Everything We Know About Mass Effect: Andromeda's Voice Cast, Gameplay and Mission Style

Mass Effect: Andromeda hits shelves in less than a month, so we round up everything we know about the voice cast, gameplay and franchise roots.

Mass Effect: Andromeda releases in North America on March 21. As the fourth entry in the franchise, it carries the weight of something like The Force Awakens did for Star Wars. Obviously, Mass Effect 3 came out a few years ago and concluded the original trilogy. So when Mass Effect: Andromeda begins, we’ll meet a new crew aboard The Tempest, the Andromeda Galaxy’s new Normandy. While many of the game’s mechanics will stay the same, new combat techniques and classes have been introduced.

Of course, we know we’ll be exploring new planets as Sara or Scott Ryder. In the year 2185, between Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3, a new crew led by the chosen Pathfinder heads to another galaxy as part of the Andromeda Initiative in search of a new, Reaper-less home. Joining the colonization effort will be a new team of alien allies, including Krogans, Salarians and of course, Asari.

One such Asari member is Dr. Lexi T’Perro, voiced by Game of Thrones‘ Natalie Dormer. She joins other voice actors like Clancy Brown, Gethin Anthony, and the players’ voice as either Tom Taylorson or Fryda Wolff.

A majority of Mass Effect: Andromeda emphasizes exploration. While that’s been an aspect of previous games, Andromeda’s lead designer, Ian Frazier, promises that the game won’t be overloaded. Plus, we can say goodbye to urgent missions and losing half your quests if you complete something out of order:

"We tried to have a mixture of short-term threats you need to deal with right now, and longer-term threats where you do get the sense that it’s okay for me to go spend 20 hours exploring.So there’s nothing that’s explicitly time-sensitive, but there are two things that are kind of in that vein. One is, there’s a handful of quests that if you finish the main story, are no longer accessible. But it’s a pretty small percentage. But the vast majority of the game, including the loyalty missions, Mass Effect-2 style, you can do even after you finish the main story. Most parts are still open."

And while you explore, you rack up experience. In addition to classes, you control where you translate experience into profiles. As most Mass Effect veterans know, you can carry over experience from game to game. So the more playthroughs you complete, the stronger your character will be by Mass Effect 3. (More or less.) However, within Andromeda, the more the player explores, the more experience they can get:

"It would take a long time, but it is technically possible. We don’t actually have a level cap, so you could keep going until you have straight-up run out of things to spend points on, which should be around level 123."

Clearly, the game looks beautiful. In its complete 4K glory, which is still being worked on, it’s one that any video game enthusiast ought to pick up … just to have in their collection.

Don’t forget to pick up your copy of Mass Effect: Andromeda when it drops on March 21. Stay tuned for more Mass Effect updates!

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Everything We Know About Mass Effect: Andromeda’s Voice Cast, Gameplay and Mission Style

By Buckie Wells | Feb 26, 2017

Mass Effect: Andromeda hits shelves in less than a month, so we round up everything we know about the voice cast, gameplay and franchise roots.