I have a concept for a Mass Effect spinoff, because even though it's been a while since we got a new Mass Effect game, I never stop thinking about it.

You play as an absolute nobody. I mean an absolute nobody. Colonist number 12 on the ME equivalent of a Delta flight to the cheapest colony you can afford to start your new, nobody life.

You get there and it sucks. It sucks so much that raiders decide to burn it down. You're captured by said awful raiders, along with a few other colonists, and they spirit you away to sell you for scrap or hot pockets or something.

But you manage to coordinate with your fellow survivors to escape. You manage to crash the whole thing into a somewhat habitable planet. You, your fellow survivors, and a space dog (you totally stole it from the pirates) have to find a way to survive.

The issues are much more personal, and the stakes lower (I mean fighting for survival is pretty high stakes but the whole galaxy isn't on the brink of collapse this time). Building new shelter, finding tech, locating a new food source, is huge for you.

It's still an RPG with the Mass Effect combat we know and love, but with a focus on details. Skill-building, resource gathering, and an environment you can shape. Your fellow survivors are critical to the success of the whole, so keeping them happy, healthy, and trained is key

BUT this is an RPG, and there are places to see and other forces at work. Surviving is the short term goal; you have to leave - but that doesn't mean you won't return, and the colony you build remains and grows as your world gets larger and larger.

The idea is not to go crazy with base-building, but rather have select, critical points where how and what you build informs your next leap forward. So there is a finite number of opportunities to build, and how you build them affects your experience.