BioWare Montreal has reiterated that Commander Shepard’s part in the Mass Effect saga is done and dusted – but that doesn’t mean the end of the franchise as a whole.
Speaking to VG247, the studio’s Fabrice Condominas said the team is still generating ideas for the inevitable Mass Effect 4 – or whatever it may be called – and more importantly, it’ll star a new hero that won’t simply be a carbon copy of Shepard.
“There is one thing we are absolutely sure of – there will be no more Shepard, and the trilogy is over,” he said.
“This is really our starting point. Now the Mass Effect universe is vast, and very, very rich. So at this point in time, we don’t even know what kind of time frame we’re going to be in. All we’re doing is more gathering ideas from the teams, gathering feedback to see several things.”
“So first, we don’t want to make ‘Shepard 2′, or Mass Effect 4 with like, ‘oh there’s no more Shepard but you’re a soldier in the universe’. So this will be a very, very different context for sure, and nothing has been decided on the rest.”
Mass Effect 3 was released in March 2012 and saw the conclusion of Shepard’s part in the series as he and the armies of the galaxy banded together in an effort to defeat the Reapers. However, the game is still being supported by DLC, with the next batch, Omega, due out before Christmas.
PSU.com recently voiced our opinion on what we’d like to see from a new Mass Effect title, which you can read here.