An unprecedented Mass Effect 4 trailer at this year’s Game Awards could have quite possibly revealed the fate of Commander Shepard—or perhaps not. The last moments fall on a familiar face finding an iconic piece of N7 helmet among the snowy tundra. The trailer seems to be implying that it’s Shepard’s helmet, though it hasn’t been confirmed.
There are many implications that come with this teaser trailer of Mass Effect 4, and fans are going wild with debates if this really means Shepard is alive. But the chronological setting of this upcoming Mass Effect installment is largely in question because of some very small details in this teaser trailer. While the shot of Liara finding what seems to be a shard of Shepard’s helmet seems hopeful, the series may not be an immediate follow-up to the trilogy. Rather, it may tie in to the events of Andromeda, which take place centuries after the end of Mass Effect 3 and the Reaper War.
While some fans may think this idea is farfetched, it’s important to examine Liara’s potential age in the most recent teaser trailer of Mass Effect 4. In Mass Effect, Liara is 106, and while that might seem old, Asari typically live to be over 1,000 years in age. Liara is young enough for her research to not be taken seriously by other Asari in her field that feel she is too immature.
In the trailer for Mass Effect 4, the close-up on Liara’s face might point to how many years it’s been between this moment and the final events of Mass Effect 3, but rather than just a few circles around the sun, it could be more like several centuries. In Mass Effect‘s trilogy, Liara shows no signs of wrinkles because she’s still quite young. In the trailer, however, crow’s feet touch the edges of her eyes and laugh lines are on the corners of her lips. It’s difficult to tell exactly how many years Liara may have aged, but knowing how long Asari live to be, it could be anything between 300 and 600 years.
One fan argument against the idea that Mass Effect 4 may be many centuries after ME3 is that Liara’s wrinkles seen in the trailer are merely due to the enhanced graphics of the cinematic trailer. Since the trilogy, which released two console generations ago, gaming and graphics have made many strides, so it’s likely that there would be more detail in skin textures and face construction.
However, take a look at Liara’s face in the Mass Effect Legendary Edition teaser; Liara’s face has no wrinkles, but her alien skin is very detailed and textured. This could imply that the crow’s feet and laugh lines in the ME4 trailer were completely intentional, pointing in the direction of quite the gap in time.
The events of Mass Effect: Andromeda begin in between ME2 and ME3, but the bulk of the game occurs approximately 600 years later. A team is sent out on the Andromeda Initiative to colonize and research the Andromeda galaxy, and to keep from aging, the crew aboard the starship sleeps in cryo chambers and periodically wakes to perform maintenance.
One initial reaction to the Mass Effect 4 trailer was disappointment from those who enjoyed Andromeda and were hoping for the sequel that the ending of that game teased. But after Twitter reactions saying that “BioWare just abandoned Andromeda,” Project Director Michael Gamble replied with comments like “you should wait and see,” which looks to imply that this upcoming game will not only be a sequel to the trilogy but will also tie in to the events of Andromeda as well.
This theory tracks because Liara has aged centuries, and Andromeda takes place about 600 years after the events of Mass Effect 3. But what does that mean for the Commander Shepard tease? Again, Liara looks hopeful and smiles when she finds the helmet shard, possibly meaning they were out looking for him. He could be dead, but there’s still the ambiguous Shepard Survives ending to take into account. This comes with the Destroy option at the end of ME3, which many Andromeda players have thought to be proven canon. It’s possible he could be in a cryo chamber somewhere, as the passengers working on the Andromeda Initiative were.
Though it’s highly likely that Mass Effect 4 will take place centuries in the future, the fate of Commander Shepard won’t be certain until more information becomes available.
Mass Effect 4 is in development.
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