Mass Effect 2 to be dark like the Empire Strikes Back

Like a good little space opera, the Mass Effect series is following in the footsteps of the Star Wars trilogy. Greg Zeschuk of BioWare recently told IGN (via VG247) that Mass Effect 2 is set to have an Empire Strikes Back kind of vibe. Said to be darker and harder, the game will follow in the footsteps of the grittier and dreary George Lucas-less flick.

"Yeah we have definitely designed it in that fashion," Zeschuk said. “If you recall, Empire Strikes Back was the darker chapter and that is how we designed the ME2 story and experience: to try and make the player reflect on the challenges of the character. If you put ME2 next to the original it is definitely a darker, harder game."

The teasers haven’t had rainbows and butterflies, and the E3 2009 presentation wasn’t particularly rosy -- Commander Shepard is on a suicide mission. It’ll be interesting to see how dark BioWare is willing to go with this follow-up