Today is November 7, or as BioWare and theMass Effectfan community might call it, N7 Day. Dubbed for the insignia Commander Shepard bears throughout their journey in the original trilogy, it’s usually a day of celebrating the series and some news about future projects.
While the amount of news hasvaried over the years, BioWare has a newMass Effectin the oven. So naturally, the developer revealed an ARG trail today that led to some cryptic teasers. The good news, is they’re for the newMass Effect. The less exciting news? They’re pretty slim.
After the first two trailers, code-namedEpsilonandOculon, were revealed showing a mysterious figure in an N7 jacket walking, theNebula trailergave us a full-on view of our enigmatic strider. It is… someone wearing a helmet.
Totaling 31 seconds up to that point, it seems to be the end of the ARG and N7 Day teases. So unless it’s confirmation that Daft Punk is starring in the next entry, we’re going to need to do some speculation.
Beneath the mask
An important thing to note, before talking any possibilities, is that it does seem likeAndromedais playing into this newMass Effect. Text on the first “Epsilon” teaser page reads:
/////SECONDARY ENCRYPTION DETECTED/////VJBSVU-XXXX-XXXXXXXX/////ANDROMEDA DISTRESS SIGNAL DETECTED/////YEAR SENT: [REDACTED]/////AUDIO TRANSCRIPT: ALTHOUGH THEY SHOULD KNOW BY NOW NOT TO UNDERESTIMATE HUMAN [REDACTED]
Couple that with previous teases, including both the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies being shown in theGame Awards reveal trailer, hints that we’re bridging the trilogy and itsnot-quite-so-beloved cousin.
There are a few prevailing theories about who this character could be. Option A seems to line up best with the previous Game Awards teaser: that’s Liara. She could be donning the N7 insignia, an ode to her (likely) fallen commander, and jetting off to help the Andromeda system with its Kett problem.
Another, somewhat bewildering possibility, is whether this could be Commander Shepard. The timeline doesn’t really add up there; thanks to the long distance between the galaxies, the events ofMass Effect: Andromedatake place centuries after the trilogy. That would probably entail some heavy narrative lifting to justify, and also feel a little weak for those who chose endings inME3that didn’t guarantee the Commander’s survival.
Or, maybe this is Ryder, theAndromedaprotagonist? Or maybe some new protagonist, now here from a Milky Way where the N7 symbol has become a Brand, a mark of heroics and courage, or spun off its own Spectre-like faction of space-faring problem solvers. “The Shepards” has a nice ring to it.
This is all completely idle speculation, but it’s really all we have to go off, with just a few pieces of concept art and a roughly 30-second teaser.
Other N7 Day happenings
Alongside the drip-feed of teasers, BioWare has been facing backlash. PerPolygon, all unionized testers at Keywords, a studio which does testing for BioWare, were laid off in late September after BioWare declined to continue its contract in August.
Game Developerreports those testers are set to picket today at the BioWare Edmonton offices. EA and BioWare reportedly appealed to the Alberta Labor Relations Board to block the protest, saying they were not entitled to protest outside BioWare as they were a remote workforce, but the board ruled in the union’s favor.
Additionally, BioWare wascaught up in the wave of layoffsthat’s swept the industry this year. The studio eliminated approximately 50 roles, to help BioWare be a “more agile and more focused studio.” Several developers havesince sued the company, claiming it still owes them their due severance.
It’s easy to see, then, why this year’s N7 Day doesn’t feel quite the same. Short teases don’t offset the industry issues, and withDragon Age: Dreadwolfstill waiting to see the light of day, a newMass Effectfeels as distant as the Andromeda galaxy.
