Mass Effect 5 Should Answer One Big Question Fans Have Been Dying to Know
While the Mass Effect franchise was put to the side following the release of Mass Effect: Andromeda in 2017, it thankfully hasn't been abandoned for good. And while the reception for Andromeda was mixed, canceling all DLC projects for the game may not have been the best course of action; now, there are several questions that fans will be expecting the next entry in the Mass Effect series to answer.
The current rumor mill suggests that a Mass Effect Trilogy remake is in the works, which isn't Mass Effect 5 by any means, but it is something that fans have been craving for years. If that rumor is true and a remake of the original trilogy is forthcoming, then that could pave the way for Mass Effect 5--and answers to several burning questions about events in both the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies.
Beyond a potential Mass Effect Trilogy remake which should absolutely happen, there's pretty much no information about the next entry in the Mass Effect series, beyond the fact that it'll happen someday. But will it be a continuation of the Andromeda storyline? Will it be new galaxy standalone, thus making Andromeda one as well? There was enough left hanging by the cancellation of Andromeda DLC to warrant a sequel, and whether or not BioWare goes in that direction, the fans will want answers.
Here's the biggest question of them all: what happened to the Quarians? The last anybody had heard, something must have happened to their ark on the journey. The Keelah Si'yah (which is quarian for "by the homeworld I hope to find one day") was designed to not only transport quarians, but other alien races: Drell, Hanar, Batarians, Elcor, and Volus. Thus, building the ark to those specifications took more time than the rest, and the Keelah Si'yah's departure was delayed until after the first wave of arks left the Milky Way.
By the time Andromeda starts, people are still expecting the Keelah Si'yah to arrive in time, even as the other arks have a less-than-ideal introduction to the Andromeda galaxy. Hyperion, the human ark, is the only one to make a safe arrival at the Nexus, and "safe" is putting it lightly; the Hyperion only docked after nearly suffering a fatal run-in with the Scourge. The Asari, Turian, and Salarian arks had an even rougher go of it, and at the time it seems like the Keelah Si'yah's delay will be its saving grace.
However, there are hints during the game that things may not be going well for the Quarian ark either. Later on, Pathfinder Ryder discovers that the Keelah Si'yah did in fact make it to Heleus, but that something is wrong; a distress call comes in from the ark. However, because the Quarian ark is currently "unsafe" somehow, its location is not included in the broadcast. At the time, it seemed like this would be something that Ryder would uncover themselves through later DLC.
With the cancellation of the Quarian ark DLC, however, this huge plot thread was just left hanging, to many fans' dismay. Did technical difficulties from the base game really warrant the cancellation of a significant piece of DLC? Moreover, does BioWare ever plan to address this glaring issue in a future Mass Effect title?
On the one hand, Andromeda clearly didn't do as well as BioWare hoped it would, so it wouldn't be a complete surprise if Mass Effect 5 was in a completely new galaxy much like Andromeda. On the other hand, there's already a ton of established lore ripe for using in Andromeda, with the added benefit of huge chunks in the galaxy still unexplored, a whole Scourge still needing to be dealt with, and other problems in need of addressing. Should BioWare discontinue the Andromeda story, it won't be for a lack of plotlines to follow.
The thing is, whatever else fans thought of Andromeda, its story wasn't bad. There were bugs that made things difficult, and some fans may have had a hard time emotionally moving on from Shepard and the Milky Way (especially given the strange and unsatisfying ending that Mass Effect 3 provided), but that shouldn't invalidate the good things in Andromeda's plot. After everything players did to make the Andromeda galaxy safe and habitable, it may be similarly unsatisfying for BioWare to just move on from that game because of prior missteps.
The biggest question left is still the quarians' whereabouts--and what they look like under those suits--but there's plenty more. For example, what'll happen with the Ryder family? The twins had just discovered that their mother was alive, albeit still sick with a deadly disease; their father had hoped that the cure could be found in Andromeda, and who's to say it can't be? And what about the future of Andromeda as a whole, with Ryder heading the effort to settle Meridian? Ryder's relationships, both romantic and otherwise, can still be followed up with.
If the quarian ark can't be DLC, then it should be part of whatever comes next in the Mass Effect franchise. This could be made even better by a Mass Effect Trilogy remake; now with the plot of Andromeda laid out, the remake could contain hints and easter eggs throughout that make the lead-in to Andromeda even more satisfying, and thus also increase the hype for Mass Effect 5.
Basically, there's a lot to cover should Mass Effect 5 take place in Andromeda, and so long as BioWare can take better care this time around, there's no reason it shouldn't.
The next Mass Effect appears to be in development.
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