Good science fiction is rooted in good science- or at least in an extremely convincing imitation of good science. That has been the adage to which science fiction storytellers have adhered for over a century now, and it seems like Bioware plan on sticking to it too, with the upcoming Mass Effect Andromeda.
Speaking on Twitter, Bioware’s Mac Walters said that the company plans on taking the science and technology in the game ‘very seriously,’ implying that the development studio may yet again work with scientists and astronomers ‘informally’ to ensure a semblance of scientific accuracy to sell their setting.
Of course, given just how out there that setting is – humans are surprisingly anthropocentric when it comes to their science fiction media, and we have very rarely strayed away from our own Milky Way galaxy, even to the Andromeda galaxy, which is just a stone’s throw away as intergalactic distances go (and getting closer by the second!), which was interestingly enough also something that famed science fiction author Isaac Asimov planned on making a big plot point in his seminal Foundation series – we’re not quite sure how that will work. Even in terms of hard science, Andromeda is basically uncharted waters. We know it exists, and that it’s a giant ass galaxy, but what it actually is like is anybody’s guess. Bioware have free reign to do whatever they want with that setting, and still have it be plausible simply because no one knows better.
I suppose the allure of that kind of free reign over storytelling, while still technically holding true to real science, must have been one of the reasons for the developers to go with that setting.
Great question. We have, informally, done so in the past. We take the science and technology of #MEA very seriously. https://t.co/ZPhilztl7L
— Mac Walters (@macwalterslives) June 28, 2016
