Would it be a good idea for BioWare to adopt the style of Bethesda Game Studios (BGS) for the new Mass Effect game, which could determine the studio’s fate?

Since the end of 2020, we have known that a new Mass Effect game is in the works. At The Game Awards, BioWare presented a short trailer featuring an aged Liara T’Soni that subtly hinted at a direct sequel to the original trilogy, ignoring the events of Mass Effect: Andromeda. Another teaser was released on N7 Day 2023, but BioWare continued to focus primarily on Dragon Age: The Veilguard. After its release, the studio confirmed that it would start developing Mass Effect 5 instead of DLCs.

Last year, during N7 Day, we finally learned a little more when the franchise’s executive producer, Mike Gamble, told fans that the studio had to cover a lot of ground, develop many features, and create numerous romance options. The blog post also contained a secret message that the community deciphered within a few hours. It revealed a new graphic that strongly suggested one of Mass Effect 5‘s themes would be the Krogan Civil War. However, after all this, there is still a lot we don’t know. Will it be a linear game or an open world? In an interview with Press Box PR, Bruce Nesmith, a former Bethesda developer and lead designer of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, said he hopes it will be the latter because he believes fans have long wanted an open-world BioWare sci-fi game.

“I hope they try to take their lore and make a modern game out of it. One criticism I have of Mass Effect is that it always felt a generation behind. They had very cool characters and great stories, but the gameplay always felt dusty and old. It just wasn’t there. If they can take what they did well and do it in a more modern way, I think they’d have a fantastic game. Taking lessons from Baldur’s Gate 3 would really suit Mass Effect. They already incorporated that style in their games, and Larian Studios has the advantage of having produced the Divinity: Original Sin games. They were able to use that engine. However, I think they should try making a game more like those made by BGS. Mass Effect players are craving an open-world science fiction game with that kind of flavor. A big, open-world, content-heavy game? I think Mass Effect players would go nuts for that. But I’m a former BGS guy, so I’m probably going to say that about a lot of things,” said Nesmith.

On paper, this may sound fantastic, but history shows that BioWare doesn’t thrive on designing open-world games. Mass Effect: Andromeda included such elements, but it was the weakest game in the series in terms of reception. Dragon Age: Inquisition won several Game of the Year awards and remains the studio’s most recent successful release, but it was criticized for its open-world zones. Dragon Age: The Veilguard returned to more linear exploration. So, don’t expect Mass Effect 5 to be an open-world game.

BGS struggled to create a great sci-fi open-world game set across multiple planets, as evidenced by Starfield. Clearly, this is not an easy task.

Source: WCCFTech, Press Box PR