Cancelled Mass Effect 5 Gameplay Details Surface, Including Hitman-Style Missions

New gameplay details have emerged for Mass Effect 5, the entry that was cancelled last week alongside the closure of BioWare's entire development studio. The project was reportedly called Mass Effect Universe, and the information that has surfaced points to a role-playing game that leaned hard into player freedom.

The most eye-catching detail is the design of its handcrafted missions, which reportedly gave players Hitman-style latitude. Rather than moving down a single fixed route, players could approach objectives in several ways and choose how to get where they needed to go. The report also describes the ability to hack the environment, letting players manipulate their surroundings during missions. Brutal close-range executions were part of the combat package as well, a sharper tone than the franchise has typically leaned into.

Fans will also be watching the reported return of Liara, the Shadow Broker who became one of the most beloved characters of the original trilogy. The source report covers much more than these highlights, but the specifics that matter most to players are the ones about how missions would have felt to play.

These details have not been independently verified, and the project's cancellation leaves them as a glimpse of what could have been rather than a roadmap for the franchise. Even so, the combination of cancellation and studio closure is a painful blow for a series that fans have long wanted to see return in a major way, and every new piece of information about what was planned will keep that loss in the spotlight.