New Mass Effect in development phase: What BioWare shows us in teaser?

In honor of N7 Day, the unofficial holiday of the Mass Effect video game franchise, Electronic Arts company and BioWare studio have released a new teaser for the next installment of the fantasy role-playing game—in every sense of the word.

What will the new Mass Effect be about? Will Commander Shepard return? Will the game be a sequel to the popular trilogy or a failed Mass Effect: Andromeda? These questions concern all fans of the trilogy today. And, alas, there are no answers to them in the published teasers.

What have we been shown in Mass Effect teaser?

Throughout the entire 25 seconds of the video, the Mass Relay is shown, which is similar to the ones in the previous three games. Previously, the conceptual version of this structure, through which spaceships in the game world make long-distance flights, has already been published by the director of the new Mass Effect, Mike Gamble. However, in the video you can see a number of new details that could not be seen in the picture.

So this Mass Relay is clearly not working, or it hasn't been fully built yet, or it was destroyed during the events of the third game. It says MR7 on the frame, which most likely stands for Mass Relay 7. However, in the small text in the lower left corner of the video, you can see that the structure is called the “Vacuum-dock Relay.” Perhaps this is a new type of Mass Relay that is being built after the destruction of the others.

Also, some movements can be noticed in the video, and they appear for a short time near the Mass Relay. Most likely it's a spaceship flying past the Mass Relay in stealth mode.

When can we expect new Mass Effect?

Alas, not anytime soon; and this was made clear thanks to a new post on the BioWare blog. The development process for Mass Effect 5—or Mass Effect 4, if you don't count Mass Effect: Andromeda—hasn't progressed as far as we'd like. It seems that the team has not even started the active development of the game.

BioWare's release states that pre-production is well underway, and the game will be developed by a team of Mass Effect veterans—which, to the dismay of most fans, doesn't seem to include Drew Karpyshyn, the scenario writer of the first two games—and some newcomers.

"They've been hard at work crafting new characters and locations that you'll love, as well as revisiting many that you'll remember," the respective press release said.

So, for now, there is not even an approximate release date for the new game. Nor is there any information on which platforms it will be available. Most likely, we will have to wait a long time for the release of this video game because the studio is now focused on the game Dragon Age: Dreadwolf.