A new poster released in celebration of N7 Day has teased a bit of the future of Mass Effect and its next entry.
Shared on Twitter by the official Mass Effect Twitter account, the image appears to simply be a ship landing on a planet near a crater. However, the shape of the crater and circle in the middle are very reminiscent of the Geth – a group of networked AI beings that were created by the Quarian but eventually rose up and gained sentience. Legion was a Geth and was a member of Shepard’s team.
An image of Legion – A Geth – for reference!
If you look closely at the image, you see a group of four characters leaving the ship (potentially hinting at the party size of the next Mass Effect?). In the group, there appears to at least be one Krogan (like Wrex) and possibly a Salarian (like Mordin) or Turian (like Garrus)? They are very small, so it is hard to tell for sure and they could be anything.
The ship also bears the letters SFX. For reference, the Normandy from the original trilogy had the sign SR1.
Spoilers ahead for Mass Effect 3!
Near the crater, we also see the body of a dead Geth. While this may be a stretch, is there a possibillty this is the body of Legion and this is the planet Rannoch? While his death can occur in multiple ways, Legion does meet his end on Rannoch in Mass Effect 3.
Once again, this could just be a tease and not really make it into the final game, but this is another hint of a possible returning character after an Asari that very much resembled Liara T’Soni appeared in the new Mass Effect’s announcement trailer.
The new Mass Effect looks to take place far in the future after the original trilogy, and Liara and the body of Legion could be one of the few remaining characters who could last that long. Liara looks much older than how we see her in the original games, and Asari are known to live past 1,000.
This is all speculation, and a bit hopeful on my part as Legion was one of my favorite characters in the Mass Effect Trilogy. However, that’s what makes these teases so intriguing, because they are giving a glimpse of the future of one of the most celebrated franchises in gaming.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.