BioWare fans received a long-awaited update about the next chapter in the Mass Effect universe at The Game Awards this week. The developer dropped a new trailer for a game presumed to be Mass Effect 4, promising that “Mass Effect will continue” while packing the video with hints about the game’s possible setting, characters, and timeline.
One of the most surprising implications of the new Mass Effect 4 trailer is that BioWare appears to have determined a canonical ending to Mass Effect 3 in order to tell a story which directly continues from the events of the original trilogy. There’s plenty of evidence in the trailer for this, and the revelation comes with several other implications for the next game and its story.
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The Endings of Mass Effect 3
The ending of Mass Effect 3 was controversial to say the least. There were three main endings, determined primarily by the (literal) path the player chooses to walk down at the very end of the game. The Destroy ending would defeat the Reapers by killing all synthetic life in the galaxy. This ending usually implied that Shepard had also been killed in the ensuing destruction, though if the player had acquired over 4000 points of "Effective Military Strength," the epilogue's final shot would show Shepard’s body in the wreckage suddenly take a breath.
The other two endings for Mass Effect 3 were Control and Synthesis. The player could have Shepard transcend their humanity and take over the Reapers, or they could merge all organic and synthetic life instead. There was no way to pick either of these options and get the final shot of Shepard breathing, regardless of the player’s Effective Military Strength.
The Destroy Timeline
There are a few reasons to think that the new Mass Effect 4 trailer shows the sequel taking place in the Destroy ending timeline. The video shows a character who appears to be old squadmate Liara T’Soni. She is scaling the huge, snow covered husk of a dead Reaper on an unknown planet.
Liara’s presence and her apparent lack of the synthetic qualities - everyone got green eyes in the synthetic ending - implies that the trailer takes place after either the Control or Destroy endings. The Reapers survive the Control ending, so unless the Reaper in the trailer was killed by another means it’s very likely that the next game will take place in the Destroy timeline.
At one point, Liara recovers a piece of N7-branded armor from the snow. This could mean a number of things, but would appear to hint that she is searching for Shepard. If nothing else, tempting hopeful fans with Shepard’s return and then not delivering would probably be a bad strategy for BioWare. Whatever the studio’s long term plans are, the fact that Shepard is possibly alive - or even a recoverable human body - most closely resembles the Destroy ending.
Risk and Reward
BioWare is taking on a level of risk by apparently choosing one canonical ending as its launching pad for the future of the Mass Effect franchise. There will likely be some fans who preferred a different ending, and who will be reluctant to accept a the Destroy ending in order to continue to play through the story.
However, the often-criticized simplicity of Mass Effect 3’s ending options actually gives BioWare an advantage here. The ultimate fate of the universe is decided so close to the end of Mass Effect 3 that it takes place after ever major interaction with every Mass Effect squadmate, every mission and side mission, and every romance in the original trilogy. In other words, regardless of which option they chose at the very end, most Mass Effect players have a far more similar experience of the vast majority of the trilogy than the radically different implications of their final cutscenes would imply.
Other Possibilities
Asari live for centuries, so Liara’s appearance in the trailer doesn’t actually help narrow down how long after the defeat of the Reapers Mass Effect 4 will take place. As a result, it also makes it hard to tell which other companions could still be alive based on their species' relative lifespans.
If BioWare is committing to certain canonical choices in order to continue the story in the Milky Way, there may be other optional aspects of the story which fans can expect to be confirmed. It’s likely, for example, that some of the best known and most emotional scenes of the original trilogy will be made canon. That’s bad news for Mordin Solus, whose final fate is among the most difficult decisions in Mass Effect 3. It's also possible decisions like the salarian's fate will be left unknown, implying Mordin either sacrificed himself or just reached the end of his short lifespan.
It’s also possible that while BioWare has committed to the Destroy ending, other choices will still be able to imported from the original trilogy, or picked in advance of starting the game. Once again there’s no importable choice that would clash with the Destroy ending because choosing from the three endings is the game’s final choice.
However, BioWare may also want to commit to a single set of canonical choices in order to craft a more coherent and compelling narrative. It will probably be easier for the storytellers to write with particular characters in mind if they know which characters are canonically alive and dead, which squadmates ended up where in the galaxy, and the outcome of huge events like the possible curing of the Krogan genophage.
This canonization of certain choices from the original trilogy take the wind out of the sails of some fans waiting for Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. Replaying through the upcoming remaster might be slightly less enjoyable knowing that one ending is likely more official than the others. On the other hand, many Mass Effect fans will have already been planning to play through the original trilogy in spite of its controversial ending.
The full exploration of the events of the Destroy timeline may even go some way to redeeming the ending of Mass Effect 3 in the story, if not its gameplay itself. Destroy would mean that Shepard made some pretty extreme sacrifices to defeat the Reapers, and is perhaps the most morally complicated ending. A Destroy ending killed all synthetics. This would mean killing the Reapers, but also EDI the Normandy AI and all of the Geth including Legion, a squadmate. The Destroy timeline may even imply a darker tone to Mass Effect’s future.
A new Mass Effect game is currently in development.