Highlights

  • Mass Effect Legendary Edition remastered the original trilogy to give fans another chance to experience Commander Shepard's journey, and it has reminded fans of how great Shepard is as a protagonist.
  • With a return to the Milky Way Galaxy teased in Mass Effect 4's reveal, fans are wondering whether Shepard will make a comeback, but if they do the search for them should not make up a large portion of the game.
  • Mass Effect 4's trailers should confirm or tease Shepard's survival to shift focus on to new story elements, as a search for Shepard could feel like a waste of time instead of the story progressing in a meaningful way.

It has been twelve years since the release of BioWare's Mass Effect 3. Thankfully, the developer launched Mass Effect Legendary Edition more recently in 2021, a remaster of the original trilogy, giving fans and newcomers another opportunity to experience the journey that started it all with Commander Shepard and their team. Now that Mass Effect 4 is officially in development, it has a chance to pick up where Mass Effect 3 left off, which just so happens to be on a massive cliffhanger, leaving even the fate of its beloved protagonist hanging in the balance.

Commander Shepard is one of gaming's most cherished protagonists, and while a lot of this may be due to the amount of freedom players have to shape their personalities and therefore foster a deep connection with them, there is still an unalterable level of leadership and bravery in Shepard that makes them admirable. Simultaneously, their undeniable weaknesses humanize them and make them relatable. These are all reasons why Mass Effect 3's cliffhanger concerning them was such a big deal. So, when Mass Effect 4 begins its initial marketing phase, its trailers need to be upfront about Shepard, as it can't afford to allow its narrative to revolve around the Commander's fate after more than a decade of waiting.

Mass Effect 4 Geth Companion
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The Mass Effect 4 Trailers Need to Explain Whether Shepard Is Alive

Shepard Is Presumably Alive After Mass Effect 3's Destroy Ending

Mass Effect 3 has three core endings, although each one of them has many different variations depending on the player's choices. The "destroy" ending is arguably the best ending, so long as players ensure their Effective Military Strength is high enough to result in the survival of Commander Shepard and their crew. It's also the only ending in which Shepard has the potential to survive, which means, if Shepard is alive in Mass Effect 4, its narrative will have no choice but to be impacted by Mass Effect 3's destroy ending.

The main purpose of Mass Effect 3's destroy ending is the destruction of the Reapers, the primary antagonists of the Mass Effect trilogy. To destroy them, Shepard activates the Crucible, sending a widespread destructive blast through the galaxy and wiping out all synthetic life, including the Reapers. As long as players have a high enough Effective Military Strength, in the last scene of the destroy ending, before the credits, the camera pans what appears to be Shepard's lifeless body and stops at their chest. Shepard is then witnessed taking one breath before the screen goes black and the credits begin to roll. This was undoubtedly the biggest cliffhanger of any ending in the game, and it has had many fans wondering if Shepard is truly alive ever since.

Mass Effect 4's Trailers Need to at Least Tease Shepard's Fate

As fans have been waiting over a decade to learn whether Shepard did indeed survive the aftermath of Mass Effect 3's destroy ending, it would do well for Mass Effect 4's marketing to confirm or, at the very least, tease it ahead of the game's release. This would prevent Mass Effect 4's narrative from focusing solely on Shepard and would instead allow it to continue the story of Mass Effect after the destruction of the Reapers. Other characters survived the destroy ending that the Mass Effect 4's story could highlight, like the Mass Effect trilogy's beloved pilot, Joker. Revealing Shepard's true fate in the trailers would also put fans at ease and allow them to speculate on other things pertaining to the next game.

According to recent reports by Jeff Grubb, Mass Effect 4 may not be arriving until 2029. If this is true, BioWare may not release a teaser trailer for years. Hopefully, when it does finally arrive, there will be some revelations about Shepard, even if it is another tease of their once lifeless body taking a breath.