I recently finished Mass Effect: Andromeda and as I reflect back on the game and the overall experience I had I sit conflicted. There were a lot of parts of the game that I loved, there were some parts that confused me, but mostly there were a lot of things that I see that could and should be heavily improved upon for the next game.

First, here’s a little background on me and my experience with the Mass Effect series. I’ve played through the original trilogy multiple times, mostly going full Paragon. I’ve written extensively about the series, particularly gay representations in the original trilogy, and given talks about my analysis at the Gamercamp conference and at a speaking series at the University of Toronto.

Wasn’t a fan of Scott Ryder’s default appearance at first, but he really grew on me. (Credit)

For Mass Effect: Andromeda, I played as Scott Ryder, using the default appearance and name for both him and his sister, Sara. I used the Infiltrator class and pretty much exclusively used a Black Widow sniper rifle. My Ryder was gay, however, early in the game he did flirt with a couple of women — as I was mainly curious if the new “Heart” dialogue option was purely for romance, or also for expressing platonic affection for characters. Turns out it’s all romantic, all the time. I completed the game 100 per cent, including all side quests and loyalty missions.

What follows is a list of musings, both likes and dislikes about Mass Effect: Andromeda and where I would like to see it head in future installments in the Andromeda galaxy.

Please note: there will be spoilers.

Areas of Improvement

The Open World

Mass Effect: Andromeda drops you into this new galaxy and right away says “explore.” There’s a part of me that appreciates the open world found in Andromeda as a storytelling device. You are the Pathfinder and in this game it is your job to explore and colonize, and ultimately find a long-term home for everyone from the Milky Way.

Of course it makes sense that you should have to explore the planets you plan to inhabit. To provide just a series of progressive levels (as is more the case in Mass Effect 2 and 3) wouldn’t make any sense in the role of the Pathfinder upon arrival in Andromeda. (Although, there may be something to be said for why BioWare decided that this should be the role of the Pathfinder, but that’s a whole other kettle of fish.) In that sense, I try to be forgiving of the open world that BioWare has created. Plenty of people complain about the emptiness of the world, but if many of these worlds are uncolonized, then having relatively barren landscapes makes sense.

The worlds — Eos, Havarl, Voeld, Kadara, Elaaden — receive small bits of development/infrastructure as you place outposts on them, but none of them (and even the game acknowledges it) feel like home. That is probably something we can expect to see with Andromeda 2.

“Ryder, here’s more RemTech. Let’s go to another planet!” (Credit)

My issue with the open world lies with the fact that it severely affects pacing and mission structure that BioWare had gotten so good at by the end of the original trilogy. Take for example the lead up to Peebee’s loyalty mission. You have to go to all five of the major planets to essentially drive to a point, interface with some RemTech and then hop back on the Tempest and head to the next navpoint. By the time Peebee’s loyalty mission actually unlocked I was so tired of this constant inter-planetary chase that I started the mission not expecting much. (I was wrong on that count, but more on that later.)

Another example of how the open-world affects the mission structure is in the quest “Truth or Trespass.” This mission is unlocked after rescuing the salarian ark, and involves you searching for a potential traitor that sold the ark location to the kett. This mission has you travel to Havarl, Elaaden, and then finally suggests that you go to Kadara to meet the traitor as he’ll consider it unlikely to be a trap.

Let me re-iterate.

The game makes you leave your current location on Elaaden to jump back in the Tempest, fly to Kadara, land in Kadara Port, go down to the Slums, then head out to the cave where you’ll confront the traitor. Each one of those points involves loading times. By the time you arrive to confront Dr. Aden, you’ve probably spent the last 5–10 minutes just trying to get there; the pacing is ruined and the emotional impact of the story is lessened every time another loading screen pops up.

My hope for Andromeda 2 is that the open world is largely done away with. We’ve already placed outposts, colonization efforts will be well under way and Andromeda should start to feel like a home. When I return to Voeld or Eos, I want to see how the outposts are expanded and hear what life is like there. What I don’t need to do is drive from one end of a desert planet to the other to find a navpoint or a shiny beacon of light (that somehow unlocks memories). If you want me to see multiple areas on a single planet, give me multiple landing zones, or even re-introduce the Kodiak that was in Mass Effect 2 & 3.