'Mass Effect: Andromeda' latest news: December issue of Game Informer goes into game's backstory

An 'ark' from the upcoming video game, 'Mass Effect: Andromeda' masseffect.com / BioWare

With the release of BioWare's latest action role playing third-person shooter video game, "Mass Effect: Andromeda" slated for next year, more and more details have now surfaced regarding its gameplay elements and its overall storyline.

A brand new cover story — which will be published in the latest issue of Game Informer — will reveal the background story of the game, the Ryder family, and the entire Andromeda initiative that will be bringing humanity and the rest of the Milky Way galaxy species to Andromeda.

The title of the upcoming follow up to the highly popular "Mass Effect" trilogy already hints that the game will be set in a brand new galaxy, our nearest neighbor, Andromeda.

According to the story published on the magazine, the human race and other species had launched the Andromeda Initiative, a mission to establish a new home within the new galaxy. The mission was apparently established around the time of the events of "Mass Effect 2."

The mission itself involves four new "arks" that will each carry a different race. All of the ships are headed for the Heleus cluster of the Andromeda galaxy, believed to contain several habitable planets called "golden worlds." During the 600-year journey however, the human ark, called the Hyperion, apparently lands in the wrong location and loses contact with the rest of the arks and the Nexus. The Nexus is the planned command center for the mission and was sent ahead of the arks.

Players of the game will be taking the role of the "Pathfinder," the designation given to the leader of each ark. Gamers can play either as a female or male character who is the son or daughter of the previous Pathfinder. It was also revealed that the playable options are actually a brother and sister named Scott and Sara Ryder, who are the children of the previous Pathfinder named Alec.

"Mass Effect: Andromeda" was also described to be an entirely different game from the original trilogy and will contain different gameplay elements. The game is planned for release in the second quarter of 2017 and will be available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and on Windows PC.

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