The new title for Mass Effect may seem to be an open world at a glance. However Michael Gamble, producer of the title, clarified that he definitely would not call Mass Effect: Andromeda an open world game. He said the team would like to use the term exploration-based game.

Gamble explained that the game still has the concept of a tight story deliverance. He added that the layer on top of the story layer is the layer of exploration and that sometimes exploration happens in open spaces but not always. The player can cruise around planets in the Nomad but it is not the typical sandbox-type game.

It may sound like the original game of the franchise where players are free to roam around a bunch of different planets using Mako or by foot. However, the main story and side missions were woven through a more linear direction. BioWare has made it a point that although players of the game are free to explore to a certain degree, the game is structured so it will not resemble GTA set in outer space, as published by GamesRadar.

The game Mass Effect: Andromeda begins with the player leaving the Milky Way galaxy right after the events of Mass Effect 2. It is set before the Reaper invasion. The trip to the Andromeda Galaxy takes 600 years where the character is in cryo-sleep before waking up to be the first human in the new galaxy.

The new title to the Mass Effect franchise will have major new races in Andromeda. The races are the neutral Angara, the peaceful ancient guardian people who are called the Remnant and the aggressive race known as the Kett. Mass Effect: Andromeda's main character is called Ryder and players can chose to either play as male Ryder or female Ryder, as reported by Eurogamer.