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I'm bored at work today, so I began brainstorming. I'm sure somebody else has come up with this, but why not make the 4th title both a prequel and a direct sequel to the ME series?
How?
Time Travel. It's been done before, but so has a massive galactic enemy that only humanity can possibly defeat.
The game would start with the standard character creation menu. Once you've fully customized your character, the screen fades to black.
At this point, your ME3 save is accessed and you witness an abbreviated cutscene recapping your choice at the end of ME3. If you do not have a previous save, one of the endings will be set as the default. As Shep makes their choice, a bright light flashes and the scene changes, pulling away from the bright light, you realize you're now looking at a relay.
"10 Years Later" appears on the bottom of the screen. The Reaper threat has been eliminated in the manner you chose. Refuse is the only ending completely unrepresented, for obvious reasons.
An opening cinematic shows us an active mass relay and a large space station nearby. As we close on the station, we see ships from various races flying about. If you controlled/synthesized, you'll see a Reaper or two; if you saved the Geth/Quarians/both, you'll see their vessels. As we get closer, we see that the station is a research facility ("Charon Relay Research Facility" or whatever written on the side).
The camera "enters" a window and inside we see various races working together. If they're synthesized, they'll have the green-eyes. If not, normal eyes - easily changed since this is a cinematic and not in-game. We see scenes of scientists performing various experiments. Some results may be comical or not, depending upon the tone you wish to set.
The camera pans ahead to the hallway it has been traversing and a large, menacing door can be seen. As we approach, signs in multiple languages make one thing very clear: This area is highly classified. The armed guards at the door allow another guard to enter, and the camera follows. Eventually this guard, the character you created before starting the game, enters a large meeting room and takes position at the door as several researchers begin a meeting.
The status of various research projects are discussed. The common theme of these projects soon becomes clear: Space-time is oddly affected by the mass relays every time they are used. These irregularities were not detected earlier due to a lack of sophistication of this cycle's sensor tech. Sensors were improved by either reverse-engineering Reaper tech post-Destroy or from the Reapers themselves post-Synthesis/Control.
The scientists continue to discuss the possibility of this discovery, the fact that it might be possible to alter time, and the ethical implications of this. Finally, a quiet scientist who had been brooding up to this point speaks up, condemning those who do not wish to continue studying this effect with the intent of future use. His rant concluded, he leaves the meeting.
You then take control of your character and begin talking to the researchers. Through conversation, you find out that Dr. Emo (for lack of a better name
) was on Earth during the Reaper Invasion 10 years ago and that he and his family survived... Until the day of Shepard's final mission. Mere minutes before Shep made their choice, a Reaper patrol found Dr. Emo and Co., killed everyone in his group in front of him, and almost got him as Shep's decision took effect - leaving him understandably traumatized.Once you finish conversing, you try to leave the room only for a station-wide alert to be sounded. Apparently, there has been an unauthorized launch. Dr. Emo has taken a small research vessel and is approaching the mass relay. Through various events he is delayed temporarily from reaching the relay until you can reach a vessel (conveniently large enough to hold multiple crewmen, who are not currently onboard) to pursue him.
Dr. Emo is able to break through the blockade and approaches the relay, activating some sort of device and disappearing. As you approach the relay, you begin detecting strange readings. Strange scenes in the space around the relay play out as time begins to warp around it and, since you were very close to Dr. Emo's vessel when he activated his device, your ship. Finally, you are sucked in and find yourself in a strange new galaxy - The Milky Way, thousands of years before humanity's rise to the stars.
Throughout the rest of the game, you encounter new alien races, recruit them to your team, and attempt to stop Dr. Emo from whatever it is he is planning. Changes you make here may or may not affect your future. Will you be a renegade and set events into motion that will eventually allow humanity to rise and dominate? Will you be a paragon and warn the first civilizations of their impending doom? Will you remain quiet and keep the future intact literally at the cost of billions? You decide.
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A bit clichéd, but it resolves the issue of which ending would be "cannon" fairly easily and allows for more than enough story opportunities to keep most interested. You could create a plot mechanic that would allow you to jump through the relays to different time periods, but not back to your own time (use research notes from Dr. Emo's logs to partially reconstruct his device but not have full control over it, etc.). You could grab a tablet in 100,000 B.C.E. for someone looking for the Lost Tablet of Quxin in 60,000 B.C.E., see the Quarians pre-Morning War (and possibly warn them not to create/attack the Geth), etc. Lots of possibilities.
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