Osiris Reborn Just Inherited BioWare’s Burden

Exodus and The Expanse: Osiris Reborn are still slated for 2027 release dates, making next year a big one for sci-fi RPG fans. It’s a good thing, too, because this is a community that recently suffered a major blow via the official closure of BioWare and, consequently, the cancelation of the in-development Mass Effect reprisal.

After the triple-whammy of Mass Effect: Andromeda, Anthem, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard—three critical and commercial disappointments—BioWare’s shutdown isn’t exactly a shock. EA can’t afford to get sentimental about its assets, especially now that it’s been sold for the tune of $55 billion to a global coalition of investors, including the Saudi Royal Family. EA needs to make money, a lot of it, and while those passionate about gaming may consider the likes of Mass Effect sacred, the profits it generates are dwarfed by EA’s true cash cows, EA Sports FC and Battlefield. My point here is that, while I’m devastated that BioWare is no more, there was likely never going to be a future where Mass Effect reclaimed its former glory and returned to the cutting edge of the industry. But this future could be in store for games like Exodus and The Expanse: Osiris Reborn.

Without Mass Effect 5, the Pressure Is On for Exodus and The Expanse: Osiris Reborn

It’s no great surprise that Exodus and The Expanse: Osiris Reborn have both been relentlessly compared to Mass Effect since their respective reveals. In the case of Exodus, it’s actually being developed by multiple former key members of BioWare, like lead writer Drew Karpyshyn, who previously wrote for Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and several other major BioWare releases.

Beyond this pedigree, both Exodus and The Expanse: Osiris Reborn share a number of important traits with the Mass Effect games, including:

• Third-person cover shooting
• Relationship & romance systems
• Squad-based tactical combat
• A classic “space opera” premise
• A semi-customizable protagonist

I don’t want to reduce these games to mere “Mass Effect clones.” The fact is, we really don’t know how much Exodus and The Expanse will really have in common with the Mass Effect franchise until they come out, but the surface-level similarities are hard to ignore. When it comes to initial cultural impact, discourse, and expectation, all of which are crucial factors in a game’s reception, such surface-level details are critical.

Audience perception of these games was always going to be colored by Mass Effect, but the post-BioWare landscape recontextualizes things a bit. When Mass Effect 5 was still on the docket, The Expanse: Osiris Reborn and Exodus were Mass Effect competitors. Now, they’re Mass Effect replacements. Put another way, had Mass Effect 5 been released, it would have been a contemporary to these games, but now these games will be seen as successors.

Archetype Entertainment and Owlcat Games, developers of Exodus and Osiris Reborn, respectively, might be feeling a little bit of increased pressure in the wake of BioWare’s closure. It’s not necessarily fair to raise expectations for these games following Mass Effect‘s cancelation, of course, but it would make sense. Like I said, there’s a very good chance that the aforementioned Mass Effect comparisons are off-base or prove to be superficial—Exodus and Osiris Reborn could be nothing like Mass Effect, in the end. This was obvious even before BioWare shut down, but things have become more bleak: if Exodus and Osiris Reborn turn out to be nothing like Mass Effect, we will no longer have Mass Effect 5 to make up for it.

Mass Effect 5’s Cancelation Might Benefit Exodus and The Expanse

The conversation around Exodus and The Expanse: Osiris Reborn might be recontextualized without the looming shadow of Mass Effect 5, but this could be a good thing. Like a lot of gamers, I was a little wary of Mass Effect 5 after Andromeda, Anthem, and Veilguard, but it probably would have been a major release irrespective of its actual quality. This would have only further diluted the genre space that Exodus and Osiris Reborn are trying to enter, but the prestige and history of Mass Effect could have also supported unfavorable comparisons. Something as small as a well-received Mass Effect 5 gameplay reveal could have had a deleterious effect on both these upcoming titles.

Then again, a poorly received reveal or release of Mass Effect 5 could have made Exodus and Osiris Reborn look even better by comparison. We’ll never really know what sort of dynamic these three games would have had, which just adds another layer of tragedy to the whole situation. Of course, BioWare’s closure is the saddest part, but it’s also disappointing that the nascent Mass Effect-like extravaganza is going to be one-third smaller.

Released

April 7, 2027

Developer(s)

Archetype Entertainment

Publisher(s)

Wizards of the Coast

Number of Players

Single-player

Steam Deck Compatibility

Unknown