Mass Effect: Andromeda may very well be the year’s biggest release.
Initially locked in for a March 2017 release, fans and industry pundits were skeptical that the game would meet the schedule.
We now finally have a confirmed, locked in date, and Bioware’s next RPG epic will indeed arrive on time.
The studio today confirmed that the game will launch worldwide on March 21, 2017.
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“Mass Effect: Andromeda is our most ambitious Mass Effect game to date,” Bioware said. “We’re telling completely new stories, creating new characters, new planets, new species, and introducing new gameplay systems. And for the first time, we’re bringing Mass Effect to the Frostbite game engine, an incredible engine that’s delivering a tremendous graphical jump from the trilogy to Mass Effect: Andromeda. To deliver on this, we’re taking all the time we can to make sure you’re getting the best possible experience.”
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.
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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 — showcased at last month’s game awards — revealed 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://youtu.be/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.
Mass Effect: Andromeda launches March 21, 2017 on Xbox One, PS4 and PC.
