Next installment in the famous and most critically acclaimed science fiction action role-playing third person shooter video game series known as Mass Effect was rumored for long until BioWare finally took the wraps off and presented a gameplay preview of the next Mass Effect, which is rumored, but not officially confirmed, to be called Mass Effect 4, at Electronic Art's E3 2014 press conference. This small reveal made quite a fuss in the online gaming community, but in coming days the dust settled down. However, now, the developer has uncovered a load of new details about the next Mass Effect in a panel at San Diego Comic-Con, and fans are getting excited again.
BioWare Shares New Details and Images for the Next Mass Effect Title at Comic-Con - Male and Female Armors Showcased and New Video Shows New Mako in Action
It is somewhat a trend now that video game publishers reveal their major upcoming titles either at Electronic Entertainment Expo or at Gamescom, but that doesn't mean you should stop looking around when these two events are not near to happen. Just recently, BioWare revealed a ton of new stuff and details about the next big Mass Effect game at its “Charting a Course: Developing the Next Mass Effect" panel at this year's San Diego Comic-Con, and contrary to the rumors, the developer confirmed that the next game in the hit sci-fi franchise will not be called Mass Effect 4.
The panel was being conducted by a mix of developers from Bioware's Edmonton and Montreal Studios, and Carl Boulay (lead animator), Mike Gamble (producer), Noel Lukasewich (senior artist), Fabrice Condominas (producer), and Jessica Merizan (community manager) were taking the covers off some new important details such as the design of new in-game male and female armors and the first look at the new Mako in action.
Nerd Appropriate and The Escapist Mag's Andrea Rene were on hand to take some sneaky images and put them up along with the important information on their Twitter accounts. Thanks to their admirable work, we now have more knowledge about how the next Mass Effect will be like. Some of the most important bits that we were able to catch are that the design of the in-game male and female armors and a more enhanced version of the series' awesome spacer called Mako, which will be included in the next Mass Effect. You can see the new Mako in action in the video shared below, courtesy of The Escapist.
BioWare again confirmed at the panel that the next Mass Effect will feature a human protagonist, but unfortunately, not Commander Shepard, who is the hero of previous games in the series. No details were given out on when or where the story of the upcoming game will take place in the Mass Effect universe, but there is a possibility that the game could occur during Shepard's lifetime. It is still unknown whether races and characters from previous games will be included in the upcoming Mass Effect, however, BioWare did say that alien races will definitely return.
I am sharing all the tweets that were made by Nerd Appropriate and The Escapist Mag's Andrea Rene below in raw form, as they explain all the details in simple manner (collected from NeoGAF). All the images from BioWare's panel are shared at the end of the post.
- -The Mako is back, they showed video of it, and there are images of it below. It's apparently quite fast now.
- -"Building a game about exploring places, so you need a vehicle for that "
- -"We learned some things about vehicle frustration"
- -They showed off armor renders, viewable below
- -"Sounds like the timeline of #MassEffect will be during Shepard's lifetime but won't involve
- Shepard...hard to tell @GambleMike being cagey!" [Note: Two other tweeters said it sounds like it takes place in another galaxy, though that's not necessarily mutually exclusive with this.]
- -"Team reiterates that it is not Shepard's story and that this story one is brand new."
- -"no timeline was announced at the panel. Some hints were made but I have to re-listen to the audio."
- -"You will see a bit of old with the new (old characters MAY appear) "
- -"Competition is critical but cooperation is bigger for us" @GambleMike speaking on multiplayer in #MassEffect / "cooperative MP is bigger for us (than competitive)"
- -"Spiritual successor" vibe for the next
- -"It's ingrained in us to give players as much choice as possible" - @GambleMike #MassEffect
- -"The animation team is now doing stuff we couldn't even dream about before" speaking on Frostbite 3 for #MassEffect
- -"it's not called ME 4 damn it! " [I'm going to keep calling it that until they give it a name.]
- -No announcements on player race choice of composers when asked
- -The internet kept dying for the people livetweeting so there are more details that aren't here
- -"I got video of the new #MassEffect Mako in action"
Here are somewhat similar details in more refined manner so that you can get the points more easily, thanks to DualShockers for putting them up.
- The next Mass Effect has a “Spiritual Successor” vibe.
- Frostbite 3 allows the animation team to do things they “couldn’t even imagine before.”
- Speaking of customization, the team wants to give players as much choice as possible.
- It’ll be set during Shepard’s life time, but won’t involve him/her. It’s a completely new story.
- Cooperative multiplayer is more important for BioWare than competitive.
- Some of the characters from old games may make an appearance.
- It’s too early to announce composers and races available to the players.
- The mako will return, and it’s very fast.
- The game isn’t titled Mass Effect 4, at least for now.
- No release window was provided during the panel.
The official release date of the next Mass Effect has not been revealed yet, nor has publisher Electronic Arts indicated what systems it will be released for.
