One of the most popular video games ever made in Canada has a new sequel made in Edmonton. Mass Effect: Andromeda, a spiritual successor to the original Mass Effect trilogy made in Edmonton by BioWare, was released on Tuesday.
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Noel Lukasewich is the lead environment artist for the game and he didn’t know the game would come this far.
“Once the third one hit we all kind of thought, ‘Okay, it’s done!’ but then there was this revival of this new one, in a new galaxy, and that was a little bit of an awakening to be like, ‘Okay, now we’re making another one’,” Lukasewich said.
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While Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, and Mass Effect 3 all followed a story arc involving Commander Shepard exploring and trying to save the Milky Way galaxy, Mass Effect: Andromeda follows a character by the name of Ryder helping to explore and colonize the Andromeda galaxy.
“New galaxy, the tone is different, the characters are a little more fresh – Shepard was way more battle-hardened and Ryder and his teammates are discovering things, they’re a little more new, finding new things, so I think the tone is a bit of a shift,” Lukasewich explained.
BioWare has offices in both the United States and Canada, but Lukasewich said there’s a reason this series in made in Alberta.
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“There’s a whole lot of talent in Canada and even in this province. To have a place where talented individuals can come together to be able to create a game, I think this is very important to have BioWare here.
“And I hope there are more studios that come because there are a lot people here that are very good at creating stories, making visuals, programming, everything. So I think it’s very important that we foster this industry here.”
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The Mass Effect series has sold millions of copies around the world. Mass Effect: Andromeda is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows.
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