Former Mass Effect writer was 'blindsided' by demands for Garrus romance option
Romance is part of what makes Mass Effect an all-time great RPG. I mean, where else can you swipe right on brutish humanoid frogs and several-century-old warrior matriarchs? Despite the (apparent) appeal of dating aliens, Bioware didn’t know everyone would want to enter a relationship with Garrus specifically.
During an ‘Ask Me Anything’ on Reddit, former lead writer Drew Karpyshyn revealed that while Mass Effect 2 was in development, Bioware had plans to bring back several companions from the first game, but with romance routes this go-around (Thanks, PC Gamer). Garrus wasn’t an option initially — but that changed once fans came to love him.
“We always knew they’d come back as companions,” Karpyshyn said. “I was a bit surprised fans wanted the romance options. Tali, I could sort of see. You never saw her face, so it was easy to imagine something vaguely human (but she had those weird feet). Garrus blindsided me – but once we saw what fans wanted, we decided to deliver.”
Karpyshyn also claims that inter-species breeding isn’t possible in Mass Effect for the most part, at least from his perspective.
“I don’t know what the ‘official’ position on this is, but my belief is that it wouldn’t be possible,” Karpyshyn explains on Reddit. “The various species in Mass Effect are too biologically different to breed with each other. Except Asari, of course… it’s part of what made them unique. But that’s just my personal take; I don’t work on the series anymore, so if BioWare wants to have babies, that’s their choice.”
The Mass Effect Legendary Edition is currently free for all Amazon Prime subscribers. Well worth checking out if all this alien-smooching business sounds appealing.
Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.