Analysis | Mass Effect - N7 Day 2023 Teaser

For N7 Day 2023 the director of BioWare, Michael Gamble posted a message to the fans that contained a series of spelling errors - a binary code. The secret message embedded in the text translates to "Epsilon" when decoded. The Epsilon Effect was one of many concept names originally considered for the Mass Effect series. Epsilon is also the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet, which makes sense for the fifth entry in the series. Michael Gamble then posted a link to the game's official website with:

////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]

• The AUDIO TRANSCRIPT part is from a line of dialogue in last year's teaser where Liara can be heard conversing with Geth. The word "defiance" has been redacted from the transcript for some reason, as has the year it was sent.

• ANDROMEDA DISTRESS SIGNAL DETECTED seems to confirm that the next Mass Effect game will bridge the original trilogy and Andromeda.

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A little while later a second page went up:

/////ACCESS CODE: OCULON-2819-DEFIANCE

/////ACCESS CODE ACCEPTED

/////TERTIARY ENCRYPTION DETECTED
/////CLASSIFIED: REVIEW BRIEFING MATERIALS ON OFFICIAL ALLIANCE COMMS CHANNELS

• 2819 is the year when Ark Leusinia, Ark Natanus, and Ark Paarchero arrived in the Heleus Cluster of the Andromeda galaxy. "2819" may be the redacted "year sent" in the previous message.

• The Oculon was another concept name considered for the series.

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One final page was dropped:

/////ACCESS CODE ACCEPTED: POST-NEBULA

/////WARNING

/////SECURITY BREACH DETECTED
/////CONTACT SYSTEMS ALLIANCE

/////EPSILON-OCULON-NEBULA

• Nebula: Guardians of the Citadel was yet another concept name. Could "Epsilon-Oculon-Nebula" be in reference to a trilogy?

• EPSILON-OCULON-NEBULA form the acronym "EON".

• The full transcript seems to imply that someone is attempting to steal data.

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Each of the webpages contained a short video clip that when put together produced this years teaser trailer:

 

Michael Gamble has confirmed via Twitter that the trailer is in engine. The trailer isn't shy about its reveal of an N7 agent, but is the person we see Shepard? Ryder? Someone new? The agent gives off silent, stealthy vibes. Some people think they can see a krogan in the background, Cerberus colors on the canisters and flying vehicles zipping past the windows but it's all too blurry for me.

A Twitter post by Michael Gamble stating that "not everything is as it seems" has prompted speculation that the N7 agent seen in the trailer is an imposter. The fact that video clips of the mysterious agent were slowly unveiled alongside text of an Alliance system break-in seems to support this theory, although some have interpreted it as the agent being sent by the Alliance to investigate. The music that plays in the trailer doesn't sound very heroic though, and the stealthy agent seems to have been designed with the infiltrator class in mind, complete with a villainous high collar (dubbed the "High Collar of Doom" on TV Tropes).

A poster of the protagonist was the last bit of media released. Within their jacket is a blue/red, paragon/renegade symbol containing a night club scene. The scene contains a mixture of what appears to be Milky Way and Andromeda races: humans, volus, hanar, salarians, turians (Garrus?), asari, geth and angara.

An abnormally large salarian in the center (near the bar) could be a Lystheni, a reclusive offshoot of salarian that stay far away from Council control. One by the name of Tazzik appeared in the comic Mass Effect: Redemption as an agent of the Shadow Broker (the original one) and was in possession of Shepard's body at one point in time. He became an agent of Liara when she took over.