A camera pans up to reveal the signature N7 stripes on the jacket sleeve of a figure walking down a hallway. Where are they? Where are they going? Who are they? And what does this mean for Mass Effect 5? The N7 Day 2023 teaser was a teaser in every sense of the word. Just 34 seconds in length, the complete video came in three separate "transmissions" over the course of the day, before being stitched together to introduce us to this mystery individual sporting N7 armor. We also got a piece of artwork showing a silhouette of the same figure we saw in the transmission, with an intriguing scene inside the tail of their pretty dapper-looking jacket.
Not unlike the cryptic relay message that sent our minds reeling in 2022, our latest glimpse gives us more questions than answers. And with pre-production said to still be ongoing earlier this year, it'll likely be quite some time before we find out what this is all pointing towards. But whenever this day comes around, it's always exciting to see the community come alive with thoughts and theories, and as a longtime fan, I just have to join in. If nothing else, the art and teaser have once again brought the big questions surrounding Mass Effect 5 right back into the spotlight.
A universe of possibility
In an official blog post, franchise director and executive producer Mike Gamble addressed fans on N7 Day – the community event that runs on November 7 every year – and spoke about how rewarding and challenging it is to envision the future of Mass Effect: "We’ve asked ourselves many of the same questions you’ve asked us over the years!," Gamble says. "What happened to everyone you know and love in the games? Who really died? Who had kids with whom? What does a baby Volus sound like? What about all the galaxies? The endings! What the heck is going on with our Asari scientist-turned-Shadowbroker? What about S— nevermind… you get the idea. And of course, to those questions, there are answers, but you’ll have to wait to hear them. And anything we do say won’t be easy to find, just like you’ve come to expect from our #N7Day teases."
Just as Gamble outlines, there are so many questions surrounding the future of the series following Mass Effect: Andromeda. Since Mass Effect 5 was first announced with a trailer featuring Liara T'soni, the biggest areas of speculation have surrounded when the next installment will be set in the timeline of events, and whether or not Shepard will make a return. And with three different possible endings in Mass Effect 3, which one will be considered the canon ending in the follow-up continues to be one of the biggest debates among fans. This teaser doesn't outright answer any of those questions, of course, but the vague teases do add more fuel to the fire of speculation - just as the team intended.
The mystery figure in N7 armor was naturally the first thing everyone started talking about, with the same thought on most everyone's lips: could this be Shepard? In all honesty, I still don't think the next entry will see Shepard make a comeback. The initial announcement trailer showed an older-looking Liara, and given that Asari can live up to 1000 years, it feels far more likely that we'll be seeing Mass Effect 5 set in the future. The N7 armor we saw in the teaser is also a little different to what we've seen before, and it's giving me future timeline vibes. Given how Mass Effect 3 wraps up, it also feels like Shepard's story is done, and the next game presents an opportunity to introduce us to a fresh cast, with a new protagonist. I'd be more willing to bet on Shepard popping up in the story referentially, rather than having a direct part to play.
What is more of a head scratcher is where it would be set in relation to the events of Mass Effect: Andromeda. The start of Andromeda takes place between the events of ME2 and ME3 in the year 2185, with Scott or Sarah Ryder awakening some 600 years later in the Andromeda galaxy. In one of the transmissions, there is an Andromeda distress signal detected, which may point towards either the timeline, or the fact that the Andromeda galaxy will factor into the story of the next game. In the blog post, my eye was also drawn to Gamble cutting off: "What about S-". This could be any number of things, but Scott and Sarah Ryder would absolutely fit the bill. Maybe, just maybe, we'll see the main playable characters of Andromeda surface.
Naming a space opera
"Whenever Mass Effect 5 does arrive, it'll be interesting to look back on all of this and see if we can finally connect all the dots."
Each transmission we got during N7 Day had a specific name: "Epsilon", "Oculon", and "Post-Nebula". Curiously, in the book BioWare: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development, there's a section about "naming a sprawling space opera". In it, the book details concept titles for the first game before it ultimately becomes Mass Effect, with words from project director Casey Hudson. All of the transmission names for each fragment of footage put out over N7 Day was originally a conceptual title, With The Epsilon Effect, The Oculon, and Nebula: Guardians of the Citadel.
Project director Casey Hudson also goes to give a bit of background into the process of naming Mass Effect, saying: "We knew that the game would have a central space station that would figure prominently in the setting, so some of the ideas were about basing the name on that - The Citadel, the Optigon, The Oculon". The Citadel plays a massive role in the story of the Mass Effect trilogy, and the fate of it is determined by the different endings of Mass Effect 3. While it can be severely damaged, it's ultimately still intact in some capacity, whatever the outcome. The name "Post-Nebula" is particularly intriguing, and could feed into the idea we'll be going into the future. If Nebula is tied to the Citadel as a previous concept title suggests, then would it take place after the Citadel? Meaning, it could take place long after the conclusion of Mass Effect 3? Definitely some food for thought.
The artwork is also a little trove of eyebrow-raising figures, and the actual location it seems to depict reminds me of the Afterlife club in Omega. Could we be making a trip back there in the future? But what if the relays are destroyed? Honestly, the art just piles questions upon questions. What's more, my eyes immediately honed in on a Turian that looks suspiciously like Garrus Vakarian. Complete with his signature sharpshooter visor, he can be seen standing next to an Asari, which just makes my eyebrows go all the higher. How can Garrus be in the game if it's set in the future? Turians only live for up to 150 years as I understand it, so that would limit the timeline. If Andromeda is referenced, could it take place shortly after ME3 instead of the far future? Or maybe that isn't even Garrus at all. It could very well be a red herring. After all, Gamble has teased that "not everything is as it seems".
Interestingly, as many other fans have pointed out, there also appears to be a Geth dressed up in clothes, which if true, could suggest we may not be following on from the Destroy ending option, which sees you eradicate synthetics to rid the universe of the Reapers. The Geth have been a curious inclusion in past teasers, with an earlier piece of artwork shown within the shape of a Geth head. How or why they play a part is one aspect I'm dying to find out more about.
So maybe after all of this I don't know much more than I did to begin with – but as a fan, it's fun to try to get to the bottom of it all. As Gamble said, N7 Day is never meant to be "a big thing" and it's all about celebrating the Mass Effect community. Seeing how this little snippet, however brief, brings everyone together to speculate is a part of that "experience of community". Sure, it can all be a little too cryptic for my tastes at times, but it certainly keeps the next installment on our minds. What the future holds for the Sci-Fi RPG remains to be seen, but whenever Mass Effect 5 does arrive, it'll be interesting to look back on all of this and see if we can finally connect all the dots.
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