A bunch of details have leaked about Mass Effect 4 from a trustworthy source, which describes your new crew members, its new setting and additional conversation options.

Leaks can be a hit or a miss. Much like horoscopes, you can read them and affirm your beliefs upon the realization that the prediction is accurate, or shrug your shoulders to them when proven wrong. Either way, it's always great to hear about leaks, because they get the brain moving and theory-crafting in regards to what you want to see happen. They're also an unofficial way of getting updates. Fortunately, these Mass Effect 4 leaks (courtesy of Destructoid) were brought to us by an Internet super sleuth who has been quite accurate with his predictions in the past.

Here are a bunch of the new details condensed from Reddit:

  • Set in the uncharted Helius Cluster in the Andromeda Galaxy. All the previous games have been pretty firmly set in the Milky Way. The cluster is apparently 4x the size of Mass Effect 3's map. You, playing as a pathfinder, will "encounter the remains of a once powerful and mysterious alien race." (A new one on us)
  • Resource and colony building: resources can be found on planets to improve your weapons and armour, and build up your arsenal to explore further into the cluster. You’ll also be able to establish settlements on habitable planets and specialize them to produce more resources, or scout out more missions.
  • Seven new crew members. The leak says there is one is called Cora (species currently unknown, but it does sound very Asari to me,) and there is also a Krogan named Drack. Quests will revolve around making sure your crew members remain loyal and supportive, but that doesn’t sound all too different from the previous games.
  • More refined conversation options: you’re able to brute force people by threatening with your gun and interrupt conversations. Whether this will be similar to the Paragon/Renegade interrupt options seen in Mass Effect 2 and 3 (or that of Dragon Age: Inquisition), I really don’t know.
  • Deployed Strike Team Missions, AI-controlled mercenaries can be sent off to complete tasks while you’re busy with something else. Alternatively, there’s also Active Strike Team Missions where you will be able to play in a multiplayer co-op horde mode.
  • Oh yeah, there’s a multiplayer co-op horde mode. Surprise!
  • There will be no loading screens when travelling the cluster and exploring planets, the transition from ship to the planet side Mako vehicle is said to be totally seamless. The Mako is now also upgradeable and customisable, and hopefully a bit less worse than it was in Mass Effect.
  • New raids, including Remnant Vaults and Khet Outposts. Both give you different kinds of rewards and can be found while exploring outback planets.

These details were released by Shinobi602, who has accurately leaked a ton of info in the past that turned out to be true. For those doubting how awesome he is, he was the first to leak Halo 5's Guardians surname, the existence of Battlefield Hardline, the release date of The Order: 1886 and 343 Industries' development of Halo 2: Anniversary.

While nothing has been confirmed, we have a feeling we won't be seeing Mass Effect 4 (BioWare has revealed that this is a working title) until well into 2016, and it will likely be only for current-gen systems. Let's just hope there's an HD remaster of the sacred trilogy for PS4 and Xbox One coming to hold us over until then. Earlier this month, a financial analyst reported that we should see Mass Effect 4 released out by March 2016. 

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