We now have an explanation for why the now-cancelled Mass Effect: Universe was named that, as well as some insight into how the sequel would have handled Mass Effect 3‘s infamous multiple endings. Like many Mass Effect fans, I jumped with excitement when BioWare announced a fifth installment in its sci-fi RPG franchise – and just like those same many fans, I was crestfallen when the project was officially cancelled in light of BioWare’s closure last week.
Since that news hit, there have been multiple leaks and insights into Mass Effect 5, or Mass Effect: Universe as it would have been titled. A demo trailer was posted online mere days after BioWare’s closure announcement, showing an unnamed spy and his crew picking a fight with some goons in a bar while on some sort of top-secret mission. From what we knew of the game before it was scrapped, Mass Effect: Universe would have taken place several hundred years after the events of the original Mass Effect trilogy, with fan-favorite squadmate Liara T’Soni set to return in a supporting role.
Mass Effect: Universe Would Have Featured Multiple Timelines
While we sadly might never get to play Mass Effect: Universe for ourselves, we at least have some ideas about the game’s title and how it reflects the state of the universe after the end of the Reaper war. As reported by GamesRadar, Romain Toutain, who was working as a Technical Director on Mass Effect: Universe, recently discussed the project on a Twitch livestream.
A Bluesky user by the handle of Lou translated his statements, which revealed that Mass Effect: Universe was called that because the game would have allowed players to more or less create their own timelines and parallel universes. “One of the reasons why it was called Mass Effect: Universe is that you had so many choices that you could plug your saves together to create parallel universes,” Toutain explained. “To keep it simple. It’s not exactly how it worked. You had different timelines, basically.”
The Mass Effect series was always centered around a player’s decisions, and how those choices impacted the ongoing story of Commander Shepard. Major story beats carried over into sequels through imported saves – though this raised several questions when it came to continuing the franchise after Mass Effect 3. Without spoiling anything, the controversial conclusion to that entry marked a definitive ending to Shepard’s saga and gave players a choice that would have permanently changed the Milky Way in major ways.
2017’s Mass Effect: Andromeda side-stepped this issue by focusing the story around a colony in a separate galaxy far removed from the Reaper war, but it seems like Mass Effect: Universe‘s multiple timelines would have addressed it head-on by allowing players to explore a different dimension based on their final color-coded decision in Mass Effect 3. Unfortunately, it seems we are just looking into a timeline that will never be with Mass Effect: Universe, as Romain Toutain also noted that it doesn’t look like EA will shop the game to other studios to finish what BioWare started.
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