The ending that you get in Mass Effect 3 will have a greater likelihood of varying from the one I get starting this summer, when the people making the game release the Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut.
The free, downloadable add-on, which was revealed by the game's developers at BioWare on Thursday, will highlight the different decisions you've made during your adventure through new cinematic sequences and epilogue scenes. The new ending won't introduce new gameplay sequences, a spokesperson told us. The result? More player-specific endings.
"Much of the focus of the Extended Cut is to expand on the variety of consequences of player choices and degrees of success," the spokesperson said, "so, with the new content, the player's choices should result in a much more varied experience."
The new ending content will be woven into the game and should be accessible seamlessly. We were told that players "should be able to grab a save file before the endgame and experience the new content from there." (Keep a pre-endgame savefile, folks!)
BioWare's work on the Extended Cut is delaying other DLC content, but players who want non-ending content shouldn't fret too much. "The overall development of other DLC will shift," the spokesperson told us, "but several projects are underway and in various stages of development."
The game's creators have also promised that the Extended Cut will not introduce a different ending or add more endings. It will just provide more clarity and context for what was already on the game's disc.