Mass Effect 4: 10 New Things We Learned From Comic-Con

7. It's Set During Shepard's Lifetime

As suggested by the mentions of N7, it's looking more and more like Mass Effect 4 will be set during Commander Shepard's lifetime. This news hasn't been officially confirmed just yet, but there have been a large number of hints and comments that almost overwhelmingly confirm this. To clarify, Shepard will definitely not be one of the playable characters (unless BioWare are literally lying to everyone), and they won't feature as an important role in the main story. That said, it could be that Shepard will play some small part in Mass Effect 4, perhaps as a catalyst for the game's events, or just as an important Alliance figure. More notably, the news implies that the game will likely take place during or after the Reaper threat, rather than being a prequel as some had suggested.