Great news for Mass Effect fans: Bioware Montreal, the creative team behind the much-loved franchise, has gone into meetings about details of the next instalment. We already know that this story will be separate from the previous trilogy but can the series survive without the leadership of Commander Shepard?
One of the main details that Bioware Montreal is due be discussing is the new heroic protagonist. There are several ways in which the team could go with this, one option being to have another human in command; but this could be dangerous as too many comparisons to Shepard could be made, unless they centre on someone who isn’t a a captain. Maybe it’ll be an engineer or a doctor, or my favourite – someone who is fresh out of the academy, trying to stand out from the crowd in the devastating war against the Reapers. Other possibilities include an alien race like the Krogan, Asari or Turians, and it would be an interesting twist to see how other species coped with the battle or handled the aftermath.
Another important dynamic I’m sure you’ll agree is the storyline. Will the new game take place at the same time as Shepard’s story? I kind of hope not, as this will create too much of a temptation to have some kind of cameo from the Normandy crew. And for the new plot to stand alone it mustn’t have any of the focus taken away from our new band of heroes. So the only other option is to have title take take place after the events of Mass Effect 3, when the war is over and the galaxy is trying to rebuild itself.
Too much involvement from the former crew may hurt the new Mass Effect game.
Something else Bioware need to careful of is the title, as simply calling it ‘Mass Effect 4‘ would first be lazy and would second hint that it’s just a continuation of the previous story. Although the first three instalments didn’t have particularly special titles, this new one needs to just to show players that this is a different direction and a whole new ball game. Something like ‘Mass Effect: A New Dawn‘ would do this perfectly.
Whatever direction the developers take this new story in, no doubt it will be a classic and just as epic and enjoyable as the previous titles. I just hope they don’t litter it with too many former characters to the point where you think to yourself ‘I wish I was back on the Normandy’. There’s no news on the release date as yet but you can rest assured that we’ll be the first in line when it comes out to see what the Mass Effect universe has in store for us next.
