Cancelled Mass Effect: Universe was reportedly a spy story set 600 years after Shepard

Mass Effect: Universe, the fifth mainline Mass Effect game that EA cancelled when it closed BioWare this week, would have cast players as a customizable N7 agent in a spy-thriller story set more than 600 years after the original trilogy. That account comes from YouTuber Dantics, and a Kotaku source has reportedly said it is accurate, Polygon reports. EA and BioWare have not confirmed the details.

Dantics says he gave feedback during development as a member of a “Mass Effect Council” community group. He shared the details in a post on X on Friday. According to Polygon, Kotaku then cited an anonymous source who said the information was accurate.

In the post, Dantics described the protagonist as a “cross between John Wick and James Bond” rather than a heavily armed soldier. He said the setting moves away from another Reaper-style invasion toward a “galactic Cold War” between three powers. Humans, krogan and batarians make up one alliance, the Council races form another, and the geth become a third superpower. He also mentioned geth-built megastructures and links between the Milky Way and Andromeda. Polygon notes that the 600-year gap is the same length as the journey to Andromeda in Mass Effect: Andromeda.

Dantics said missions would be handcrafted in the style of the first three games, but players would have Hitman-like freedom in how they complete them. The hero would have experimental implants that allow hacking, seeing through walls and remotely triggering environmental hazards. Polygon compares these abilities to Cyberpunk 2077. Other details in the post include close-range executions, squadmates who can clash with one another, and romance that was not being “sanitised.” He also said Shepard’s legacy would be kept regardless of which ending players chose, and that Liara would return as a powerful asari matriarch.

The report follows the leak of an internal trailer built with pre-production assets, which appeared the day after BioWare’s closure. Polygon cautioned that much of what Dantics described could have been pieced together from the series, earlier teases and that trailer.