[dropcap size=dropcap]L[/dropcap]ately, I have notices a new custom within the video gaming industry. It seems that any trilogy will have as many chapters (parts) as the publisher wants. And Electronic Arts, already aligned to this trend, by announcing that the Mass Effect trilogy will have a fourth title: Mass Effect 4.
According to The Official Xbox Magazine, which mentioned a couple of Twitter posts posted by Yanick Roy, the boss of Bioware Montreal, Mass Effect 4 will be made more accessible to all gamers who will buy it, not only to the fans of the series. It will also try to give the fans of the series who were disappointed in the trilogy’s ending, another chapter, another way to connect to the Mass Effect universe.
The announcement of the Mass Effect 4 production is however quite interesting, as we found out that the game will be developed by a team that worked on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, one of the best RPG’s ever made,
According to Yanick Roy, the development process has already been started a while ago. “There is really not much I can tell you about the game right now,” Roy says. “Except that it will be built with the amazing technology of Frostbite as its foundation, enhanced by many of the systems that the Dragon Age III team has already spent a lot of time building.” Thus, even though he doesn’t give us much info on the future of the Mass Effect 4, we are informed that the video game will be built based on a Frostbite engine (probably 3) and that several systems from Dragon Age III will also be incorporated in the new Mass Effect chapter. Whatever that means.
What We Really Know About Mass Effect 4
According to some rumors, BioWare Montreal has already unveiled that Mass Effect 4 will be based on the Frostbite 2 engine. Frostbite 2 was already used with great success for the development of several great video games such as Need for Speed: The Run, Medal of Honor: Warfighter, Army of Two: The Cartel, Command & Conquer and Dragon Age III: Inquisition. According to Aaryn Flynn however, the general manager of BioWare, Mass Effect 4 will be based on the Frostbite 3 engine.
BioWare Montreal will be also responsible with the Mass Effect 4 development, with help from, BioWare Edmonton, the true creators of the series. Casey Hudson will keep his executive producer title.
As for the game play, there is no information available. Except the fact that several systems from Dragon Age III will also be featured in the new BioWare game. Moreover, we found out that players will be able to choose the main character’s actions, even the history of Mass Effect teaches us that they will have nothing to say on how the game will end. We hope however that BioWare will explore new grounds, and that the story and the game play will be changed for the better.
Mass Effect 4 release date
We already know that the BioWare team began to work on Mass Effect 4. Furthermore, it seems the studio wants to release the game in late 2014 or mid 2015. If we want to find out more about the game and the future of the Mass Effect series, we’ll have to wait until the publisher will give us some more official news and info on the subject.