Games Inbox: Will there ever be a new Mass Effect game?

The Tuesday letters page worries that younger people are no longer interested in console games, as one reader looks forward to MachineGames’ Quake reboot.

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BioWare Effect
Considering how badly Dragon Age: The Veilguard did I’m honestly surprised that EA has not shut down BioWare yet. They’re obviously dead meat if Mass Effect 4 isn’t a hit but will they even make it that far? We’ve still not seen any gameplay or got any hint about when there’ll be a reveal or, god forbid, a release date.

I can’t believe that a series that seemed so strong in the Xbox 360 era has fallen this far, to the point where younger gamers probably aren’t even going to know what it is. Mass Effect 2 is hands down one of the best games of that generation, as far as I’m concerned, but it’s all been downhill since then, especially with Andromeda.

I really hope that BioWare pull it out of the bag and I pity them for the pressure they must be under. The worse thing is I have a feeling EA are only going along with it all in order to get the TV deal with Amazon. Could this be the first example of a game series being saved by its TV show? I guess you could argue Fallout but that was at least always going to get made, just not necessarily this quick.
Igor

Old man’s game
I don’t want to come across as an old man but I’m not surprised to find out that the average age of console gamers is so old. In my experience, kids and teenagers just aren’t that interested in traditional games. All they play is mobile games (because they’re free) and PC games (because they’re easy to pirate). From their perspective, there’s no reason to get an expensive console to play mostly the same games.

It’s the same with movies, where younger people just aren’t that interested and see going to the cinema as old-fashioned. Whether there’ll get more into both things as they get older I don’t think anyone can say but assuming that most young people will like video games and movies by default just isn’t possible anymore and I suspect it’s only going to get worse.

That explains why publishers are obsessed with live service games, although abandoning the people they know will spend money in an attempt to snag new ones that currently don’t seems a flawed concept to me.
Taniss

All or nothing
There’s been a lot of talk recently about EA’s status as the last big independent publisher but I have got a really bad feeling about Battlefield 6. They seem to be putting everything they’ve got into it but what guarantee have they got that it’s going to be any better than Battlefield 2042? They were all in on that when it started and look how quickly that fell apart.

Not putting all your eggs in one basket is such a basic piece of advice but between this and EA Sports FC, EA just doesn’t seem to care. Battlefield is never going to be as a big as they want, they whiffed that chance a decade ago. At this rate we’re never going to get Star Wars: Battlefront 2.
Limpton

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Machine formula
Seems like MachineGames have been talking about rebooting Quake for so long now, but I would love to see it happen. I’m curious to see if it will have the same set-up as all their other games though, where there’s lots of little open world areas where you wander around and speak to people and get side quests.

They’ve been doing that since the days of Chronicles Of Riddick and while I’ve always loved their stuff, it feels like they’re still no very well known, not even after Indiana Jones And The Great Circle.

Quake has never been the same between any of its sequels, so it’s totally possible for them to mould it into something of their own. I’d love to see it but then again, the thought of a Wolfenstein 3 in a post-Trump world makes me very interested to see how far Microsoft would let them go.
Gonch

Amiga power
Happy birthday to the Amiga on Wednesday! I had an A600 and A1200 in the early nineties, up until 2001. I’ve just been watching an Amiga documentary Blu-ray and it mentions about RoboCop 3 on the Amiga and the fact that the RoboCop films used the Amiga to create the computer graphics when you saw from RoboCop’s point of view in the films! I didn’t know that.

The Amiga was also used to create the TV series Babylon 5.
Andrew J.

Big screen gaming
Finally got around to picking up a decent OLED TV, as Richer Sounds had a good deal on the 2024 model Samsung 55″ S90D.

The picture quality and screen size make for a pretty breathtaking visual experience but I do wonder if I’ll adjust to gaming on a large screen while sitting on a couch.

I started gaming on small screens sat at a desk and have ever since. Playing SNES, with Blood Sugar Sex Magik playing on the tape deck, connected to a 14″ CRT TV on an elaborate black ash cabinet/storage/desk area my dad built in the room I shared with my two brothers.

I can feel the urge already to move the consoles back to the 1080p 27″ monitor I’ve been gaming on for the last seven years. I find myself feel more connected to a game sitting upright and close to a screen.

We’ll see how it goes. I’m going to try some different sitting positions on the sofa, maybe push it closer to the screen when gaming.
Simundo

The second Mortal Kombat 2
Could Mortal Kombat 2 be just as silly and violent as the films should have always been? Let’s hope so, going by the newest trailer.

Only problem is although Karl Urban is great, he doesn’t always have the best luck in films he’s associated with. Fingers crossed it doesn’t turn out awful like its namesake from the past.
Bobwallett

GC: What’s wrong with Karl Urban’s filmography? We’d say he’s had more hits than misses.

Scary reality
Yep. I’ve endured the entirety of Madison on my PlayStation VR2 and I think it’s unquestionably a top contender for the scariest game I’ve ever played.

The jump scares are certainly efficacious in virtual reality and the pervasively foreboding and spine-chilling atmosphere immersed me further into the interactive nightmare. The sound design is also amazing at inducing frequent head swivelling to determine the origins of the disturbing noises!

There’s one bit where a dastardly audio cue will forewarn you of the arrival of something truly horrendous, and even after several encounters of the worst kind with the evil entity, the sounds still managed to me feel weak at the knees.

I also love how obtuse, elaborate, and stimulating the puzzle design is here. Like a fun maths-based one in the attic involving hidden figures and family portraits that had me pulling out a pen and paper to solve, because the way it’s presented was so strange and wonderful. Two more sophisticated puzzles revolving around a clock room and one based in a mausoleum had the old grey matter sizzling.

There are so many standout moments in the game that have lingered in my mind, like a parasitic organism that feeds on my primal fears. How a seemingly innocuous, omnipresent statue could elicit such anxiety in me is impressive.

I really feel like games like Madison, and the superb Visage, do the legacy of cancelled Silent Hill project, P.T., proud with their dreamlike logic-based systems and incredibly unsettling haunted house settings. But protagonist Luca’s prominent use of a magical camera to clear puzzles and capture some ghastly sights kind of evokes the Project Zero series too.

The biggest compliment I could pay Argentinian developer Bloodious Game’s debut is that every time I think about Madison’s many blood-curdling moments, the hairs on the back on my neck stand up. Truly a hallmark of a great horror.

Horror aficionados rejoice! Between Luto, Blooper Team’s new IP, Cronos, Silent Hill f, Tormented Souls 2, and then Resident Evil Requiem in February 2026 – plus I’m sure some obscure indie horrors that I’ve yet to learn about – the genre of tentative treads and swelling dread has once more ingested the potent healing properties of the green and red herb formula, and it is in rude health indeed!
Galvanized Gamer
PS: Do you intend on reviewing another upcoming P.T. inspired horror, Luto, later this month? It looks very promising and I really enjoyed the creepy ghost story vibes in the demo.

GC: Perhaps, it certainly does seem very much influenced by P.T.

Inbox also-rans
I really hope Nintendo goes big budget with the next Fire Emblem. For me, Engage was almost unplayable because it was obviously so cheap. It feels like they’re taking advantage of fans and not really making any effort.
Boysie

If the new Ghost Recon is a first person shooter or a live service game then Ubisoft will have learned nothing. It’ll be a pretty good indicator, actually, of whether there’s any chance for them in the future, or if they’re just never going to change.
Lambo

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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

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