Cyberpunk 2077’s Inconsequential Lifepaths Are The Solution For The Next Mass Effect’s Biggest Problem – TheGamer

The biggest issue with making a new Mass Effect game is the fact that people made different choices at the end of Mass Effect 3 - this fixes that.

If youve played the original Mass Effect trilogy, youll probably remember having to choose one of three options at the end of the third game: Destroy, Control, or Synthesis. This ending has become extremely controversial in the Mass Effect community, to the extent that even ex-BioWare devs who worked on the game werent happy with how it was handled.

As you might imagine, this makes the idea of a canonical Mass Effect playthrough pretty complicated. While Mass Effect: Legendary Edition has confirmed that the Extended Cut - a free DLC launched after Mass Effect 3, designed to rectify the issues fans had with its conclusion - will be canon, youre still forced to make a decision when you meet the Catalyst.

This is what makes a return to the Milky Way so difficult for BioWare to implement. If we go back to the same clusters affected by the galaxy-spanning decisions made by millions of Shepards all over the world, most of the people who made one of the two choices not made canon in a new entry are going to be pretty upset.

So, how do you fix this? How do you create a situation that appeals to players who all chose completely different options in a game that launched almost a decade ago? As it turns out, the answer lies in Cyberpunk 2077s inconsequential lifepaths.

Its worth noting that Im not arguing for another Shepard game - Ive already said I will become The Joker if that happens. What Im talking about is that theres a good chance the next Mass Effect will feature both Andromeda and the Milky Way. If thats the case, were going to have to see some of the ramifications that arose from whatever choice Shepard made six centuries prior - or potentially even longer, depending on whether or not theres a major time gap between Andromeda and the next Mass Effect game.

In Cyberpunk 2077, you begin your journey as V with a choice: are you a Street Kid, a Nomad, or a Corpo? While this shapes the way in which the prologue plays out, it has far less influence over the rest of the game. Some fans were disappointed about this, claiming that Corpos should have had an entirely exclusive Arasaka storyline, while Street Kids dealt with the Maelstrom. I dont agree with that - I think the fact that your lifepath determines your origin story and how that influences the overall narrative that follows is fine. Also, its pretty unreasonable to assume that CD Projekt Red was going to put out three games instead of one - just one more thing to add to the ever-growing list of absurd demands Cyberpunk 2077 players have made over the last couple of months.

Related:Actually, The Best Mass Effect Game Is The First One

This seems like a perfect means ofgoing back tothe Milky Way without ever having to make a Mass Effect 3 ending canon. Offering players the choice of Destroy, Control, or Synthesis a la Street Kid, Nomad, or Corpo gives everybody the opportunity of proceeding into the future of Mass Effect with their own headcanon intact.Your choice of ending could shape the prologue - maybe youre explicitly tasked with finding out what your version of Shepard did all those years ago - but it doesnt necessarily need to have a huge amount of influence over the story that follows. If anything, the fact that Andromeda takes place so far in the future gives BioWare a uniquely convenient means of retconning all three endings into the same present scenario, because enough time will have passed to just make some new adversary up. Control didnt last, Synthesis was ineffective, Destroy was short-lived and deceptive - it doesn't really matter. The ultimate reason for a return to the Milky Way is either the resurrection of the Reapers or the emergence of an even bigger threat. Remember that Andromedas mainobjective was to link the Milky Way to a new and unexplored galaxy - even if we dont physically go back to Earth, or Rannoch, or Palaven, or Tuchanka, we were always going to at least establish contact with those hubs by the end of the second trilogy.

The relatively inconsequential nature of Cyberpunk 2077s lifepaths are actually what makes this system work. Maybe youre able to ask an Asari researcher with access to files covering the entire galaxy about what happened with the Reapers after the Andromeda Initiative left. Maybe shell tell you that an Alliance Commander bound himself to the machines, or chose to destroy them. Hell, maybe shell say nobody knows what truly happened after Shepard met the Catalyst, but the effects could be seen across the entire Milky Way (cue dialogue referring to your lifepath). By "maybe" here, I mean "definitely" - didn't you see Liara in the trailer?

I mean, it sucks to find out the ending you chose didnt matter all that much, and that things still went to hell anyway. I get that. But there obviously needs to be some kind of conflict in the Milky Way to justify a return there - I love the party in Shepards apartment, but I dont think Citadel DLC: The Game is the best follow-up to Andromeda. Implementing a system like Cyberpunk 2077s lifepaths is an achievable way of respecting whatever choice you made back in Mass Effect 3 before plunging you into the same story as everybody else. It means your Shepard survived in this world and did what they did, regardless of whatis happening six centuries afterwards.

This is important. I have a very concrete vision of how the Mass Effect trilogy ends - how my Mass Effect trilogy ends. That being said, simply referencing that by giving me the opportunity to input my chosen ending is enough for me to feel a sense of legitimate continuity. If BioWare wants to return to the Milky Way in one form or another, go ahead - just be sure to take note of how Cyberpunk 2077s lifepaths give you the opportunity to define your character without altering the overall story.

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Cian Maher is the Lead Features Editor at TheGamer. He's also had work published in The Guardian, The Washington Post, The Verge, Vice, Wired, and more. You can find him on Twitter @cianmaher0.

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Cyberpunk 2077's Inconsequential Lifepaths Are The Solution For The Next Mass Effect's Biggest Problem - TheGamer