Yes, Mass Effect Andromeda is worth playing if you want a large action RPG with strong combat and open planets to explore, especially on a discount. It is the wrong place to start if you want the trilogy’s writing and big payoffs, because the story never got the sequel it was set up for, and it never will from BioWare.
If you have not played the Shepard games, we would start with those. Our Legendary Edition verdict covers that side.
The Short Version
| You will probably like it if | You will probably not if |
|---|---|
| You liked combat in the trilogy and want more mobility | You mainly play Mass Effect for its characters and writing |
| You like exploring open planets and collecting things | You dislike long side quests and fetch tasks |
| You are fine with a story that closes its main plot but leaves threads open | You want everything answered |
| You can get it cheap | You would be paying full price for it |
What Critics Said
It scored 72 on Metacritic on PC, which is a clear drop from the trilogy. Critics broadly praised its combat and its exploration, and were lukewarm on the writing and the animation at launch. One reviewer’s verdict sums up the mood: “Not a disaster, but definitely not the fresh start this series needed.”
Buyers land in much the same place. As of November 2026, its Steam page shows about 72 percent positive from about 10,000 English reviews, and around 63 percent in the last month.
What the Patches Fixed
The launch state is a large part of the game’s reputation, and much of it was fixed within four months.
| Update | What changed |
|---|---|
| 1.06 | Cinematic fixes and general bug fixes |
| 1.08 (June 2017) | Better character creator, appearance changes on the Tempest, Jaal as a romance for Scott, melee damage buffs |
| 1.09 (July 2017) | Facial animation improvements and fixes for quests that could get stuck |
| 1.10 (July 2017) | The last single-player update |
If you have only seen clips of its launch faces and bugs, the current version is a better game, though nothing has changed since. BioWare said in August 2017 that “Our last update, 1.10, was the final update for Mass Effect: Andromeda. There are no planned future patches for single-player or in-game story content.”
The Story Never Got a Sequel
This is the biggest thing to know before you start. The main story does finish: you reach an actual ending to the fight against the Archon. What it leaves open are the larger threads, and those were never resolved in another game.
- The Benefactor. The mystery figure behind the Initiative’s funding is still unexplained when the credits roll, and no game has followed up.
- The quarian ark. It is not in the game. BioWare said “we will continue to tell stories in the Andromeda Galaxy through our upcoming comics and novels, including the fate of the quarian ark,” and the novel Annihilation is where that happens.
- The Andromeda Initiative’s future. You establish a home in the galaxy, and you never see what comes next.
EA closed BioWare in October 2026 and dropped its early Mass Effect project. So plan on Andromeda being a complete game with a few loose ends, not the first part of a series you will get to finish. Three novels and a comic (Nexus Uprising, Initiation, Annihilation, and Discovery) fill some gaps, if you want more.
Do You Need the Trilogy First?
No. The game is set in the Andromeda galaxy, about 2.5 million light years from Shepard’s story, and it uses its own cast. There is no save import, and it is written so you can start here.
You will get a few more references if you know the trilogy, and our series order guide shows where it falls. If you want to play only one thing, though, the trilogy is the stronger recommendation: all three of its games make our list of the best BioWare games, and Andromeda does not.
What You Get For Your Time
The game is long, and how long depends on how much you clean up.
| What you do | Roughly how long |
|---|---|
| Main story | 20 to 30 hours |
| Main story and major side content | 35 to 45 hours |
| Everything | 90 hours or more |
Its strongest selling points are the combat, which adds jumping and dodging to the series’ cover shooting, and the flexible Profile system that lets you change your build at any time. A lot of the hours are open-world errands, so choose what you clean up. Put the crew’s loyalty missions and romance options first, since that is where the writing gets the most room.
How to Play It Today
It came out in March 2017 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One, and the Steam version arrived in June 2020. It runs on PS5 and Xbox Series consoles through backward compatibility. There is no remaster.
The Deluxe Edition lists at $39.99 on Steam and the EA app as of November 2026. The Xbox store page lists it under EA Play too, so check your subscriptions before you buy. Its co-op mode stopped getting updates in 2018, so treat it as a bonus, not a reason to buy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Mass Effect Andromeda good? It is a solid action RPG with very good combat and uneven writing. It is well below the trilogy, but much better than its launch reputation suggests.
Is it worth playing in 2026? Yes, if you can get it at a discount and go in knowing the story has no follow-up.
Is the game finished? Yes. The final update was 1.10, in July 2017. There are no more patches coming.
Will there be a Mass Effect Andromeda 2? None was ever made. EA closed BioWare in October 2026 and dropped its early Mass Effect project, and its memo does not say whether the series continues elsewhere.
Does the story have a proper ending? Yes. The main plot concludes, though some larger threads stay open.
Do you need to play the original trilogy first? No. It is a separate story with its own cast, and it does not import saves.
Which should you play first, Andromeda or the Legendary Edition? The Legendary Edition, unless you mainly want the combat. It has the story the series is known for.