Mass Effect 5 is currently in the works, but it'll be quite some time before see the next entry in the beloved RPG series arrive. With the first teaser reveal dropping back in 2020, there's been no end of speculation about the direction the new Mass Effect game will go in, with posters, artwork, and cryptic teasers that followed the initial announcement that offer up some hints to dig into.
Fan theories abound too, with some recently pointing to the possibility of seeing the renegade / paragon morality system make a comeback. While there's some clues we can glean about what's in store for us in Mass Effect 5, it's been relatively quiet on the news front in recent times. With the release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard in the latter half of 2024, it was said back in January this year that Mass Effect 5 is now the only big project currently in the works the studio, but it's allegedly not yet ready for a large team to work on. This came just before reports sadly surfaced of various layoffs at the studio, followed by the news that it's still in pre-production.
The Mass Effect series is counted among the best RPGs of all-time - our Mass Effect Legendary Edition review certainly speaks to how fantastic the first three games were - and while it looks like we'll be in for quite a wait before we can return to the sci-fi universe for a new adventure, it's certainly exciting to know it's on the way. For a full overview of everything we know so far about Mass Effect 5, from N7 Day teasers to theories, and more, read on below.
2023's N7 Day (or November 7) brought us some new info for the next Mass Effect - well sort of. Over the course of a few hours, BioWare drip-fed snippets of footage which led up to the reveal of the above 34-second teaser trailer.
It was initially pitched as a countdown for "Mass Effect Epsilon" - which just so happens to be the number five - but then the teasers evolved to be titled other things like 'Defiance' and 'Post-Nebula' with notes of access codes of "Oculon-2819-Defiance". That 2819 reference makes us think this will be when the game is set. Could 2819 be the year they arrived in Andromeda?
Within all the accompanying text, there were a few interesting notes:
- /////ANDROMEDA DISTRESS SIGNAL DETECTED
- /////AUDIO TRANSCRIPT: ALTHOUGH THEY SHOULD KNOW BY NOW NOT TO UNDERESTIMATE HUMAN [REDACTED]
- /////CLASSIFIED: REVIEW BRIEFING MATERIALS ON OFFICIAL ALLIANCE COMMS CHANNELS
- /////SECURITY BREACH DETECTED /////CONTACT SYSTEMS ALLIANCE
- /////EPSILON-OCULON-NEBULA
References to Andromeda is immediately interesting, both for the Mass Effect game of the same name, and the planetary system itself. Then the references to the Alliance seem to suggest that will be a core focus for the story.
The N7 Day 2023 teaser eventually showed a helmeted figure - fairly feminine in outline - wearing a quilted N7 jacket with Cyberpunk-worthy collar, which everyone on the Subreddit is calling very Daft Punk. She pulls out a gun and heads out of the building towards an open area that seems to be very dusty or sandy, with golden hues.
The trailer was also accompanied by new Mass Effect art - the full-resolution version you can see below and zoom right in.
Within that coat, you can see a number of other characters in a bar of some kind - possibly Afterlife - including Geth, Salarian, Asari, Human, Angaran, Turian, Krogan, and Hanar.
N7 Day 2024 was prefaced with BioWare confirming it would "be quieter" with the focus remaining on the then newly released Dragon Age: The Veilguard. And indeed, we didn't learn anything new about Mass Effect 5, with Veilguard instead getting some free cosmetic N7 Day armor that brings a splash of Mass Effect to Rook's adventures.
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