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A Mass Effect Spin-Off Game Inspired By Han Solo Was Cancelled Before Mass Effect 2

Astorian

Member
“We explored a game concept back in 2008, a bit after the shipping of [the first] ME, where you were playing a Han Solo type of character in a Star Control-inspired game in the Mass Effect universe,” Dorian Kieken tells me. “The game was intended to expand the Mass Effect universe and be done in parallel [with] the trilogy.”
“I like the idea of exploring a ‘grayer’ character, akin to a smuggler/pirate type in the ME universe,” Kieken explains. “It also allows you to see the world from a different point of view than the one of the chosen super- soldier. It's a bit like exploring the Star Wars universe without being a Jedi, or the Warhammer 40k universe without being a Space Marine.
Interestingly enough, other Mass Effect writers also told me about wanting to explore a more morally ambiguous character, with several of them referring to Elite Dangerous as a model they’d like to adapt for the Mass Effect universe. Ultimately, though, the Han Solo idea - which was dropped between the development of Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 - was just too much to commit to at the time.
Kieken also mentions a separate space exploration system that was in development seven years later. Despite being designed for Andromeda, it never made the final cut.

“I remember playing a pretty good prototype of space exploration back in 2015,” Kieken says. “You would basically pilot your ship from planet to planet.

 
“I like the idea of exploring a ‘grayer’ character, akin to a smuggler/pirate type in the ME universe,” Kieken explains. “It also allows you to see the world from a different point of view than the one of the chosen super- soldier. It's a bit like exploring the Star Wars universe without being a Jedi, or the Warhammer 40k universe without being a Space Marine.

This sounds amazing, and chances are high I would’ve fucked with this bigtime
 

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
That would've been sweet. Sounds similar to Freelancer.

It's also nice to see the Star Control influences on ME acknowledged. In my heart I always wanted the series to be a spiritual successor but in 3D...
 

Ascend

Member
The idea of the smuggler/pirate obviously had a very huge influence on ME2. They introduced gangs & stuff in it, and they pretty much made Shepard a terrorist. That's in spoiler tags in light of the Legendary Edition being released soon and many people wanting to jump in the Mass Effect Universe for the first time.

It would have been better if those two things would have indeed been kept separate, and that ME2 would have retained its essence of ME1... ME2 despite being a good game, lost too much of what was good in ME1.
 

SCB3

Member
I really want a Stellaris like game set in the ME universe, the reaper threat being the endgame would be amazing
 
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