Announced in December 2020 during the Game Awards, the next episode of Mass Effect done from a low profile. However, Bioware may consider moving away from Electronic Arts' Frostbite Engine and returning to the Unreal Engine.
This is in any case what emerges from a job offer for a technical director relating to the fifth opus of the legendary Action-RPG franchise from Bioware. The American studio would indeed be looking for a person with, among other prerequisites, some experience on the Epic Games engine.
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A Frostbite engine that threw a chill
The original Mass Effect trilogy, initiated in 2007 on Xbox 360, had indeed been developed with the Unreal Engine 3. It was not until 2017 with Mass Effect Andromeda, a particularly divisive title, that Bioware made the transition to the Frostbite Engine.
A transition that has not been the smoothest. If the last title in the Mass Effect franchise had an incredible story, it all started behind the scenes of development. The project was indeed entrusted to the small team which was only responsible for the multiplayer of Mass Effect 3. This therefore explains a particularly successful gameplay on Andromeda, unfortunately to the detriment of everything else.
Another element that led to the debacle that we know: the imposition of the Frostbite Engine, which was obviously not suited to the ambitions of this project. Mass Effect Andromeda was originally intended to offer a space travel system relatively similar to No Man's Sky. Understand by this many visitable planets. Due to a lack of time and resources, these ambitions have been largely revised downwards.
In addition, the studio in charge of development had to completely re-adapt the Frostbite Engine for the needs of their game. Usually confined to Battlefield, DICE's flagship FPS franchise, this engine was not cut out for open world universes, and even less for a title integrating mechanics inherent to RPGs such as dialogues or others. All this in an extremely short period of time, which led to a crash launch, since caught up with waves of patches.
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A return to basics not so unreal?
For the strong comeback of its iconic video game space opera, Bioware therefore seems to want to put the odds on its side. If the mention of the Unreal Engine in a recruitment offer for a technical director does not have the value of a clear decision, it is however a strong sign in this direction.
It would also mean that Bioware hopes not to repeat the mistakes of the past and thus return to an engine that the studio knows and masters. Although licensed to Epic Games, the Unreal Engine has proven time and again that it's amply equipped for open-world RPGs. This is unfortunately not yet the case for the Frostbite Engine.
Patience is however in order for any official statement vis-Ã -vis the next opus of Mass Effect. Bioware is indeed currently very busy with the development of Dragon Age 4, on which we do not necessarily know more. Still, teams of veterans would be in charge of both projects, which we hope can bode well for the uncertain future of the studio, as well as for fans of both universes.
