Whether it's Mass Effect 4 or another spin-off akin to Mass Effect: Andromeda, the next iteration of BioWare's acclaimed space RPG likely won't see the light of day for quite some time. BioWare is currently focused on development of Dragon Age: Dreadwolf and fans can expect to hear little about the next Mass Effect title until after its release. The long wait for a new game in the series aside, the next Mass Effect has a great template to draw from for one of its core mechanics, and it doesn't come from BioWare's own Dragon Age but instead from Final Fantasy 16.
Final Fantasy 16's approach to exploration across its semi open-world provides players with essentially one of two possible map types. During the main missions, players navigate from one combat arena to the next, taking down foes and progressing the story by following a predetermined critical path. During the semi open-world sections and side missions, Clive is given access to large "zones" that contain plenty of opportunity for exploration and action without being too overwhelming or large to navigate effectively without getting lost. These "zones" in Final Fantasy 16 are the perfect model for BioWare to use in Mass Effect 4's space exploration and planet-hopping.
How FF16's Zones Could Work in Mass Effect 4
Each of the games in the core Mass Effect trilogy presented their own unique approach to the act of space exploration and surface excursions. Surprisingly, it was the first Mass Effect that featured the most-involved and robust planet scanning and exploration mechanic, with future entries scaling things back to provide more meaningful experiences for players who touched-down planet-side. In terms of how Mass Effect 4 could approach its space exploration, providing players with appropriately-scaled maps similar to Final Fantasy 16's Zones seems like a great middle ground between the original trilogy and making the next game in the series fully open-world.
The next Mass Effect could see players still scanning planets while surveying a galaxy map, but also limit the number of explorable planets to touch down on and pursue side quests. With fewer planets available for exploration, each one could be roughly the size of one of Final Fantasy 16's Zones and be spaces where players return time and again to complete a variety of side quests. The end result would be that players have fewer semi open-world spaces to explore, but those spaces are incredibly dense and encourage repeated visits.
A Semi-Open World Could Help Focus Mass Effect 4
The intervening years between the release of Mass Effect: Andromeda and titles such as No Man's Sky and the upcoming Starfield have seen a massive leap in terms of technology and video game representations of open space exploration. Even The Outer Wilds, an incredible indie title with a shoestring budget compared to Mass Effect, has pushed the envelope in terms of what space exploration in video games can and should look like. When considering how the next title in the Mass Effect series could imitate any of these titles, the simple answer is that it shouldn't.
Mass Effect has always been, at its core, a heavily narrative-driven experience. With some exceptions, narrative-driven single-player RPGs sometimes stumble under the weight of their size, failing to provide players with engaging story content throughout the entire experience. Even Final Fantasy 16, whose main story questline ranks among one of the most engaging of the series since Final Fantasy 10, doesn't quite provide engaging story-driven content throughout all of its runtime. Both Starfield and No Man's Sky embrace more of the player-created story that is derived from the moment-to-moment emergent gameplay, but the next Mass Effect can make its story the focus by scaling back the space exploration aspect in order to focus on quality over quantity.
Mass Effect 4 is in development.