New Mass Effect teaser gives fans something to chew on for N7 Day

New Mass Effect teaser gives fans something to chew on for N7 Day

Three years after announcing that a new Mass Effect was in development, BioWare dropped the first real video teaser for its new, still-untitled follow-up to Mass Effect: Andromeda. The 30-second clip ultimately gives Mass Effect fans more questions than answers, but it does at least offer a first look at who may be returning for BioWare’s new sci-fi role-playing game.

As part of N7 Day, the annual celebration of all things Mass Effect, BioWare released the above teaser in multiple chunks, including some “decoded” text messages that might provide some clues about who’s in its teaser. In one teaser page titled “Epsilon” (the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet, by the way!), we get a quote attributed to Liara T’Soni — “Although, they should know by now not to underestimate human defiance!” — from last year’s N7 Day. Another teaser page references the Oculon (an early name for the Citadel) and 2819, the year when members of the Andromeda Initiative reach their destination in the Andromeda galaxy.

The teasers indicate that there’s some sort of distress signal that originates from the Andromeda galaxy, and is possibly being answered from somewhere in the Milky Way. The year of the transmission is listed as redacted.

BioWare’s Mike Gamble, project director and executive producer on the new Mass Effect game, has indicated that the franchise’s next entry will be a sequel to both Mass Effect 3 and Mass Effect: Andromeda, and could feature both galaxies. BioWare’s latest teaser appears to reinforce that, but leaves the mystery of who’s returning — and if Commander Shephard somehow could in the far future setting of this post-Andromeda game — an open question.

The next Mass Effect was revealed in 2020. At the time, then-BioWare general manager Casey Hudson said that a “veteran team” of Mass Effect developers were “hard at work envisioning the next chapter of the Mass Effect universe.” The following year, BioWare released a single teaser image for the sequel, hinting at the return of the Geth.

BioWare’s next project is Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, so Mass Effect fans may have a lot more waiting to do.

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