Skyrim lead: Mass Effect 5 should learn from Baldur's Gate 3 and be more Bethesda-style

Bruce Nesmith, Skyrim's lead designer and a former Bethesda veteran, told Press Box PR that Mass Effect 5 would benefit from "taking lessons from Baldur's Gate 3" and becoming more of a "Bethesda-style" game.

"I would hope that they would try to just take their lore and make a modern game of it," Nesmith said, arguing BioWare should modernize how it presents the franchise's world and systems.

He added one of his criticisms is that Mass Effect has sometimes "felt like they were a generation behind," noting "they had very cool characters, they had great stories, but the gameplay always felt dusty and old. It just wasn’t there."

Nesmith suggested that if BioWare could marry the studio's storytelling strengths with "more modern" sensibilities it could be a "fantastic game." He also acknowledged his perspective as a former Bethesda developer: "Mass Effect players would be going nuts for that. But I’m a former Bethesda guy so I'm probably going to say that about a lot of things."

It remains unclear whether BioWare will adopt those ideas for the next Mass Effect title, and Nesmith framed his comments as his personal viewpoint in the interview.

bruce nesmith, skyrim, mass effect 5, bioware, bethesda, baldur's gate 3, bethesda-style game, modernize mass effect, mass effect gameplay criticism, modern lore presentation, storytelling strengths, press box pr interview