Mass Effect 4 has a daunting task ahead of it. Whatever the game is officially called, it will need to bridge the narrative between Mass Effect 3 and Andromeda, bringing the two together into one cohesive story. This seems to be the plan, given that the shot of the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxy in one Mass Effect 4 trailer was intentional.
Given the end of the Reaper threat, the multiple potential endings for the Mass Effect trilogy, and the brand new narrative in Andromeda, it’s clear that this is a herculean task. It seems BioWare is going to canonize the Destroy Ending, per various teasers showing what appears to be Reaper damage and destroyed Geth. However, to do it effectively, BioWare may need to canonize a few more things to pull it all together.
Mass Effect 4 Has a Choice: Canonize or Ignore
The problem with choice-based games is how the narrative handles choices moving forward. BioWare has a ton of experience circumventing this, with the Warden in Dragon Age being a good example. In some players’ games, they could be dead or they could be royalty—just two possible results. What usually happens is these choices change dialogue or these characters get relegated to the background. The warden, for example, is searching for an answer to the Calling come Dragon Age: Inquisition, if they are alive.
Many hope that they can see their Warden in Dragon Age 4, but having the character creator for them like Hawke in DA:I would be complicated and may not be worth it if every player wouldn't see them. Perhaps they could make it a main storyline and replace this Warden with another if so, but the simple thing is, the more complicated the choices, the better received by players they are. Yet, down the line, these choices can create serious narrative and development hurdles. On top of all of that, there is how to handle scenarios like this tastefully and not ruin a player’s image of their character.
Dragon Age is one world with connected storylines, events, characters, and so on. Mass Effect, on the other hand, is a huge galaxy with multiple words, companions, characters, and so on. Mass Effect 4 is likely hundreds of years after the ME Trilogy (to line up with Mass Effect: Andromeda better), and this would explain why characters like Liara may be the only ones alive. The problem is Liara would know what happened in the end, potentially what became of Shepard, and the consequences of all the choices made in the Mass Effect Trilogy.
Thus, the choice may come down to ignoring the potential effects of something—like curing the Genophage which would change the entire dynamic of Krogan society. If the Krogan weren’t present in Mass Effect 4, it eliminates this problem but introduces another: players love the Krogan. BioWare could downplay Mass Effect 3’s Genophage choice by not referencing it or saying Krogan did something that impacted their reproductive capabilities, but then that undermines player choice. It’s a rock and a hard place, and for better or worse, it may be wise to canonize more events than just Mass Effect 3’s destroy ending.
Mass Effect 3 Choices
The Genophage is just one choice that would perhaps be best resolved by canonizing the events (preferably the curing of it). Another key choice would be the results of the conflict between the Geth and the Quarians. Sure, the former might be gone with the Destroy Ending, but it could seriously impact how future generations remember the Geth. There’s also the chance that some Geth left the Milky Way Galaxy, which is hinted at in official game lore. The Kholas Array may be how the Geth discovered the Reapers, but that’s also because it allowed them to observe galaxies outside the Milky Way in real-time (or extremely close to it). One discovery would be all it takes for there to be a handful of Geth that survive the ME3's Destroy Ending, and through what would be very complicated, their return and subsequent destruction of other Geth could play a major role—one better defined with canon choices.
Shepard didn’t just save the galaxy, they fundamentally changed it. The above are two big question marks, but there are others—the fate of the council and how they could change the political governing of the galaxy following the Reaper invasion, the fate of the Rachni and their future post-Reaper invasion, certain characters and their arcs, and so on. While some of this could be ignored to little or no impact, the Genophage and the Quarian-Geth War cannot be.
It's Okay if Mass Effect 4 Canonizes Some Events
If this is the case, then it’s understandable some fans would be upset if the canon events were not their chosen events. It would seem likely that BioWare would go based off the most popular choices in the Mass Effect trilogy, but that still means some will be upset. What’s important is to keep in mind this doesn’t automatically invalidate a player’s choices. Those choices are still theirs, and in some version of the Milky Way galaxy, that’s how it all shakes out. It ends with Shepard sacrificing themselves at the end of Mass Effect 3.
BioWare may have to do this—perhaps there’s another way around it as unlikely as it seems—but this is likely to be a separate story too. In other words, compartmentalizing may be a good skill here. There’s the Milky Way as it ended with players' choices in Mass Effect 3, but there’s another story that turns out later *IF* certain events unfold. Canonizing events is likely the best outcome if it means the Geth, Quarians, and Krogan have to be ignored otherwise.
Mass Effect 4 is in development.