The Big Picture
- BioWare celebrated N7 Day with a blog post and teaser trailer for Mass Effect 5, hinting at the title and exciting fans.
- A seemingly mundane merchandise list in the post contained hidden binary code spelling "Epsilon," potentially representing the fifth game in the series.
- Mass Effect 5 will be a direct follow-up to Mass Effect 3, addressing unanswered questions and taking place hundreds of years after the original trilogy within the Milky Way galaxy.
For everyone else wondering if we'd ever get the answers to what happened after the dramatic climax of 2012's Mass Effect 3, we might have an ending in sight as developer BioWare has marked N7 Day, its annual Mass Effect celebration day with a blog post offering a tantalizing hint at the title of Mass Effect 5. The video game developer then dropped a teaser trailer for the game at the same time. At this stage, it's unclear if we'll get the answers to our Mass Effect 3 questions in Mass Effect 5 — which is still years away from release at this stage — or sooner, but the tease is a good starting point.
The post made by Mass Effect boss Mike Gamble was also notable for the seemingly mundane list of Mass Effect merchandise that was available for purchase until fans began taking a closer look, finding binary code hidden within the post. The code spells out the word "Epsilon," which has the potential to mean many things. Epsilon Effect was one of the rejected original titles for the games — Epislon also represents the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet, with ME5 being the fifth game in the series. Adding Epsilon to the Mass Effect URL at EA.com leads fans to a brief video clip teaser for the new game as well as hinting at the return of Liara, the fan-favorite Asari.
As a direct follow-up to Mass Effect 3, it would technically be Mass Effect 4 — the game that followed up the third installment, a spin-off titled Mass Effect: Andromeda, was a standalone that received mixed reviews and was generally a disappointment, leading to focus on a sequel to Mass Effect 3 over a decade later. Gambleadmitted many questions from fans have been on the minds of the creative team at BioWare too, as he explained in his blog post.
What Will Happen in 'Mass Effect 5'?
Gamble writes:
"We've asked ourselves many of the same questions you've asked us over the years! 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."
Mass Effect 5 remains in the pre-production stage at the moment, while the majority of BioWare's efforts are dedicated to completing the highly anticipated Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. The upcoming installment in the space opera series is expected to unfold hundreds of years after the events of the original trilogy and will once again bring the story around and within the Milky Way galaxy.
Check out the brief teaser for Mass Effect: Epsilon below.
