Mass Effect developer BioWare is moving away from Andromeda’s open-world approach and plans to simplify its world for Mass Effect 4.
This news came via Window Central’s Jez Corden, who had heard rumors that BioWare was considering “abandoning the open world and going back to the open world.” [the franchise’s] Classic shape.
Let’s play Mass Effect Legendary Edition on PS5 – check out the first hour of each game!
Corden made this claim in the latest edition of his podcast, Xbox Two PodcastIn a larger conversation about the benefits of established studios sticking to the development plan that made their games so special versus the downsides of taking risks and innovating, only to promptly crash and burn.
Thinking back to Bethesda’s success with Starfield and recycling much of what we’ve come to expect from the team’s internal development studios, Corden’s thoughts turned to Mass Effect, which had been a massive success in its first three games (Mass Effect 3’s controversial ending aside), but has struggled to make a similar impact with its follow-up. Andromeda. That’s when the revelation was announced.
“I heard that Mass Effect was abandoning the open world,” Corden said, “and going back to its classic form. “I don’t know if this is 100% accurate, but it is common in the industry.”
Is there a lot to do? Probably not. If this is true, it probably wouldn’t be a surprise either. But that’s still enough to make some Mass Effect fans very happy. We’ll keep you posted if we hear more – rumor or otherwise.
“I sometimes wonder if BioWare will ever make another trilogy of games, because the more time passes, the more I appreciate what an ambitious idea it was with Mass Effect,” Bertie wrote in his excellent article, Make Mass Effect, The Birth of a Mass Effect Game. Trilogy about Andromeda and Beyond, where he interviews Mass Effect writer Mac Walters.
“Three games that would tell one story and you could have one hero all the time – it’s not only audacious, it’s downright terrible, especially when you consider all the choices and consequences typical of a studio game. And it’s just “now.” In fact, when I see that no one is trying to do the same thing – not to this extent, anyway – I realize how very special it was.”
