If there’s one thing that I think encapsulates the feeling gamers need in order to throw themselves into a new release, it’s connection. People connect to video games in all sorts of different ways. Some need rich gameplay, others a deep narrative. Most appreciate a mixture of the two, but also want something that feels accessible. No overly complex, tabletop-style mechanics nor overly big open worlds. Side characters that make you feel like you’re adventuring with real people, and a protagonist you are the master of. A lot of those things are found in droves in the Mass Effect games.
Tapping into the space opera-style RPG core of Mass Effect feels like an opportunity developers have missed for some time. I’m no fan of copying other franchises directly, being part of a trend to piggyback off someone else’s success, but we’re coming up on ten years without a Mass Effect game now, with the last one being heavily critiqued at launch. There’s room and space for plenty of new names to give us a rag-tag crew we can tag along with as we try and save at least a portion of the galaxy.
Star Wars Zero Company, The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, and Exodus. Established IPs, a new one, and plenty of different gameplay mechanics, ambitions, budgets. Yet, there’s one thing that unites them all. They’ve each been compared to Mass Effect, and they’ve accepted those comparisons. Is the age of the Soulslike over, and is it time for the Mass Effect-like? Probably not, but if even one of these games is good enough to remind us of our times exploring the Normandy, it’ll be a great sign for the future of sci-fi RPGs as a whole.
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Like I said at the start, the ability for a game to connect with its audience is the key factor in succeeding in today’s market. Younger gamers tend to connect with each other, over multiplayer experiences, but as the CoD lobbies and Fortnite Seasons go by, the uncs of the world would prefer to kick back with an experience they can take at their own pace, balancing it with a job and demanding family life. That’s where a game offering an experience like Mass Effect can really shine. Creating a similar connection with the companions, characters, and world like the BioWare classics before can make a lasting impression that sticks with you, and might make audiences in ten or fifteen years’ time say “hey, this game’s like Exodus.”
I don’t know if the perfect storm of Mass Effect can be recreated. It delivered an original, expansive universe with deep lore and a truly unforgettable cast of side characters. That might not sound too difficult to do, and hopefully it shouldn’t be, but we are where we are with game development these days, where it’s entirely possible AI companions will be the norm in a couple of years’ time. At least, the three aforementioned games won’t be opting for this (even if Owlcat is using GenAI for The Expanse: Osiris Reborn). The creating an original world thing might already discredit Star Wars: Zero Company and The Expanse: Osiris Reborn from being true Mass Effect-likes, but the former looks to develop a small part of a wider universe and story, much like Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader did, and the latter comes from a universe that yes, has a lot of source material, but can still be introduced to a wide, new audience. What I find draws people more to comparing a game to Mass Effect, rather than its original world, is a game’s companions and the systems around them.
Connections, if I need to say it again, are a huge part of making a game, especially an RPG, memorable. Who best to form those connections with if not companions? Baldur’s Gate III proved it, just as Mass Effect did before. The suicide mission of Mass Effect 2 (which is the single best mission in all of gaming, by the way), doesn’t work without having a team you really don’t want to die, despite knowing you could lose them all. If Star Wars Zero Company, The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, and Exodus have anything they must focus on, it’s this. Repetitive gameplay or a slightly plodding main plot can all be forgotten if there’s a great character by your side. I remember more lines from Garrus, Tali, Liara, even Miranda, than I do from Commander Shepard herself in the Mass Effect series, and that’s where we need to see these upcoming games really succeed in order to properly claim the Mass Effect comparisons.
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This extends to design as much as it does the personalities of the characters. I couldn’t say I was thrilled to see Exodus reveal its companions, at least three of which were wearing the same stillsuit knock-off for their “armour,” and had rather vacant stares. I can deal with at least one Jacob or James, but please don’t make a whole roster of them. Thankfully, there’s a friendly Octopus who’ll come to your aid in combat, so at least there’s the semblance of sauce to be found already. It might make me sound like one of the anti-woke, every woman must look like Stellar Blade protagonist chuds online, but I’d also say there’s nothing wrong with making companions physically appealing as they will be personality-wise, too. Just don’t go for a Concord look, and you’ll be fine. Owlcat gets it, by the looks of things, as Larian did with Baldur’s Gate III. Make everyone equally hot, and you’re good to go. Except for the Octopus, I’m good without being able to romance the Octopus, thanks Archetype.
I won’t waffle on about companion design forever, but when people look for the connection and escapism these characters can offer, it does help at times when they can delve deeper into the character through things like romance. Avowed, for example, didn’t quite hit the mark with everyone just being your friend and there never being an option for something more. It’s not necessary, of course, but people love getting freaky with aliens. Mass Effect again, is a prime example. Star Wars Zero Company likely won’t have any such bonds, but with its permadeath system, I’m way more excited to get attached to my fake squadmates and then mourn them for weeks after a mission gone wrong.
Where Soulslikes tried to stuff themselves into a genre already filled by a developer putting out all-time classics on a regular basis, Mass Effect-likes come at a time when we’re in desperate need of a space-faring romp. Guardians of the Galaxy got pretty close, as did Baldur’s Gate III, in recreating similarly addictive worlds and characters, but for one reason or another they didn’t exactly scratch that Mass Effect itch. Here’s hoping at least one of these games can, if only to prove that yes, publishers, we do love RPGs that let us build connections with three-dimensional, interesting characters.