Mass Effect Andromeda is a bold new step for the franchise, taking place in a completely different time and location to the original, critically acclaimed trilogy. Indeed, while many aspects have changed from Shepard’s galaxy-spanning battle against the Reapers, Andromeda is very much keeping in with tradition when it comes to character relationships; and by that, we mean flirting with and ultimately bedding various crewmates and other sort you come across in the game. Who said you can’t have a bit of fun while saving humanity?
BioWare has already teased some of the Mass Effect Andromeda romance options, revealing that we can get intimate with a host of characters who cross paths with Ryder during his/her adventure, and has asserted that Andromeda’s sex scenes will be worth the wait. And, while the game has yet to hit stores for PS4, PC, and Xbox One, a dataminer on Reddit has uncovered a host of information pertaining to Andromeda’s web of intricate character relationships. Read on to find out more, but obviously you’re going into major spoiler territory here, so don’t say we didn’t warn you.
- Bisexual romance options: Vetra, Jaal, PeeBee
- Scott (male) Ryder romance options: Cora, Gil, Doctor Charlie, Harry (rumored)
- Sara (female) Ryder romance options: Liam, Suvi
- Unknown: Reyes, Keri T’ Vessa, Aya Relic (possible pursuable character from Angara race)
“By my count, if you include squad, crew, and light romances, we have more romances than we’ve ever had before," commented Creative Director Mac Walters. "And like I said, the relationships are more in-depth than we’ve had before."
Furthermore information regarding Mass Effect Andromeda romance options reveals that a relationship with Reyes plays out in a similar fashion to Kelly Chambers from Mass Effect 2, whereby it’s nothing more than a brief fling. Furthermore, as highlighted above, the Aya_Relic character is believed to be from the new Andromeda race known as Angara, while the doctor who helps thaw Ryder out at the beginning, Harry, is speculated to be another romance option.
Ryder isn’t the only one who can light the flame of passion during your adventuring within the Andromeda galaxy, however. Walters has revealed that “the squad and crew definitely have their own relationships. And at least one ‘crush’ I can think of.” From these comments, we can extrapolate that he’s talking about Lexi T’Perro, the Asari doctor who we know has a crush on Drack following hints from her voice actress, Natalie Dormer. In addition, it has also been reported that PeeBee may have a thing for Jaal, having speculated whether Asari can mate with all Milky Way species.
Of course, Andromeda does implement some changes in comparison to the original trilogy. “For me, typically in the trilogy it was a bit formulaic,” Walters explained. “You’d talk to them and then get to that one point in the game where there was no going back and romance was going to happen. That’s not real life. There should be some people who just want to hop in the sack immediately. There should people who are interested in a long-term relationship. There are people who aren’t interested in romance at all."
"It has to be a part of who they are," he says. "It can’t just be, ‘we need to have three male and three female [options].’ We do look at the balance and make sure there’s good inclusivity, but I’d much rather say if we need to do that then we have to rethink that character."
Elsewhere, speaking to IGN, Walters noted that not every player is guaranteed to like the romance options available for their character, noting "not everyone’s going to love every character, and you shouldn’t try to do that. We actually want to build some characters who are going to appeal to certain people… A lot of that actually comes because we have large writing teams. Different writers can invest in their characters in different ways, so you get this nice differentiation between all the different characters.”
Mass Effect Andromeda is due out on March 21 in the U.S. and March 23 in Europe. The game takes place around 600 years after the Reaper invasion depicted in the original trilogy, and sees gamers exploring the titular Andromeda galaxy as newcomer Ryder; a pathfinder tasked with finding a new home for humanity. BioWare has insisted the title isn’t a traditional open-world game despite the emphasis on exploration this time around, with Andromeda reintroducing the Mako (known her as the Nomad) to facilitate exploration of uncharted planets.
The game will feature a multiplayer component similar to the previous game, although gamers can expect some changes. BioWare will support the multiplayer will various post-launch content, although pleasingly it’ll be made available free of charge. Originally, the developer had planned to run a beta for Andromeda’s online mode, although this was cancelled earlier in the month, presumably due to the proximity to the game’s launch.