It’s probably a confirmation of the inevitable. Mass Effect Andromeda will not take into consideration the endings we chose for Mass Effect 3. And here’s why.
During this E3 Bioware let us peak inside the Pandora’s box that is their next Mass Effect game. With that interesting combination between behind-the-scenes, dev diaries and actual gameplay, the last trailer stole our attention and teased us about the scope and essence of this next sci-fi adventure. It’s looking gorgeous, expansive and quite ambitious. And we cannot wait to know more about it!
One of the biggest, and probably most repeated, questions for the community was, and still is, whether the next title is taking something from our ending choices in consideration when building the next story arc or not. In conversations with Eurogamer, Bioware’s boss Aaryn Flynn and creative director Mac Walters have stepped out and given a fervent “no”. So forget about knowing what has happened after Sheppard completed the ultimate trial. Let alone imagine any possible (and weird) mention of the Synthesis hybrids you left back in the Milky Way. Nope, not happening.
However, this does not mean that Andromeda is starting their lore from scratch, ditching everything that they have accomplished so far. Remember those comforting words pronounced by FemShep by the end of the N7 Day trailer? Our journey will start from a point known to us, venturing beyond and to the unknown. Andromeda is just a name. We can only imagine what is awaiting us in this story of exploration, survival and colonization.
Mass Effect Andromeda: Starting with a Clean Slate
When talking about how the original trilogy and the new will connect, Mac Walters gives already a hint. “It’s important for us to have elements from the Trilogy for fans to have in the background”, he explains. “Ultimately this is intended to be a fresh story but we want to have things for people to find and go, ‘oh, I remember that character'”. Does this mean we will actually meet some of those people or rather, that we will hear about them in a sort of background conversation? This remains to be seen.
It goes without saying, the fact of starting a brand new adventure erases the problematic of choosing a cannon ending which, let’s be honest, would have been a total downer.
Everything is pointing to the story being a parallel narrative, the tale of some explorers deep within the edges of Andromeda. The last resort of the Milky Way masterminds in keeping traces of civilization alive. Without going too much into details, the last trailer showed already the protagonist and what seems to be a rival team. It could be that the Andromeda project has gone rogue within its ranks. Or that the Andromeda races have actually achieved something on their own and they are confronting us, the newcomers, full-on. In any case, it will be definitely interesting to see what role those settlers will play in the new galaxy.
Speculations are sweet… and they will keep on coming. Aaryn Flynn mentioned that we’ll get some more updates in a few months. More specifically, we can expect something for the N7 Day, which happens on November 7. Bioware always keeps a fresh ace up on their sleeves for such occasion. Will this be an extensive showcase of gameplay? We cannot but wonder.
[Source: Eurogamer]
