On the 16th of February, the lead writer of Mass Effect: Andromeda, Chris Schlerf, announced via Twitter that he has left Bioware Montreal. Previously a senior writer for Halo 4, Schlerf was nominated by the Writers Guild of America for an Outstanding Achievement in Videogame Writing award in 2013, narrowly losing out to Ubisoft’s writers for Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation.
Returning to Twitter from a 6-month social media hiatus, Chris returned to his handle @schlerf to reassure fans that Mass Effect: Andromeda is going to “blow people away, [and he] couldn’t be prouder to be part of it” BioWare has lost three senior members in the past three months – senior development director Chris Wynn left in December, and writer David Gaider in January.
With ME:A scheduled for a release in the holiday of this year, it leaves much regarding the storyline up for debate. Mass Effect 2’s story (and gameplay, and... well, everything) was nothing short of spectacular, and the plots of Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age: Inquisition are remarkable, however Dragon Age 2 lacked somehwat in regards to plot, and Mass Effect 3... well, that was nothing short of painful for those who had experienced the previous game. We all despised that ending, didn’t we? The last thing Bioware needs right now is a questionable plot and storyline.
However, all is not lost – following this upsetting revelation, he soothed the worries of other gamers by announcing that he is “back in Seattle, working with this scrappy little company called Bungie that some of you may have heard of” – confirming rumours that he has indeed begun work on writing for Destiny. Considering the criticism of Destiny’s story – or notable lack thereof, get your head in the game Bungie – this is great news for fans of the creators of the Halo and Marathon franchises. Destiny is scheduled for a large content release this spring, followed by a large expansion later this year, with a full sequel in the following year; perhaps it’s a good time for Bungie, famed for their expansive stories, to finally get a writer who can, you know, actually hold a story together…
