You might also want to set the game to always display objective markers on screen, because the world map can be a little opaque. It's especially aggravating when you're trying to follow squad mate banter, so hit the Settings screen first thing and switch on subtitles. One of the Andromeda's many inelegances is that conversations are sometimes inaudible because one participant is a dozen metres away, or even in a different room entirely. There's a pinch of Halo's AI ecology to how the Remnant do battle - you'll encounter Assembler units that like to hide and build other units, and artillery-type enemies who dig in behind frontal shields. Once you're in, it's all about using switches to raise platforms, unlock doors or erect defences such as energy bubbles that shield you from harm - gentle conundrums that accompany more taxing firefights against Remnant robots. To reveal the entrance, you'll need to visit three monoliths and complete some simple sudoku-style puzzles, scanning the environment for glyphs and plugging them into four-by-four grids (you can spend tokens gathered at smaller Remnant ruins to auto-complete these puzzles). Vaults are quite entertaining in themselves, if repetitive.
Once you've terraformed a planet, you'll also be able to found a Nexus outpost with its own crop of missions. It's absolutely worth doing these before any other activities, because planets are more pleasant to navigate once terraformed - it means you can spend longer away from the Nomad in some areas without running out of life support, and there are fewer, annoying, performance-killing particle effects to worry about. Most of the game's explorable planets features a Remnant Vault - a vast, buried labyrinth made up of simple switch-and-platform puzzles that houses a mighty terraforming machine, activation of which bumps up the planet's viability for settlement by a whopping 40 per cent. Do the Vault missions first on each planet Another hub, another bunch of needy cattle to resolutely ignore. Companion loyalty quests are, as far as I can tell, completable after the endgame too, though some are tethered to your progress through the main storyline. Bear in mind, though, that certain missions like the quests to investigate the missing turian and asari arks will affect the endgame a little.
scan X busted power boxes, find X herbal specimens, recon uncharted worlds etc) on your first runthrough.
You can carry on playing after finishing Andromeda's campaign to complete the majority of side missions, so feel free to ignore some of the bittier offerings (e.g. Spotted somebody fidgeting on the periphery of a scene, casting their eyes heaven-ward and crying "woe is me"? Halt, adventurer! Don't ask them what the matter is, because they'll only tell you they've lost their geology A-level notes and before you know it, you'll be picking over limestone formations in some godforsaken crevasse. To seriously appreciate Mass Effect: Andromeda you've basically got to become a minor sociopath, resilient against all entreaties for aid. You can't mute SAM, alas, but you can read this article (or watch the accompanying video) about what to focus on in BioWare's fourth Mass Effect, a game of obscene bloat, hilarious and/or maddening glitches and ghastly hoop-jump design that harbours a few worthwhile missions, nice views and a sparky, generous array of combat options. As the vehicle for much of Mass Effect: Andromeda's more tedious content, he makes a far more convincing nemesis than the story's actual villain, who at least puts you through a few decent firefights en route to some scenery-chewing monologues about racial supremacy. SAM is awful - a toneless bore who doubles as a cautionary tale about leaving work notifications active on your phone, forever bleating at you to mine things, scan things, check your email, take vidcalls and spend your Andromeda Viability Points. No, not SAM, your cranially implanted AI assistant. There's enjoyment to be gleaned from Mass Effect: Andromeda, but in order to discover it, you might need a guide.