Mass Effect Andromedais the next installment in BioWare’s celebrated franchise and is taking the story 600 years beyond the events of the original trilogy, all the way to the Andromeda Galaxy as Humans, Turians, Asari and Salarians all launch populated ark spaceships in an attempt to secure a future home for the inhabitants of the Milky Way Galaxy. Their exploration of worlds and interactions with races in the Andromeda Galaxy form the basis for the game’s story and eventual dramatic tension. We chose this game as ourTop RPG of 2017because of the scope of story and gameplay it promises to deliver and with the N7 day reveals and subsequent gameplay footage, we have a better idea of what’s going to be under the hood. In this first part of a series on what we know about the game, we take a look at everything that makes your character tick, specifically the game’s story backdrop, thecharactersyou’ll meet and theprofilesandskillsthat will flesh out your roleplaying experience.
Release Date
The game is releasing March 21st, 2017 in NA and worldwide on March 23rd. After months of speculation, rumors and leaks they finally made the announcement early January. The game will be available for preload on March 17th and EA and Origin Access members will have a limited early play period starting March 16th for 10 hours of the campaign and unlimited multiplayer.
Launch Editions & DLC
There are going to be 3 different launch editions for the game when it releases this spring.
Furthermore there is a Collector’s Edition that features either an RC or die cast version of the game’s Nomad vehicle and a steelbook case for the game. The RC version will be a 199 USD value plus the game cost if bundled and the die cast version will be a 99 USD value plus the game cost if bundled.
As far asDLC, there is nothing officially announced but we can safely anticipate it is in the works. We do know that there will be no Season Pass for it.
The Andromeda Initiative
The game takes place 600 years beyond the events of the first trilogy and stand on its own as a story, although we can expect at least nominal story connections to the original games. What we do know is that the major races of the Milky Way launched a series of ark spaceships with their inhabitants in stasis to the Andromeda Galaxy. They are led by Pathfinders, which you will play as, who will explore and chart the course to new homes, interacting diplomatically and violently if necessary with the nativeracesand creatures. The Andromeda Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million light years from Earth, making it the nearest major galaxy to Earth’s Milky Way. Andromeda contains one trillion stars, which is more than double the number of the Milky Way, and provides an attractive location for intergalactic colonization.
Four Mass Effect: Andromeda tie-in novels are in the works, and will hit stores over the next two years. The first book, Mass Effect: Andromeda Initiative — or Initiation, according to its cover — by N.K. Jemisin, was scheduled to arrive in August, but this release window has passed. The second, third, and fourth books are scheduled to arrive in March 2017, September 2017, and March 2018, respectively. They will “act as prequel and sequels to the events in the games” and will provide insight into the Andromeda chapter of the Mass Effect saga.
Characters & Romance
Ryderis the main character in Mass Effect: Andromeda. Ryder is shown in trailers as both male and female and BioWare has confirmed that Ryder is actually a brother and sister team. You will select one of the 2 siblings to play as, and the other will be alive somewhere in the universe as you play through the story.New Game Pluswill allow you to play as the other Ryder sibling.
Romanceis making a return to the game. There will no longer be a hard line where you have to complete a romance at a certain point or it’s lost forever. There will be opportunities to romance multiple people, but this depends on the feelings of your partners and whether they are open to it. Counting squad, crew and light romances there are more romance options in Andromeda than ever before. There will even be casual moments with minor characters, potentially casual one off dates. Same sex and inter-species romance options will be available.
TheKettare one of the new races you will encounter, and early trailers have them set up as potential adversaries. The goal was to design the race to look foreboding but still allowing players to empathize with them. Because of the types of stories they want to tell, BioWare did not want players to dismiss them as mere antagonists, but rather complicated beings. Bone armor added a militaristic feel to their gear. Other new races have been shown in subsequent trailers but none of them have been specifically named. Your primary antagonist has been named though, a mysterious figure calledthe Archon.
Squadmate dialogue has been increased. You will be able to speak to your sibling but they will not be in your squad. Several squadmates have been named: HumansCoraandLiam, anAsarinamedPeebee, aTuriannamedVetraand aKrogannamedDrack. The popularloyalty missionsfrom Mass Effect 2 will also be making an appearance in Mass Effect Andromeda. Each companion had one of these story focused quests, and they gave players a chance to learn about their squadmates’ history and motivations, and made for some compelling emotional moments. You can learn more about some of your squadmates in the following video:
When it comes toReputation, the Paragon/Renegade dichotomy has been replaced by Heart/Head/Professional/Casual. There is no longer a meter to track your moral choices against, whether it’s changes to your visual appearance or otherwise.
Profiles & Skills
There are no character classes in the game, having been replaced by the new feature calledProfiles. Profiles are specialized orientations that result in play style bonuses such as improved damage withWeaponsorSkills, or more defensive boosts and they have titles similar to old classes likeAdeptandVanguard. They can be swapped in and out at will and there will be benefits for specific specializations and the profiles can be ranked up as players progress, increasing their specialization effectiveness. There are 7 different profiles players can choose from:Soldier,Engineer,Adept,Sentinel,Vanguard,Infiltrator,Explorer.
As you play through the game and level up you’ll be able to spend earned skill points on anySkillsyou want to use, which are specialized abilities that you can use in combat. Skills can be further improved along ranks, with each new rank costing skill points and providing new benefits. As the game progresses, a narrative reason will allow you to respec your allocated points.
There are 3 categories of Skills:Combat Skills,Biotics SkillsandTech Skills. Skills themselves are classified as passive or power (active). Players can equip 3 active powers in combat at one time, each assigned to a button press.
When used, Skills themselves will now have individual cooldown timers rather than a global cooldown for all Skills. This is to allow players more freedom in how they operate, and gives them the flexibility to expend them all or use them in combinations. This is true across single andMultiplayer.
Mass Effect Andromeda is going to be a huge game and we’ve just scratched the surface. Subsequent parts in this series will cover theweapons,armor,craftingand vehicles you’ll be using as well as thelocationsand types of activities you’ll be able to engage in. Keep checking back with us to read them all!
