BioWare’s Mass Effect 4 will not only be powered by Unreal Engine 5, but the game will also make use of the engine’s MetaHumans technology to create more realistic races.
Executive Producer at Bioware Michael Gamble teased the studio’s inclusion of MetaHumans tech to create its new characters. With the studio’s last game in the series — Mass Effect Andromeda — suffering from weird facial movements, anything will be an improvement.
Unreal Engine 5 MetaHumans is an add-on for the popular game engine that allows developers to quickly create photorealistic humans. The tool has been praised for its ability to let developers quickly craft fully-rigged character models within the game engine.
Gamble responded to Epic Games developer Chris Evans (not that one) who asked studios whether they’re using MetaHumans for their upcoming projects. In response, the Mass Effect dev posted a GIF from the past games in the series.
While not a straight-up confirmation that Mass Effect 4 uses MetaHumans technology, it might as well be. At the time of BioWare, after suffering from layoffs, has two projects in the works: Mass Effect 4 and Dragon Age Dreadwolf. With the sheer number of facial customisation options available in the games, Epic’s proprietary character creator makes a lot of sense for the RPGs.
Fans have already responded positively to the possibility of MetaHumans technology in Mass Effect 4. With the sheer quality of the tech and the customisation options it can provide, RPG fans are hyped for Mass Effect’s interpretation of the tool.
“The idea of Metahuman possibly being used for the next ME is so exciting to me,” one fan said. “I assume it'd work with humans and Asari (and maybe Quarians?) but I have wondered if it could work with less human looking aliens like Salarians, Turians, and so on. It's such cool tech!”
Mass Effect 4 is expected to release on Xbox Series, PlayStation 5 and PC sometime in 2025. Well, if Dragon Age: Dreadwolf ever manages to release.