Mass Effect 5 is in a tricky position. The story of the original Mass Effect trilogy has concluded, while the new story which began in Mass Effect: Andromeda was poorly received, making it somewhat unlikely that BioWare will return to either points in the timeline for the next game.
Mass Effect 5 has an immense amount of freedom when it comes to determining the future of the franchise, but that freedom comes with a lot of pressure. After BioWare’s recent disappointments in Andromeda and Anthem, the studio has a lot riding on its fan-favorite sci-fi franchise. The game is also at risk from competition from other sci-fi RPGs and games with RPG elements which are coming out on the next-gen consoles first, but there’s a reason this could actually be good for BioWare and for Mass Effect.
Mass Effect 5 faces big competition in the sci-fi RPG market on the next-gen consoles. Outriders, a Destiny-style shooter with RPG elements is set to land first of all the competition, launching on February 2, 2021. This could give the new IP a good shot at establishing itself as a mainstay on the new consoles, and with lots of hype building around the upcoming title, the game could leave fans feeling like older IPs like Mass Effect are of a different era.
Not only that, but Bethesda, another giant of RPG developers, is embarking on its first new IP in 25 years on the next-gen consoles. Starfield will be a space-set sci-fi games, and leaked Starfield screenshots have led some fans to wonder if the game will be a combination of Mass Effect and No Man’s Sky. Whichever way Bethesda goes, a fresh face in the sci-fi RPG market could be bad news for Mass Effect 5, especially from such a big studio and with the franchise’s evident stagnation since Mass Effect 3’s controversial ending.
While fans know Outriders’ release date, Bethesda has announced that there will be no news about Starfield until 2021. However, the studio has also made it clear that Starfield will release before The Elder Scrolls 6, and with BioWare also working on Dragon Age 4 and the Anthem overhaul, it is likely that both Outriders and Starfield will be released on the next-gen consoles before Mass Effect 5.
There is a way BioWare could use this to its advantage if it’s willing to take some big risks. BioWare has an opportunity to look at what is working and what isn’t in Outriders – particularly in its combat – and in Starfield. For example, if next-gen audiences find Bethesda’s open-world storytelling style to be tiresome in Starfield, Mass Effect 5 could double down on the drastic ways player choices can affect the plot, or vice versa.
Mass Effect’s well-established IP may have taken some blows over the years, but there are also exciting features the developer can introduce that only work to hype up the game because fans already know about the Mass Effect universe. Mass Effect 5 could allow players to choose from alien races during character creation, for example, and unlike any aliens in Starfield, these will already be established species which will draw in players.
Mass Effect 5 doesn’t have to emulate either of these upcoming titles, but it can use them to see which way the wind is blowing in the sci-fi RPG market on the PS5 and Xbox Series X and to adjust the course of Mass Effect 5 in response. The next game in the Mass Effect series has a lot of different paths it can go down, and BioWare should take advantage of its ability to observe and combine it with that flexibility if it wants the game to stick the landing on the new consoles.
Mass Effect 5 is in development.
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