Fans of the Mass Effect series recently celebrated N7 Day, and as a date dedicated for BioWare’s largest gaming franchise, some Mass Effect 5 news were obviously expected.
Truth be told, we got them: the game’s dev team have confirmed the project is still on track, albeit at an early stage, and that romancing companion characters, a well known feature from all previous games, is also back for this one.
However, one piece of information — or rather, speculation — came around at the same time, and it might be giving out a few new details about the Mass Effect 5 plot.
New Mass Effect 5 artwork features a krogan civil war and…is that Wrex, Dreck or Grunt?
Getting things out of the way, let’s give credit where it’s due: the above image comes from a new post from BioWare, which shows a handful of krogan warriors, helmeted and fighting save for one — the leading figure in the center has his face fully uncovered, completely visible, and he does look like a unit leader…a rather battle-scarred one at that. And the caption “Civil War”, as succinct as it is, helps set the scenery in a more definitive manner.
The image itself is beautiful, as most artwork from any of the previous games on the PS3 and PS4 eras were, but it does give some room for speculation.
First of all, who’s the guy in the center? In previous games, we always had krogan companions fighting alongside protagonists Shepard and Ryder (those being Wrex, Grunt and Drack) and, not only they’re known for their hardness in battle, being the universe’s tough-to-kill category representatives, but like the all-female asari race, krogan have a ridiculously long lifespan (Drack himself states he’s been fighting for over a thousand years in Andromeda).
So there are three possible scenarios here:
- The center soldier in the image above is Nakmor Drack, Mass Effect Andromeda’s mercenary, pirate and soldier. Dude is a tough pill to swallow as he’s brash, reckless and incredibly durable: a big part of his body is prosthetics due to damage endured in centuries of fighting. If that’s the case, then BioWare might be making a case of further tying Andromeda to the mainline entries by giving Drack his spotlight again.
- The center soldier is Grunt, from Mass Effect 2. The armor’s color scheme and design are all very similar from what he wore on the 2010 title. In his first outing, he was as powerful as he was unpredictable, being a genetic engineered specimen instead of, y’know, “born” the usual way. His loyalty mission and his further appearance in the third game shows us how he’s matured, fighting with more intelligence and strategy instead of diving in headfirst to satisfy his bloodlust.
- The center soldier is Wrex, Shepard’s companion in the first game. As battle-hardened and powerful as he was, out of all three possibilities, Wrex embodies the “leading” look in the image above the best. When we first meet him, he already is a leader of clan Urdnot, one of the most powerful groups in krogan society. So he kind of fits the bill.
However, it is important to notice a few things: given that we don’t know how much time passes between Mass Effect 3, Andromeda and Mass Effect 5, if we consider age alone, the figure in the center of the image would most likely be either Grunt or Drack: the latter was on the latest game (which will likely be closer to the new game’s timeline), so he’d have the room to survive that long.
As for Grunt, Mass Effect 2 and 3 showed us his birthing moment, his anxiety on being “tank-born” and not understanding his place in krogan society only to, finally, mature into a skill-honed soldier and, depending on the paths you took on the previous games, a leading figure of his own, commanding the Aralakh company, one of the most notorious of his own race. He’s also the youngest of the three and, if that’s the case, this would be a major time jump — the krogan in the image above looks old and, again, by age alone, he’d be the most likely to not die of old age compared to the other two.
Finally, coming out as the least probable choice, Wrex could be the guy we’re looking for: as a leading figure from the get go, Drex already had some mileage on him when we first meet him, but if we consider the possibility of Mass Effect 5 plot taking place a mere hundred years or so after the last entry, then I suppose Wrex still being alive and kicking (and shooting, punching, cursing and headbutting) are not too farfetched.
Or it could be someone entirely new, since that’s also something BioWare has been known to do: one look at the studio’s other franchise — Dragon Age — and we suddenly remember how the company never reused a protagonist (The Hero of Ferelden, Garrett/Mariann Hawke, The Inquisitor and Rook for all four main games). Not only that, but judging by its looks, the leading krogan in the new artwork does not have any of the other three options’ most well known features: he’s got more prominent ridges coming out of his nose all the way towards the top of his crown. But that alone can be explained by sci-fi shenanigans and, given every other evidence, this one seems somewhat flimsy to stand upon.
Be that as it may, introducing someone new might be a way out of this discussion for the company, although it would have to have some major writing done, since a new character implies a new involvement on affairs that are already running. Out of all options, I think this would be the most demanding.
A krogan civil war could be the centerpiece of Mass Effect 5’s plot
When we consider the caption “Civil War” in the image above, it’s easy to dismiss it outright since, well, krogans like to fight. So much so they have seen their share of infighting — clans vying for more control, individual-yet-notable soldiers gunning for each other in order to prove something…the krogan society is one that lives and dies by war stories, and you don’t have war stories without fighting in wars, right?
This is also an important aspect that might relate to all possibilities of krogan character: Wrex, Grunt and Drack would have something to do in a scenario of major infighting. A new character could also be introduced as someone wishing to end a conflict, too.
Also, minor spoilers ahead, a krogan civil war might appeal to one of Mass Effect 3’s many possible endings: due to past choices made in all past games, you can cure the krogan genophage (a type of artificial plague inflicted upon them to curb their incredibly high natality rates and sheer number advantage over other races).
This in turn, can lead to one or two scenarios, with surviving characters wishing to leave the warring ways in order to pursue some sort of enlightenment, and others proposing that krogans restart their military campaign and expand their empire (which would eventually pit them against the other races).
But what if this is not one “or” the other, but both? Given that krogans like to argue, it could be that both possibilities are entertained among several krogan groups, which came to a head to be solved…through war.
Well, whatever the case will be, we’ll likely have to wait more to find out: Mass Effect 5 does not have a release date for now (nor which platforms it will come out to) and, in fact, the game was in pre-production as of February 2025, meaning most of its core aspects are still being decided.
While we wait, tell us what you think in the comments!
