BioWare released a trailer for the next chapter of the Mass Effect series. The new game – colloquially known as Mass Effect 4 – appears to pick up after the events of Mass Effect 3.
The recovery of a piece of N7 armor in the trailer has led to speculation that Shepard could even be returning as the protagonist of Mass Effect 4. However, Shepard is not the only option. Mass Effect 4 could see an old friend from the original trilogy return as the new game’s protagonist as well.
Liara T’Soni
Liara is the most obvious option for a new, non-Shepard Mass Effect protagonist. Not only does Liara appear to be the figure focused on in the new Mass Effect teaser, but she was present throughout the original Mass Effect series and remains a beloved character by many fans. The real question is whether or not players would be able to immerse themselves in a character like Liara.
One thing going for Liara is she’s a known quantity. As an Asari, it wouldn’t make sense for players to be able to customize Liara’s sex anyway, and her species’ open sexual preferences would allow players to make their own romantic decisions. One problem is that many things about Liara’s life and personality have already been established by the events of the original trilogy. However, so were quite a few things about Commander Shepard’s life – regardless of origin at the start of the first game, every version of the character remains a celebrated up-and-coming commander in the Alliance Navy who then becomes a Spectre.
Personality Flexibility
Shepard’s customizability should not be overstated. Players took on the role of the character, but Shepard still has an intense and recognizable personality in the original trilogy, even if their morality could vary depending on whether players chose more Renegade or Paragon options.
Morality is another regard where Liara would make sense as the next game’s player character. Liara moved from starry-eyed idealism at the start of the series to become the Shadow Broker in Mass Effect 3, one of the most powerful information brokers in the galaxy. As the Shadow Broker, it’s clear Liara has had her hands in some dirty dealings since she first appears in the games, and unlike other fan-favorite companions, her morality is certainly more debatable and flexible.
If nothing else, a Paragon or Renegade-style playthrough would feel like an apt continuation from Mass Effect 3. Players who choose to make Liara amoral would experience a narrative where the responsibility of being the Shadow Broker and the events of the war with the Reapers turned Liara into a more cynical person, while those who try to be compassionate would still see continuity with Liara’s moments of compassion throughout the series.
Liara’s long lifespan could also provide the game with an opportunity to take place sometime after the events of the war with the Reapers. While this wouldn’t be necessary for its success, it might allow Mass Effect 4's storytellers some greater creative freedom.
One major problem Liara could face is deceptively simple: she featured in some players' experiences of the original Mass Effect trilogy far more than others. Players who didn't romance Liara or take a particular interest in the character might not see her as the natural successor protagonist, though unlike those present during the Mass Effect 2 suicide mission, she could only die at the end of Mass Effect 3, and only if the player had very low Effective Military Strength.
Other Options
It wouldn’t have made sense for an alien to be the protagonist of the original Mass Effect. Players needed an understandable human player character because the other species of the series were still unfamiliar. It also helped that the original game began only a few decades after humanity’s first contact with aliens and their introduction to the Citadel Council and its species. However, most Mass Effect fans now know enough about the alien races of the Mass Effect universe from the original trilogy, especially heavily featured ones like the Asari, to make them feel like viable main characters. This could make it possible for an alien Mass Effect protagonist to be immersive.
Of course, BioWare could also choose another returning character to be the player protagonist. Whether Mass Effect 4’s player character is Shepard, Liara, or a wild card pick like Garrus Vakarian, a returning alien companion could be an interesting opportunity for the games to take a new angle on a familiar character and storyline.
The game could even give players the option to pick from one of several returning Mass Effect companions like Garrus, Liara, or Tali. This could give players enough variety to overcome the reduced customization options, and could also help make the game feel like a continuation of the original trilogy for players, regardless of which characters featured most heavily in their experience of the story.
That might all get a bit overcrowded, however. Dragon Age: Inquisition had multiple player character voice actors, but by giving the player multiple returning characters to choose from, Mass Effect 4 would also need variations where those characters who weren't chosen to be the PC in a playthrough returned in different ways if they returned at all.
The teaser trailer appears to show the series committing to the Destroy ending, hinting that BioWare might be willing to make some big decisions to tie up loose ends in the main Mass Effect timeline to continue the story in the Milky Way. BioWare may even be willing to make some canonical choices about the fates of certain companion characters in order to facilitate the telling of a brand new story, without the studio having to worry about all the possible story variations. However, while the controversial final choice of Mass Effect 3 is not particularly precious to most Mass Effect fans, canonizing other decisions like romances might be met with far more opposition.
Regardless, having a returning character become the new player character could be an interesting way for Mass Effect 4 to re-center the characters of the original trilogy while providing a fresh perspective on one of those characters. If Geralt of Rivia can work as the protagonist of The Witcher 3 with multiple books of backstory behind him, Mass Effect 4 can likely turn a returning companion into a robust and immersive player character with diverse dialog options and decisions to be made. It's a risky move, but it might pay off.
A new Mass Effect game is currently in development.