Big things are on the way for EA and Bioware's popular space RPG franchise Mass Effect. Last December, the franchise released an official teaser trailer for the next Mass Effect title during the 2020 Game Awards and fans have eagerly been awaiting news about the fan-favorite series. Now, a recent job listing from EA suggests that a major change may be coming to the next entry to the franchise with the new game's graphics engine transitioning into familiar territory.

Mass Effect fans have been eagerly anticipating the franchise's next adventure since Mass Effect: Andromeda was released in 2017. Andromeda received a mixed reception from long-time fans of the franchise, praising the title's improved gameplay while suffering from weaker writing and significant technical difficulties on release. With a new Mass Effect game on the horizon, EA seems to be shifting one area of the newest title in a direction the franchise is familiar with.

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A recent job listing from EA suggests that the next Mass Effect title may be shifting away from the Frostbite engine used in many of EA's titles. The listing through EA's recruitment platform is searching for a Franchise Technical Director for the Mass Effect franchise. Within the listing, "experience with UnrealEngine4+" is specifically mentioned within the Requirements section for the job suggesting that the space shooter may be looking at switching back to the Unreal Engine.

The previous title, Mass Effect: Andromeda, was built using EA's Frostbite engine, but the transition to the Unreal Engine for the upcoming title is nothing new for the Mass Effect franchise. The first three games in the Mass Effect series were all built using the engine developed by Epic Games. Unreal Engine has become one of the most well-known game engines in the industry with major franchises like Bioshock and Dragon Quest using Unreal Engine.

The massively popular series of space RPGs hit a lull for in the years following the lukewarm reception by fans to Mass Effect: Andromeda. However, the series got a shot in the arm with the success of Mass Effect: Legendary Edition earlier this year. The remaster of the original Mass Effect trilogy topped Steam sales charts following its release and revived interest in the franchise for many fans to return to the worlds of Mass Effect.

While the next adventure in the Mass Effect franchise looks like it is still several years away, the success of the remaster should inspire hope for the galaxy-trotting franchise's most passionate fans.

A new Mass Effect title is currently in development with no announced release date.

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Source: VentureBeat