Mass Effect 5 has been confirmed to be in development at BioWare. The sci-fi franchise exploded onto the RPG scene back in 2007, and in 2010, Mass Effect 2 would go on to be one of the most acclaimed games in the genre. However, since then the controversial ending to Mass Effect 3 and the poor reception of Mass Effect: Andromeda have damaged the series’ reputation, the next game will have a lot of work to do to get it back on course.
Mass Effect 5 has a Shepard-Ryder problem. Shepard, the protagonist and player character of the first three games, struck a delicate balance between two previous schools of RPG protagonist design. Ryder’s first outing in Andromeda showed the immense difficulty of replicating that formula in the same setting, and Mass Effect 5’s protagonist will have some huge challenges to overcome to deliver the kind of main character Mass Effect fans have come to expect.
Commander Shepard is neither a blank slate, nor so intensely characterized that players cannot project themselves onto the commander. Shepard is one of few RPG protagonists to be given a voice that doesn’t create a separation between the player and the character, and the ways the character’s design pulls this off is key to figuring out how the Mass Effect 5 protagonist could emulate Shepard’s success. One school of RPG protagonist design demands that the player character be a completely blank slate. This is most evidently seen in RPGs like Skyrim, where nothing about the player is established aside from the opening events of the game. Shepard has a few different origin options, but they have little impact on the game’s story overall.
However, not only is the character not a blank slate, but Shepard has a clear personality, one that is clear even as players choose between Paragon and Renegade morality options. Shepard is always clear, sometimes firm, occasionally jokey, and most of all, commanding. Shepard’s natural affinity for leadership is one of the clearest threads throughout their character, yet there’s a key reason this level of characterization doesn’t affect the player’s abilities to project onto the character.
Shepard is a relatable character not because the commander is a blank slate, but because the character’s confident chemistry with the world around them makes them the perfect vessel for exploring the Mass Effect setting. When players want to know more about their alien squadmates in Mass Effect 1, Shepard talks to them with ease. When players want to hang up on the citadel council, Shepard delivers their final lines with Captain Kirk’s swagger, in no small part due to the fantastic performances of Jennifer Hale and Mark Meer.
While players can’t make Shepard be whoever they want, the character is designed with an understanding of what sort of stories the players might be trying to tell when they pick certain dialog options. The game understands that in certain moments the most satisfying thing for Shepard to be is commanding, caring, or cool. The game has confidence in its own ability to make players feel a certain way.
For example, it has confidence that few players will dislike lovable characters like Tali or Garrus, and Shepard’s interactions with them leans confidently into that presumption. Similarly, it’s understood that Miranda may engender suspicion when she first appears in Mass Effect 2 in a way that other characters will not, and the dialog options Shepard has with her reflect that. Shepard may not be a blank slate, but they reflect what the players expect at that point in the story.
This would never work if the other characters in the original Mass Effect trilogy, particularly the companions, weren’t so compelling. This is where Ryder’s problems begin. Ryder also isn’t a total blank-slate, but by the fourth main Mass Effect title, the companion characters were simply less interesting, at least one reason for that being players were less invested in learning about the alien races already established in the original trilogy.
This made the one new alien companion, Jaal the Angara, the most popular new character among many fans. Ryder’s chemistry with Jaal also worked best because the originality of the character meant the developer was able to identify the key reactions most players would have to the him: curiosity, mild amusement, and respect. Ryder’s interactions with Jaal were able to lean into those assumptions.
To create a strong protagonist in Mass Effect 5, the developer will likely have to build a strong new story and setting first, full of colorful characters and pressing new stakes. This will be one of the biggest challenges the game faces, with Mass Effect 3 already escalating the stakes to galaxy-wide extinction. The next game in the Mass Effect series can’t just be more of the same. It will need to be evocative enough that BioWare has a strong sense of what emotions it’ll be bringing out through its setting and characters.
It is through this that the protagonist’s reactions can be designed to feel unique and characterful but also relatable. The main personality traits of the protagonist could be significantly different from Commander Shepard’s, yet the character could work just as well if their line delivery accurately reflects player reactions to certain events and set-pieces.
The Mass Effect series has long proved that RPGs do not need blank-slate protagonists to have relatable player characters. The real question will be whether or not the Mass Effect franchise can still produce a game world which feels original and exciting so that the emotions it will evoke from players are clear enough to form a character around. With BioWare’s future unclear and the franchise yet to get fully back on its feet, the future of both Mass Effect and its main characters remains up in the air.
Mass Effect 5 is in development.
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