Mass Effect is arguably one of the best game franchises of all time with the third instalment in the series seemingly putting an end to the epically brilliant story. But never fear: developers BioWare have offered more teases, pointing towards Mass Effect 4 being a completely new story. Casey Hudson, who is leading the development on the project, has talked about it being ‘cool’ for the upcoming game to have a totally different story. Many of series’ characters have such in-depth histories and potential futures that you could easily make great games out of them, and here are a few ideas that we think would be great spin-offs.
Grunt:
Grunt is a Krogan warrior who was made in a lab to be used as a war machine for the Krogan army. When Shepard broke him out of his tank and took him back to his home-world, nobody took him seriously as he wasn’t viewed as a true-blood; but in Mass Effect 2 he earned his stripes, getting the blessing of Wrex to be a recognized member of his army. Maybe Grunt’s story could be about him still not being treated as an equal and his leader could send him on a rite of passage, investigating a lead on a possible cure for the genophage. Our warrior could lead a reluctant-to-follow-him team around the galaxy, all culminating with him holding a cure high above his head and being considered the greatest hero in Krogan history.
Garrus:
Garrus started life in Mass Effect as a faceless member of the investigation division with C-Sec on the Citadel. Shepard convinces him there is more for him out there in the galaxy so he joins the Normandy crew and the rest is history. After the triumph and tragedy of defeating the Reapers, a downward spiral could happen: he could start hitting dodgy bars and not have a true direction in life. One night his future love interest could slip him a note with his drink, detailing that they need his help to bring down corruption within the alliance government; and Garrus could assemble a team of highly-skilled soldiers to visit different dishonest cells and take down their leaders. Tragedy could hit our hero again when his love interest is murdered in the final scenes and, although successful in stopping the corruption, he retreats back into himself blaming his decisions in life for all the people close to him eventually dying.
The Quarian and Geth war:
Probably the most intriguing backstory of the Mass Effect series is this one. Fighting broke out between the two species when the Quarians decided to make a force of cheap labour and military drones. But the more complex duties they were expected to perform, the more intelligent the synthetics got, and they began to ask their masters if they had souls. This obviously got the Quarian Council worried and they eventually ordered many Geth systems to be terminated; when they realized what was going on, they swiftly retaliated by starting a full blown war. This battle forced the Quarians to evacuate their planet and the atmosphere on their home-world is so unique that they have to wear breathing apparatus almost everywhere else in the galaxy. This spin-off could just be a straight-up war story focusing on a band of soldiers trying to take back key points and buildings from Geth control in a Call of Duty-style (review coming soon) first-person shooter. The story could end with our heroic group being the ones who orchestrate the evacuation of their people, vowing to each other to return one day to take back what is rightfully theirs.
Have any further ideas for spin-offs? Leave us a comment below.
