BioWare has confirmed that it is currently developing a new entry in its popular Dragon Age and Mass Effect series, but little else is known about what else the studio is currently working on. The rumored Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake is reportedly being developed by Aspyr rather than BioWare, so it is not clear what else the studio could possibly be working on. While the studio developing a new IP is a possibility, BioWare also has a wealth of IPs that it could very likely be working to revive.
RELATED: Rumor: Mass Effect Legendary Edition Multiplayer Reveal Date Leaked
Neverwinter Nights Should Come to Next-Generation Consoles
Popular tabletop RPG game Dungeons and Dragons is already slated to return to the video games industry with this summer’s launch of Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance and Wizards of the Coast has stated its intentions to bring the franchise back to the industry by offering a multitude of titles. This puts BioWare in a great position to revive its classic Neverwinter Nights series. Neverwinter Nights was one of the studio’s very first RPG titles and led to a lot of BioWare’s iconic features that saw Mass Effect and Dragon Age finding so much success. It would be very interesting to see what BioWare could bring to the iconic setting of Neverwinter in modern times after they have so many more titles in their history that they have learned from.
One of BioWare’s previous Dungeons and Dragons series, Baldur’s Gate has already seen a revival through Larian Studios’ Baldur’s Gate 3. The original Neverwinter Nights and Baldur’s Gate games were built off the 3.5 edition of Dungeons and Dragons, but Baldur’s Gate 3 is built around the newer 5th edition. It would be very interesting to see how BioWare would translate the tabletop game’s newest rules and mechanics to a new Neverwinter Nights title, and it would undoubtedly bring about a large variety of changes at every level. Of course, it would also include the lessons that BioWare has learned from its variety of other RPG titles.
Jade Empire Should Come to Next-Generation Consoles
BioWare’s Jade Empire released in 2005, and saw the studio tackling the world of martial arts as an action-RPG. It was a unique game built on Chinese mythology and allowing players to experiment with and explore a range of martial arts techniques, and it quickly became a cult classic. There were plans for a spiritual successor to Jade Empire that saw it reimagined in a futuristic cyberpunk setting that were eventually scrapped. But now seems like a great opportunity for BioWare to bring Jade Empire back with a follow-up release on PC and the new generation of consoles.
RELATED: Mass Effect Andromeda Could Have Had a Very Different Opening
The new power brought with the new generation of consoles and current PC hardware would allow for BioWare’s next entry in the series to be a massive improvement on the first. The first was lauded for its interesting world and lore, its detailed representation of martial arts styles, variety of weapon choices, and its unique take on the genre. All of those aspects could be improved thanks to the new hardware standards across the games industry. There also have not been any games that have filled the hole Jade Empire left behind, so a sequel would feel just as fresh and unique in the current market as the original did all those years ago. BioWare developers have said before that a new Jade Empire is always a possibility, so hopefully, the studio will consider acting on that possibility sooner rather than later.
Shattered Steel Should Come To Next-Generation Consoles
Shattered Steel was BioWare’s very first title, released all the way back in 1996. The game put players in control of a mech in a desolate future that sees humanity on the brink of complete extinction. The campaign spans multiple planets and allows players to choose from and customize a few different mech styles with a variety of different weapons. The game is played from a first person perspective from the cockpit of the payer’s mech as they engage in missions fighting for humanity’s survival. There are not too many games releasing in the mech genre lately other than mech fighter Override 2 and the recent MechWarrior 5. This means that a AAA title from a high profile studio like BioWare could bring a lot of new attention to the genre.
Shattered Steel’s age and all of the technical advancements made across the industry over the ears would also see a new entry in the series being an incredible improvement over the original. Not only would the varied planets and mech cockpits look incredible with the graphical power of today’s PCs and consoles, new hardware like VR headsets or the PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller would add a lot to the experience as well. Being able to look around the cockpit with a VR headset while the DualSense’s haptic feedback and adaptive triggers could sell the size of the mech being controlled and the thundering of one’s weapon systems. It would all come together to make for an experience that would fit BioWare’s goals and hopes for the original Shattered Steel.
Of course, there is no guarantee that BioWare will actually consider bringing any of these long dormant franchises back to life. The studio has a lot of series that it could draw from to build out its future, but it also has a lot of potential for building an entirely new IP that will doubtlessly be as fantastic as its previous successes. Whatever BioWare does next, it will be exciting to see what form it takes, and how BioWare’s iconic love for difficult decisions and moral quandaries take form in it.
MORE: Mass Effect: Legendary Edition - Are Biotic or Tech Powers Stronger In-Universe?
