With the release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard on the horizon, one of the core questions is what BioWare’s future looks like. After two staggering failures in Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem, it’s clear that a lot is riding on Veilguard, but it’s not the only game on the way as we’ve seen some brief snippets and details on Mass Effect 5. With the launch of the highly-stylized Veilguard, BioWare executive producer Michael Gamble assuaged some fans’ fears — the next Mass Effect will still retain the tone and style of the beloved series.
One of the biggest and most obvious changes with Veilguard is its art style, which certainly feels a bit more stylized and almost cartoony, than the previous game Inquisition. It’s not entirely surprising, however, as every single Dragon Age has had a massive change in visual style, and Veilguard falls pretty well in line with the aesthetics of Dragon Age 2. But Mass Effect has never done that, it’s pretty staunchly stuck to its sci-fi trappings the whole time.
Gamble took to X to address concerns that Mass Effect 5 might go the way of Veilguard, saying “Lots of people asking me about Mass Effect now that Veilguard reviews are out, and Oct 31 is close. Both are from the studio, but Mass Effect is Mass Effect. How you bring a Sci Fi RPG to life is different than other genres or IPs... and has to have different kinds of love.”
These two series have been BioWare’s staples for a long time, but their paths of hugely diverged. Dragon Age stuck to its RPG roots while Mass Effect embraces much more of an action approach. But the spirit of the series will, apparently, remain the same moving forward. In response to a user who said Veilguard has a Pixar-esque style, Gamble says “I'm not sure I agree with the Pixar thing, but Mass Effect is photorealistic and will be as long as I'm running it.”
That means at least stylistically Mass Effect will remain the same, but the initial trailers we’ve seen have stirred up a wealth of questions on just what the new game will be about. Mass Effect 3 brought a pretty definitive end to Commander Shepard’s story, and Andromeda struck out in a new direction — even though said direction wasn’t received well. In that regard, Gamble says “Regarding tone questions: Mass Effect will maintain the mature tone of the original Trilogy. This is all I'm gonna say for now.”
The only thing we really know about Mass Effect 5 is that it will take place sometime in the future, and feature Liara T’Soni, one of the more prominent party members of the original trilogy. The first teaser, released three years ago, has a camera panning through galaxies and space wreckage before zooming into a snowy planet, where Liara digs a piece of N7 armor, the same iconic armor Shepard wears, out of a mound of snow. A second teaser released last year gives us a small scene of a mystery character in a new N7 outfit — some kind of trench coat.
It’s hard to build any real theories out of that, but Gamble confirming the new game will stick to the mature, exploratory tone the series is known for should instill a bit of confidence. That’s especially true considering the mostly positive reception for Veilguard — a game that has some definite flaws but Inverse called a “promising step forward for the series.”
With Veilguard soon to be in the rearview mirror, all eyes will certainly shift to Mass Effect, and expectations are going to be high.
