BioWare says familiar Mass Effect species "can all show up" in future games

Some of the "random tidbits about Mass Effect: Andromeda" that were recently posted over at Game Informer are pure trivia: The default male Ryder looks a bit like Casey Hudson, for instance, and your crewmate Liam has a British accent. But there are some more meaningful bits of information in there too, including the fact that not all the races from the original trilogy are going to be in Andromeda—but they might appear in later games.

“We’ve designed the IP in such a way that they can all show up,” creative director Mac Walters said. “For hopefully obvious reasons, they’re not all going to show up in the first game.”

One Milky Way race that is expected to play a role in Andromeda, despite not having a proper ride, is the Krogan. A Krogan squaddie named Drack was mentioned in a Mass Effect 4 survey a Redditor claimed he'd taken in 2015 prior to the announcement of Andromeda, and a Krogan was clearly visible in the trailer revealed at E3 2015.

I would've thought that the absence of the non-Ark races—Turian, Salarian, Asari, and human—would be not only obvious, but expected. You don't just thumb a ride to another galaxy, after all. The presence of a Krogan fits well enough: It makes sense that these huge Ark ships would have a few stowaways, and everybody loves the Krogan. But if it starts to look like a family reunion, with the Hanar and the Volus and the Geth all putting in appearances, I think it'll take away from BioWare's stated goal of starting over in a genuinely new and alien setting. I like the Elcor as much as the next guy, but it's like your dad said when he got transferred and you had to move to a different town: It's scary starting at a new school, but you'll make new friends!

(It would be cool to encounter the Rachni, though. They definitely fit the "alien weirdos from another planet" theme.)

Walters also made clear that the events of the original trilogy won't have any impact on what happens in the new galaxy. "We didn’t want to invalidate anything that people had done in the past, and we wanted to make sure everyone feels like they can be onboard, whether or not they have played before," he said.

Speaking of Mass Effect, the Mass Effect Collection—that's the original game and the Mass Effect 2 Digital Deluxe Edition—is currently on sale for $9/£6 on Steam. We've got more Black Friday deals in our roundups of outstanding videogame and PC hardware sales.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.