Mass Effect 3 will be the end of Shepard

By Robert Purchese Published 30 August, 2011

"Correct," says BioWare.

Mass Effect 3 will be the end of Commander Shepard, BioWare has confirmed.

"After this, Commander Shepard's story is complete," producer Michael Gamble told PC Gamer.

No more Shepard?

"Correct," answered Gamble.

The universe of Mass Effect, however, will live on. "This is not the end of the Mass Effect franchise by any means," BioWare boss Ray Muzyka told Eurogamer at E3 this summer.

Muzyka elaborated to PC Gamer: "We have ambitious plans to continue this franchise going forward. Mass Effect 3 is simultaneously a couple of different things: a thrilling and epic conclusion to the trilogy as we promised our fans we'd provide for Commander Shepard, but it's also a brand new beginning - it's an entry point for new fans."

Mass Effect is the first series of games BioWare has re-used a hero for since Baldur's Gate/BG2. Part of the allure has been importing save files from previous Mass Effect games in order to continue your bespoke story.

BioWare offered the same save-import ability in Dragon Age 2, but this had only a marginal impact on the world that surrounded new hero Hawke.

Has following a recurring hero alienated newcomers from the Mass Effect series? BioWare has already added Kinect support to Mass Effect 3 as well as adjusted the formula to "essentially address a much larger market opportunity" with its new sci-fi action RPG.

Eurogamer has also heard that a standalone, four-player co-op mode will available for Mass Effect 3.

Eurogamer played Mass Effect 3 at E3 this summer.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (35) Latest comment 9 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • metalangel #1 9 months ago

    adjusted the formula to "essentially address a much larger market opportunity" with its new sci-fi action RPG

    Mass Effect: The Journey!

    Make a shooting gesture with your hand to shoot aliens. Hold your palm flat and raise it to do biotic lift on aliens. Thrust your pelvis to have sex with aliens.
    Edited by metalangel at 30/08/11 @ 11:08

  • Cjail #2 9 months ago

    I knew that introducing Kinect was going to be the end for Shepard!

  • Original_Wolsta #3 9 months ago

    Has Shepard finally succumed to an outer-world STD after dipping his wick in one too many aliens?

  • Stranded87 #4 9 months ago

    'Mass Effect is the first series of games BioWare has re-used a hero for.'

    Baldur's Gate did this.

  • edhe #5 9 months ago

    Every good story needs an ending.

  • Daeltaja #6 9 months ago

    How the hell is the 3rd game in a trilogy "An entry point for new fans?" Please don't do a Dragon Age II with this, Bioware.

  • geeza2020 #7 9 months ago

    I cant wait for ME3, mainly so I can then stop buying anymore Bioware games, as they seem to be getting more and more about increasing Bioware's market share, rather than actually making engaging, deep rpg's.

  • coolbritannia #8 9 months ago

    Finish the fight. For now.

  • Haloboy #9 9 months ago

    Every Shepard reaches the end of his sheep. After the sheep has felt the end of his Shepard.

  • gribb #10 9 months ago

    So does this news piece stray into spoiler territory or not? BioWare has affectively given away the end of the game. Shepard either dies or happily retires to a moisture farm away from intergalactic woes.

  • Retroid #11 9 months ago

    JUST RELEASE IT FFS

  • Inmediasress #12 9 months ago

    What I find honestly very disturbing that whenever the two doctors open their mouths always something like accessible and mainstream are the two most used words.
    They really sold their souls to corporate devils.
    I don't particularly predict anything outstanding from them certainly not DA3 and say hello to mass effect MMO for franchise milking purposes.

  • Kaonazhie #13 9 months ago

    I loved Mass Effect 1 and 2... and yet, for some reason I have absolutely no interest in Mass Effect 3, nor do many of my friends.

    I'm not even sure why. Dragon Age II being such a terrible disaster of a game may have something to do with it, though.

  • revan8 #14 9 months ago

    Bioware need to stop talking about the story elements. Practically told us the ending. Mass effect is all about the characters n story so that should all be secret. Bet we know most characters n story elements before release!

  • TopKatt #15 9 months ago

    Even though a lot of people seem to have concerns about the direction of ME3, I bet plenty will still flock to buy it.

  • revan8 #16 9 months ago

    Tj Tj

    Yeah true. Ea with bf3 being a good example.

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #17 9 months ago

    'Mass Effect is the first series of games BioWare has re-used a hero for.'

    Baldur's Gate did this.

    Thanks. Adjusted.

  • Daikon #18 9 months ago

    As far as I'm concerned, after the shovelware that was Dragon Age II Mass Effect 2 was for me the end of Commander Shepard.
    Looking forward to spending my time and money on Skyrim instead.

  • miggoh #19 9 months ago

    Mass Effect is the first series of games BioWare has re-used a hero for. Part of the allure has been importing save files from previous Mass Effect games in order to continue your bespoke story.

    Baldur's Gate series had the same (player generated) hero & you could import save file from BG1 to BG2 to BG2:ToB.

  • Monkey_Chops #20 9 months ago

    As long as they don't "do a Raiden", I'm happy to see Shephard's story come to an appropriate conclusion.

  • ozthegweat #21 9 months ago

    'Practically told us the ending.'

    No. They told us that after ME3, there won't be any more games with Shepard in them. They said the same thing before, namely that Shepard's story was always intended to be a trilogy.

    Judging from the ending of ME2, I'm guessing that your actions will define how ME3 ends, so you could save everyone or let everyone die, including Shepard. ME2 even had a specific ending with Shepard dead. They declared it non-canon however, so the story can continue in ME3. As there won't be any Shepard-specific ME games after ME3, Shepard dying could very well be canon.

