Mass Effect 5’s official title is already confusing fans

The next Mass Effect game is the fifth in the series, coming after the original trilogy, which were conventionally named one through to three, and a spin-off.

The fourth game opted to go in a different direction, earning it a sort of spin-off title of Mass Effect Andromeda; this has confused one fan who thinks the naming of the next Mass Effect runs deeper.

This starts on Reddit, as usual, and features one fan asking if others are surprised that the fifth game in the series is actually called Mass Effect V by the developers, as spotted on LinkedIn.

This comes with the headline, “The upcoming Mass Effect really is seen as Mass Effect 5, not 4.”

In the replies that follow, many other fans don’t see the issue, nor the confusion.

“It's the fifth game, so yes. I also imagine that is just a project name,” commented insomniainc.

Another Redditor said, “MEA was almost certainly known as Mass Effect 4 until they settled on a name. This shouldn’t be a hard concept to understand.”

This very well could be an internal name, making it easier to reference for the developers without spoiling any subtitle that could give the game away.

Perhaps it will launch with a title like ‘Andromeda’ but the wording may be seen as a spoiler.

It’s usual for fans to read into the moves made by developers, hoping to get some kind of hint or information about the upcoming game based on its name, but it might not be that deep.

This is the thought of ITNW1993, who said, “You are seriously reading way too much into this. It's the fifth Mass Effect by release date, easy as. There's no hidden agenda or secret conspiracy over the title this early into development.”

Others note that the promotional material for the game that we’ve so far seen calls it simply Mass Effect, which could mean a refresh on the title anyway.

Maybe a reveal will arrive soon and we’ll get some clarity.