How will Mass Effect continue without Mass Relays?

Mass Effect 5 is set to follow the original trilogy, meaning the ending of Mass Effect 3 will have important repercussions during the start of the new game. All endings for ME3 It completely alters the balance of the galaxy, but one of them, in particular, has some destructive effects on synthetic and organic life. The "destroy"ending, as it is often nicknamed, sees Shepard kill all AI life forms in the galaxy by emitting a lethal pulse through the mass relays.

Sure, this destroys the Reapers, EDI, and Geth (if they're still around at the end of the game), but it also destroys something else: the mass relays themselves. Mass Relays allow galactic travel from cluster to cluster, and without them, galactic society would be very different. It's not yet known exactly how, but given what we know about relays, we may be able to figure out some of these changes.

A galaxy without relays will be more divided

Space travel should be much slower

As stated, the destruction ending of the Mass Effect the trilogy saw mass relays collapse, becoming ineffective. The previous function of these relays was to allow almost instantaneous leaps through the confines of space, which was crucial in building a connected interstellar government. The Citadel itself acted as the center of these relays and the seat of the universe's leadership. Without these structures, communication and travel from planet to planet will be much slower and more isolated.

Players saw exactly how crucial these relays were to space travel in Mass Effect 2DLC arrival when Shepard destroyed one in the Viper Nebula, delaying the Reaper's arrival on Earth by over six months. And that's for the Reapers, who are noted for being extraordinarily fast in their spatial navigation; for human ships and other organic species, the time difference will be much greater. Not to mention how scattered the galactic forces were at the end of the Reaper War. The cosmos would be in chaos for years after the war ended.

The consequences of the loss of Reaper technology

The discoveries that shaped civilization, lost

The relays themselves were not originally constructed by the organic inhabitants of the galaxy. They were made by the Reapers, or at least the species that created them. Your technology shaped the development of hundreds of thousands of organic societies, including those of humansTurians, Asari, and even the Protheans. The loss of this technology would not necessarily mean that its secrets were lost forever. After all, many spacefaring species have collected the information necessary to understand technology at a certain level.

Still, the effects of destroying the Relays and all other forms of synthetic life in the galaxy would be akin to a universe-wide blackout, requiring years of work from each civilization just to get back to where they were before the Reaper War. . Depending on when the next one will be Mass Effect the game happens, Galactic society may still be struggling with this rebuilding process.

Mass Effect will need to introduce a new method of galactic travel

A new universe needs new navigation strategies

Given the centuries of research into the structures, it is unlikely that the remaining species in the galaxy will be able to build their own mass relays. However, the process would take some time and leaving large swaths of space out of reach for years to come.

This could be one way the new game could split the map, keeping certain planets and clusters out of the player's reach until they can help rebuild the mass relays. If the new game opts for an open-world exploration mechanic, this could be a cool way to do that while also helping to rebuild a broken galaxy. It could also lend the new game a smaller focus, focusing on one or a few clusters and providing more detail for a smaller number of worlds.

There could even be a mechanic where the player's ship can travel faster than other space travelers, making them uniquely qualified to explore the galaxy, search for lost technology, and combat new threats. Any of these could be an interesting starting point for a game based on the ending of the original trilogy, should the developers opt to move away from the ending where the relays are destroyed.