New Mass Effect 5 Trailer Teases Original Trilogy, Andromeda, And Maybe A New Protagonist

BioWare, the developer behind EA's Dragon Age and Mass Effect franchises, has released a new trailer for its next Mass Effect game and it teases a connection to the original trilogy and the Andromeda sequel, and maybe even a new protagonist. Since yesterday was November 7, known as N7 Day in the Mass Effect community as a reference to the N7 Systems Alliance military in the series, BioWare launched a countdown on a special Mass Effect "Epsilon" web page. 

A decoded message says the following on the site now:   

/////ACCESS CODE: EPSILON

/////ACCESS CODE ACCEPTED

/////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]

As you can see, this transcription mentions a distress signal from the Andromeda galaxy, which was the setting of the fourth Mass Effect game that took place more than 600 years after the events of the original Mass Effect trilogy. Then, following this teaser, BioWare released a new 30-second trailer that hints at a connection to those original games. 

Watch the N7 Day 2023 teaser trailer for yourself below: 

As you can see in the trailer above, the person in it is clearly wearing something with the N7 insignia, harkening back to the first three Mass Effect games. And, while we don't yet know who this character is, given the way BioWare is hyping them up, we wouldn't be surprised if they were the next Mass Effect protagonist. Here's a better look at them, from BioWare's official Twitter account: 

BioWare revealed its next Mass Effect game during The Game Awards 2020, with a teaser that featured the original trilogy character, Liara, and a broken relay message. We got another hint in 2021 with a special N7 Day image, and another clip of the game the following N7 Day in 2022 that featured a hidden audio message to decode. Yesterday's N7 Day tease marks the third year in a row we've learned just a little more about BioWare's next Mass Effect. 

This tease follows news from August that BioWare was laying off 50 employees, many longtime veterans of the studio, as part of a studio restructure. 

What do you want out of BioWare's next Mass Effect game? Let us know in the comments below!