Mass Effect 4 may be returning to the Milky Way and bringing back fan-favorite characters like Liara, but there have been plenty of hints that the events of Mass Effect: Andromeda won’t be entirely left behind as the series goes back to more familiar faces and locales. In fact, some of the plot elements introduced in Andromeda could end up instrumental in the next game’s plot.

The Scourge is a strange energy field that the Andromeda Initiative discovered in the Heleus Cluster which seemed to defy all known science in the Mass Effect universe. Andromeda revealed little about the Scourge, with BioWare’s Mac Walters only confirming that its origins were “definitely not the Reapers.” As the series moves forward, however, here’s the role the Scourge could play in Mass Effect 4.

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The Evidence For Andromeda’s Return

Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxies

When Mass Effect 4’s trailer was first revealed at the Game Awards 2020, many fans understandably assumed that most of the elements from Mass Effect: Andromeda were going to be left behind. From a business perspective, it made sense. Andromeda’s critical reception was disappointing, Ryder struggled to live up to Shepard’s immense legacy as the original trilogy’s protagonist, and the game’s buggy launch made many fans feel Andromeda was an unworthy sequel to the first three games. The diasterous debut of Anthem, BioWare’s panned multiplayer RPG, made the return to the Milky Way seem like a natural safe bet in a period of uncertainty.

Mass Effect 4’s trailer saw Liara journey over a snow-covered planet, climb over the husk of a dead Reaper, and recover a piece of N7 armor. It seemed to imply not only a return to the Milky Way, but the return of Shepard themself. Andromeda took place 600 years after the original trilogy, so many fans assumed that BioWare was calling it quits on Andromeda’s plotlines for the sake of the studio’s future.

However, the trailer also opens with a shot of both the Milky Way and Andromeda, one BioWare project director Michael Gamble described as “intentional.” At the end of the trailer, the ship previously seen in the concept art titled “mudskipper” can be seen behind Liara. While it’s out of focus in the trailer, the original concept showed what appeared to be an Angara crewmember standing by the ship.

The Andromeda Initiative only made contact with the Angara during the events of Andromeda. An Asari like Liara could easily live another 600 years. The evidence seems to suggest that Mass Effect 4 will take place after the events of both Mass Effect 3 and Mass Effect: Andromeda when the two galaxies have been linked, perhaps by a non-Reaper Mass Relay similar to the one seen in piece of concept art released on twitter. This could allow the Scourge to play a major role in Mass Effect 4.

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What Is The Scourge?

The Scourge appears as a massive energy cloud in the Heleus Cluster. It is described as both “dark energy” and a “charged absence,” and is said to have properties which defy the Andromeda Initiative’s understanding of science. Despite that, Element Zero can be extracted from the Scourge.

It is revealed over the events of Andromeda that the Scourge was originally released as a weapon, deployed against the Jardaan, the mysterious species which created both the Remnants and the Angara. Very little is known about who unleashed the Scourge – Alec Ryder’s AI SAM only identifies it as “the opposition.” While Andromeda kept most of the details about the Scourge under wraps, it isn’t the first time BioWare has explored the idea of dark energy in the Mass Effect universe.

How The Scourge Could Work In Mass Effect 4

mass effect 4 mudskipper

Towards the start of Mass Effect 2, on the planet where Shepard first reunites with Tali, the game introduces a dark energy plotline that’s never resolved. The sun that the planet Haestrom revolves around is revealed to be aging rapidly due to dark energy.

Mass Effect 1 and 2’s lead writer Drew Karpyshyn explained what this plotthread was originally supposed to set up in an interview with the VGS podcast. The idea was that dark energy and the use of biotics by organics was having an effect on time itself, speeding up the universe’s escalation towards its end in a similar way to the sun seen in Mass Effect 2. Karpyshyn expanded on the idea: “Maybe the Reapers are looking at a way to stop this […] they’ve realized that the only way they can stop it is by using biotics, and since they can’t do it that’s […] why they have to keep rebuilding society […] it’s very vague and not fleshed out.”

Despite the idea not making it past Mass Effect 2, the Scourge’s identification as a dark energy field could hint at its role in Mass Effect 4. One of the problems with the dark energy plotline planned for the original trilogy was that it went far beyond the galactic level – it involved the heat death of the entire universe, which might have felt too broad for a plot which had exclusively focused on the fate of the Milky Way so far.

By Mass Effect 4, however, both the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy are in play. It’s possible that the Scourge could have a similar entropic effect to the dark energy that was killing Haestrom’s sun. If dark energy has the potential to speed up the death of the universe itself, Mass Effect 4’s stakes might be able to eclipse those of the original trilogy, while affecting the characters and civilizations introduced both in the first three games and Andromeda.

Until more is revealed about the Scourge fans can only speculate. However, the fact that so little has been revealed about the energy field could also make it particularly flexible as a plot device, with BioWare free to change course and blend elements of both Andromeda and the original trilogy.

Mass Effect 4 is in development.

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