Is the Multiverse the future of Mass Effect?

[Bored at 3:00AM]

It's no secret that the Mass Effect franchise is not exactly in a healthy state right now. The one-two punch of the controversial ending of ME3 and the dull mess that was Andromeda have left the fans and creators stuck trying to figure out what to do next.

But, given the very nature of the Mass Effect franchise was all about making big choices that could alter the story in dozens of different ways, might that be the way to revamp the franchise in a way that not only frees up the creators to make a new game that reminds players what they liked about Mass Effect while completely sidestepping any concerns about invalidating any of the endings of ME3?

What if the next game started a pseudo-remake of ME1 with Sheppard getting recruited into The Spectres to stop Saren, but very quickly it becomes clear that things are playing out differently and events are accelerating much faster than they did in the original game. Then the big twist is that the big bad isn't Saren at all, but a Renegade Sheppard from a dark alternate timeline in which he/she embraced his/her worst impulses and has taken control of the galaxy with the Reapers tech.

You could even have New Sheppard team up with alternate Sheppard from the previous versions of the game, in whatever gender, races or permutations they want. Include lots of time shenanigans and maybe even a time travel mechanic into the gameplay itself.

What do you think?

[Jackalope89]

It's no secret that the Mass Effect franchise is not exactly in a healthy state right now. The one-two punch of the controversial ending of ME3 and the dull mess that was Andromeda have left the fans and creators stuck trying to figure out what to do next.

But, given the very nature of the Mass Effect franchise was all about making big choices that could alter the story in dozens of different ways, might that be the way to revamp the franchise in a way that not only frees up the creators to make a new game that reminds players what they liked about Mass Effect while completely sidestepping any concerns about invalidating any of the endings of ME3?

What if the next game started a pseudo-remake of ME1 with Sheppard getting recruited into The Spectres to stop Saren, but very quickly it becomes clear that things are playing out differently and events are accelerating much faster than they did in the original game. Then the big twist is that the big bad isn't Saren at all, but a Renegade Sheppard from a dark alternate timeline in which he/she embraced his/her worst impulses and has taken control of the galaxy with the Reapers tech.

You could even have New Sheppard team up with alternate Sheppard from the previous versions of the game, in whatever gender, races or permutations they want. Include lots of time shenanigans and maybe even a time travel mechanic into the gameplay itself.

What do you think?

While I agree that the open-ended ending to the original trilogy and Andromeda was a big mess for a multitude of reasons (too small a studio, timeframe was unrealistic, etc), re-doing it from the start probably is not the way to go.

Andromeda, for all its problems, did have potential. But it got axed shortly after release and one major update to it. So, probably best to drop that direction going forward. Instead, go back to the end of ME3, and give it a canonical ending. Personally? Paragon, but that's me. Possibly with Destroy, but without completely wiping out everything or whatever. Make what you did, especially for completetionists, matter in the end. Because the endings we got, other than not being full on Renegade, nothing else really mattered much.

From that point, then I could see the Council looking to more galaxies or something of that sort.

[BeastieRunner]

I like ME3's ending. All of them.

Personally, I would retell the story from the end of ME2 to ME3's ending but with a new protagonist.

A pilot.

Make it a flight sim.

[BeastieRunner]

We getting a big Mass Effect update today.

Happy N7 Day!

[Derek Metaltron]

Remastered ME Trilogy has been confirmed, I gather.

[BeastieRunner]

Remastered ME Trilogy has been confirmed, I gather.

Not just that!

Mass Effect Trilogy: Legendary Edition Spring 2021
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/...-effect-later/

... and ...

A NEW Mass Effect game!

https://blog.bioware.com/2020/11/07/happy-n7-day-4/

So bit of old and new.