Now this is an odd one. A Mass Effect 3 forum user with the handle “Col. Paine” has posted a hefty chunk of information about Mass Effect 4 that he claims to be from a secret PAX meeting with BioWare developers. Mike Gamble, a producer on the series, Tweeted "…if you love Mass Effect and are going to PAX Prime email me…" a few weeks before PAX Prime, and this particular fan took him up on the offer. He claims to have been one of the 21 people that got to give feedback on the concepts the team brought, learning new information that hasn’t really been released yet.
It does sound a bit odd, but he responded to Gamble's post-PAX thank you tweet to Mass Effect fans, with a thank you of his own for letting him attend. Take it all with a grain of salt, but here’s the information he shared.
One of the major takeaways was the fact that Mass Effect 4 is likely a sequel, and not a game set before the original trilogy. Two new races were introduced that would be difficult to rationalize in a prequel. First, there’s the "Arrogant" race. These characters are thin, skeletal, and have bright, glowing eyes. The user also noted their necks that "frilled up from their chest.”
Second group was described as the “Ancient, Advanced, and Guardian" race. Think of these as your average sci-fi golems, with smooth rocky or metallic bodies.
Other than the races, these Mass Effect fans also saw different character models in Frostbite 3, different pieces of human equipment, a handful of land vehicles, and plenty of other pieces of concept art that the team wanted feedback on. It sounds like it was a long, detailed meeting, and if you believe this fan’s story, then you should feel confident that BioWare is doing its best to do right by its most dedicated player base.
His full story can be found here, if you’d like to dig into the details and gauge their validity for yourself.