Mass Effect Andromeda is a standalone entry, but we’ll see more from Bioware

Mass Effect Andromeda has been generating plenty of buzz this week following N7 Day, which revealed a stack of new information about Bioware’s epic new sci-fi adventure.

If you haven’t yet checked out the trailer, make sure you do. And if you can’t hold off until next year to play it, then you can return to Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3, both of which have come to Xbox One backwards compatibility.

With N7 Day now behind us and fans clamouring for any new information leading into the game’s Spring 2017 release, a lot of the discussion now is centred around the characters, lore, and connection to the original trilogy.

There are big changes happening to the choices system, which, for better or worse, will make for a more diverse — and ambiguous — experience.

But where does Mass Effect Andromeda stand as a story, and as part of the broader Mass Effect lore?

As it stand, Andromeda won’t be part of trilogy, and may not even get sequels. Instead, it may act as a standalone entry, although we should expect large story-based expansion packs.

Bioware’s creative director, Mac Walters, took to Twitter to clarify a little confusion about Andromeda‘s future beyond release.

There has been particular confusion surrounding Bioware’s intention to avoid being tied down by long narratives and multi-tiered games, as it was with the Mass Effect trilogy, which went on for a good seven years.

“To be clear,” Walter said. “Just because Andromeda isn’t the start of a trilogy, doesn’t mean we haven’t been planning for future adventures. Just not three acts.”

While that’s fairly vague in itself, it’s clear that Bioware still has big plans for the Mass Effect series. We could still see a sequel if (when) Andromeda performs well commercially, although it doesn’t seem to be part of any planned three-pronged tale. We could instead evolve and move beyond Andromeda, which is an exciting prospect.