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Mass Effect Andromeda’s multiplayer mode will have stronger ties to the game’s overall story, but will be entirely optional, Bioware has revealed. In an interview with Kotaku Australia, Bioware producer Mike Gamble spoke about how the game’s multiplayer mode will differ from Mass Effect 3.
Exact details about what the multiplayer mode will entail are still thin on the ground, but players will be glad to hear that they won’t be required to play it in order to get the most out of the main story. In Mass Effect 3, players were encouraged to try the game’s multiplayer mode in order to improve their overall readiness reading, which determined how many characters survived the last battle. Mass Effect Andromeda’s multiplayer, however, isn’t required to finish the main story.
"There’s a system that we use called the Strike Team system, and fundamentally it allows you to go between singleplayer and multiplayer within the game," Gamble stated. "And it’s packaged around a meta-story of what’s going on in Helios."
The meta-story can also be finished without participating in multiplayer missions.
"I can tell you that there’s a loading screen – it’s not entirely seamless – but it won’t require you to stop your game and restart in a different mode. Because narratively it’s all connected, it makes a lot of sense,” Gamble added.
Gamble also shed some light on Andromeda’s PC performance. He said the game will ship with an unlocked framerate, and there will also be support for ultra-wide resolution monitors.
Mass Effect Andromeda won’t feature any official support for mods on day one, either, said Gamble, nor will it have dedicated multiplayer servers. That said, Gamble also hinted that Bioware might introduce mod support later on depending on player response. "As we see the reaction to these things those plans can change very quickly,” he stated.
The news comes a day after Bioware’s GM Aaryn Flynn announced that Mass Effect Andromeda won’t be receiving a season pass.
Mass Effect Andromeda is launching on March 23rd in the UK and you can read everything we know about the game so far right here.
