Mass Effect 3 features cancelled ME2 Citadel quest

By Fred Dutton Published 29 November, 2011

Plus, lead writer discusses writing around ME2's ending.

Mass Effect 3 will feature a Citadel mission originally intended for Mass Effect 2, according to the game's lead writer.

Speaking in an interview with OXM, Mac Walters explained that BioWare had planned to include more Citadel content in Mass Effect 2 but then changed direction, leaving a number of mission ideas on the cutting room floor.

However, at least one of those threads will be resurrected in the impending threequel.

"There was a Mass Effect 2 plot that was a kind of callback to the first Mass Effect that was going to be on the Citadel, and we cut it. But now it's made a resurrection in Mass Effect 3, so I'm happy, but I can't say what it is. That's the nice thing about trilogies, sometimes you get a second chance."

Elsewhere in the Q&A, Walters also discussed the narrative challenges presented by Mass Effect 2's various different endings.

"I don't think I'd call it 'trapped'," he said, when asked about accommodating the game's alternate resolutions.

"They're more hurdles. Sometimes they're hurdles that we've given ourselves, so we kind of smack ourselves in the head and say 'What the hell were we thinking? Why did we do that?'

"The classic example is 'Hey, let's make the ending of Mass Effect 2 a suicide mission where all your henchmen can possibly die, and Shepard can even die!' Oh right... and then we're gonna do another game after that. What the hell are we gonna do with all those guys?"

For more on BioWare's impending sequel, see Eurogamer's recent Mass Effect 3 preview.

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About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (26) Latest comment 6 months ago

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

  • Psychotext #1 6 months ago

    I'd love to know what happened to the Citadel in general in ME2. There was very little content there in ME1 but the amount in ME2 was extremely poor.

  • TazerFan #2 6 months ago

    Man, I wonder why they "changed direction". The spectacle of The Citadel was one the main draws in Mass Effect, and its reduced role in ME2 was one of the (many) things that put me off.

  • Ranger_Ryu #3 6 months ago

    I always wondered what they'd do if your Shepard died in the final mission

  • NewbieZilla #4 6 months ago

    Post deleted at 09:50:52 12-12-2011

  • syra #5 6 months ago

    @Ranger_Ryu clearly if your shep died then that's the end of the series for you. It's obvious the cannon ending can't have a protagonist dead. They might retcon it into a shepard survived or we cloned a shepard to help along the people who actually managed to die at the end. Or just expect you to reload, after all your character dying isn't completin the game, it's failing.

  • DozyKipper #6 6 months ago

    Yeah, I was disappointed that we only had a glimpse of the Presidium in ME2. The new citadel ward areas in ME2 were a bit crap.

  • mr_pink #7 6 months ago

    I'm Commander Shephard and this is my favourite news on The Citadel.

  • Chupakun #8 6 months ago

    "That's the nice thing about trilogies, sometimes you get a second chance."

    Or a third :)

  • Machetazo #9 6 months ago

    @syra I imagine Shepard technically "dies", or fails the mission under a player's watch many times during the usual flow of play. This is a death determined by the narrative. Does that present a different scenario. Do the same rules need to apply?

  • Rens11 #10 6 months ago

    Just hoping the story follows more of a journey like mass effect 1 than the feeling of 2 just doing a mission to get each team member then the suicide mission

  • Caimbeul #11 6 months ago

    the citadel has been really underutilised in me2. i'd love to go back for a substantial time in me3. I want to go back to Omega too.

  • _Price_ #12 6 months ago

    Could always do something about the Human Reaper while they're at it. I'd be willing to accept "....and it was all a dream." at this point and reset to a couple of months after the events of Mass Effect.

  • Nazo #13 6 months ago

    So not good enough for ME2 but they'll stuff in 3 eh?. Nice.

    /obligatory negative comment about ME3

  • Xardan #14 6 months ago

    I hope its about the aspiring Shepard fan.

  • Nevflinn #15 6 months ago

    ""I don't think I'd call it 'trapped'," he said, when asked about accommodating the game's alternate resolutions.

    "They're more hurdles. Sometimes they're hurdles that we've given ourselves, so we kind of smack ourselves in the head and say 'What the hell were we thinking? Why did we do that?' "
    My understanding of the series is that the trilogy as a whole was planned out from the start. With all the time they've had to think about it, how can they run into these moments at such a major moment in the story?

  • DUFFKING #16 6 months ago

    I imagine the change in direction was because ME2 was focused on the Terminus Systems half of the galaxy as opposed to the Citadel Space bit. The Citadel didn't really have a lot to do with ME2.

  • Dexter2015 #17 6 months ago

    @Ranger_Ryu you cant import your save if he did died they did say so a long time ago.

  • PenguinJim #18 6 months ago

    @Dexter2015

    Yes, but unfortunately all you get is a cut-scene of all life in the Galaxy being destroyed because Shepard was dead. Then back to the title screen.

  • Nova1977 #19 6 months ago

    I always thought that if Shepard died the choices you made will still stay but a new character would have to deal with them. Like the new guy paying for the mistakes of some other guy. I liked how "choices" worked in The Witcher 2 and I hope Bioware took some notes from CD Projekt.

  • Sodding_Gamer #20 6 months ago

    Ahh this is good news. One of the highlights for me in the series was playing ME1 in the citadel just wondering around the presidium with that wonderful music. Something I missed in ME2. Apart from Dark star. SLAPADABASS!!

  • kinky_mong #21 6 months ago

    I've seen a leak of the cut Citadel mission.

    It starts by approaching an alien with a sob story, you then go to a warehouse with lots of conveniently placed knee high boxes to hide behind while you shoot some other aliens, then after 10-20 minutes of this you find what the first alien had lost and get to choose two options that are transparently good or bad with no grey area.

  • menage #22 6 months ago

    Meh, the citadel in ME1 was just a lot of empty hallways. The conversations were cool but it was also a whole lot of nothing in between.

  • Rajin #23 6 months ago

    @kinky_mong

    Sums up Mass effect as a whole sadly, especially ME 2

  • MerricK #24 6 months ago

    Am I the only person thats unimpressed with Bioware full stop, after ME2 & DA2?
    I will not be getting a bioware game again. ever. They all seem to have the same "mold" when it comes to the story. Your castle/family/spaceship/horse/home have been ravaged. Half way through, the person you trusted has lied to you. the end of the game obvisous cliff hanger for another game.

    No thanks - Gimme a elder scrolls/fallout (i'm aware that they tend to start same as bioware games, :()/PS1 FF's any day of the week! I'm sick of unimagantive dribble from bioware

  • v.profane #25 6 months ago

    Not being able to revisit locations in the Citadel was a glaring omission from ME2 for me.

  • uzivatel #26 6 months ago

    @TazerFan I think they wanted Omega to be the Citadel of ME2...