    So for me, this clarification from BioWare is not a spoiler, to the contrary: it means all bets are off.
    Edited by ozthegweat at 30/08/11 @ 12:31

  • TheDarkFurie #22 9 months ago

    I've no problem with this being the end for Shepard, as that's what we were expecting. They've also marketed the series as it being a complete trilogy though, so I expect it to be the end of the Reapers too (at least during the inevitable DLC). If they end on a cliffhanger and then expect people to shell out for an MMO (Old Republic style) to continue the story there's gonna be a hell of a lot of pissed off geeks in their back yard.

    They declared it non-canon however, so the story can continue in ME3.
    Actually that's still canon and you'll play as someone else if your Shep died, unless I've missed something recently. My bet is that you'll play as the son or daughter of Shep, which would explain the new younger Femshep.
    Edited by TheDarkFurie at 30/08/11 @ 12:41

  • Monstro #23 9 months ago

    Mass Effect has always been about cinematic storytelling, for me. ME1 told a good story brilliantly, but was occasionally let down by a clunky game. ME2 gave us a pretty slick game (although the cover mechanic always felt awkward) with a poor story. But it still told that story with real verve. I guess that ME3 will retain the best of the storytelling and have the best gameplay yet (unless it 'streamlines' to Fable standards) - so I'm just hoping it has a strong enough story to hang it all on.

    Saying all that, the more PR I read about the game, the more worried I get...

  • darkphoenix #24 9 months ago

    What is this shit?!?

    BIG Spoilers like this are OK to publish as a title, on the home page, now?

    I am fed up with all the media overdose ME3 has been getting.
    It's a fucking RPG, it is suposed to have a STORY, stop with the damn SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!


  • anomagnus #25 9 months ago

    well, i think we can all agree that redbarony is a perfect example of why forum threads break down. Congratulations son, you're a proud example of John Gabriel's "Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory". Barely literate, completely inarticulate, and insulting.

    Now, if any of those words were too big for you, I’m basically calling you an asshole. If you have nothing to add to the conversation, then don’t post. Please. You’d be doing the world a favour.

    Regarding the main thrust of your argument, Yes, ME is cut scene heavy, but sometimes its impossible to progress the story within the main frame of a game, using just game play.

    At TJTJ, there were plenty of cut scenes in Batman, please don’t pretend that there weren’t. Were there as many as ME? No, but then the story in Batman wasn’t as large in scope as ME. It’s a single protagnaist, in a confined space, set over one night.

    Using half life and bioshock as examples is also a poor choice. The very point of those games was to make the main character in the game a complete cipher. That comes at the expense of making the main character something or someone you actually care about. Gordon Freeman, as a character, is impossible to like as an actual factual character, because there’s nothing to like. The main character of Bioshock, again, designed to be nonexistent, to the main theme of control would actually work. But zero replay value in that game. THe net effect of those deliberate choices in the main character, is an ability to tell a simpler story, without as many cutscenes.
    Edited by anomagnus at 30/08/11 @ 13:51

  • obihobson #26 9 months ago

    Would you say portal was a better example of using gameplay to tell a story?

  • spekkeh #27 9 months ago

    I don't get you people who defend all these shitty modern games because they have good cinematic storytelling.... You spazzes never heard of watching a film? The whole point of gaming is that it should offer gameplay.

    a) yeah and the gameplay was clunky.
    b) load of bollocks anyway, films are not interactive. It's the interactivity that could potentially lift the cinematic storytelling to the next level. Games and films are not mutually exclusive in their goals.

  • anomagnus #28 9 months ago

    @tjtj

    There is no chip there, beyond what you choose to see.

    You may want to consider that it is not 'mental' for people to enjoy games with more cinematic moments. Thats just personal taste. I played Bioshock once, and said, yea, that was grand, and never went back to it. Half life, without a decent story, and i don't beleive it does have one, is nothing more than a great game from a mechanics point of view.



  • spekkeh #29 9 months ago

    Valve games are great at environmental storytelling (Jenkins, 2004); a knocked-over trashcan tells the player that somebody came running through there not too long ago, the progression from a city to the caves in effect tells you that Gordon had to flee underground as much as that the other characters told you to, et cetera. This is great for a certain type of story, but not so well for others. Apart from Alyx, and this was mostly due to the excellent facial mimicry, you couldn't care less about any of the characters.

    Dialogue on the other hand more or less demands cutscenes because they have to be snappily edited to be effective. I think Bioware has found a pretty good gameplay mechanic for this, with the quick dialogue wheel (and oh the terrible dumbing down that has been called by people who don't understand shit, sorry) and all. Even though some of the lines are hamfisted or nonsensical, you do end up caring for your crew.

  • The-Jack-Burton #30 9 months ago

    "an entry point for new fans" - my expectations just got lowered

  • dagas #31 9 months ago

    I finally read the third ME book this summer and got super exited about the universe again. There is so much more to ME than Shepard. Looking forward to more stuff.

  • Valshar #32 9 months ago

    I wish they'd stop promoting all their sequels with the "perfect entry point to the series" bullshit.

  • Cardboardbox #33 9 months ago

    @gribb

    "So does this news piece stray into spoiler territory or not? BioWare has affectively given away the end of the game. Shepard either dies or happily retires to a moisture farm away from intergalactic woes."

    I wouldn't say it spoils the ending. It just means that Shepard's story is over.

  • spekkeh #34 9 months ago

    Yeah that must be it.
    No, wait, no it itsn't.

  • geeza2020 #35 9 months ago

    I wonder what redbarony's favourite game is? He seems to spend all his time saying how shit EVERYTHING in gaming is, but never actually says anything positive about any game being developed or released, EVER. Soooo, why are you here exactly? Oh right, because you're a pathetic, fat, angry, bitter, lonely, virgin, no life, cunt.