How Mass Effect's Story Will Continue Next

Mass Effect: Annihilation
(Image credit: BioWare)

Earlier this year gamers got a taste of a completely different Mass Effect experience with Mass Effect: Andromeda. Sales did not turn out so great for the game and EA decided to shelve the series and disband most of BioWare Montreal. Well, this obviously leaves a lot of gamers wondering if the story will ever continue. It turns out it will, in book form.

According to a post over on the official BioWare website, the series will continue but it won't be through a game (those have been put on hold). Instead, BioWare has worked with author Catherynne M. Valente, who is helming the writing duties for the novel Mass Effect: Annihilation.

The novel covers a story centered around a deadly pathogen spreading throughout a quarian ark headed toward the Andromeda galaxy. However, some of the staff begin to notice that some of the colonists stored in the pods begin dying due to the pathogen. Eventually, the pathogen jumps species from the drell to the others, indicating that it's not an isolated nor accidental incident.

The novel covers the mystery around the pathogen's spread across the quarian ark, and the team dedicated to finding out who is attempting to kill the colonists and stop the pathogen from spreading any further.

The book is scheduled to release on June 26th in 2018 in the United States, the United Kingdom and in Canada. The novel will be available on August 28th, 2018 in Australia.

Gamespot is reporting that originally Mass Effect: Annihilation was supposed to be out earlier this year shortly after the launch of Mass Effect: Andromeda, and that it was also going to be quickly followed up by the release of Mass Effect: Initiation.

Some believe that the novel may have been delayed due to it possibly having been written to tie into the story of Mass Effect: Andromeda in some way, and that some DLC may have helped further bridge the stories together. However, earlier in the year Electronic Arts weaseled around answering the question about DLC after the initial sales failed to turn heads in a positive way.

Throughout the spring and summer, Electronic Arts avoided directly addressing the sales performance of Mass Effect: Andromeda but did note that the Mass Effect franchise was still a big priority for the company, despite ending single-player support.

Apparently, the games, for now, will be on hold but there will continue to be transmedia content produced for the Mass Effect franchise, as evident with the upcoming novel.

There's also no word on whether or not the Mass Effect: Initiation novel will also still release or if it's been delayed as well. A lot of things ended up getting shuffled out of order when harsh criticisms of Mass Effect: Andromeda spilled out and both critics and gamers noted that the title didn't quite live up to the standards set by the BioWare Edmonton and Austin team for the work that was on the original Mass Effect trilogy for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

Fans still craving for more sci-fi space opera adventures in BioWare's fictional world can look forward to Mass Effect: Annihilation to launch next year.

Will Usher

Staff Writer at CinemaBlend.