User blog comment:The Shadow User/Squadmates in Mass Effect 3/@comment-1691295-20101016024551

This really is the big mystery about Mass Effect 3 isn't it.

People seem to be generally assuming the ME2 squad won't return in a full capacity. I don't think this is the case.

Mass Effect 2 was a very very squadmate focused story. Each mission had you either helping a squadmate or recruiting them, so it's easy to see that whether or not a squadmate is there would have an enormous impact on the amount of content in the game.

Mass Effect 3, on the other hand, doesn't need to be this way. Missions could easily be focused on other things, and the squadmates aren't as vital to each mission.

They'll have their unique dialogue, romance paths and maybe a small 'Saleon-esque' assignment, but entire missions won't be missing just because a character is dead.

Sure, if the character is dead content will be missing, but the bulk of the game will still be there.

If I had to guess I'd say your entire surviving Mass Effect 2 squad will return, along with a handful (2 or 3) of new ones (Kaidan/Ashley might be one of them). Liara and Wrex won't return as squadmates, because they have very good story-related reasons for being elsewhere.

In short, once you dispose of the notion that entire missions will depend on the survival of certain squadmates, it becomes clear that, while content will be missing, you can still have a full-length game with a substantial number of dead comrades.

Also, I read somewhere that the minimum number of squadmates you can have left if Shepard is dead is 2? If true, maybe that's relevant.