Composer Austin Wintory (Journey, Stray Gods, Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate) just shared 20 minutes of music he wrote as a sort of audition/starting point for the score of Mass Effect 5, aka. Mass Effect: Universe. According to Wintory, he had been in “serious conversation” with BioWare and EA to provide the game’s soundtrack.

To be clear: This was not music that was 100% slated to appear in the game, but it sounds like Wintory was on the shortest of shortlists for the job. The effective EP is presented as “My Mass Effect 5 early musical drafts” and “Mass Effect: Universe, the music that might have been.”

Wintory wrote that he wanted to “surprise [EA and BioWare] with an elaborate production” in 2025, and that the music was recorded with “synths, vocals, and a large orchestra here in LA.” Noting that he didn’t have story details for the in-development game, Wintory came up with speculative themes and track titles based on the series’ past.

And I really don’t know how to process that this thing whips ass. Wintory had a killer vision with the project: “My suggestion was to treat the original game’s masterful Jack Wall / Sam Hulick score as a starting point,” he wrote, “And to build on it from there with deeper use of physical, analog synths and a more tightly interwoven use of the orchestra. But a love letter first and foremost.”

God damn it. Mass Effect had great music throughout the series, but ME1’s more synth-heavy approach has always been my favorite. Wintory still makes great use of the orchestra, but the synths are back, baby. Balance has been restored. This stuff gave me chills.

Both versions of main theme candidate “The Legacy of Shepard” are favorites for me, but I’d also like to shout out the more up-tempo, combat-ready “Hold the Line.” Wintory was onto something here, and it also clearly meant a great deal to the composer. Wintory described this as a “dream project” and “white whale.” I wish we could have heard the whole OST.