New Mass Effect Rumor Has Great News for OG Fans

A new rumor about the new and upcoming Mass Effect game -- tentatively dubbed Mass Effect 4 by many, and Mass Effect 5 by those who haven't forgotten about Mass Effect Andromeda -- is good news for fans of the original trilogy, aka Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, and Mass Effect 3. There are many reasons why Mass Effect Andromeda was a substantial step down from the original trilogy, including some controversial design changes. For example, where the first three games were, for the most part, tight and linear experiences, Mass Effect Andromeda chased the open world fad and failed in its pursuit. And part of the reason BioWare failed was because Mass Effect is not an open world series. Thankfully, it sounds BioWare has realized this. 

According to a new rumor, BioWare is ditching the open world design of Mass Effect Andromeda in favor of returning to the classic formula of the first three games. This is great news not only because Mass Effect is not an open world series, but because it's resources saved and redistributed to the parts of the game that matter most: the story, the characters, and the writing. If you don't nail these three things, you haven't made a Mass Effect game, you've made a shell of one.

As for the rumor, it comes the way of industry insider and reporter, Jez Corden. Speaking on the Xbox Two podcast, Corden noted he's "heard that Mass Effect is ditching open world and going back to its classic formula." Adding to this, Corden admits he's not 100 percent positive on the information, but clearly he's confident in it enough to pass it along. 

Unfortunately, it's going to be a while before we find out if this is true because it's going to be a while before we see the game, which is currently in pre-production and will be until Dragon Age Dreadwolf is out, and right now there's no word of when the next Dragon Age game will be out. In other words, it could be several years before we find out if BioWare has dumped the open world template it's used for its last three games: Anthem, Mass Effect Andromeda, and Dragon Age Inquisition, all of which suffered for it.