BioWare's latest release, "Mass Effect: Andromeda" failed to captivate long-time fans of the series. The role-playing action game came out in March earlier this year for the PC, Xbox One, and PS4. However, at launch, the game was filled with bugs and less than perfect animations of the characters present in the game. Since then, BioWare has been trying to satisfy fans with regular patches and updates, fixing all that was wrong with the title at release.
However, in June, Kotaku reported that sources close to the game's developers had indicated that "Mass Effect: Andromeda" would not receive any single-player DLCs.
The sources had claimed that the studio decided to ditch the additional content after negative reviews and lack of interest from fans. However, it was just a speculation at that point of time and BioWare did not confirm or deny these rumors. On Sunday, the company revealed that they would indeed not be releasing any additional single-player content for the game.
Why No DLCs?
The game in question was the fourth title in the beloved "Mass Effect" series, but developers wanted to give a fresh take on the story and introduced all new characters and changed the complete setting to that of explorers trying to find a new habitable planet for humanity and all the other races. The three previous games focused on the journey of the protagonist Commander Shepard along with his teammates.
This may have been the first missed step from BioWare, trying to keep the "Mass Effect" series alive without putting into place the familiar characters and locations.
However, without any doubt, the game suffered most when it came to the character design and facial animations. Fans and critics alike pointed out that the facial animations were far worse than the last "Mass Effect" game which was released almost six years prior to this one.
Although subsequent patches did address the facial animation issue somewhat, it was still the primary reason why the game failed to make an impact.
Is this the end for 'Mass Effect'?
Even though the developers will not be releasing any more story content in the game, multiplayer expansions will be released soon. BioWare asked fans to wait for news regarding the multiplayer additions till N7 Day this year.
So, the company has something in store for fans in that department.
However, this does not seem like the end of the 'Mass Effect' series as well, as there is still a huge demand for a better game set in the same universe. It is more likely though, that BioWare will take a long break from "Mass Effect" and focus on its other franchises for now. It may return to 'Mass Effect' some years down the line.