Following this week’s cancellation of Mass Effect 5, purportedly called Mass Effect Universe – alongside the closure of the entire BioWare development studio – new gameplay details about the role-playing game revival have emerged, including handcrafted missions that gave players Hitman-style freedom, the abililty to hack the environment, brutal close-range executions, the return of Liara, and much more.
YouTube content creator Dantics revealed the details in a new video, as he was a member of the Mass Effect Council – a group of external Mass Effect community members who gave BioWare feedback on the game during development. IGN has verified the legitimacy of these details, and can add that a development source told us that BioWare had “every major [alien] race” working in the build.
Dantics says it “looked incredible” and added, “From what I saw, BioWare was making Mass Effect for us, the fans.” More specifically, he shared that the new Mass Effect was set over 600 years after the Reaper War, and your customizable agent was like a John Wick/James Bond-type character who has had experimental technology implanted in you. As a result, you’d be able to hack and manipulate the environment such as letting you “see through walls, identify systems, remotely trigger hazards, and more.” Furthermore, you’d also be able to perform “brutal, close-range executions.”
Meanwhile, the galaxy has been divided into three major factions, with humanity, the Krogans, the Batarians, and others allied together. The Council races formed their own alliance, while the Geth had emerged as a third superpower who constructed megastructures. Dantics describes the setting of Mass Effect Universe as “a galactic Cold War instead of another Reaper-style invasion with a shadowy adversary.”
Missions would’ve been handcrafted, like in the original trilogy, “but with Hitman-style freedom in how you complete them.” Your squadmates would be able to clash with each other, while romance options would return without being “sanitized.” Finally, Liara would return from the original trilogy, now as a powerful Asari Matriarch.
BioWare’s closure and Mass Effect 5’s cancellation have saddened many in the gaming community. I wrote a eulogy about how BioWare was the greatest RPG developer ever. Our own Jackie Thomas lamented that we’ll never get to see the series redeemed after the disappointment of Mass Effect Andromeda, and IGN’s Matt Purslow believed that EA never knew what it had with BioWare. An internal trailer leaked online following the cancellation that gives us all an idea of what BioWare was building.
Fans aren’t giving up yet, though, as an online petition has already surged past 50,000 signatures. In addition, a Canadian politician is calling on the government to support BioWare developers in a buyout that would enable to run the studio independently. We spoke to a number of analysts this week to find out why EA shut BioWare down, and the chances of a franchise selloff.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, and a co-host of Next-Gen Console Watch. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
