14 DAY TRIAL // The developers at BioWare chose to shift focus from the Rachni species introduced during the first Mass Effect in order to give more screen time to the Geth civilization and their interactions with the player and humanity.
Drew Karpyshyn, a project leader for the first series of the game and the main writer, tells Kotaku that “The Rachni choice is something we really wanted to have massive repercussions down the road. Unfortunately, the realities of working in the industry – schedules and budgets and deadlines – mean that we can’t do everything we want to do.”
The Rachni were an insect-like species that had a neural link to a queen, and the story of the game implied that they could be of great help in the fight against the Reapers.
Players could choose to save the last known queen and allow her to breed, or jettison her into space.
Many fans were disappointed that they disappeared from the second game and that their involvement in the third Mass Effect was minimal.
The writer adds, “the Geth were going to be sort of pushed to the side. But people really responded to them. We wanted to explore the Geths and that was one of the tradeoffs of not doing more with the Rachni.”
The dispute between the Geth and the Quarians became one of the central conflicts of the series and was linked to the wider theme of how biological based life forms and robots can co-exist.
One of the most emotionally charged moments of Mass Effect 3 was linked to the Geth.
Drew Karpyshyn also created novels that explored the back story of the series.
At the moment, BioWare is working on a new project linked to the Mass Effect universe, although none of them will use Commander Shepard or any of the already known cast of characters.