What a blast of an N7 Day we’ve just had, celebrating one of, if not the best sci-fi franchises to ever exist. Not only was it spectacular to commemorate the Mass Effect games, but BioWare actually revealed a brand-new promo poster on the next Mass Effect that needs to be fully inspected. On top of that, I’m going over all of 2021’s new stories on the next Mass Effect game, because in the middle of this year, we heard a few fair ramblings that I’m finally exploring in this video. With that said, let’s blast straight into this, and explore this new Mass Effect poster.
Promo Poster:
So, where to start with this one? Let’s boot this up with the initial tweets. Mike Gamble, the Project Director of the next Mass Effect, Mike tweeted, “Happy N7 Day everyone! I'm always so proud to be part of this community, and really lucky to be working on the next game in the series. Thank you for sharing this special connection with us, and I'm really excited for what's next.”
Just after that, the official Mass Effect account tweeted, “We have another N7 Day surprise for you from the team working on the next Mass Effect. Thank you all for being the best fans in the world!” Followed up with this astonishing promotional poster on the next game. Not concept art, but an actual proper poster, ain’t that sweet!?
I’ll save my hypothesis’ for the moment, and start by tearing this all down in my tinfoil fashion. Let’s start picking apart the odd-shaped crater that most aptly resembles the shape of a Geth in frozen ice given its arched head and blue eye socket. It’s legit as if Legion is staring straight into my soul.
The blue-ish crater in the middle could also resemble a buried Mass Relay if you look closely enough, there are strange shapes and etchings that look like the inners of a Mass Relay.
The frozen landscape is identical to the Mass Effect 2020 Game Awards trailer when Liara was walking through thick snow, treading past iced-over Reapers. It seems the Geth have also befallen the same fate.
Amidst the crater are two notable bodies, each are seemingly Geth. One of them is more hidden closer to the crater, whereas the other is more identifiable in the ice.
Towards the bottom of the poster, we can see a brand-new intriguing spacecraft with a beautiful shape, on each side, the ship has SFX labelled. The main colours of the craft seem to be white, dark blue with accents of orangey-red. I’d say it’s got a similar design to an alliance ship, except those orange accents are throwing me off. The design is spectacular, given its size, perhaps this is a more compact ship that docks inside the Mudskipper, the other ship witnessed in concept art and the Game Awards trailer.
Just above the ship, as if they’ve recently landed and headed towards the crater, we can see a party of four approaching the ice. To the far left, I think we have a krogan given their heavy size, in the middle, they look like either someone like a human with a helmet on. To the right, I think this is either a turian or a salarian, and then right at the front, I think they’re an Asari given their blue colours, perhaps it’s Liara herself on this escapade.
Obviously, these are just my wild guesses based on very small figures, they could represent something else like a brand-new alien race, this is Mass Effect, after all.
And below that, we have the beautiful reminder that Mass Effect will continue. So let’s crack into some hypotheses then.
I think this promo poster most likely represents that BioWare are choosing an ending from the original trilogy and just pushing ahead with one of them as canon - which is honestly something a lot of people want for the sake of future narratives in the Milky Way galaxy. By the looks of things given this poster and the previous trailer, the Reapers and the Geth are both frozen over in ice, it seems like the destroy ending is showcased. If it was the control ending, well I’m pretty sure everyone in the Milky Way galaxy and the Reapers would be working together, and honestly, that’s pretty much the same for synthesis. Destroy was the only way to neutralise all synthetic life, which obviously, both the Geth and the Reapers are.
So, are BioWare finding new ways to bring back the Geth? It would certainly seem so based on this promo. It does need to be said that the Geth were testing the waters outside of the Milky Way galaxy, so this could also showcase a different galaxy that the squad have travelled to, recovering the Geth. This may not relate to the trilogy’s ending, even though, I’m getting that vibe.
Another thing, if the crater in the middle are whatever remains of a Mass Relay, perhaps that’s the main questline of the next game, to rebuild the Mass Relays by scavenging the tech of defeated synthetics.
In relation to that, maybe the reason the squad have arrived at this crater is not to re-activate or find a way to bring the Geth back but to use their technologies for something else. For example, in Mass Effect: Andromeda’s early initiative training videos that were used to market the game, we discovered that the Geth had the technology to observe the Andromeda galaxy, and the Andromeda Initiative used the Geth’s technology for themselves to scout out the Andromeda. Thus proving that Geth tech is more invaluable than we might’ve thought, perhaps the new squad are on the hunt for Geth tech to find the Andromeda galaxy or other galaxies - bridging the gap between the two games, creating a sequel to both.
