Mass Effect 4 raises more questions than it answers in new concept art

A New Mass Portal? The construction shown looks very similar to a ground relay being rebuilt or repaired. This is also indicated by the text in the lower left corner of the image, which titles the image “Vacuum Dock Belay Construction Record”. As a reminder, relays allow spaceships to travel long distances in Mass Effect and were damaged or destroyed at the end of the third installment.

However, as project manager Mike Gamble confirmed on Twitter, the MR7 on the build does not mean Mass Relay 7, rather he indicated that a brand new relay could be built here.

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A link with Andromeda?

Of course, we can only speculate what exactly the teaser means at this point, but at least there are some clues. Fans had speculated in the past that the new Mass Effect would tie the trilogy’s story to Andromeda, as two galaxies can be seen in the teaser. It is therefore quite conceivable that a whole new mass portal will be built here, which should either be sent to the Andromeda galaxy or allow direct travel there. After all, the design is also a bit different from conventional relays, as the characteristic ring opening is missing.

Here you can review the teaser with the two galaxies:

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The next Mass Effect has a first trailer

A look to the future? Or to the past?

At the same time, of course, it could still be an existing relay being repaired or converted. The number “314” in the bottom left text field is interesting here. This may refer to the dormant 314 mass portal that started the first contact war between humans and turians in the Mass Effect storyline. Chances are the Alliance will try to fix it a few years after Mass Effect 3 ended. Case number “11_07_90” could also be a clue here. Reading the first four digits as November 7 would be the year 2190, four years after Mass Effect 3 ended.

Of course, this is all speculation so far, as the team continues to hold back specific details about the next Mass Effect. There was a story teaser last year that had fans speculating about the return of the geth:

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Mass Effect 4

A new teaser gives clues to the story and the community is perplexed

This is how development works

When the next Mass Effect pops up, it’s still in the proverbial stars. However, since the game is currently still in the pre-production phase, we can almost certainly expect a waiting period of several years. The blog post simply says, “One day, when we’re ready, we can say more about the next Mass Effect.”

Last but not least, part of the reason may be that another BioWare title, Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, is nearing the end of development first. BioWare recently said that the game is already fully playable internally and that they now want to work out the details.

What do you think of this image, do you have any other theories?