Seven Years Later: Re-Visiting Mass Effect: Andromeda – A Bittersweet Reunion
Mass Effect: Andromeda – My Buggy but Intriguing First Impression (and Why I'm Going Back!)
Mass Effect: Andromeda launched in 2017, and my first playthrough was...a disaster! Bugs, glitches, frustrating gameplay issues—the whole shebang. I gave up before finishing. And now, seven years later, I'm itching to revisit this controversial title. Why? Because I have no unrealistic expectations!
Andromeda promised a massive adventure! A journey to another galaxy; exploring new worlds, discovering other unique species, uncovering mysteries surrounding that ancient race, those seriously interesting Remnant people; it promised all that awesome stuff and truly sounded like the game that everyone could just pick up and start enjoying without worrying about all those elements that impacted the trilogy so much! Sadly, my early attempts were hampered by technical issues; a seriously rough launch made that impossible, however after the amount of time which had passed; and after understanding some things which had transpired throughout that previous attempted playthrough; and after learning the immense significance behind all those problems with initial expectations. It's worth going back, and exploring it, not merely with new viewpoints but different and much improved game performance, showing an immense leap compared to when I had originally encountered the game.
A Rough Launch and Unfulfilled Potential
Andromeda looked amazing; trailers hyped up this unique, explorative experience across this totally new galaxy; and even presented those unique enemies, that seriously intriguing and impressive-looking Kett! But that initial launch? It didn’t deliver a finished game, the hype became seriously diminished and there was plenty of issues affecting gameplay; resulting in plenty of bugs which impacted gameplay so intensely. It lacked polish which really shows even after so many fixes. All that awesome lore involving those impressive Remnant, they weren’t exactly easily explored nor were these exactly developed as deeply as intended.
Criticism remained brutal. DLC, and further potential expansions for this promising series? All canned. It’s sad. Even Cyberpunk 2077 proved games can recover from poor launches but that recovery requires those serious investment choices! BioWare decided differently. The best decision then became abandoning this potentially incredible story, instead using resources for creating new content, in hopes to generate the kind of critical recognition that only a hit title would achieve, even creating sequels and expansions.
What Went Wrong (Beyond the Bugs)?
It's easy to ignore Andromeda and pretend it’s not a thing, even within Mass Effect’s universe itself. I don’t believe this however should happen; it’s actually really good on certain points – especially that incredible setting that never really came to life! What went wrong, outside those unavoidable problems with software launches? I believe there were some unfortunate issues:
- Mass Effect 3’s controversial ending created a lot of baggage; and even created immense backlashes which significantly impacted fans and could have possibly carried over into early development stages for this game;
- Andromeda's unique aspects didn’t quite mesh with people’s previous positive experiences from that trilogy – causing huge underperformance.
- The romances in Andromeda seemed uninspired when compared to previous games;
- Ryder in N7 armor (an honor reserved for elite soldiers within the Mass Effect universe) didn’t work as intended; this was meant to connect this new protagonist with Shepard. A bad attempt.
All that stuff contributed to Andromeda's poor reputation. But I'm ready for another try!
A Second Chance (With Realistic Expectations!)
Enough time has passed and some other developments also occurred, mostly after understanding those existing and extremely deep-seated issues within this entire storyline. It's time to reconsider those early disappointments. Now, I expect nothing more than a simply good game experience.
Knowing it's unlikely there will ever be additional storylines (it won't appear in Mass Effect 4, from initial teases). This completely takes the pressure off, making that whole experience even more easily and freely available! I still hope they may expand in Mass Effect 4 and having information learned within this unique storyline can only make that whole process much more valuable, however.
Could Andromeda Ever Get a Second Life?
Games do sometimes get sequels way after the last entry! But this really feels unlikely, even for Andromeda! It failed. And now there is renewed interest into reviving some of the characters within the original storyline – hinting strongly that Bioware has set up Mass Effect 4 to bring it much closer to previous titles. If it succeeds, a Mass Effect 4 with this additional storyline included would have greatly boosted its potential. There simply aren't great circumstances suggesting its potential resurgence.
Conclusion: Revisiting Andromeda with a Fresh Perspective
Andromeda remains a complicated and unfortunate failure in terms of a critically well-received sequel; and many fans are not willing to ever go back. I totally understand! Yet those bugs won't hurt this potential comeback so much as this new knowledge acquired long after the game had already failed! A change in perspective is a huge opportunity, eliminating those impossible, completely unrealistic expectations that marred this original playthrough. This makes revisiting Andromeda almost totally bittersweet, this time around–knowing its story isn't fully told. But those explorations across that beautiful galaxy are totally still enticing!
