Mass Effect 4 Should Make One Massive Story Implication Clear Ahead of Time

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home December 10, 2024 17 Views 6 Min Read
Mass Effect 4 Should Make One Massive Story Implication Clear Ahead of Time



BioWare’s two major IPs, Mass Effect and Dragon Age, involve games that are series that build on each other rather than feature standalone games. This is even true of Dragon Age, which features a different protagonist for each game. Major decisions made in BioWare games carry over to the next game, and it’s generally assumed by players that there will be a sequel where certain decisions made in-game will be paid off.




The question of canon becomes more difficult with each game released in a series and more choices that affect a world state stack up. This is especially complicated for Mass Effect 4, as the galaxy essentially enters a hard reset in several different, drastically different ways at the end of Mass Effect 3. The player reception to the three Dragon Age: The Veilguard‘s world state import options shows how important it is that the Mass Effect 4 developers are open about the limits of choice in Mass Effect 4 going forward, and the extent players will have on the story, world state, and characters.

Mass Effect 4 Lair of the Shadowbroker

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The Importance of Choice in Mass Effect


Dragon Age: The Veilguard has shaken the assumption of a sequel where choices made are paid off in future games for many players, as it only carried over three decisions out of dozens made in previous games. It’s also unknown at this point if there will be a fifth Dragon Age game, and if any of the decisions in Dragon Age: The Veilguard will be relevant in the series’ future, especially as it’s been confirmed that the team and studio have shifted their focus to the next Mass Effect game.

Consequences and the payoff of choices from previous games have always been a staple of the Mass Effect franchise in particular. This was easier to implement in meaningful ways in Mass Effect than in Dragon Age because of Mass Effect‘s single protagonist and cast of recurring characters. The teaser trailer for Mass Effect 4 showed destroyed Reapers littered across the galaxy, a mass relay in repair, and Liara recovering what’s implied to be a piece of Shepard’s N7 armor. The teaser implies that BioWare’s made the Destroy ending from Mass Effect 3 canon, which would be unprecedented in a BioWare game, but could set a new trend for the studio.


Mass Effect and BioWare’s Future

There’s very little known about Mass Effect 4 so far, but one of the most important details BioWare could release early is the impact of player decisions, made in both the Mass Effect Trilogy and Mass Effect: Andromeda. BioWare held back on the lack of choices for the world state that could be imported into Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and the decision to release that information so late in the marketing cycle angered many fans.

BioWare needs to be clear on where in the timeline Mass Effect 4 falls, what choices, if any, from previous games will be imported, and if the choices made in Mass Effect 4 will be significant for future Mass Effect games. This will set a realistic expectation for fans, and avoid creating false expectations that align with previous games released as far back as 2009, rather than the state of BioWare today and what it can produce in the modern video game industry, especially if players are expected to wait ten years or more between game installments.


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