Mass Effect Andromeda is an ‘exploration-based’ game, not an open-world one says Bioware

Mass Effect Andromeda is without a doubt one of 2017’s most eagerly-anticipated video games. After all, the Mass Effect series has garnered quite a few followers since the first game debuted back in 2007, thanks to the games’ superb role-playing and third-person action gameplay.

Like many games these days, most pundits expected the upcoming Andromeda to feature sandbox gameplay and offer open-world environments for players to lose themselves in, getting on with the game’s main story whenever they wished.

But it seems this is not what Bioware has in mind for Mass Effect Andromeda, and that players shouldn’t be expecting an open-world game in the vein of Bethesda’s Fallout 4 from the Canadian developer this March.

Actually Andromeda’s producer Mike Gamble told the Official Xbox Magazine that he “wouldn’t call Andromeda an open-world game” and that Bioware sees this upcoming Mass Effect as an “exploration-based game”, according to gaming website GamesRadar. Gamble also added that “sometimes that happens in open spaces, but not always. You can cruise around some of these planets in the Nomad, but it’s not the traditional sandbox-type game”.

So Mass Effect Andromeda will likely be similar to Bioware’s earlier game Dragon Age: Inquisition, which featured a series of independent open areas (like the Hinterlands) in which players could roam and take on side quests while advancing the main story, but which were not directly connected to each other.

Although even if Mass Effect Andromeda is not a true open-world video game, here’s hoping it still turns out to be another space epic like the earlier games in the series were, and that Mass Effect fans get another great dose of role-playing and action come the game’s release this March.

Note: Mass Effect Andromeda will be released on March 21, 2017 in North America, and March 23 in the rest of the world. Available on PS4, Xbox One and PC.