A canceled Mass Effect game, previously known as Mass Effect: Universe, would have taken choices from the Commander Shepard trilogy into account according to former technical director Romain Toutain. The game was built around decisions made in the original games, allowing players to create parallel universes with their saves. Toutain explained that the game would have had different timelines, not exactly parallel universes, but rather different branches of the story. This would have given players a highly personalized experience, allowing them to shape the galaxy and its fate.
Toutain also revealed that the game would have allowed players to experiment with the story and its many branches, likening it to Spike Chunsoft's 2016 video game, Zero Time Dilemma. He also mentioned that the game would have had systems similar to Dragon Age: Inquisition and the series' lore-tailoring Keep application, allowing players to make decisions that might contradict previous choices. The game's tech was also described as exciting, with a system that solved logical equations to determine the validity of player choices.
The ideas teased by Toutain sound ambitious and complex, but unfortunately, they will likely never see the light of day. EA announced last week that it had shuttered the long-running RPG developer and canceled the game, with additional plans for the franchise's future in games on hold. Fans have already erected a #SaveMassEffect movement in the aftermath, with a petition garnering an unreal 185,000 signatures at the time of this story's publication.