Bioware Details "Early 10 Hours" Of Mass Effect: Andromeda

If ya’ll aren’t already drowning in Breath of the Wild love, but you also find yourself impossibly excited for the release of Mass Effect: Andromeda, then you might already be aware that Origin Access members, the folks with paid subscriptions to EA’s virtual marketplace, will get 10 hours of early access to Mass Effect: Andromeda starting on March 16th, five days before the official release on March 21st. Heck, you might have become an Access member just for that privilege.

But what do EA and Bioware mean when they say the first 10 hours are free? How do you measure that? Wasn’t the point of the game to be open, and not linear?

Well, in a tweet by Andromeda producer, Fernando Melo, he specified exactly what this early access means, and how it’s actually a bit better than you might have expected. In his tweet, he basically explained that you have limited access to the story, but if it takes you less than ten hours to reach that point, you can restart and play it again, if that’s your thing. He also said you’d have unlimited access to the multiplayer during that time, and the rewards earned in that would pass over to your game upon its full release.

The rewards? Loot boxes. Specifically, Gold Item Loot Boxes, and Research Data Loot Boxes. These can only be earned in multiplayer: there’s no way to buy them with fake or real money in the single player game. And if the idea of playing multiplayer makes you cringe, no worries: you can always send AI strike teams to farm these loot boxes for you, but presumably they’re less efficient.

Still, that’s not a bad offering, for people who really want to get their hands on this game as quickly as possible. Besides, the multiplayer might be fun? I mean, I know Bioware hasn’t accomplished that yet, but you never know!