After “Dragon Age: Inquisition” came out and saw a successful release, rumors indicated that BioWare are now stepping up the development of “Mass Effect 4” and are moving forward with the game at full development capacity. If the rumors are to be trusted, the studio is aiming for a 2016 release date, although an exact month hasn’t been given yet. The game is expected to introduce some radical changes to the standard “Mass Effect” formula, and many fans have kept a close eye on rumors about it, given the disappointing finale of “Mass Effect 3”.
First of all, the game is reportedly going to feature several new characters – this was semi-confirmed in an interview with Mac Walters, head writer for the game, in which he said that the writers’ current goal is to come up with a character that’s new compared to the overall formula, but still has the same familiar feeling that fans of the series have grown accustomed to through the last installments. It’s rumored that Shepard’s child will be featured as a new character in the game.
In addition, he hinted that the new storyline might include a subplot that’s completely unrelated to Shepard and his work in the previous games – although it’s not known if this will be an entirely separate side-plot, or if it will be tied in to the main story in some way. According to the interview, the main problem the writers are facing is balancing how the game feels to players, between an entirely new production and a spin-off of an old series.
As for the ending of “Mass Effect 3”, Walters stated that the studio considers this case closed. Their stance on the situation is that a lot of time has passed since the incident, they’ve learned their lesson, and they’ve done what they could with the release of the Extended Cut. Obviously, there are no plans to make any further changes to the plot of the game nearly two years after it’s been released.
With so many rumors, it can be a bit difficult to tell where the truth lies. One thing seems clear right now though – BioWare have learned a lot from the development and release of “Mass Effect 3”, and the studio seems strongly determined to make up for their mistakes with the last game. And in the end, “Mass Effect 3” wasn’t that bad of a game as a whole, it just had issues with the way the story wrapped up. As the subsequent release of the Extended Cut showed though, this isn’t really something that can be fixed post-release, the studio only gets one shot at making a proper, satisfying ending.