TheMass Effectgames may have formed one of the most successful RPG franchises of the last fifteen years, but in many ways the series has struggled to move past the original trilogy.Mass Effect: Andromedatried to make a clean break, leaving the setting and decisions of the first three games far behind to tell a story set in the faraway Andromeda galaxy, 600 years after the defeat of the Reapers inMass Effect 3.Mass Effect 4appears to be taking a very different approach.
After the disappointing reception ofMass Effect: Andromeda, BioWare has turned back to the original trilogy to breathe new life into the series.Mass Effect: Legendary Editionremastered the first three games and released to great success earlier this year.Mass Effect 4’s trailer also revealed that the next game would seemingly pick up where the original trilogy left off instead of following on fromAndromeda. The trailer focused on original trilogy companion Liara T’Soni, but that’s not all. There’s even more evidence thatMass Effect 4will be repeating the past.
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The Mass Effect 4 Trailer
Although only oneMass Effect 4trailer has been released so far, there’s a lot that can be inferred from the game’s presence atThe Game Awards 2020. The trailer opened with a shot of both the Milky Way and Andromeda. BioWare project director Michael Gamble has since stated that this two galaxy shot was “intentional,” suggesting thatMass Effect 4will pick up plotlines from both the originalMass Effecttrilogy andMass Effect: Andromeda.
This in turn makes it seem likely thatMass Effect 4will take place centuries afterMass Effect 3’s ending. The Andromeda Initiative didn’t arrive at its destination until 600 years after the original trilogy, and if the two galaxies are now connected by a Mass Relay it seems likely thatMass Effect 4will be set after the events ofAndromeda.
Liara T’Soni’s survival and presence in the trailer would still make sense. Asari can live to be 1000 years old, and Liara was only around 100 inMass Effect 1, so she would potentially be around 700 by the time the Andromeda Initiative arrived in the Heleus Cluster.
The presence of a dead Reaper in the trailer heavily implies thatMass Effect 3’s Destroy Endingwill be canon, and part of the main premise ofMass Effect 4. This is also suggested by other BioWare marketing material, like an image released on Twitter showing a Mass Relay being rebuilt by the Systems Alliance. The Mass Relays were only destroyed if Shepard chose to destroy the Reapers and all other synthetic life in the galaxy.
All of this could see the player exploring a very different version of the Milky Way by the timeMass Effect 4takes place. If there is a major time jump, hopefully BioWare takes full advantage of it, changing enough to give players a totally new perspective on the setting even as the series returns to familiar locations. While the Milky Way has the potential to have undergone great change, however,Mass Effect 4is repeating the past in more ways than one.
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Mass Effect 4 And Mass Effect 2
Not only isMass Effect 4taking fans back tothe Milky Wayand bringing back Liara, but the moment in the trailer when she finds a piece of N7 armor in the snow seems to imply the return of Shepard as well.
Shepard’s survival centuries after the activation of the Crucible inMass Effect 3may seem outlandish, but there are some relatively simple ways BioWare could make it make sense in the game’s universe. Shepard was already rebuilt by Cerberus and their body contained both organic and synthetic parts as a result. It’s possible that activating the Crucible preserved the commander in some way, or at least their enhanced biology allowed for their preservation under the ice,Captain America-style.
This wouldn’t necessarily be a bad way for the series to go forward, but it’s also extremely similar to a plot-pointMass Effecthas relied on before. TheMass Effect 4trailer seems to showLiarasearching for Shepard in the hopes of reviving them after a situation that for any other character would spell certain death. At the start ofMass Effect 2, Shepard is killed by the Collectors. As outlined inMass Effect: Redemption, it was Liara who then hunted down Shepard’s body, stole it from the Shadow Broker, and delivered it to Cerberus in order for Project Lazarus to begin.
Shepard’s Return
Ultimately Shepard’s revival didn’t feel cheap inMass Effect 2because they died at the start of the game, rather than at the end ofMass Effect 1. Their death and revival became the set-up of the second game, not a way to bring Shepard back after the conclusion of the last story. If Liara hunts down and revives Shepard as part of the premise or plot ofMass Effect 4, however, it risks undermining the ending of the original trilogy and feeling like Shepard has so much plot armor that even death itself can’t take them down after two admirable efforts.
It’s possible thatCommander Shepardwon’t actually be involved inMass Effect 4’s plot, and that the piece of N7 armor from the trailer had another meaning. That seems unlikely, however. Hinting at Shepard’s return and then failing to deliver could be bad for BioWare’s good will at a time whenMass Effect’s future is up in the air.
Whatever path the new game ends up going down, BioWare will need to be careful. The studio may be able to rely on elements from the originalMass Effecttrilogy to draw fans to the new game to a degree, but ifMass Effect 4is unable to move on from Shepard’s original trilogy story to too great an extent the series risks feeling stuck in the past. Until the exact nature of Liara and Shepard’s involvement inMass Effect 4is revealed, however, just how similar the next game’s premise will be toMass Effect 2’s remains to be seen.
