As news and speculation continues to rise about the new Mass Effect title, the latest detail may indicate that the newest space-faring RPG will not be using EA's Frostbite engine in its development. A new job listing has many now speculating that whatever engine will be used to design the new Mass Effect, it is unlikely to be Frostbite.
Frostbite is the go-to engine for many of EA's top titles. The FIFA and Madden series both have used the engine for years, and since its creation in 2008, the Frostbite engine has seen its fair share of ups and downs. Though it provides realistic models, on the other hand, it's no secret that the Frostbite engine was created with first person shooting, and more specifically Battlefield, in mind. Battlefield 2042, the most recent entry in the series, is still utilizing the engine to great effect, but a few EA games are now jumping ship from the engine.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order ditched the Frostbite engine back in 2019, and the new Mass Effect title seems to be following suit. As an RPG first and foremost, the Mass Effect series doesn't benefit fully from the use of the Frostbite engine, and if a recent job posting for an Environment Director at Bioware is to be believed, the Frostbite engine is soon to be a thing of Mass Effect's past. Unlike previous job listings, this doesn't even mention the Frostbite engine.
So, if BioWare won't be using Frostbite for its latest space opera, the question arises as to what engine it will use. This job listing seems to answer this question as well. Back in September, another job listing suggested that the latest Mass Effect would be using Unreal Engine 5. However, the latest listing seems to now confirm that the new Mass Effect title will be using Unreal Engine 4, as Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order did before it.
Many would consider this a good move from BioWare. After Mass Effect Andromeda faced a divisive launch back in 2017, many of players' complaints were directed towards the graphics of the game, and the Frostbite engine behind those graphics. With strange facial and running animations aplenty, a move to the Unreal Engine is one that would ease the fears of many Mass Effect fans. The original trilogy was created on Unreal Engine 3, and the versatility of the Unreal Engine would support the diversity of needs within a Mass Effect game. Although, it must be said that a graphics engine alone will not make a great game, and that the latest Mass Effect release is a long ways off, so fans will be waiting a while before they see what this new game will look like.