Prints based on last year's N7 Day lithographs are now available for purchase through BioWare. As far as I know, this wasn't much of a story. Bioware's store is always getting new gear, so what makes this one different? Well… As YouTuber MrHulthen has pointed out, it seems to be a lot.
This video shows the original product description, which stated: "Shepard's ultimate mission may have ended the threat of the reapers at great cost including Earth itself." It further states that "While Shepard and the survivors are left to pick up the pieces, fans are wodnering what's next."
It was discovered that these Reapers had been stopped, but at enormous cost, including Earth itself, which led to this alteration in the product description: "The threat of the reapers might have been ended, but at great cost including Earth itself. While the survivors are left to pick up the pieces."
Now, this might just be a typo that has been fixed in the description. But with the first look of Liara T'soni in the new Mass Effect 4 teaser trailer, we could anticipate to see a lot of familiar faces from the original trilogy, including Commander Shepard.
In addition to this the product description went on to discuss the geth-looking crater, the ship's crew, as well as other elements that have now been removed from the description totally, leaving it bare bones with no information whatsoever.
It's possible that this is all a waste of time. Mass Effect 4 is still a long way off, and although fans are eagerly awaiting the next chapter, this may simply be them clinging to hope. Given what we know about Mass Effect's timeframe, Liara's presence, and the N7 armor emblem shown in the Mass Effect 4 teaser, it's hard to rule out a sequel. Fans may see Commander Shepard again in the future.
*Update (12/05/2022):
New information has come to light regarding this now famous leak in the product description. After fans had salivated at the prospect of a returning Commander Shepard, fans were treated to a response from the next Mass Effect's very own director, Michael Gamble.
In a tweet in response to various questions, Gamble talked about the procust description saying: "Yeah that was a mistake. Fixed." This led to a great deal of differing reactions, from excitement to disappointment to contentment, people were unsure how to feel following the tweet.
There were those who weren't deterred in their theorising and this next tweet from Gamble stated something else very petinent to the situation: "The original thing was written by the people who run the store and aren't familiar with the game."
Now while this information does not completely disprove that Commander Shepard will be present in the next Mass Effect it certainly does put a damper on the theory. The likelihood of their appearnce still remains uncertain. Fans will wait with baited breath for more information regarding Mass Effect 4 while Bioware remain hard at work on both the next Mass Effect and the Dragon Age sequel. Both of which I am incredibly excited for.
Joshua Burt (@JoshuaBurt123),
Senior Editor, NoobFeed