Mass Effect Andromeda - Standard Recruit Edition (Xbox One)

Mass Effect Andromeda is celebrating its 5-year anniversary today, March 21, 2023. Below, we take a look at how the sequel grappled with the complicated legacy of the trilogy that preceded it.Following up Mass Effect 3's widely derided ending is a bit like trying to write a Star Wars movie that canonically takes place after The Rise of Skywalker. What the hell are you actually supposed to do? Both these franchises seemed to simply avoid the question for a while--BioWare followed ME3 with post-launch DLC and then eventually made a sequel, Mass Effect: Andromeda, and Disney has been working on several Star Wars movies these past few years, some of which are reportedly taking place after the events of Episode 9. Star Wars has the benefit of only exploring a few planets in the movies that exist, leaving plenty of room for these upcoming movies to explore unseen corners of the galaxy after The Rise of Skywalker. Mass Effect, however, isn't as lucky--most of the Milky Way has been seen and explored by the events of Mass Effect 3. As such, Mass Effect: Andromeda went to a different galaxy entirely in its exploration of Mass Effect's future. In theory, this change in setting opens the franchise up to new horizons, but in practice Andromeda feels simultaneously burdened with and ashamed of its past.Mass Effect: Andromeda begins sometime in between Mass Effect 2 and 3, with the Andromeda Initiative launching ships to the distant galaxy of the same name. The game then picks up 600 years later, where--upon waking from cryosleep--protagonist Ryder finds that the verdant alien worlds the initiative was supposed to colonize have come under threat during the centuries-long journey. An environmental terror called the Scourge has rendered them inhospitable and a hostile alien race called the Kett has made attempts to find and colonize other planets difficult. As one of several Pathfinders, it is Ryder's job to find a new home for these wayward colonists and discover the galaxy's secrets.Continue Reading at GameSpot