Update: A second Mass Effect teaser page, this one listed under “Oculon,” has launched. It includes the following text and teaser video snippet.
/////ACCESS CODE: OCULON-2819-DEFIANCE
/////ACCESS CODE ACCEPTED
/////TERTIARY ENCRYPTION DETECTED
/////CLASSIFIED: REVIEW BRIEFING MATERIALS ON OFFICIAL ALLIANCE COMMS CHANNELS
Could “OCULON-2819-DEFIANCE” be a reference to the in-universe year in which the next Mass Effect will take place? As for the video – oh so close to showing a face! That said, it looks likely to be a female figure and we don’t see any sort of long hair, so Liara remains the prime suspect I’d say.
In another interesting wrinkle, hardcore fans have dug into the meaning of some of the terms being thrown around by Bioware like Epsilon and Oculon. It seems Oculon was BioWare’s original name for Citadel, and some of the early proposed titles for Mass Effect included the words Epsilon and Oculon. A hint that BioWare is going back to their roots with this one?
Titles like Space Age, Element Zero and Epsilon Effect floated around, but Greg Zeschuk eventually landed on “Mass Effect”, alluding both to the in-universe tech concept, as well as the idea that one character could alter the course of history.
Here’s some early logo proposals: pic.twitter.com/03vuR7TvkJ
— Mass Effect News (@MassEffect_News) November 20, 2022
Original Story: Today is November 7, aka N7 Day, which is when BioWare traditionally celebrates their Mass Effect franchise. There is a new Mass Effect in production, but it’s probably not going to arrive for several years, but that hasn’t stopped the Canadian studio from dropping another small hint. An N7 Day blog post included some binary code interspersed with its text, which translated to the word “Epsilon,” and there happens to be an Epsilon landing page on the official Mass Effect landing page. Hmmm!
After a short countdown, the following teaser text and video snippet were revealed…
/////ACCESS CODE: EPSILON
/////ACCESS CODE ACCEPTED
/////SECONDARY ENCRYPTION DETECTED
/////VJBSVU-XXXX-XXXXXXXX
/////ANDROMEDA DISTRESS SIGNAL DETECTED
/////YEAR SENT: [REDACTED]
/////AUDIO TRANSCRIPT: ALTHOUGH THEY SHOULD KNOW BY NOW NOT TO UNDERESTIMATE HUMAN [REDACTED]
Now, the most obvious takeaway from this is that the text seemingly makes reference to Mass Effect: Andromeda. While that game was divisive, BioWare has previously hinted the new Mass Effect may in fact be a sequel to both the original Mass Effect Trilogy and Andromeda. As for the video, while I’m sure hardcore ME fans will pick it to pieces, I’m not sure what it indicates other than… there will be walking in the game? The “audio transcript” in the teaser text references a brief audio clip of Liara speaking from a previous Mass Effect tease, so perhaps those are her boots?
The N7 Day blog also included this somewhat vague tease about what’s to come…
“The [process of making a new Mass Effect] is equal parts rewarding and challenging. We’ve asked ourselves many of the same questions you’ve asked us over the years! What happened to everyone you know and love in the games? Who really died? Who had kids with whom? What does a baby volus sound like? What about all the galaxies? The endings! What the heck is going on with our asari scientist-turned-Shadowbroker? What about S— nevermind…you get the idea. And of course, to those questions, there are answers, but you’ll have to wait to hear them. And anything we do say won’t be easy to find, just like you’ve come to expect from our #N7Day teases.”
Interestingly, a second site is counting down as we speak — we’ll keep you updated on what that may reveal. I turn this year’s N7 Day tease over to any Mass Effect mega fans out there. Catch any details I missed? What do you think BioWare is trying to hint at here?