That’s at least my biggest hypothesis, why else would this squad be looking for the Geth? Well, for many other wack reasons, they were powerful and intelligent synthetics, but what do you think? Do you think this poster is a visual representation that the Geth will make a physical return in the next game, or are you more in line with my thinking that we may use their tech? Or do you straight-up believe that Legion is going to make a come-back? I would love to hear your speculation down below and tell me if I’ve missed anything.
With that explored, let’s move on to the next, short story.
Next Mass Effect Narrative Producer:
Previous Global Brand Manager at BioWare, Hillary Heskett has taken the leap and joined Mike Gamble on the next Mass Effect game as a Narrative Producer, as she confirmed on Twitter.
Incredibly exciting to see Hillary take on this new role within BioWare, I’m absolutely wishing Hillary the best on her new conquest working on the next Mass Effect’s narrative.
Unreal Engine:
Moving on to a bigger story, trusted VentureBeat reporter, Jeff Grubb revealed a huge scoop that the next Mass Effect game may utilise the Unreal Engine instead of EA’s mandated Frostbite engine that’s proved to be a tumultuous time for previous BioWare games. Jeff reported that publisher Electronic Arts and developer BioWare are seriously considering using Unreal Engine for the next game in the Mass Effect se ries. This information primarily comes from an EA job listing for a technical director for Mass Effect 5. That post says the publisher is looking for candidates who have “experience with Unreal Engine [or higher].” Jeff confirmed through multiple sources that this is because everything is on the table when it comes to tech for a new Mass Effect — and that includes potentially replacing EA’s in-house Frostbite engine with Unreal.
BioWare built the first three Mass Effect games on Unreal, which is a bundle of tools that devs can license from Epic Games to put together new games. For Mass Effect: Andromeda, BioWare switched to EA’s Frostbite, which developer DICE originally created for its Battlefield shooters. But Mass Effect — and BioWare’s follow-up Anthem — lost something in the transition from Unreal to Frostbite, and that was apparent in elements like ambient world animation. Where a nightclub in the original Mass Effect would have dozens of dancing characters, Anthem’s characters would remain motionless and still until you approached them.
For EA, however, Frostbite’s appeal was about saving money. Since it owned the tech, it wouldn’t have to make any licensing arrangements with Epic or other outside firms.
Before I share my opinion on this matter, Jeff had more to say on Twitter, he tweeted, “Tiny scoop. A job listing says that EA is looking for a Mass Effect tech director who has experience in Unreal Engine. I've confirmed that the studio is strongly considering Unreal for Mass Effect 5.”
“At present, EA and BioWare are really considering all possibilities for Mass Effect 5. And a tech director is important to oversee that process. The company wants to embrace next-gen visual tech, and by 2023, when ME dev starts in full, Frostbite could be far behind Unreal.”
“So while Unreal is a strong strong possibility, it's also possible BioWare could be looking at Unreal to inform what it needs in Frostbite if it were to stick with EA's in-house tools. But in that process, it seems likely that devs will probably just want to stick with Unreal.”
“Linked in the story, Dragon Age 4 (still a Frostbite game) is expected in 2023.”
Pyo Five asked, “Is 2023 possible for [the next Mass Effect]?”
Jeff Grubb replied, “Mass Effect? lol no -- Dragon Age 4 in 2023 and then Mass Effect years later.”
First of all, yeah, we’re not going to see the next Mass Effect for some time yet, but that’s okay, of course, we want the game to take as much time as it needs, plus let’s focus on the next Dragon Age’s release first, right? Regarding the next Mass Effect’s potential Unreal Engine possibility, I’m all for that, honestly. We’ve heard many horror stories about the Frostbite engine since BioWare was forced to adopt it, I think only now, after 7 years, they’ve got the hang of mastering that engine, but we’ve all seen and heard the struggles they’ve endured.
Whereas with the Unreal Engine, BioWare built the entire trilogy on it, if they were to return to that, I’d see it as a blessing, it’s a fab engine with a fantastic reputation. It’d be an incredibly great sign and a good push in the right direction if this were true.
I suppose only time will tell, in any event, for future Mass Effect news, speculation and theories, you’re already in the right place. Be sure to check out my seven things I want to see for the next Mass Effect that I released just last weekend.
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