Mass Effect 4 teaser images released by BioWare
Aliens! Planets! And a return of the Mako?
BioWare has released the first images from its next Mass Effect game, which is currently in development at BioWare Montreal.
The teaser photos surfaced online yesterday as part of the franchise's second annual N7 Day celebrations, and showcase a number of pieces of concept art along with what looks like an in-game screenshot.
"As we celebrate N7 day, we look back at the talented people who worked on the Mass Effect trilogy," Mass Effect boss Casey Hudson wrote on Twitter, beginning a long series of messages posted throughout the evening by members of BioWare.
The posts highlighted the characters and locations of the Mass Effect series to date, and later included a number of photos of the BioWare Montreal team working on the fourth Mass Effect game.
What looks like a playable slice of the game shows a humanoid figure next to some unknown technology.
Characters with shiny visors confirmed. Is that the same armour design as the figure in the first picture?
Concept art of a wide area on an alien world. Will we see the planet exploration of Mass Effect 1 return?
Another alien setting - this time at night.
Inside BioWare Montreal. Hopefully all the developers don't look that nervous.
One last thing of note - and something that might back up a return to Mass Effect 1's planet exploration: lead BioWare designer Ian Frazier's contribution to the Twitter conversation was this impressive piece of wall art featuring the Mako, your planet-bound vehicle in Mass Effect 1.
"So we can draw inspiration for the future," Frazier wrote, accompanying the picture. "What ever could you mean by that?" Mass Effect producer Mike Gamble replied.
"It's the idea of exploring a vast universe," Hudson concluded in a new retrospective blog post on the series. "Going out and seeing amazing new things. It's scale: seeing new planets, new species, and having choices that matter. Because it's a story, and one that you care about. It's going to continue on, and the things people love about Mass Effect they'll see even better in the next generation of games."