Summary
It might be one of EA and BioWare’s most highly anticipated games, but virtually nothing is known aboutMass Effect 4other than the fact that it will probably take place in the Milky Way and include Liara T’Soni. If there’s one thing thatMass Effect 4needs to get right, though, it’s the perfectly tuned team dynamics that the series has almost always managed to deliver, and well-written, interesting companions are crucial to achieving this end.
Mass Effect’s rich tapestry of companion NPCsis a major selling point, especially in the original trilogy. While Commander Shepard is an iconic gaming hero in many ways, they are mostly shaped by the player’s choices, with little in the way of consistent, strong personality traits. Shepard’s teammates, on the other hand, are colorful, unique, and unforgettable, with supporting characters like Liara, Jack, Garrus, and Tali effectively serving as the heart and soul of the series. Whoever winds up being the protagonist ofMass Effect 4, they will most likely have to play second fiddle to the game’s supporting cast.
Mass Effect 4 Needs Strong Companions More Than It Needs a Strong Hero
Mass Effect Has a Specific Protagonist-NPC Dynamic
AlthoughCommander Shepard has many iconic moments, they are more of a blank slate for the player to project themselves onto. This is evidenced by the fact that players can not only shape Shepard’s characterization through their in-game choices, but also rigidly define his backstory during the character-creation process. This makes Shepard a far more fluid and loosely defined character than RPG stars like Geralt or Cloud Strife who, while still molded by player agency, are much more consistent in terms of canonical personality traits and backstory.
Shepard’s squadmates, on the other hand, are far more vibrant due to their strict and bespoke characterization, even if their stories can still be influenced byMass Effect’s player choice system. These characters outshine the star, but this winds up working in the series' favor: players can easily fit into Shepard’s shoes due to their flexible characterization, then spend time ‘socializing’ with the game’s supporting characters, engaging with them without the influence of a predetermined protagonist persona.
They can also choose whether they want to build a bond with a character or neglect them, as Shepard is (generally speaking) not partial to any specific squad member by default. This balance between a vaguely defined hero and a richly characterized supporting cast forms thebackbone of theMass Effectexperience.
Bringing Shepard Back Could Force BioWare’s Hand
In the original trilogy, Shepard is a blank slate that doesn’t even come close to outshining the games' side characters, but the hero will have to be retooled a bit if they are coming back inMass Effect 4.Assuming that the upcoming game takes place afterMass Effect 3, it will need to cement one ofME3’s endings as the canon one. By extension, this would require the game to canonize a specific version of Shepard, as Shepard’s decisions, the same decisions that are informed by each individual player’s vision of the character, determine how the trilogy ends.Mass Effect 3’s Destroy endingis the only one that suggests Shepard’s survival, sothe Destroy version of Shepard is the only one who could return inMass Effect 4.
But whetherMass Effect 4stars Destroy Shepard or a brand-new protagonist, the game’s side characters should still steal the show.Mass Effect’s supporting cast has always been the portal through which players can engage with the series' world, so they will have to, and most likely will be, far more interesting and memorable thanME4’s hero.
