10 Problems Nobody Admits About Mass Effect (That Andromeda Can Fix)

8. Revamp The Quest System (Open The Galaxy Map Anywhere)

Mass Effect Galaxy Map
Bioware

Another one for the "It's far worse than you remember" pile, over the years we've seen various developers redefine how to organise content for an open-world game. Bethesda/Fallout 4's rotary HUD shows what's nearby, CD Projekt RED/The Witcher 3's question marks populate its map, every Ubisoft game peppers its mini-map with a million things to see and do - the list goes on.

Contrast this with Mass Effect, and unless you're in a particular city or on a specific planet, there's almost zero indication of any points of interest.

In Mass Effect 3 in particular you'll be assailed by main and side quests, before checking your email and finding various characters alluding to meeting spots or wanting you to look into a number of things. They'll mention assumed locations, only for nothing to appear on your Galaxy Map.

Instead, you'll have to memorise the star systems and planets mentioned and hope after sitting through a string of loading screens, you got it right. There are small map markers, sure, but these tend to be for main missions and certain side missions only.

If Andromeda is indeed as big as Bioware are purporting, we need the option to toggle a "Just show me everything!" view at any time; something that will help us plan what to do in the moment, inside the current environment, as well as on a given planet or where we may want to fly to next.

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Gaming Editor
Gaming Editor

WhatCulture's Head of Gaming.