Having established that Commander Shepard is indeed alive in Mass Effect 2, at the beginning of the game anyway, this latest developer diary reveals more of the sequel’s overarching story.

It seems humans are disappearing all over the galaxy, with entire colonies blinking out of existence faster than you can say “Interstellar Amber Alert!” This new danger to mankind sends Shepard on a potentially fatal mission to discover what the many worlds is going on, pitting him and friends new and old against some of the galaxy’s most wanted.

We’re repeatedly reminded that this is a suicide mission, an assumption players can prove wrong by recruiting powerful allies and making careful decisions, as “your actions really do matter” right from the start. As fun as it looks to interrupt an alien’s speechifying by pushing said alien out a window, it seems we’ll need to temper our action with caution in order to survive. One of the possible endings to the game, rolling credits and all, will see Commander Shepard making a permanent exit from the series by way of body bag.