Mass Effect 4 Is Playable But Not By You

BioWare's made some serious progress on Mass Effect 4's development, it seems. Today BioWare Edmonton and Montreal general manager Aaryn Flynn talked on Twitter about how much fun he's having with the game right now.

I hope you find that tweet ambitious, beautiful, fresh but recognizable, and fun as well. It's the closest you'll get to actually playing Mass Effect 4 anytime soon. BioWare has yet to announce the game so I imagine we'll have to wait until late 2014 at the earliest. Maybe even later, to avoid launching the game too close to Dragon Age 3.

Though Mass Effect 4 is unannounced, we know a bit about the game so far. It's the first game in the series not to be powered by Unreal Engine 3. Like Dragon Age 3, the game utilizes the Frostbite 3 engine that debuted in Battlefield 4. Flynn previously said that the ME4 team is building upon the systems created by the DA3 team as well.

In another break from tradition, BioWare Montreal is heading up the game's development. Previous entries in the series were developed primarily by the company's Edmonton studio. The Montreal studio has played a supporting role in the past, developing the co-op for ME3 as well as its Omega DLC. BioWare Edmonton and series executive producer Casey Hudson will assist with ME4.

The other thing we know is that BioWare hates when you call it Mass Effect 4. Because it's not just a straight sequel. Or it is! We don't know!

"To call the next game Mass Effect 4 or ME4 is doing it a disservice and seems to cause a lot of confusion here," the company said in February. " We have already said that the Commander Shepard trilogy is over and that the next game will not feature him/her. That is the only detail you have on the game. I see people saying 'well, they'll have to pick a canon ending.' No, because the game does not have to come after. Or before. Or off to the side. Or with characters you know. Or yaddayaddayadda."

I guess they'd prefer something vaguer like "the next Mass Effect" or "the upcoming. Mass Effect prequel/sequel/sidequel." But yeah, I'm gonna keep calling it Mass Effect 4 until their marketing department decides between Mass Effect: Vengeance, Mass Effect: Awakening, or Mass Effect: The Respaceshipining. It can't take that long to survey a few hundred 18-29 males, can it?