'Mass Effect Andromeda' release date news 2016: how love pursuits differ in game from original trilogy; returning character revealed

With new protagonists in "Mass Effect: Andromeda" in the person of the Ryder twins, players will also be able to build new romantic relationships.

Like the original trilogy, the upcoming installment will leave it all up to the gamers on who to pursue romantically in the game. However, there will be a change.

Franchise lead writer Mac Walters revealed to IGN that the relationships in "Mass Effect: Andromeda" will be "less formulaic," which means that the direction of the relationship will be entirely up to players.

"In the original trilogy, they often were you do a couple conversations with them and then it's getting close to the end, it's time to romance," Walters explained.

"What I wanted to see in this was more of a, well, somebody might want to hop in the sack right away, [or] somebody might never want to hop in the sack because this is too important — trying to find that more natural way into what a relationship would be like within the constraints of game development. We're trying to make it as open ended as possible," he went on to say.

"Mass Effect Andromeda" will allow romances between the protagonists and someone they meet from another planet or one that is not even part of their team. Either way, players will enjoy the freedom of getting together with an individual that actually appeals to them, which suggests that they will not be predetermined.

Meanwhile, one of the shoutouts of "Mass Effect: Andromeda" to the original is in the form of Avina, Citadel's virtual-intelligence character and one of the non-playable characters (NPCs) who appeared in all three games.

She can be heard in the Arks and Nexus trailer for "Mass Effect: Andromeda" in which she details the latter. There is no other character from the original trilogy confirmed to join her.

"Mass Effect: Andromeda" will be released in spring 2017. Some rumors have it that it will arrive March 2017.