Mass Effect teaser trailer suggests series will return to Milky Way

BioWare has dropped a surprise teaser for its next Mass Effect game, which is still in the early stages of development.

The trailer isn't subtle. It begins with a long zoom from outer space back into a familiar-looking galaxy - while another, presumably Andromeda, is left on the horizon.

We hear radio messages from Earth, audio clips from the original Mass Effect trilogy, see wreckage of Mass Relays destroyed in the Reaper war.

Then, on an ice planet, a figure reaches into the snow and pulls out a familiar-looking shard of N7 armour.

The trailer not only appears to confirm the next Mass Effect game will feature the Milky Way, but that it will continue the story of the our galaxy after the trilogy's Reaper war.

As for exactly when it will be set? Well, the figure at the end of the teaser is of course Liara T'soni - though as an asari, who live 1000 years, it could be set hundreds of years later.

In the background, behind Liara, you can spot the "Mud Skipper" spaceship previously teased in earlier concept art.

Those images also teased a galactic civilisation building - or repairing - Mass Relays, which were damaged in the Reaper War, though also included designs with architecture reminiscent of the Remnant, a species introduced in Andromeda.

Will the next Mass Effect game be set entirely in the Milky Way? Will Andromeda feature at all? And exactly when will this game actually be released, with tonight's Dragon Age 4 trailer seemingly showing a game also still a way off? All we know for sure is what the trailer tells us: that "Mass Effect will return".