehicle. While there will not be any vehicle combat, there will be a large focus on exploration in a galaxy that is much larger than what players of the franchise have experience before.
Companion loyalty missions will make a return but will not have an effect on the overall main story which is a shame as I certainly feel the way Mass Effect 2 system was constructed was a massive success. What is also different is that there will no longer be a class system. Players will instead place points into a skill tree and gain abilities as they progress instead of being tied to a class.
Finally, multiplayer has been confirmed in the form of co-op missions. These missions will allow you to play with other players to take objectives similar to the multiplayer in Mass effect 3. details are scarce for the moment, there was also talk of a strike team mission system similar to the real time table quests from Dragon Age Inquisition. These may allow you to deploy NPC’s to gather resources and crafting schematics (if there is crafting).
Hopefully, new details will shine through soon with the new Andromeda Initiative for players to sign up to which allows fans to view lore, new details and possibility even test the game.
