Mass Effectis in the middle of an attempted comeback, with a fifth game in the series currently in development. It has a long road to go, and not just when considering the length of modern AAA development. Following the relative disaster ofMass Effect: Andromedain 2017, the series teased another game set in the Milky Way, which remains officially untitled, but is tentatively known asMass Effect 5. Sporadic teasers haven’t offered much insight into where the fifth installment is heading, butit now has some serious competition from another science fiction RPG.
BioWare’sMass Effectseries – or at least the original trilogy – has long been the pinnacle of space opera in gaming.Andromedawas a bold next step for the franchise, adopting more openly explorable zones, but a number of factors contributed to its bleak reputation. DuringMass Effect’s now eight-year absence, a replacement hasn’t stepped up, and the games starring Commander Shepard even made a triumphant reappearance withMass Effect Legendary Edition. A new RPG has been revealed that has an exceptionally promising confluence of developer and setting, and it looks like it takes a lot of cues fromMass Effect.
The Expanse: Osiris Reborn Looks Like Mass Effect In A Different Universe
Third-Person Action RPG In Space
Developer Owlcat Games revealed an upcoming project calledThe Expanse: Osiris Reborn. It’s based on the novel seriesThe Expanse, and takes a lot of its visual cues from the television show of the same name, also an adaptation of the books. While the lone trailer is mostly cinematic story teasers,there are a handful of gameplay clips, and it’s hard to overlook the obviousMass Effectcomparisons. It’s a third-person shooter that seems to make heavy use of cover systems, and there are a number of gadgets and abilities that are reminiscent of the skills and powers you wield inMass Effect.
But it’s not just surface-level parallels. The official web page forThe Expanse: Osiris RebornonOwlcat Games' website reads almost like a description of a newMass Effect. “The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is a third-person sci-fi action RPG,” reads the site, where you will “gather a crew and find your own path through the web of lies to leave your mark on the solar system.” A mention of a “brief sojournon the asteroid Eros” that “entangles you in a solar system-wide conspiracy” even sounds a lot like Shepard getting dragged into the mysteries of the Reapers after coming into contact with the Prothean beacon on Eden Prime in the originalMass Effect.
There is a heavy emphasis on your ship’s crew inThe Expanse: Osiris Reborn, andagain it seems to follow in the tradition ofMass Effectwhere each companion has a personal story in addition to their motivations for joining you on the main quest. Your ship is emphasized as an important hub, and your choices in the game are touted as bearing significant weight in deciding the fate of the solar system.
The Expanse: Osiris Rebornwill unsurprisingly feature a variety of locations to explore, and while it won’t have the entire Milky Way at its disposal,there are plenty of places players will find familiar from the books and TV series. Ganymede, Ceres, Eros, Mars, and the Moon are explicitly mentioned on the official website, and will seemingly all be explorable and filled with NPCs to converse with.
Owlcat Games Is Great At Working In Established Settings
It’s Tackled Pathfinder & Warhammer 40K
While the atmosphere of the trailer and its gameplay clips are already promising,the most exciting thing aboutThe Expanse: Osiris Rebornis that it’s coming out of Owlcat Games. The studio has built its reputation on CRPGs, so a third-person action RPG will be interesting new territory, but its strengths carry over well to a game based onThe Expanse. Owlcat already has a wealth of experience working in established universes, first making a couplePathfindergames, then releasing thefaithfulWarhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader.
Owlcat’s games are known for their massive scripts, which dive deep into their respective franchises' lore. WhileMass Effectwas an original setting created by BioWare, its world-building is one of the reasons it’s become so beloved, andOwlcat will thrive with such a rich background likeThe Expanse. The studio has so far only produced isometric games with turn-based or real-time-with-pause combat, soOsiris Reborn’s action combat may be something to keep an eye on, but Owlcat’s RPG systems are usually sophisticated enough that character building shouldn’t be of any concern.
BioWare Isn’t The Same
CallingThe Expanse: Osiris Rebornmore promising thanMass Effect 5isn’t to say I think the latter will be bad; in fact, I perhaps have misguided faith in BioWare to deliver, even despite my tepid perception ofAndromeda.The game does, however, have a lot working against it, not the least of which is its publisher. Electronic Arts,Mass Effect’s publisher and BioWare’s parent company, has recently conducted a series of layoffs. Among those layoffs camerestructuring at BioWare, which left the studio with a headcount of less than 100.
There’s a relatively small team working onMass Effect 5in pre-production, and it would seem EA has lost some faith in the studio after last year’sDragon Age: The Veilguard, which wasreceived favorably by critics, but ended up being divisive with audiences. TheMass Effectgames aren’t ambitious by today’s standards, but they pushed the envelope at the time, andit remains to be seen if BioWare will have the development power to truly deliver.
While I hopeMass Effect 5can succeed, there is also some trepidation surrounding its premise.Returning to the Milky Way is all well and good, but it could be resurrecting Commander Shepard as well, which might not satisfyingly continue on from the choices players made as the character in their individual playthroughs.Mass Effectwithout the Reapersis also a massive deescalation of stakes, and if they’re brought back, it’ll undo all the work of the original trilogy.
I would love to have a new, incredibleMass Effect, but I’m worried the odds are stacked against it. BioWare still has a lot of potential despite the circumstances, and this is likely the game to prove it. No game has really stepped up to challengeMass Effectin its absence, butThe Expanse: Osiris Rebornlooks like it’ll give it a shot, albeit in a slightly more tame setting in a single solar system.
