BioWare: new Mass Effect trailer, what hints were revealed?

For those of you not familiarized with the game, Mass Effect is a critically acclaimed role-play videogame developed by BioWare and Electronic Arts. It is a futuristic sci-fi game originally revolving around a space navy commander named Shepard and his fight to save the galaxy. Reapers, the scourge of the universe are go around destroying races that get too close to a threshold of development, but for what reason?

The franchise consists of an original trilogy, with the first installment released in 2007, released as a single game in 2012. As well as a continuation of the game with Mass Effect: Andromeda which was the first in the series to feature an open world environment.

What’s in the Mass Effect teaser trailer

The trailer begins by travelling through space into a galaxy and then through a solar system to end up in a debris field of space wreckage, the whole while staticky radio chatter is in the background ending with “We’ve lost contact.” Halfway into the trailer we see someone walking up a snowy slope then, later the same person or another bending down to pick up a fragment of something with the insignia of N7 on it, before the camera pans out to show three other individuals.

So what hints did BioWare show?

We don't know with certainty which galaxy is shown in the trailer but there is speculation that it is the Milky Way. This would bring the game back to the home galaxy. Some aficionados queried that the planet that appears later is Earth, however, there are two moons.

Back to space, the camera zooms past a star and another planet with two moons. Then out through an asteroid belt and into the wreckage of a Mass Relay, the fast interstellar transit system. Does this mean that all the Mass Relays have been destroyed? Even though the space craft have faster than light drives it would seriously reduce the mobility from one end of the galaxy to the other.

The snowy planet

As the camera closes in on another planet a ship comes into view and descends to the planet. Now we see a character clamber up the side of a mountain dressed in a white cloak. Who is this character? Some denizens were speculating Liara, but she appears, perhaps, later dressed in black.

Sharped-eyed viewers were quick to pick out the shadow of a defeated Reaper through the haze in the background the character in white trods up the slope. This hint was confirmed by Gamble, but what planet is it and what galaxy?

Is Shepard coming back?

The teaser appears to show Liara, Shepard’s shipmate and possible love interest. She’s an Asari a long-lived race which can live for hundreds of years so the continuation of the franchise could take place at any time. It could be possible the franchise is bringing back Shepard or it could be in the distant future.

In the snow Liara picks up a fragment of perhaps a helmet with an insignia for N7, could this be from one of Shepard’s helmets? Looking at the fragment Liara turns and smiles, could it mean that Shepard is still alive. Food Then Games gave a pretty convincing argument for this. The reasoning goes that in Mass Effect 2 one of the missions to get the dog tags occurred on a snowy planet. As well Shepard’s helmet was found there along with his body but it is just pure speculation. But the argument was made that Shepard could still be alive.

Three figures in the distance

The final image, assuming it is, Liara looks toward the ship and outside are three individuals. Two of them are easily identifiable, their race at least, in the background. One is clearly a Salarian and another a Krogan, so are they Mordin and Grunt? The third is an enigma, and gamers will have to wait to see what more crumbs BioWare sprinkles around with the build-up to the release, as yet to be announced.