Happy N7 Day to everyone who celebrates the annual day marked in many gamers’ calendars to experience the “Mass Effect” franchise. The original video game trilogy remains one of the most notable examples of what role-playing games could actually be capable of, helping to pioneer the idea of narratives that respond entirely to the player’s choices. Even though a fourth game titled “Andromeda” just came and went in 2017, interest in the continued adventures of Commander Shepard and his motley crew never completely waned. That’s essentially what inspired the announcement of a “Mass Effect” series adaptation on this same date a year ago, although details have been scarce since.
Maybe we just have to wait until November 7th each year to get information in dribs and drabs. After speculation abounds among fans, today we bring confirmation of some much-welcomed information regarding the planned TV show for Amazon. Questions have hovered over several aspects of this production, largely revolving around when exactly the show’s story will take place and which characters it might follow. Thanks to an official blog post from Mike Gamble, executive producer at BioWare and project director on the “Mass Effect” games, we finally have the answers to (some of) these questions. After confirming the upcoming game currently in development, Gamble turned his attention to the Amazon series, writing:
“The writers’ room is doing well, and we’ve learned a lot about how it fits into the Mass Effect canon and where it fits in relation to the new game. The series will explore an entirely new story in the universe’s timeline and take place after the original trilogy. It won’t be a retread of Commander Shepard’s story – because after all… it’s YOUR story, right?”
Amazon series will have to address the controversial ending of Mass Effect 3
By now, you don’t even have to be an obsessive gamer to know about the controversy that followed the release of “Mass Effect 3” in 2012. The entire trilogy built up to this climactic trio, where the relentless, primordial alien villains known as the Reapers set their sights on Earth and the total eradication of organic life in the galaxy. Given the malleability of the storyline, depending on the choices each player made during the campaign, it made sense that the ultimate conclusion would take the most impossible form yet in order to save the galaxy: destroy the Reapers along with all synthetic life, take control of the Reapers by sacrificing Shepard’s very humanity, or literally merge all of life in a strange organic/synthetic hybrid.
Naturally, none of these options left fans very satisfied, but that’s the legacy Amazon’s “Mass Effect” series will have to deal with moving forward. By setting the action after the main trilogy of games (albeit focusing on different characters), the series’ writing team ironically has no choice but to settle for a “canonical” ending… and, in doing so, take that decision out of the hands of large groups of players. We’ve wondered about this inevitable crossroads ever since the rumor of a “Mass Effect” series was first mooted, but there’s no indication yet how it might be resolved.
Yes, if you thought your favorite franchise had struggled, imagine having to be part of the creative team responsible for finding the official ending to one of the best – and most polarizing – video games ever made. Maybe they could call “Mass Effect” fan Henry Cavill for suggestions?
