If rumors are to be believed, one of BioWare’s upcoming games (Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is also in the works!) may have eliminated one thing in its gameplay.

Mass Effect: Andromeda was somewhat open-world. It wasn’t quite that, but it wasn’t that typical in 2017, and it might have been better if it had offered a more linear experience. It became the low point for the franchise, and in 2020, BioWare confirmed that it had begun development on Mass Effect 4. Since then, we’ve seen several teasers, but no gameplay reveal has been made so far, and it’s unknown exactly where the team is in development. Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is closer to the finish line. There’s no denying that (although it has gone through several reboots as monetization first entered the project and then was taken out by Electronic Arts).

Jez Corden, writing for Windows Central, talked during the latest The Xbox Two Podcast about Mass Effect 4 dropping the divisive open world so that the franchise’s classic format can return. For those unfamiliar with Mass Effect, let us explain. Essentially, there is a hub from which we can decide the order in which we complete the missions available to us (including the side quests for loyalty). While the combat sections were primarily linear, there were often secluded, secret locations with many rewards. This formula was replaced in Mass Effect: Andromeda with the partially open world seen in Dragon Age: Inquisition.

If BioWare adopts the old system, it will have the opportunity to develop the dual galaxies properly (rumored to be expected; the rest of the series had only one galaxy). An open-world space RPG can be created with dozens of galaxies and thousands of planets if they are procedurally generated (see No Man’s Sky, Starfield…), but Mass Effect has been known for being all man-made.

Developing open-world games takes the most work… and since BioWare has had repeated reports of crunch (especially Anthem…), they might not resort to that.

Source: GameRant