The Mass Effect games may have tried to make the journey uniquely yours, with everything in the titles adjusting itself in response to your actions and your agency, but they were still helped by having an extraordinarily strong lead- Commander Shepard is legendary, and he is definitely one of the most iconic gaming heroes of all time.
So Mass Effect Andromeda, the follow up to the original trilogy, definitely has its task cut for it, in trying to have a new protagonist who can fill in Shepard’s rather large shoes. Thankfully, according to a new tease made on Twitter by Bioware’s Ian S. Frazier, their new main character is unique and fresh- which means he should definitely stand out from Shepard, and manage to step out of his shadow a bit.
Of course, Shepard’s story was also helped by some extremely strong, well defined enemies and antagonist- the Reapers, yes, but also all the other creatures that Shepard must face and take down in the course of the Mass Effect trilogy stood out and provided a credible threat that kept players invested. The new enemies, no matter what they are, need to be similarly strong, too. Thankfully, Bioware’s Fabrice Condominas posted on Twitter this week, noting that the new enemies would definitely enrich Mass Effect Andromeda‘s storytelling.
It seems like Mass Effect Andromeda is coming together well, then, all said and done. That’s good- when it launches next year, it will have five years’ worth of pent up expectations to live up to, after all.