I recently finished replaying Mass Effect: Andromeda for the first time in 6 years and... yeah, it’s fine. Mostly feels like a first draft of a great game. Loved the characters, fantastic gameplay and story potential but was really slogged down by the obligatory open world. it just felt exhausting as time went on, and the way it was implemented felt detrimental to the intent of your character's role as Pathfinder. which is a shame, because the initial premise it shows the player is deeply gripping, but you need to have settlements already in-place for the open world systems, and because they have to be functional to have vendors and such they're all that obnoxious prefab design from the andromeda initiative. it never felt like I was actually doing my role as pathfinder. I was more like a generic chosen one who can do The Thing Nobody Else Can.

it's a shame, because the game has a REALLY cool story mechanic I've not seen in other games with voice acting - if you leave Ryder's first name as the default (Scott/Sara), some characters will call you by that name - it really helps feel some scenes feel more intimate or familial.