Skyrim's lead designer suggests Mass Effect 5 should take cues from Bethesda games and learn from Baldur's Gate 3

Bruce Nesmith, former lead designer on Skyrim and Bethesda veteran, shared his vision for the next Mass Effect game. The developer believes BioWare should borrow from Bethesda's approach to game design.

Nesmith told Press Box PR:

I would hope that they would try to just take their lore and make a modern game of it. One of the knocks on Mass Effect that I would have is that they always felt like they were a generation behind. I know, they had very cool characters, they had great stories, but the gameplay always felt dusty and old. It just wasn't there.

Nesmith added that if BioWare can marry the studio's strengths with more modern sensibilities, it could potentially result in a fantastic game.

I think taking lessons from Baldur's Gate 3 would fit Mass Effect really well. But I think they should probably try to make a more Bethesda-style game, to be honest.

Nesmith isn't suggesting BioWare should fully embrace first-person perspective and sandbox gameplay. However, he believes series fans are dying for an open-world sci-fi game with that kind of flavor and packed with content.

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.

Development on Mass Effect 5 is underway, though it remains unclear when the game will release.