Summary
There is still a lot that BioWare hasn’t revealed aboutMass Effect 4. Announced in 2020, fans know the game will feature the return of Liara and have something to do with the Geth. One oftheMass Effect 4teasersalso showed what appears to be a human-made Mass Relay, and the Alliance seems to be hiding something from the Citadel Council. However, the new game is otherwise mysterious.
Classes are one of the things that BioWare hasn’t revealed aboutMass Effect 4. The original trilogy had three basic classes specializing in weapons, tech, and biotics, plus three mixed classes for a total of six. However,Mass Effect: Andromedadid away with classes, letting players unlock whatever abilities they wanted. Still, assuming classes return inMass Effect 4, the new game should borrowDragon Age: Inquisition’s approach to representing each class in the player’s party.
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Mass Effect 4’s Party Should Showcase its Classes
Dragon Age: Inquisitionfeatured three base classesand nine specializations. Each was represented by one of the Inquisitor’s party members. This means that no matter which class and specialization the player chose, they would never miss out on the other eight. This also allowedInquisitionplayers to preview the unlockable Specializations by looking at what their party members can already do. Having three followers of each class also made it a little easier for players to switch up their party from adventure to adventure without completely unbalancing their party.
However, onlyMass Effect 1’s Kaiden and Ashleyhad playable classes. Shepard’s non-human squadmates each have a unique class, which only partly resemble the playable equivalents. For example, Liara’s Asari Scientist class has the same biotic talents as the playable Adept class but trades the Adept’s weapon and armor Talents for Tech ones and has different class-specific buffs. Likewise, Garrus' Turian Agent is a similar concept to the Infiltrator class, being a long-range Soldier-Engineer hybrid, but has a different combination of Talents. The same applies to the squad members' classes inMass Effect 2andMass Effect 3.
In theory, this allows each squad member to feel unique, with squadmate classes representing both the different cultures and the individual’s personality. However, the player must also work with preset archetypes rather than let them customize their squad mates' abilities. Not to mention that if a player likes a squad mate’s class, the game prevents them from building their character the exact same way.
The simple solution would be to have six to nine classes with at least one party member for each. Alternatively,Mass Effect 4could have multiple party membersper class but with more flexibility in how players can build those classes.
As an example,Mass Effect’s Vanguard classis a close-range fighter that combines combat training with biotic powers. However,Mass Effect 2offers other interpretations of the Soldier-Adept hybrids in the form of the Asari Justicar and Drell Assassin. Samara’s unique class combines biotics with rifles and submachine guns, while Thane is a biotic sniper.
Mass Effect 4’s combat biotic could make room for all three by offering a broader, more flexible skill tree. The new game’s Vanguard equivalent would have a weapon tree, a biotics tree, and a passive tree with a few branches each. Under this system, Samara would start part way down the rifle branch of the weapons tree, and part way down the Pull and Throw branch from the Biotics tree, and a few passive buffs. However, players could still choose to go down different branches or even respec her completely.
BioWare could then do something like that forMass Effect 4’s other five classes, with one- or two-party members starting with different builds. This approach gives players flexibility with their build and keeps the classes universal while leaving room for individual party members to stand out.
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The galaxy is trapped in an endless cycle of extinction. Every 50,000 years, an ancient machine race invades with ruthless efficiency, wiping out all advanced organic civilization. They leave behind only the scattered ruins of technology, and they destroy all evidence of their own existence.
Few believe this ancient legend. You, however, know it to be true. The fight to stop this extinction event has become the most important mission in the galaxy.
And it is your mission. As Commander Shepard of the SS Normandy, take your elite recon squad across a galaxy in turmoil in a desperate race to stop the return of an enemy without mercy. To stop this enemy, you must act without remorse, without hesitation, and outside the limits of the law. Your only imperative is to preserve the safety of civilized life in the galaxy—and at any cost. You must become the tip of the spear of humanity, for you alone know the full extent of what is at stake if you fail.
