{"id":1728891,"date":"2026-10-23T21:58:50","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T21:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/2sc4aA8fLaCo9z9DqPxkRc"},"modified":"2026-10-23T21:58:50","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T21:58:50","slug":"mass-effect-5-was-set-in-a-galactic-cold-war-new-leak-claims-and-all-3-endings-were-wrapped-into-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/mass-effect-5-was-set-in-a-galactic-cold-war-new-leak-claims-and-all-3-endings-were-wrapped-into-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Mass Effect 5 was set in a ‘galactic Cold War,’ new leak claims, and all 3 endings were wrapped into 1"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Electronic Arts shuttered BioWare<\/a> earlier this week, and that sucked. A concept trailer for the Mass Effect game the studio had in development subsequently leaked<\/a>, and that made everyone feel even worse because\u2014keeping in mind that it was an early-development concept piece\u2014it looked really good.<\/p>\n

YouTuber Dantics has now revealed more about what BioWare was actually working on, which he claims to be aware of because he was part of the Mass Effect community council, meaning he “saw what BioWare was building, and provided feedback during development.”<\/p>\n

We haven’t directly confirmed Dantics’ role on the council, although others on social media have vouched for him, and BioWare community councils are definitely a real thing: The studio has referenced them in past updates<\/a>, and they can also be seen in credits for games including Mass Effect: Legendary Edition<\/a> and Dragon Age: The Veilguard<\/a>. Members of the ME5 council aren’t known, but Mass Effect veteran Michael Gamble, the project lead on the next game, follows Dantics on X.<\/p>\n

So, suitably caveated: Dantics said in a post on X that the next Mass Effect game was set 600 years after the Reaper War, and would put players in the role of a customizable N7 agent who would be “a cross between John Wick and James Bond.” The galaxy in this future timeline was divided into three major factions: Humans, Batarians, Krogan, and others in one alliance, the “Council Races”\u2014Asari, Salarians, and Turians\u2014forming the second bloc, and the Geth emerging as the galaxy’s third superpower. Instead of an existential crisis like the Reaper invasion, the new game would take place amidst a “galactic Cold War.”<\/p>\n

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I can finally talk about Mass Effect Universe.Since Bioware closed I can now reveal that I was part of the Mass Effect Council, saw what BioWare was building, and provided feedback during development.\u2022 Set 600+ years after the Reaper War\u2022 You play as a customizable N7 agent\u2022 Instead of being a walking gun rack, you’re a cross between John Wick and James Bond \u2022 Shepard’s legacy preserved, regardless of your ending\u2022 A galaxy divided into three major factions\u2022 Humanity, Krogan, Batarians, and more allied together\u2022 Council races forming their own alliance\u2022 The Geth emerging as a third superpower\u2022 A galactic Cold War instead of another Reaper style invasion with a shadowy adversary\u2022 Geth-built megastructures\u2022 Connections between the Milky Way and Andromeda\u2022 Experimental technology implanted in you as a unique point of difference\u2022 Hacking and manipulating the environment\u2022 See through walls, identify systems, remotely trigger hazards and more\u2022 Handcrafted missions like ME1-3\u2022 But with Hitman-style freedom in how you complete them\u2022 Brutal close-range executions\u2022 Squadmates who can clash with each other\u2022 Romance wasn’t being sanitised\u2022 Liara returns – now an incredibly powerful Asari MatriarchFrom what I saw, BioWare was making Mass Effect for us, the fans, not for people who don’t exist. It looked incredible.And now we may never get to play it.Find out more here: https:\/\/t.co\/kdWhbLdU0T#SaveMassEffectOctober 23, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

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Dantics also said there would be connections between the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies, that there would be “brutal close-range executions”\u2014certainly something I want from my heroic space opera RPGs\u2014that “romance wasn’t being sanitized,” which in the wake of Baldur’s Gate 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 I assume means the full monty, and that Liara would return as a powerful Asari matriarch.<\/p>\n

In a separate video, Dantics said the new game was being designed to accommodate all three Mass Effect endings, rather than committing to one of them as canon: 600 years into the future, the Reapers are “outdated tech,” and thus not nearly the danger they were back in Shepard’s day, and advances in cybernetics, which would be in common use, fit the synthesis ending. And if your Shepard opted to just blow everything up and survived the war, well, he didn’t survive the passage of 600 years, although his “legacy” would have lived on.<\/p>\n

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