One of the criticisms of Mass Effect Andromeda was the lack of alien species, which has long perplexed players and critics. Turns out, that wasn’t supposed to be the case.
The Gamer’s Cian Maher spoke to a number of former BioWare developers, who revealed that they had designs for up to ten new alien species, but they were cut because of budget, scope, and bizarrely, cosplay. BioWare apparently picked the two species that were considered to be cosplay-friendly.
“Because the scope of Mass Effect was so incredibly massive, there was an inherent promise that you’d be getting a massive new experience with a ton of new things in Mass Effect Andromeda – new species, new lore, an entire new galaxy at your fingertips, etc,” said writer Neil Pollner. “But we were only given the budget for two new species, plus the Remnant.”
“One of the strengths of the original Mass Effect trilogy is that you can actually cosplay most of the alien characters – except the Hanar, although I wouldn’t underestimate the creativity of some cosplayers,” added design director Dorian Kieken. “The intention in Mass Effect Andromeda was to introduce new races that would still be in the realm of cosplay, which is probably why more crazy concepts were abandoned.”
Unfortunately, we’re unlikely to see the scrapped designs or know more about the abandoned alien species. According to another former writer, Chris Helper, the designs are BioWare’s property and he would have to seek permission before talking about them, even though he’s “100 percent sure” the studio will never use those ideas.
Bummer.
[Source: The Gamer]
