Mass Effect 4: 12 Brand New Features You Need To Know About

8. There'll Be A Huge Map With A 'Fog Of War' Unlock Style

Have you played XCOM, FTL, Diablo or any real-time strategy game?

They thrive on giving you the outline of a rather large map, before asking you to uncover it piece by piece to see what's inside (even GTA V took this approach). It's known as the 'Fog of War' in more strategy-oriented titles, as alongside not being able to see the entire playing field there'll be enemy units and unknown items/encampments tucked away in places you can't see - yet it's up to you to ready up your defences and plunge ahead.

This is the approach ME 4 will take to uncovering the galaxy itself, peppering the playing field with resources to own, settlements to build, characters and races to find and interact with, and valuable pieces for your ship you'll need to delve further in.

Yes it's the No Man's Sky approach, but you can't deny how awesome it's going to be to recruit a ship full of space-faring adventurers, work ardently to uncover a specific armour type to withstand some galactic storms, and plunge on ahead into the unknown for mysterious bounties and alien races.

All that doesn't mention the addition of specific character abilities like "improving your leg armour to allow you to jetpack jump", "upgrading your cryo-beam (laser cannon) to target enemies" or like in Deus Ex, "do area damage around you to clear out close threats."