At EA’s E3 press conference, Bioware made the unsurprising announcement about Mass Effect 4. While they did not refer to the game as the fourth entry, it appears that it will be a whole new story, with the developers claiming it is set in a “new place, [with] new characters [and has] new people to fall in love with.” The production video, which does nothing more than tease Mass Effect 4, has several producers and developers talking about their planned changes to the famous (or infamous) series.
Bioware Executive Producer, Casey Hudson, first talks about the direction of the franchise and how fan feedback was important: “[fans responded that] they want to go somewhere new and move forward. We are taking you to a whole new region of space: pick a planet, cross to the other side of the galaxy and fly there to see what you can discover…[And] we think that fans of the series will be surprised with how far we are going.”
Along with the talking, the general public received countless images that are nothing more than ‘conceptual prototypes;’ as anyone can guess, the limited information and prototype photos show that the fourth entry is extremely early in development. But Bioware promises that “the world is so vast that you can continue on to the horizon and there is more and more experience for the player to enjoy;” this statement alone makes Mass Effect 4 sound extremely exciting, but it also causes me to wonder, how big will this universe be? The original trilogy was expansive enough and one can only imagine a world that is bigger, which has to be as risky as it is thrilling.
On top of this, Bioware announced that their Montreal branch will be handling the development of the latest in the Mass Effect series; meanwhile, the Bioware Edmonton division will be developing a brand new intellectual property. While they do not mention a title for this new IP, Casey Hudson states, “we want to take on very contemporary stories; yet, we want to build a world that is as big and imaginative as everything we’ve done before…[Bioware Edmonton] is trying to build a fictional world that feels real and is alive and constantly changing.”
Bioware general manager, Aaryn Flynn, even states that this untitled IP is a “chance to have a clean sheet of design to start at the most fundamental set of principles you can have.” Though there are limited images from the game, the audience gets glimpses of some beautiful scenery, which shows a progression of time and indicates that the world, like GTA V or other open world games, will run on its own internal clock.
Now, what do you think of the new IP? Are the concept images promising? What do you think of Mass Effect 4? Let us know in the comment section below. And for all updates, continue to read Gamer Headlines.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VahXsFfidEw