A series of tweets from Mass Effect: Andromeda lead designer Ian S. Frazier reveals the number of difficulty options in the game, and that all are available from the start.

Now that news regarding Mass Effect: Andromeda is beginning to circulate more freely, gamers eagerly anticipating BioWare's follow-up to the Shepard trilogy have a better idea of what the new sci-fi adventure will look like. Just last week, fans learned more about Mass Effect: Andromeda's villains, and the story behind the Pathfinder Initiative has started to take shape ahead of the game's late March release date.

While gamers have been introduced to more characters and storytelling devices in Mass Effect: Andromeda, however, there has been little in the way of new gameplay reveals just yet. That's expected to change in the coming days, but ahead of any video evidence to suggest the hype surrounding Mass Effect: Andromeda is justified, the game's lead designer, Ian S. Frazier, shared some details about its difficulty on Twitter:

Humorous reference to notoriously difficult cult-classic Battletoads aside, the big news emerging from Frazier's brief Twitter discussion is that gamers won't need to beat Mass Effect: Andromeda once before being granted access to its most difficult gameplay mode. That's another big change to the way Mass Effect games have worked in the past, but fans of the series will likely welcome the ability to play on Insanity difficulty without having to plow through Mass Effect: Andromeda's presumably lengthy narrative once before.

Frazier also revealed that Mass Effect: Andromeda would have a mechanic that would "scratch the itch" of those craving something similar to the Trials feature of Dragon Age: Inquisition. Trials allowed players to strengthen enemies or hinder their own party during gameplay with the promise of better loot, and the feature was widely praised for making the game's side quests feel more challenging. Given the fact that Mass Effect: Andromeda will place a big importance on side quests, it makes sense a similar feature would be present somewhere in the game.

Mass Effect: Andromeda is still a ways out, and it is hard to ascertain what a five-stage difficulty system means for a game that has barely showcased any of its actual gameplay yet. The presence of five different options, however, coupled with the fact that they will all be accessible from the first time a player picks up Mass Effect: Andromeda, should be one more interesting choice fans have to make in a game that will be built on tough decisions.

Mass Effect: Andromeda will release on March 21, 2017 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.