14 DAY TRIAL // It seems that the long-awaited Mass Effect: Andromeda, the new major title in the science fiction franchise from developer BioWare and publisher Electronic Arts, is at the moment playable for those working on it, which might be a sign that more details about the experience will be arriving in the coming weeks, although neither company seems ready to talk at the moment.
The information comes from Jos Hendricks, a level and technology designer working on the title, who bragged on Twitter about the fact that he was interacting with the game properly for the first time, and then offered some explanation about what that means.
The BioWare game creator is unable to talk about the mechanics or the story included in the sections of Mass Effect: Andromeda that he is playing because of the NDA he has signed but his conversations point at an expansion of familiar elements rather than a completely new take on the series.
Publisher Electronic Arts has stated in its financial documents that it expects the new title to be out ahead of the end of fiscal year 2017, which means at some point before March 31, 2018.
Given the publicity cycle that is associated with modern AAA releases, that means that Mass Effect: Andromeda will need to be officially revealed with a major trailer before E3 2016, with plenty of details about the story.
BioWare has said that it wants to create a game that will draw in a new set of fans while also offering plenty of reasons for fans of the original trilogy of titles to return, even if there's little connection to the galaxy that they helped save.
Mass Effect: Andromeda will explore a new galaxy
The developers have made it clear that the adventures of Commander Shepard are now done and that they move away from the Milky Way, which gives them more freedom when it comes to protagonists, new races and innovative gameplay ideas.
BioWare has said that exploration will be one of the main themes of the experience and that an entirely new set of ideas featuring a new Mako is implemented to make it easy and fun to move across the surface of planets.
The studio has also suggested that contact with alien races will be more detailed, with gamers able to choose the way they want to interact, with the decisions set to have long-term consequences.
Andromeda will bring the Frostbite 3 engine to the Mass Effect series, which will result in bigger worlds, more complex combat scenarios and other improvements.
It's unclear whether the familiar third-person and cover based system for combat will be kept or if there are plans to make this area of the game more dynamic or more tactically driven.
BioWare has also talked about its desire to create a sense of wonder by thinking up alien worlds that are more detailed and engaging than they have ever been in the franchise.
Mass Effect: Andromeda will probably be offered on the PC, the Xbox One from Microsoft and the PlayStation 4 from Sony.
Oh gosh, I'm playing Mass Effect: Andromeda properly for the first time. This is exciting!
— Jos Hendriks (@Sjosz) December 18, 2015