Mass Effect 5: 10 Perfect Ways Bioware Can Save The Franchise
And we thought the pressure was on after Mass Effect 3.
It's safe to say at this point that as a franchise, Mass Effect is on life support. Its third instalment had one of the most roundly-despised endings in the history of gaming, and even though we gave Bioware the benefit of the doubt when 'resurrecting' the canon for Mass Effect Andromeda, scores of bugs, bad storylines and boring questlines quickly put that to bed.
Still, the question of, "Does the public want more Mass Effect?" was answered with a resounding "Actually, yes", as ME:A still sold very well, topping various platform and gaming charts for weeks post-launch. Naturally, these statistics don't take into account the amount of copies then traded back in after the reality of Andromeda's naff-ness settled in, but it's safe to say that the love we all feel for the trilogy can still be mined for profit.
To that end, what would be known as 'Mass Effect 5' could go either way. Andromeda is a totally self-contained story - save for a post-credits scene tagging on another powerful figure above the main villain - though considering the literal point-and-laugh reception the game received, it might be another five years before another instalment drops.
If/when it does, Bioware need - even more than they did post-ME 3 - to nail every aspect of ME5's creation from top to bottom, starting with...