Mass Effect: Andromeda

About Mass Effect: Andromeda

BioWare Montréal released Mass Effect: Andromeda in March 2017 as the fourth main entry in the franchise. This third-person shooter adventure drops players into the Andromeda galaxy where humanity seeks a new home after leaving the Milky Way behind. You take on the role of a Pathfinder leading an expedition team across hostile alien worlds. The game arrived on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC with single-player campaigns alongside separate multiplayer modes. The story picks up years after the original trilogy concluded, shifting focus to Ryder as they try to secure habitable planets for colonists. It is a sci-fi RPG where your decisions shape the survival of the entire initiative.

Gameplay

Sessions involve crossing open planetary surfaces using boosted jumps and scanning for resources. Combat relies on blending gunplay with biotic powers and tech abilities in destructible environments. You switch between three weapons and manage cooldowns while directing squad members who auto-attack or use specific skills. Exploration feels less linear than previous entries as you chart your own path through the Heleus cluster to find golden worlds. Dialogue wheels let you make choices that alter character relationships and mission outcomes. The skill system allows deep customization so you can build a pure shooter, a mage-like character, or a hybrid. Multiplayer offers co-op raids against waves of enemies with shared progression outside the main story.

What Players Think

PlayPile data shows mixed reception for this title. IGDB lists an average score of 71.8 from 540 user ratings. The community mood leans heavily toward Strategic and Emotional experiences, each receiving four votes, while three users describe it as Chaotic. Only two people feel the atmosphere is Creepy or Dark. Average playtime suggests most players spend significant hours grinding for gear and completing side quests rather than rushing the main campaign. Review snippets often highlight the impressive visual fidelity of alien landscapes but criticize technical bugs that persist after release. The multiplayer component saw a dedicated player base early on before fading, leaving the single-player story as the primary focus for those who stuck with it.

PlayPile's Take

This game fits players who enjoy slow-paced exploration and deep character builds over tight shooting mechanics. You can buy it on PC or consoles for a fraction of its launch price given how long it has been out. There are no specific achievements listed in our current tracker that drastically change the experience, though 100% completion requires finding every collectible. The narrative offers plenty of consequence-driven moments but suffers from delivery issues common at release. If you want a solid sci-fi RPG with good combat mechanics and don't mind patching bugs yourself, this stands on its own despite not reaching the heights of the original trilogy.

Storyline

Mass Effect: Andromeda starts around 2185, as the Andromeda Initiative embarked on an ambitious goal to settle the Andromeda galaxy by traveling in large vessels known as arks. A coalition of Milky Way races — which includes humans, asari, turians, salarians and the krogan — participates in this 600-year expedition and placed in cryostasis to ensure that they do not age during the trip. Prior to the journey, the Initiative had identified 'golden worlds' in Andromeda's Heleus cluster, locations that are deemed highly viable for habitation. Each ark consists of a team that are led by a Pathfinder who is tasked to explore and ensure these worlds or any other potential locations are hospitable before settlement can begin.