Mass Effect 4 is more of the same, minus Shepard and co.

Putting Commander Shepard to rest had to be a hard decision for Bioware, and it makes moving forward with the franchise even more difficult as they’ll need to get players invested in a whole new cast of characters.  Mass Effect 3 Lead Writer Mac Walters recently sat down with Complex to discuss Mass Effect 4.

Mass Effect 4 can’t just feel like a Shepard-less spin-off

While Walters did not offer any new details about what to expect from Mass Effect 4 other than what we’ve already been told, he does reaffirm that Commander Shepard and his companions will not be playing a role in the next game.

“Well, I can’t go into details, but the idea is that we have agreed to tell a story that doesn’t relate necessarily to any of the Shepard events at all, whatsoever,” said Walters.  “That’s what we’ve been deciding for a while.  But throughout it all, one of the key things is that it has to be Mass Effect.  It can’t just feel like a spin-off.  It has to feel like a Mass Effect game at its heart.  at its core.  Just without the Shepard character of the Shepard specific companions.”

So just what should we expect from Mass Effect 4?  It’s hard to tell.  Bioware hasn’t mentioned anything about the new game, other than random teasings about how well it’s coming along.