If you weren’t sold on Mass Effect: Andromeda, you will be now

We’ve been teased to Andromeda and back, but we finally have our first deep, detailed look at gameplay in Bioware’s upcoming epic, Mass Effect: Andromeda.

The studio, known for its epic RPG games including the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series’, lifted the lid on the hazardous, vast galaxy that players will be exploring come March.

The Game Awards made for the game’s stage, and the in-depth look showcased a number of familiar and new gameplay features.

In Mass Effect: Andromeda, you’ll play the role of the pathfinder, a “part explorer, part soldier, part guide”. The main task of the game is to — as Bioware puts it — find a new home for humanity.

As with earlier games in the series, you’ll be able to explorer the Andromeda galaxy in the Tempest, which is Mass Effect: Andromeda‘s Normandy equivalent.

Tempest acts essentially in the same way as the Normandy did: as the “bridge” between your adventure and what surrounds you in the galaxy. You’ll use it to reach points of interest, discuss mission objectives, customise your character, and so on.

There are a few subtle differences between the Tempest and Normandy, however. For one, the bridge of the ship will be a “more regular destination”, in that navigation is the primary task undertaken in that area. For a deeper look at the Tempest, check out this piece.

The latest trailer reveals a few new interesting tidbits about our characters, the core gameplay, and dialogue options. We see a city for the first time, the galaxy map, some in-game combat, and even some of the game’s driving. Check out the trailer below.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOIzH6UcoW4[/youtube]

Andromeda will also introduce a deep new crafting system. “Almost anything you need you’ll have to find, steal, or craft yourself,” as we’re told in the trailer.

Perhaps the biggest change in Andromeda is the nature of the world, and how our hero will interact with and progress through it. We know that the game’s antagonists will be more organic, and a number of trailers released thus far have hinted at humans being the “aliens”, which suggests a far more hostile universe than the one we experienced in the original Mass Effect series.

We’ve had a brief look at dialogue options in the trailer, which expands what we already know about romance options, which appear set to get a major overhaul. There are also huge changes coming to the Paragon-Renegade system: just how expansive, diverse and predictable that system will be, we’ll have to wait until closer to release to find out.

If you had any doubts about Mass Effect: Andromeda, the above trailer should have done enough to stem those concerns. Here’s hoping the game hits its March 2017 release: we’ve been waiting long enough!