BioWare has already announced that the studio is working onMass Effect 5, with a release set for some time afterDragon Age 4. However, after the disappointing critical and commercial reception ofMass Effect: Andromeda, the future of the series has rarely been so uncertain.
Mass Effect 5will need to revive interest in the franchise and BioWare may be willing to take some radical steps to make that happen. This makes it entirely possible thatAndromedawill remain a standalone game and thatMass Effect 5will mark the sun setting on Ryder’s adventures in the Andromeda Galaxy.
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Leaving Andromeda Behind
Mass Effect 5has some big shoes to fill, but it also has some recent disappointments to overcome. The originalMass Effecttrilogy was one of the most critically acclaimed RPG series ever made and achieved broad mainstream success while packing the punches BioWare had consistently delivered over the studio’s storied history. Many fans are even hoping that November 7 – N7 Day – will see the announcement of aMass Effect Remastered Trilogy,if not sooner like the October rumors.
Andromedawas poorly received for a few key reasons. The game wasn’t handled by BioWare’s main Edmonton team but was instead handed to the developer’s new Montreal team, since merged with EA Motive. The Montreal team was made to create the game inEA’s Frostbite Engine, but since Frostbite did not come with its own animation system out of the box this caused a lot of problems for theAndromedateam, and the animation bugs were a main criticism of the game.
The troubled development ofAndromedaalso saw top BioWare employees like general managerAaryn Flynnstep down from the company just a few months after the games’ release, and saw plans for anAndromedasequel almost immediately put on ice.
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The Future of Mass Effect
This makes it very likely thatMass Effect 5will attempt to revive the series without being a sequel toMass Effect: Andromeda. This could mean that players return to the Milky Way Galaxy, which could make aMass Effectprequelmore likely in order to avoid the radically different implications of the three endings toMass Effect 3for life in the galaxy. There is less than half a century between the events ofMass Effectand the first discovery of faster-than-light travel in theMass Effectuniverse; however, making the window for a totally different story quite small, especially with long-lived species like the Asari hanging around.
BioWare is faced with a lot of challenges in the coming decade. Not only wasAndromedaa disappointment for the studio, but one of its other big releases,Anthem, proved to even more poorly received. This puts a lot of pressure on BioWare’s upcoming gamesDragon Age 4andMass Effect 5, and whileDragon Agehas to finish the story of the Dread Wolf, it isMass Effectwhich remains BioWare’s most flexible IP.
If the game is set after FTL travel is discovered but beforeMass Effect 1, BioWare could still make the game feel fresh by including features like multiple playable alien races, space combat, or a myriad of other thingsfans want to see inMass Effect 5. It is very likely, however, that the story of Ryder and the Andromeda Galaxy will be left behind in search of greener pastures.
Mass Effect 5is in development.
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