New Mass Effect Details Leak Through Online Survey

Details of the next Mass Effect game may have leaked due to an online survey that revealed plot and gameplay details, courtesy of a post by a now-deleted reddit user. The new Mass Effect, currently in development by BioWare, is reported to be halfway complete with the developer targeting a 2016 release.

The reddit user responsible for the post claims that they “take surveys online for a little extra money,” and that one such survey described the forthcoming Mass Effect game in great detail, and then asked if the description sounded appealing.

Beware of potential spoilers!

The synopsis posted on reddit  reads:

“The next Mass Effect game takes place in the Helius Cluster (a cluster of 100s of solar systems in the Andromeda Galaxy), far removed by time and space from Commander Shepard’s heroic acts and the final events of the Mass Effect trilogy. You are a pathfinder, a combat trained but un-tested explorer leading an expedition into the Helius cluster to establish a new home for humanity.

As you explore this sprawling series of solar systems (over 4x the size of Mass Effect 3), collecting resources and building colonies, you will encounter the savagery of untamed lands in the form of cut-throat outlaws and warring alien races. To survive and colonize the wild reaches of space, you will need to grow your arsenal, your ship, your crew and make strategic (and often uneasy) alliances to fight against increasingly menacing foes.

Along the way, you will encounter the remains of a once powerful and mysterious alien race, the Remnant, whose forgotten technology holds the key to gaining power in this region of the galaxy. As you uncover who the Remnant were, and the mysteries their ruins contain, you are drawn into a violent race to find the source of their forgotten technology that will determine the fate of humanity.”

The survey also mentions “seven distinct crew members” who can be recruited for missions, while gameplay is said to include a strategic element, with you as commander tasked with deploying “AI controlled Strike Team[s]” to defend territories, since “you can’t be everywhere at once”.

As far as first-person missions are concerned, BioWare plans to integrate all travel and combat modes, saying, “Transitions between activities, like flying your Tempest (space ship) across a solar system to land on a mineral rich planet, then jumping into your Mako (land vehicle) to explore the surface of planet, all happen smoothly without loading screens”.

The game will also include online multiplayer hoarde mode, much like Mass Effect 3, and loyalty missions for your seven recruitable team members. Further details, regarding upgrades, vaults, and colonisation, can be found in the reddit post.

The above is unverified so, of course, should be taken with a huge pinch of salt. If true, though, it sounds like the next game in the series has the potential to wash away the bad taste the ending to Mass Effect 3 left in my mouth. If not, I’ve always got that salt.

Thank you reddit for providing us with this information.

Image courtesy of Unigamesity.