PC Gamer UK March issue: Mass Effect Andromeda
Highlights posted on Reddit here.
There are also over a dozen ‘hubs’ in addition to the planet areas, including the Nexus, a Citadel-like space station, and Kadara, a populated zone that looks like a more cyberpunk version of a Wild West town from Firefly.
There is no ‘big bad’ like the Reapers, no overarching threat.
The story is slightly more optimistic bent, ‘instead of barreling towards certain doom’
The stories are ‘of a more casual nature’, says Michael Gamble
“The Reapers had basically attacked and everything had all gone to shit. It’s really hard to have a story about an individual, their struggles, their personal crises. For Andromeda we wanted to remove that a little bit so that we can tell stories of exploration, stories of a more casual nature. We definitely want to take on a bit of a lighter tone, for sure.”
Father passes down Pathfinder job ‘for as-yet-unknown reasons’ in first act
Some of the Initiative apparantly 'broke off and formed factions’
Planets will have enemy bases to clear out, powerful optional enemies and areas to scan for crafting opportunities
There are also puzzle-locked vaults to uncover
“One of the things that was very critical for us early on was this saying that when we develop these planets, each one needs its own story and its own history, its own backstory and its reason for existing.”
“We are approaching the completionist aspect very differently, because we’ve done and learned a lot from Inquisition. But we’ve also observed what other games have been doing, like The Witcher. And it was very important for us that the quantity of scope doesn’t downgrade the quality of whatever you are doing there.”
Side quests are 'meaningful’.
Loyalty missions like in ME2
“The squad members that you have, whether they’ve arrived with you or whether they’ve come before or whether they’ll come after – in addition to the kind of political game that’s been going on already in Andromeda, that sets a cool ground for us to tell a lot of different side stories. The story is not only about the cast. The story is about settling, the story is about survival, the story is about the locals – and that’s where the loyalties will definitely focus.”
'Not everyone arrives at the same time, there are things going on in Andromeda that you have no control over.’
Cora is 'more militaristic and orders and rules based’, Peebee will appeal to those who think adventure is fun
'The ability to express tone and different emotions to many NPCs in the game, and have different reactions from them based on that, is not just exclusive to your love interests anymore. It’s kind of sprinkled more throughout the game.’
Instead of rolling you use a dash attack and cover is automatic
Story missions are a little more arena-like (than out in the open world)
Space (the map) is more 3D than 2D
