A recent announcement from one of BioWare’s producers suggests that the next fan-favorite Mass Effect squate Liara T'Soni. Many fans feel a new Mass Effect game is long overdue, given that the last main entry in the series was 2017’s divisive Mass Effect Andromeda.
While BioWare utilized Unreal Engine for the original Mass Effect trilogy, it would switch over to EA’s in-house Frostbite Engine for Mass Effect Andromeda. This would prove to be a controversial change, as Andromeda was met with considerable backlash at launch due to several visual bugs and questionable facial animations, in addition to some half-finished features and an arguably weaker plot. Previous rumors have suggested that BioWare could once again be using Unreal Engine for the next Mass Effect, something that lots of fans have been hoping for.
Gaming journalist Jeff Grubb recently shared a tweet by BioWare producer Brenon Holmes, announcing that his team is looking for talented programmers with experience in Unreal Engine 4 or 5 to work on the next Mass Effect. While this doesn't outright confirm that the project will be using the latest Unreal Engine, it does seemingly reveal that Mass Effect 4 won't be using Frostbite. Grubb notes that this tracks with previous rumors he heard of BioWare returning to Unreal for its next game, and that this decision was apparently made by the development team rather than a mandate from EA.
Players got their first playable experience of Unreal Engine 5 in the form of recently-released The Matrix Awakens, a tech demo made in collaboration with the crew of The Matrix Resurrections. Those who ed this free-to-play demo after it was released during The Game Awards 2021 livestream event were wowed by near photorealistic depictions of Keanu Reeves and Carrie Ann-Moss as they talked players through the potential of Unreal Engine 5. Some observers even noted that the fully-realized open-world city featured in The Matrix Awakes reminded them of what CD Projekt Red promised with its long-troubled Cyberpunk 2077.
The Matrix Awakens showed off some truly impressive graphics, leaving fans to wonder just what BioWare could accomplish by applying this promising new engine to the visually alluring sci-fi world of Mass Effect. Given BioWare’s past experience with Unreal and the mixed reception of the Frostbite-powered Mass Effect Andromeda, it seems that BioWare is going back to what worked with the original Mass Effect trilogy games, which are still widely considered to be among the best Western RPGs ever produced. Fans will probably have to wait to see what Mass Effect looks like with Unreal Engine 5 though, as rumors indicate that development on the next Mass Effect game won’t begin until 2023 at the earliest.
Source: Brenon Holmes/Twitter (via Jeff Grubb/Twitter)
