Mass Effect: Andromeda will be a family affair that features not one, but two versions of its new hero, Ryder. In an interview with PlayStation Access, creative director Mac Walters revealed that the male and female versions of the character not only exist in the game world at the same time — they're siblings.
"What a lot of people don't know, little surprise here, is that these two are brother and sister," Walters said. "And they both exist in the game world at the same time. So if you're playing as the sister Ryder, female Ryder, your brother is somewhere in the universe."
In the original Mass Effect trilogy, players could also choose the gender of Shepard, the game's lead, but he or she existed as a unique individual. Walters told Polygon previously that BioWare wanted to move away from focusing on a single, titular hero.
BioWare brought Andromeda to yesterday's PlayStation 4 Pro reveal event, where it showed off brand new gameplay. Where E3 2016 gave us a look at the sister Ryder, this latest clip was all about the brother. In the same interview, Walters revealed that we've actually seen even more of the Ryder family than we knew. In the E3 2015 reveal trailer, the character in the N7 suit was their father.
"We've got the full Ryder family full sort of now revealed," Walters said. "We'll do names and things in the future as well."
Mass Effect: Andromeda launches for PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One in 2017.
