The “Mass Effect” trilogy left some giants shoes to fill. Whatever would come after bore high expectations after one of the most ambitious projects in recent memory.

Following up BioWare’s instant classic is on par with coming up with a sequel to “Star Wars.” It’s a big responsibility full of challenges, but the developer is up to the task with “Mass Effect: Andromeda.”

“The trilogy is beloved,” said producer Mike Gamble.”People have named kids after characters. That’s a huge thing to inherit. We’re paying it respect by keeping it the way it is. It’s not a reboot. The characters still exist in the trilogy.”

But where the new chapter is different is the focus. In “Mass Effect: Andromeda,” it’s all about exploration. The upcoming role-playing game takes place in the aforementioned galaxy. After the events of “Mass Effect 2,” the major Citadel Council races create the Andromeda Initiative, and it’s tasked with sending a colony of the major races on a voyage of 634 years to the unexplored expanse. Players take on the role of either Scott or Sara Ryder. The twins are recruits aboard the human ark, which is partly commanded by their father Alec Ryder, the Pathfinder.

Gamble said the twin protagonists was done on purpose because of an issue with Commander Shepard in the trilogy.

“Part of it was there was a weird awkwardness of fem Shep and bro Shep existing in the same universe,” he said, referring to the nicknames of the male and female protagonist. Each of them had their own voice actor in “Mass Effect” and the performances gave a different vibe for each hero. “What about the cool dynamic between the characters?” Gamble said. “Imagine if they were too separate characters. They each have different impacts on the game.”

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That urge to conceive two separate female and male protagonists depending on who you create during the start gave rise to this idea. Players choose whether they play as a male (Scott Ryder) or female (Sara Ryder). Players can customize their hero’s looks, and when they begin the game, the other twin is still in cryo when Scott or Sara wake up. They have arrived in the Andromeda galaxy with the goal of checking out Habitat 7 in the Heleus Cluster, but aboard the ark, the situation goes awry as they hit a dark energy cloud, which destabilizes the ship.

Looking for a place to land for repairs, Alec Ryder, his child and a few other crew members head to the surface, but they hit lightning and crash land on the planet. That’s where they meet their first alien race — the Kett. The encounter puts players in one of their first big dilemmas. The aliens are beating up one of the surviving crew and the younger Ryder has to intervene. They can confront the aliens and risk being attacked or fire first and save the human.

It’s a situation that has more in common with “Star Trek” than anything else. Players have to remember that the Milky Way species are the aliens in Andromeda. As strangers, they have a moral imperative to be diplomatic. That encounter and the rest of the events on Habitat 7 sets up the feel of “Mass Effect: Andromeda.” If the original trilogy was a galactic epic between inorganic and organic beings, the follow-up pushes the idea of exploration.

Players are exploring new frontiers. Every world is supposed to look alien. The gameplay emphasizes this fact with the freedom of movement. For the first time in a “Mass Effect” game, players can jump. Not only that, they can sprint, leap long distances with the help of the jetpack and land safely from great heights thanks to thrusters in their suit. When they’re in a firefight, the context-sensitive cover system automatically puts players behind crates or rock formations. Being behind cover also boosts Ryders’ shield recovery rate.

On top of that, players have the benefit of an AI named SAM. Because it’s no longer in the Milky Way, the players new ship, the Tempest, can host the construct. It immediately proves invaluable as the game shows off the AI’s impact on the universe. As the initial Pathfinder, Alec Ryder has the ability to switch between different classes during combat. The younger Ryder can see how the father can seamlessly switch between security, biotic, technician (engineer), leader (sentinel), scrapper (vanguard) and operative (infiltrator) classes. It’s a foreshadowing of what Sara or Scott can do in the future and shows off the potential of the new combat mechanics.

“It’s a classless system,” Gamble said. “You can access different sets of powers. You can switch between those sets.”

The reason behind this is that in the previous “Mass Effect” the team felt that players were too locked in with their classes. Going one route meant that they couldn’t explore the rest of the rich combat experience. The ability to switch classes with the help of the AI SAM lets players experience the different types of fighting. If they’re in a large open map, they can choose operative and snipe foes from afar. If they’re in tight quarters, they could opt for the scrapper and go on the front lines.

Because players can switch between classes, BioWare decided to remove the pause option from combat. In addition, players can no longer switch between party members and use their specific powers. At the most, players can direct the other two party members to hold a position or regroup on Ryder. Those commands are mapped to the directional pad.

All of these options give players an unprecedented freedom of movement on the battlefield and during reconnaissance. It complements the theme of “Mass Effect: Andromeda.” It also differentiates the follow-up from the trilogy.

This is its own game. Instead of the Renegade and Paragon options during dialogue, players choose the type of tone they want to give. It’s more nuanced and befits a game where players need more than two options. The same can be said for Sara and Scott Ryder’s looks. Players have more freedom to give them wilder appearances (yellow hair with purple lips anyone?) because they aren’t exactly soldiers.

Despite these differences, “Andromeda” still has some core elements from the trilogy. Players will have allies and they can power them up and unlock special abilities by completing loyalty missions. The Tempest resembles the Normandy in some ways, and it serves the same function ferrying the crew around and housing them. Players will face difficult choices and that will impact the overall narrative.

But Gamble said that players shouldn’t expect this to be another trilogy. He said the team wants to see the player response to this and go from there. Unlike the previous game, there’s no set overarching plan. It sounds like the future of “Mass Effect: Andromeda” is still unknown. It’s unexplored territory and players will be able to venture forth into it March 21 on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.