At one point we thought that maybe Shepard could be an alien but didn’t know it.

In an interview with Eurogamer, ex-BioWare lead writer Drew Karpyshyn sheds light on what were discussed as possible endings to the Mass Effect trilogy.

Karpyshyn, who departed BioWare shortly before the conclusion of Mass Effect 2, was replaced by Mass Effect 3 lead writer Mac Walters says the potential plot for Mass Effect 3 focused on the spread of Dark Energy – a fact alluded to by several characters in Mass Effect 2 but then never mentioned again.

It seems the initial ideas all placed a heavy emphasis on biotics and dark energy, with the Reapers acting as some sort of guardians to the universe. “Dark Energy,” Karpyshyn says, “was something that only organics could access because of various techno-science magic reasons we hadn’t decided on yet. Maybe using this Dark Energy was having a ripple effect on the space-time continuum… then we thought, let’s take it to the next level.”

“Maybe the Reapers are looking at a way to stop this. Maybe there’s an inevitable descent into the opposite of the Big Bang (the Big Crunch) and the Reapers realize that the only way they can stop it is by using biotics, but since they can’t use biotics they have to keep rebuilding society — as they try and find the perfect group to use biotics for this purpose. The asari were close but they weren’t quite right, the Protheans were close as well.”

Other ideas dropped earlier in the series included series hero Shepard turning out to be an alien, Karpyshyn continued.

“Some of the ideas were a little bit wacky and a little bit crazy. At one point we thought that maybe Shepard could be an alien but didn’t know it. But we then thought that might be a little too close to [Knights of the Old Republic character] Revan.”

Most intriguingly of all, Karpyshyn mentioned a discarded plot idea for the beginning of Mass Effect 2 that sounds similar to what Walters and the Mass Effect 3 team eventually chose for the trilogy’s ending:

[alert type=”red”]Spoilers Alert![/alert]

“There was some ideas that maybe Shepard gets his essence transferred into some kind of machine, becoming a cyborg and becoming a bridge between synthetics and organics – which is a theme that does play up in the game,” Karpyshyn concluded. “At one point we thought, maybe that’s how he survives into Mass Effect 2.”

[alert type=”blue”]Source: Eurogamer[/alert]

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Mass Effect 3 Retrospective

An in-depth retrospective as the Mass Effect team takes a look back over the past nine years of the series. These are personal reflections from producers, writers, engineers, voice actors and more that brought this universe to life!

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[alert type=”yellow”]Casey Hudson, Executive Producer and Project Director, Preston Watamaniuk, Lead Designer, Parrish Ley, Lead Cinematics Director, John Dombrow, Writer, Dusty Everman, Level Designer, and special guest Raphael Sbarge, the voice of Kaidan are joined by moderator Geoff Keighley. Hear about the team’s fondest memories and favorite moments in this once-in-a-lifetime look back on one of gaming’s most celebrated adventures.[/alert]