BioWare has finally officially opened up about the future of the Mass Effect series, even going as far as giving a brief look at what players can expect to see in the next space-faring title. However, while the teaser shown at The Game Awards intentionally doesn't give much away, it would seem that some of the more subtle decisions may have had more meaning than initially assumed.
Some observant fans were the first to point out a detail involving two galaxies appearing in the opening shot of the Mass Effect teaser trailer, hoping that it might implicate a connection with a previously disconnected game in the series. A reply on Twitter by BioWare Project Director Michael Gamble doesn't exactly confirm what some of these viewers have been assuming about the shot, but his comment does imply that the whole series might be connected.
According to Gamble, this imagery of the two galaxies is "intentional," leading many fans to believe that this new game will somehow relate to the original Mass Effect trilogy and Mass Effect: Andromeda. If this is true, then it does call some aspects of the trailer into question, such as Liara's cameo and her journey through the the frozen planet on some far-flung planet in the Milky Way. It's still unclear exactly what players can expect moving forward with the series, as the implications of combining the two storylines is one that some fans are finding hard to figure out.
Regardless of how exactly to make sense of it all, fans are still excited to see what BioWare has planned for what this trailer implies of Mass Effect: Andromeda and the rest of the series as a whole. Some have quickly jumped on the idea that the events played out in the teaser could be happening around the same time, given that there is a 500 year gap between the games, but Asari like Liara can live to be up to 1000. Everything is still naturally in the realm of speculation, so there is little that can be confirmed about both the trailer and Gamble's comments.
The reactions since the Mass Effect teaser premiered at The Game Awards have been nothing short of overjoyed, as many players feared that BioWare might be shelving the series after the initial reception of Andromeda. It would appear that the relatively warmer reception to the game on Steam, combined with the response to post launch patches, have assured the developer that continuing the previous story may be worth the effort. Hopefully BioWare can learn from the mistakes of Anthem and Andromeda in order to deliver the high-quality, narrative experience that the company is so well known for.
The new Mass Effect is in development by BioWare.