Mass Effect Andromeda is getting a new alien race

BioWare has revealed that a new alien race will soon be introduced to Mass Effect Andromeda as part of the game's multiplayer. Fans of the series will already be familiar with the batarians, but this will be their first appearance in the most recent entry of the studio' sci-fi saga.

A short trailer shared by the official Mass Effect Twitter account (embedded below) reveals an in-game batarian as well as a new platinum difficulty level for the Andromeda's APEX multiplayer missions.

Batarains first appeared in the the original Mass Effect's Bring Down the Sky expansion, and went on to feature in the game's two sequels.

The race didn't appear, nor were mentioned, in the single player campaign of Andromeda, which starred only a handful of established races from the first three games.

Humans, asari, turians, krogans and salarians form the bulk of the latest game's cast, having made the journey to Andromeda from the Milky Way. When they arrive in the new galaxy, they encounter new races the kett and angara.

Missing races such as hanar and volus are mentioned briefly, but not the batarians.

Fans will be eager to find out how BioWare explains the alien's presence in the game's multiplayer, given its close ties to the story. It has been confirmed by Andromeda producer Fernando Melo that the Batarians will not be introduced to the single player story.

Earlier this week a Kotaku report revealed that, for the first time in the series' history, there will not be any single player expansions or downloadable content released for Andromeda.