Details Emerge on Canceled Mass Effect Universe, Reportedly With Hitman-Style Missions and a Setting 600 Years After Shepard

Part of the team reportedly kept getting pulled away to work on Dragon Age: The Veilguard. A prototype of the new Mass Effect game might have appeared sooner without that.

New details have surfaced about a canceled Mass Effect game. According to Australian blogger Dantics, it was called Mass Effect Universe. The project was meant to offer a customizable N7 operative, spy mechanics built around experimental technology, and nonlinear missions inspired by the Hitman series.

Dantics described the game in a video on YouTube. He says he gave BioWare feedback during development as a member of the so-called Mass Effect Council. His account offers a closer look at what the next entry in the franchise might have been before BioWare was shut down and Electronic Arts canceled the project.

Mass Effect Universe was set more than 600 years after the original trilogy. After the mass relays were destroyed, humanity was cut off from much of the galaxy, and the Citadel hung above Earth. Humans, batarians, and krogan formed an alliance, while the remaining Council races eventually created their own bloc and built new megastructures.

By the time the game begins, the relay network has already been restored. The developers also planned to account for the three main endings of Mass Effect 3. Dantics says the long time gap helped make that possible, because technology had advanced so far that the Reapers no longer held an insurmountable technological advantage.

Commander Shepard’s legacy was still meant to remain an important part of the story. Players’ earlier decisions could be mentioned in the new game, although Dantics did not reveal details about a save transfer system or how past choices would affect events. He said the ending in which the player refuses the offered choice would not have been continued.

The galaxy’s political situation was meant to resemble a cold war between three factions. Behind the scenes, an unknown adversary manipulated events and gradually drew the main character into a large-scale conspiracy. The game also planned a synthetic faction that specializes in building megastructures and infrastructure linking the Milky Way with Andromeda.

One of the biggest differences from earlier games would have been the protagonist. Instead of another story about Commander Shepard, players would control a customizable male or female N7 operative.

The developers wanted to move away from the image of Shepard as a universal fighter who can handle almost any threat with firepower. The new hero was described with the formula “James Bond meets John Wick,” with an emphasis on precision, stealth, and use of the environment. This also explains a line in the previously leaked trailer, in which the character says he no longer serves in the military.

The operative’s key feature was to be an experimental technology implanted in his or her head, which interacts with the body’s physiology in an unusual way.

Dantics described its abilities as similar to hacking in Cyberpunk 2077. Players could see enemies through walls, spot useful elements in the environment, and remotely activate objects, such as making a pipe explode behind an enemy.

The biotic powers that are traditional for Mass Effect would still be there. They included a fast biotic charge in the style of the Vanguard class and an ability resembling Singularity. The game would have combined spy tools with the series’ familiar combat mechanics.

Unlike Mass Effect: Andromeda, Dantics says, the new game was not supposed to rely on an open world. The developers instead planned to return to the hand-crafted missions typical of the original trilogy, while giving players more freedom in how they complete objectives.

Hitman and the opening of the Noveria mission from the first Mass Effect were named as reference points. The environments were meant to encourage players to explore, talk to characters, and look for opportunities before a firefight begins. Players could still choose to confront enemies directly.

This approach echoes earlier statements by BioWare cinematic supervisor Tony de Waal. After the studio’s closure, he said the team drew inspiration from the work of Larian and CD Projekt and aimed to give players a new level of independence.

Interaction with companions was also set to change. Relationships among them were meant to include conflict and rivalry, similar to the dynamic between Jack and Miranda in the original trilogy. Players would have had to earn their companions’ trust and manage the clashes between their personalities.

Liara T’Soni was also set to return in Universe. She would appear older and far more powerful, as an asari matriarch. It is unknown whether the developers intended to make her a permanent squad member.

Dantics says development of Mass Effect Universe went much further than public statements suggested. He spoke warmly of the small team and said its members were passionate about a project that was repeatedly described as a game first and foremost for fans of the original Mass Effect.

At the same time, some members of the new Mass Effect team spent a significant amount of time helping finish Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Dantics suggested that without that extra workload, development could have come much closer to completion far sooner. He acknowledged, however, that he does not have full information on how much the team contributed to Dragon Age production.