Violet McVinne, A former cinematic designer for Bioware, has tweeted video footage of a private joke type additional possible ending to action roleplaying game Mass Effect 3.

It's a little bit romantic. Player character Sheppard makes out with bad guy the Illusive Man.

So I had an interesting habit when I worked at BioWare. The day after we finished making a game I'd always throw together a quick video envisioning what it would be like if our characters would just kiss and make up. I'd need to find the Dragon Age version again.

Whether true or not, we're going to hazard a guess that this is a testing of the waters by the game's developers / publishers (Bioware / Electronic Arts)

Earlier this year in a Reddit AMA (ask me anything), a former BioWare writer (Drew Karpyshyn) spoke about very early, when he was working on the second game, rough plans for another potential ending to the third.

As for Mass Effect, we has some very rough ideas planned out. Basically, it involved luring the Reapers through the Mass Relays then detonating the entire network to wipe them out... but also destroying/damaging the relays and isolating every galactic community from the others. But we still had to figure out a lot of the details, and there were some issues with that option... like what we would do in the next series of games.

Mass Effect 3 allows players to steer the game towards some radically different endings.

Many players appreciate the ability to make decisions which really impact on game outcomes and at the time this was a grand finale for the franchise.

Since then plans were announced for a series adaptation and also a direct continuation of the game.

It's difficult to imagine how the next entry could continue from those different endings, and how would the Amazon adaptation handle those?

That choice is also just one among many that the trilogy allows players.

Which selection of choices should they follow?

Perhaps none.

Amazon aren't shy about disregarding source material and might prefer to tell the same broad story but with different choices and ultimate outcome.

From which single point the next game might also proceed.

There's no ETA on either the game or series, and officially there has been no word on the series beyond a deal being negotiated late last year.

[ Main Image: Mass Effect 3 - Not a real ending. Credit: Violet McVinnie / Electronic Arts via Twitter. ]

References

Karpyshyn, Drew (@DrewKarpyshyn). (July 13, 2022). Sneaky - two questions for the price of one! Reddit.

Mass Effect Wiki. Illusive Man. (viewed November 26, 2022)

McVee [@VioletMcVinnie] (November 24, 2022). So I had an interesting habit when I worked at BioWare. Twitter.

Meluso, Mario (June 3, 2021). Mass Effect 3: All Possible Endings (& Which You Should Choose). Screen Rant.